Trust Me - T.M. Logan Page 0,111

other day.’

‘Do you think he will come back?’

‘Hard to say, he’s a very unpredictable guy. Better safe than sorry though. You sure you’re all right?’

I feel another rush of gratitude for this man, a warmth spreading in my chest. Standing there in a hotel corridor with his tie askew, his day of stubble, the fresh clean scent of his aftershave.

‘I appreciate it, Stuart, but you don’t have to stay. Saturday night, I’m sure you’ve got other places to be. Better places.’

He gives me a wry grin and shrugs his shoulders. ‘Not really. Married to the job, that’s me.’

I almost don’t say it. But then I jump in before I can change my mind.

‘Well, if you are going to hang around for a bit, you might as well be in the warm rather than freezing down in the car park.’ I indicate the open bottle of French red on the desk. ‘Either way I could use some help with this bottle of wine, otherwise I’m going to end up drinking it all myself and that never ends well.’

‘Shouldn’t really, I’m driving.’ He smiles again, his eyes crinkling at the edges. ‘But I can stay with you for a bit if you like, in case Leon reappears.’

‘I’d like that. Thanks.’ I gesture to the armchair by the window and he turns it around to face the room, sits down.

‘So,’ he says, crossing one leg over the other. ‘What did Leon have to say this evening?’

I outline the conversation, Leon’s offer to protect me from Dominic Church while I somehow spirit Mia away to a safe place.

‘To protect you?’ Gilbourne gives a disbelieving shake of his head. ‘After assaulting you in your own house with a potentially lethal weapon? I find that a bit hard to swallow.’

‘Me too.’

‘To be honest, Mia will be a lot safer when both of them are off the street. Both him and Church. That’s as simple as I can make it.’

‘Can’t you just arrest them?’

‘Once we get a DNA match – definitely. Until then, we don’t want to spook either of them, risk them disappearing off the radar, dropping out of sight for good. We’ve been keeping an eye on them these last few days, waiting for one of them to make his move. Dominic’s tried to persuade you to talk the Cliftons into leaving the property at Prestwood Ash. We believe Leon burgled your house, looking for information that would lead him to Mia, and he’s obviously tracked you here to this hotel. We still haven’t discounted the idea that they’re working together.’

‘So let me help you. To bring them to you, to keep Mia safe. I could ask to meet them, arrange a time and a place where you can grab them both.’

‘Ellen, I don’t want you exposed to any more danger than you have been already. And I suspect they’d be wise to an approach like that – not that I don’t appreciate the offer. But you’ve done enough already.’

I look at him over the top of my wine, wondering whether to tell him about my conversation with Angela, trying to gauge how close his partnership with Holt really is. At the police station they seemed like very different men; Gilbourne calm and sympathetic while Holt was aggressive and impatient, full of his own self-importance. Good cop and bad cop, I suppose. But it feels like there’s more than that between them, a deeper division. Do they like each other, professionally? Personally? Do they get on?

‘You should probably know something else.’ I tell him about my visit to Prestwood Ash this afternoon, and if he has questions about how I found the Clifton family, he keeps them to himself. I relay Angela’s concerns about DS Holt and the way he’s been with Mia. ‘Also, Holt followed me this evening, on the drive back here.’

‘He what?’ Gilbourne frowns, sitting forward in his chair. ‘Are you sure?’

‘I assume you didn’t ask him to do that?’

‘No.’ He stands up abruptly, paces to the window and back. ‘No, I didn’t. You’re absolutely sure it was him?’

‘Yes. Angela Clifton said he came to their house on his own, talking about taking Mia away, doing DNA tests. She said she got a really weird vibe from him. Didn’t like him at all. And I have to say, I know what she means.’

Gilbourne is not looking at me anymore. He nods slowly, as if just realising something for the first time. ‘What else did Angela say?’

‘She thought Holt was in touch with