Chapter 116
Poe left Cowie House and drove out of Carlisle like a man on a promise. At Rosehill Industrial Estate, he parked near Pioneer Foodstore but kept his engine running. As soon as he was stationary, the back door opened and Towler and Océane Blue climbed in. Towler looked happy; Océane looked resigned.
‘You have everything you need?’ Towler asked Poe.
Poe confirmed he did.
‘Let’s go then.’
Poe left Rosehill and got on the M6. The plan was to drive a loop between Junction 42 and Junction 44, the three Carlisle junctions, until the Red Chamber got in touch. ‘I wasn’t followed?’
‘You weren’t. We watched you along the route to Rosehill and no one was trying to keep up.’
‘They’ll have seen me leave Cowie House.’
‘Of course,’ Towler said. ‘But they won’t call yet. They know you needed time to collect the woman.’
‘My name is Océane,’ Océane said.
‘I thought it was Donna Reed. Or Brandy Calhoun. Or the Midnight Beekeeper.’
She glowered at him.
‘So are you two official or are you still playing it low-key?’ Poe said as he came off the M6 at Junction 44 and went round the roundabout until he was heading south again.
‘I wouldn’t touch her with yours, mate,’ Towler said.
‘And I wouldn’t let his tiny dick anywhere near me.’
Poe grinned. ‘Official, then.’
‘The more time you spend with her, the more you wonder why Wednesday Addams is so desperate to find her,’ Towler said. ‘In my whole life I don’t think I’ve met anyone so self-absorbed.’
‘And in my whole life I’ve never met anyone so crude, so vulgar. I feel as though I should call the Smithsonian and tell them I’ve found the missing link.’
Poe was enjoying Towler and Océane’s ping-pong exchange of ever cruder insults when his phone rang through the car’s speakers. An unknown number flashed up on the dashboard’s touchscreen display. He tapped the accept call icon.
‘Mr Ex-Policeman,’ Dongyang Dong said. ‘Where are you now?’
‘Doing a loop on the M6,’ Poe replied. ‘Can we hurry up, please? I’m getting dizzy.’
‘You have the woman?’
‘Say something, Océane.’
‘Towler’s a fucking asshole.’
The triad chuckled. ‘Like mother, like daughter,’ he said. ‘I need you to drive to Cumwhinton. Do you know where that is?’
‘I do.’
‘When you get there, please go to the rear of an abandoned restaurant. It’s called—’
‘Bullace & Sloe,’ Poe finished for him.
‘Of course,’ Dong said delightedly. ‘You know it!’
Poe said nothing.
‘Yes, well. When you get there, someone will approach the driver’s door. I would like it if you wound down the window. You’ll be given the new location.’
‘And why should I trust you not to kill me there and then?’ Poe said. ‘Take the woman?’
‘You’ll just have to.’
‘But I don’t.’
‘But I trust you to have thought about this. I don’t know what it is you have done, but I know you wouldn’t wander willingly into a bear trap without having made contingency plans. We don’t know what they are, so we are forced to play this out.’ Dong paused. ‘Just as you are.’
Poe took a deep breath. ‘You can bet your fucking life I’ve made contingencies,’ he growled.
‘Then it’s agreed. My man is waiting for you.’
Poe turned off the M6 at Junction 42.
Bullace & Sloe.
It felt like he was going home.