‘Jake,’ Bex says insistently, a hand on his arm. Jake ignores her. Dr Varma looks from her to Jake and back to Bex again, his frightened eyes darting between them.

‘Tell me where she’s gone,’ Jake repeats, tightening his grip on Dr Varma’s lapels.

‘I can’t,’ he says breathlessly.

‘Tell me,’ Jake says, lifting the doctor off his toes. ‘We need to know.’

‘Jake,’ Bex pleads again.

Jake lets him go, pushing him away like a repulsed lover. Dr Varma is still breathing hard as he adjusts his dishevelled tie. There’s a rip down one side of his jacket.

‘I’m sorry,’ Jake says, shocked by his own violence. He looks up and down the street, as if searching for an explanation for his own behaviour. ‘Kate’s in real trouble,’ he says. ‘We need to help her.’

‘I know,’ Dr Varma says, his voice barely audible.

‘You know, but you can’t tell me where she’s been taken?’

‘If I do, they will kill me.’

The two men stare at each other, both still breathing hard. Jake searches his face, pleading now in silence. ‘I get it,’ he says, raising a hand to Dr Varma’s shoulder, tidying up the ripped suit material before patting him. ‘It’s OK.’ Time to go. Jake’s done all he can here. The man has a wife and children to think about. It was wrong to ask. He’s a loyal family man. And then Jake remembers the man’s profession.

‘First, do no harm,’ he says, his eyes fixed on Dr Varma’s. ‘Primum non nocere. Isn’t that the Hippocratic principle you’re all supposed to follow as doctors?’ Jake’s father was a GP. ‘If you don’t tell me where Kate’s been taken, she’s going to come to a lot of harm, believe me. You’re the only person who can stop that happening.’

A siren wails in the distance. It’s a long time before Dr Varma speaks.

‘Brittany,’ he says, his voice almost a whisper. ‘Rob’s got a house in Brittany, beyond Brest.’

Jake looks at him in disbelief and then turns to Bex.

‘North of Le Conquet, west of Illien,’ Dr Varma continues. ‘It’s on its own – on a headland.’

He pauses for a moment before hurrying away.

‘He was terrified,’ Bex says as they watch him disappear around the corner of the street.

‘So was Kate,’ Jake says, trying not to dwell on what fate might await Dr Varma. ‘How the hell do we get to Brittany?’

87

Silas

‘I’ve double-checked and Rob definitely only owns one Tesla,’ Strover says, looking at her phone. ‘And that’s registered at his Cornwall address.’