‘I don’t think so,’ replied Bloom. It was a good question though. She had assumed that Seraphine was behind the kidnapping. In fact, she was starting to wonder if Seraphine was behind this whole damn thing again. It wasn’t impossible. But the other unknown was Harry. They’d no idea what he’d done. And they only had his word that he’d forgotten. He’d been living here for almost a week and now his son and potentially his daughter and girlfriend were hidden down the road. That was too much of a coincidence to ignore. ‘But it’s worth considering,’ she said.

‘I’ll leave the search going in St Albans just in case and contact the folks nearest to you. Can you give me the postcode?’

Bloom hesitated. Jameson wouldn’t thank her for revealing the location of his safe house.

‘Dr Bloom?’

‘Sorry, yes. It’s Southampton. I’m not sure of the exact location.’

‘Find out the postcode or the road name,’ he said. ‘I’ll contact the local police and tip them off to potential terrorist activity in the area.’

Bloom wanted to challenge his description of terrorist activity – things had moved on – but she knew it would achieve a prompt response, so she simply thanked him and hung up. She checked the timer. Eight minutes gone.

‘I’ve contacted the police and put them on standby,’ she said as she rejoined Caroline and her partner.

‘What now?’ said Caroline.

Bloom watched the front door. ‘We wait.’

71

Bello had left. He’d gone somewhere to find something and offered ominously few details. Harry was pacing the red and gold carpet. ‘What the hell is going on?’ he hissed at Seraphine. ‘Does this guy really have my kids?’

‘I’ll find out,’ said Abdul. ‘I’ll be back shortly.’ He headed towards the front door.

‘Can we get out of here?’ Harry whispered.

‘We’ve only just arrived,’ replied Seraphine. She was moving slowly around the room examining the pictures and ornaments.

‘You heard the man. He’s going to torture me for information I can’t give him.’

‘I think leaving now would be premature.’

Harry stopped. ‘Why? What are you getting out of this? Why did Jameson call you “the devil”? Are you working with this lunatic?’

‘Antony Bello is somewhat … too emotional for my tastes.’

‘What if he has my kids?’

Seraphine sighed. ‘Such sentiment will be your downfall.’