Chapters (58)
‘Do you really want me to break your arm?’
Harry shook his head. ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ he said with a sob. ‘I didn’t know.’
‘Didn’t know what?’ Belle asked as she sank into a chair.
‘They said I had no choice.’
‘Or?’
She’d spoken coldly and Harry blanched, his own voice coming out in a whisper as, head bent, he addressed his words to the floor. ‘If I didn’t do what they wanted they would hurt my wife.’
Belle ran a hand through her dusty hair and scratched her scalp. Was he even telling the truth? Had Harry been responsible for the note she’d been given? Then she noticed a bleeding cut on her arm and, while Oliver watched, she dabbed it with her skirt. When she was done she scrutinized Harry’s face; saw the shattered state he was in. And, despite feeling so angry and shaken herself, couldn’t help feeling a trace of pity for this trembling wreck of a man.
‘And what did they want you to do?’ Oliver asked.
Harry glanced up and met Oliver’s furious glare for the first time. ‘I swear I didn’t know it would be this bad.’
‘So, how bad did you think it would be?’
‘I thought they were just going to frighten her.’
Oliver spluttered. ‘Well, that is big of you. Frightening a young woman who has done nothing to you is okay, is it?’
Harry bit his lip and looked at Belle pleadingly. ‘They said they would hurt Angela. She already suffers with her nerves, you know.’
Oliver released his grip and roughly shoved Harry into a chair.
‘I think you’d better tell us everything.’
Harry did not speak.
‘Harry,’ Belle said, leaning forward. ‘You really do have to tell us.’
‘I am sorry,’ he said with a quick glance at her.
‘So?’
Once again Harry didn’t respond.
‘Now look here, you little shit –’ Oliver intervened, but then paused, pacing back and forth for a moment or two as he struggled to get his fury under control. Belle felt sure Oliver was itching to take a swing at the other man and beckoned for him to hold back.
‘Who was it, Harry? Who got you to do this?’ she asked.
Harry’s face crumpled and his glasses misted up. ‘Delay her, they said.’
Oliver turned on him. ‘Who?’
‘I swear I didn’t know it would be a bomb. They said I had to call a number and tell them Belle was on her way to the restaurant. The barman said he needed to talk to me about something and we went to the storeroom at the back and he said we had to leave. I heard the blast and then I knew.’
‘Right, Harry,’ Oliver said coldly, ‘I reckon this is what we are going to do …’
