Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
I f the obstacle course had been hard, it was nothing compared to trying to keep up with Leo as we ran through the grounds in pursuit of Brian.
‘Come on, we’re nearly there,’ he said, seizing my hand which was incentive enough for me to put on another burst of speed.
‘But what about your ribs?’ I panted.
‘Never mind them. If we don’t catch up now, we’re going to lose him, and all of this morning will have been a complete waste of time. Let’s take a short cut.’
We dived off the path and then started scrambling up a slope which felt uncomfortably like the one on the obstacle course.
Leo got to the top first and stopped dead, holding his hand up, signalling to me to be quiet, which was easier said than done, given the erratic nature of my current breathing situation.
‘Got him. He’s getting into a blue BMW, licence registration ending in Oscar Hotel Whiskey.’
I took a couple of seconds to translate the police speak into normal English.
‘I’m parked on the next row,’ he continued. ‘Let’s go.’
‘What about Betty?’ I said. ‘I can’t abandon her here.’
Leo blinked at me. ‘You cycled here? What on earth for?’
‘It seemed like a good idea at the time,’ I said defensively.
‘Right, you go and fetch her, and let’s pray the traffic doesn’t ease while we try to work out how to lower my back seat so we can fit your bicycle in my nice clean boot.’
‘I’m telling you now that Betty is far cleaner than either of us currently are,’ I said.
Thankfully, it took less time than feared to get everything stowed, and when I clambered into the passenger seat, Brian’s vehicle was still in sight queueing for the exit.
‘Let’s get going,’ I said, making a note of his numberplate before hurriedly strapping myself in. I mentally apologised in advance to Leo for the grimy river water which was about to soak through from my underwear onto his pristine upholstery.
Leo set off at a crawl, slowly easing the car into the line of traffic, and steering it so we were slightly sticking out into the centre of the road where we could keep a watch on Brian about five vehicles ahead.
Fifteen minutes later, we were only halfway down the drive. A harried traffic marshal had informed us that there were three separate events happening at Blenheim today, and unfortunately everyone had decided to leave at the same time.
‘This is the worst car chase in history,’ I said, starting to laugh as we crept forward another couple of inches. ‘Maybe I would have been better on Betty, after all.’
‘Hmm, with that gold bicycle helmet of yours, he’d spot you a mile off. No, this is probably for the best. We’ll take it slowly and steadily and keep a couple of cars’ distance behind him once we do start moving properly. We don’t want to raise his suspicions when we’re following him.’
‘At least you’ve got a fairly nondescript car, so we won’t stand out,’ I said.
There was a sharp intake of breath from Leo. ‘I don’t insult Betty, so have the courtesy to do the same with Paolo.’
I laughed. ‘You gave me grief for naming my bicycle, then it turns out you’re equally as bad with your car. I knew you were a softy at heart.’
A sceptical ‘Hmm’ was his only response, but I thought I saw his lips twitch into a brief smile.
We finally emerged from the grounds of the palace and started moving at a decent speed.
‘How good are you at your Oxford geography?’ asked Leo. ‘Can you work out where he might be going while I concentrate on following him? If we can anticipate what his next move is, it’ll put us at an advantage and make it less obvious that we’re trailing him.’
‘I’ll try, but I don’t know this area of Oxford very well,’ I admitted. ‘And I’m better at bike routes than roadways.’
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Brian turned towards more familiar territory.
‘I know where we are now. He’s not heading to the library, is he? What if he’s on to us and luring us back there to confront us?’
I worried I sounded ridiculous. But to give Leo credit, he took my suggestion seriously.
‘If he does stop at the library– and he’ll have a job finding parking around there, as I know to my cost– we’ll drive past, turn around in Wellington Square and you can ring whoever’s working today and tell them to keep a close eye on him if he goes into the building.
I don’t think we’re anywhere near the confronting stage of our investigation, and if, or when, we do reach that, we’ll make sure it’s on our own terms.’
‘Moira’s in charge today. I’ll draft a text ready to send.’
We continued along St Giles’, but when we got to the traffic lights, they turned amber.
‘Oh, sod it,’ said Leo, accelerating suddenly so we managed to make it through before they went red.
We were just in time to see Brian manoeuvring around another corner further down the road.
