I don’t think it’s Brian, he’s still in the car. It’s like he’s waiting for someone. Brian would have gotten out by now.

5:34

Wouldn’t he?

5:49

Shit, this is weird. I don’t know anyone with a BMW.

Ralf’s heart had started beating faster. Brian must have told Mikey where Naomi lived.

Pure intimidation.

And it was working. Ralf pressed his fist against his mouth and read on.

There were two more messages:

7:34

I fell asleep The car is gone. Like I dreamed it or something.

8:29

Now the car is at school! Creepy!! It’s purple with black rims. I can’t tell who’s inside.

The last message had been sent four minutes ago.

School should have started by now. She’d be safe in there. Ralf gripped his disposable coffee cup so hard, the base came off. The hot liquid poured over the counter and the remnants of his breakfast. He stood up, leaving everything on the table, and hurried outside.

5

5

“I can carry it myself,” she protested.

Lex smiled. “I don’t doubt it, but I’d be happy to do it for you.” He gave her a friendly nudge.

Helen tried to smile but managed nothing more than a strained grin. Bile rose up in her belly. She was just a few moments away from starting to hyperventilate. Pressing her handbag to her side, she continued walking alongside him.

“What do you have in there, anyway?” Without breaking his stride, Lex peered curiously through the handles. “It weighs a ton.”

She felt her heartbeat reverberate through her body like a kettledrum. It felt as if the floor were made of rubber and undulating up and down, like on a cakewalk ride at a fair.

“It’s, er . . . stuff from the freez—”

“Lex?”

Lex spun round to face a slim-figured man who had appeared alongside them. He was balding and wore a small pair of rimless glasses. Helen recognized him as one of the cardiologists.

“Hey, Louis. I thought you were sailing on the IJsselmeer today?”

“That’s next week. I’m glad I ran into you. Have you heard anything about that patient of Eekman’s?”

The men fell into conversation, and all three of them continued at the same pace toward the main entrance. Normally, Helen found it irritating when the specialists talked over her head, but on this occasion, she could have kissed the man on his shiny scalp. The three of them walked through the sliding doors into the hospital.

“Sorry, gentlemen, but I need to give this to Nicole,” she murmured as if everybody knew perfectly well who that was.

She took the bag back from Lex. For a moment, she was afraid he might offer to come with her, but he was absorbed in his conversation with Louis.

6

6

The school was one of the biggest in the region, with five yellow-brick buildings, its own playing fields, and two gyms.