‘Do you know where they were meeting?’

‘Yeah, behind the Old Church House Inn. It’s not far from here.’

‘Let’s go, then.’ And Richard is back out the door.

‘I’ll come with you,’ Davina says.

Something in her voice makes me shudder. She really thinks she’s protecting me. I pause, but Richard sticks his head around the door.

‘Come on,’ he says. ‘And bring her. I’d rather know where she is.’

Chapter Eighty-Seven

Amber

My mind won’t settle as we drive through the lanes to the old pub. It’s awash with questions about Davina, about Wayne – even about Richard. How did Richard get to the house so quickly? And why, after almost a year of avoiding meeting Nick and Barb, was he so quick to suggest going to help Nick? I glance at him out the corner of my eye as he’s concentrating on the road ahead. He’s driving way too fast for these lanes – if we hit an animal, we’ll crash for sure. I return my attention to the road and grip my passenger seat with both hands as we hurl around the tight corners. His driving is making me queasy. Davina is unnaturally quiet in the back seat.

He must’ve bombed down the motorway, too, I realise. Was it because he’d picked up on the worry, fear in my voice and taken this, together with my vagueness, as a sign something was very wrong? And that’s why he reached the house in record time?

Or, was he already here? Because he is the one who’s been playing mind games? The one who’s been trying to frighten me into selling to the developers so he can have me to himself in Kent?

Richard could well be the thirteenth viewer. And he’s now in charge – he’s behind the wheel. He has both me and Davina under control.

I curse myself for even giving headspace to these thoughts. I look at Richard again, taking in his profile: long, dark lashes curled up towards his bushy eyebrows that I love so much, the greying hair at his temple, the flecks of white in his beard – and my eyes fill with tears. I can’t be wrong about him. I can’t. I’m not a terrible judge of character, despite the situation I find myself in pointing to the contrary. I’d know – I’d feel it – if Richard was a bad person.

With my heart telling me Richard is the man I know, love and trust and who’s on my side, I have to accept that Davina might be telling the truth. And if Wayne really does exist, and Davina is right about going up against him and the powerful people – the developers – then we might be getting more than we bargained for.

I’m dreading what could lie ahead.

Chapter Eighty-Eight

Barb