‘He isn’t going to the library, phew. But I thought for a moment he was heading for the Randolph Hotel,’ I said. ‘He would have to be doing really well out of the scams to be staying there.’
After another few minutes of careful driving through the centre of Oxford, Brian indicated left and turned into a small car park, tapping something against the barrier to let him in.
‘We can’t follow him in there. It’s a private car park for the Oxford Grand,’ said Leo. ‘I’ll pull into the waiting bay opposite. I’m going to cause an incident if we stop here in the middle of the road any longer.’
‘I wonder what his connection to the theatre is? He obviously had a security pass to get him in there.’
‘We might be about to find out. Look, isn’t that him walking towards the stage door?’
We watched as Brian let himself into the building.
I sighed. ‘Now what are we going to do? We can’t follow him backstage, and they’re hardly going to let us in front of house in the state we’re currently in.’
‘Speak for yourself,’ said Leo with a grin. ‘Now is the time when you learn the police officer’s most undervalued but most important skill.’
‘Which is?’
‘Patience. We watch, and we wait. This is the most common kind of surveillance– prolonged periods of time sitting in a stuffy car and pretending to be invisible.’
‘I’m normally pretty good at the invisible bit. But it’s easier said than done when you’re wearing soggy pants,’ I said without thinking, then instantly regretted oversharing.
‘If you want to change out of them, I promise I won’t look.’
‘You’re alright. There are too many passers-by around for me to get away with a quick change.’
We settled into a companionable silence, staring at the door through which Brian had disappeared.
I wondered what he was up to in there. For all I knew, he could be logging onto a computer and working on his next mark.
It was immensely frustrating to be so near and yet so far from our target.
I felt like marching into the building and demanding to see him.
But who would I ask for? I didn’t even know his real name, let alone why he was there.
It was probably a safe bet to say he was working in some capacity, judging by the security pass, but which department was anyone’s guess.
‘You’re far from invisible, by the way,’ said Leo some minutes later.
‘Oh,’ I said, somewhat thrown by his unexpected comment. ‘That’s kind of you to say.’
‘I’m not being kind; I’m being factual,’ he corrected gently.
‘Right.’ I paused. But there was something about being in this confined space with him, both of us staring ahead, which encouraged confidences. ‘I certainly feel invisible a lot of the time. Often, I think I prefer it that way. It’s… safer.’
He nodded. ‘I can understand that. But is safer always better?’
‘It absolutely is. Deciding to take a risk and put myself out there was what got me in this mess in the first place. I never want to be humiliated like that again. All in all, the sensible thing is to be glad that I can exist in the shadows and be the one whom everyone’s eyes slide past as they search for someone more interesting.
’ Even as I said the words, I realised how pathetic they sounded.
And potentially untrue. There was definitely one person I wished would notice me.
‘More fool them,’ said Leo. ‘Anyway, I’ve always found you very interesting.’
Before I could ask him more about this unexpected comment, I was startled by someone tapping on the car roof.
‘This is a no parking zone,’ said an officious voice from outside. ‘I must ask you to… Oh hello, Leo, mate.’ The voice suddenly became a lot friendlier as its owner peered through the window and recognised who was behind the wheel.
Leo turned the key in the ignition so he could wind the window down. ‘Sid, what are you doing here? This isn’t your usual stomping ground.’
‘I volunteered to help with city centre foot patrols over the weekend, like the mug I am. Lot of sickness around at the moment, you know what it’s like.’
‘Some things never change,’ said Leo. ‘This is my…’—there was a slight hesitation—‘friend Kat.’
‘Nice to meet you, Kat. He leading you astray, is he, with his disregard for parking regulations?’ Sid laughed at his own joke. ‘How are you getting on, Leo? It’s ages since I bumped into you. It was just before you got signed off, right? Is it true you’ve resigned now?’
Leo shuffled in his seat. I tried to pretend my entire attention was back on the stage door, aware that Leo was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of Sid’s conversation.
‘It is. Pastures new and all that.’
Sid looked across to me in the passenger seat. ‘Ah, I see. Well, you’re a wise man. You’ve got your priorities sorted. Whatever you’re up to now, it’s obviously doing you a power of good. You look masses better than before.’
‘Cheers mate, it’s great to see you,’ said Leo, clearly trying to draw the conversation to a close.