A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [131]
All at once they turned off the wide road into a smaller one, then into a very narrow lane, with hedges on either side so she couldn’t see where they were going.
It was only then that Fifi felt a twinge of unease. She didn’t know where she was, she had very little money on her, and she’d never met either of these men before today. Perhaps she shouldn’t have got into the car quite so readily?
But she dismissed these thoughts as ridiculous. Of course they were taking her to Dan, why else would they come looking for her? It was wonderful that Dan wanted her with him, and once she got to his boss’s house she’d be able to telephone the office and explain.
The lane was very muddy and went steeply uphill. Fifi sat forward in her seat, expecting to see a house at the end of it. But as they reached the top, all at once they were in a wide open space which went on for miles. All she could see was a big barn and a few sheds.
‘Where’s the house?’ she asked. The rain was heavy now, drumming on the car roof, so perhaps this was why the barn looked so sinister and remote.
‘Oh, the house!’ Martin exclaimed. ‘It’s behind the barn, you can’t see it from here.’
Fifi noticed he had a hard edge to his voice and she didn’t like his furtive glance at Del.
Her heart plummeted as she realized she had been conned. The whole thing about Dan being sick was just a ruse to get her out here. Why, she didn’t know, but she felt it was most definitely the kind of danger Yvette had warned her of.
Common sense told her she mustn’t show she suspected anything. She must play along with them, and as soon as they let her out of the car she’d make a run for it.
But as Martin opened the car door, she looked down at her shoes. They were her favourite ones, with very pointed toes but comfortable, the heels only a couple of inches. She wouldn’t be able to run in them, though, not on rough ground. Her skirt was tight too; they’d catch her in no time.
‘Out you come then,’ Martin said as he pulled forward his seat to let her out and held out his hand to her.
Del got out on his side, and skirting round the back of the car, he grabbed Fifi’s free arm, making flight impossible anyway.
Just the way they held her proved her fears were completely justified. ‘Dan’s not here, is he?’ she said bleakly. ‘What’s this about?’
‘Don’t you ever stop asking questions?’ Martin said impatiently, not even looking at her. ‘Come on or we’ll get soaked.’
She tried to pull herself free, but they were holding her too tightly, and they frogmarched her towards the barn.
Fifi struggled, and looked around her desperately. It was just on nine in the morning, but there was no one in sight. Not a man with a dog, a farmer driving a tractor, no one. She couldn’t see any house. There was a wood to her right, which possibly had a house beyond it, but nothing else, just acres and acres of stubble from wheat or barley that had recently been harvested.
The sheds and barn were robust-looking constructions. The barn was built of some kind of metal and on the door were two hefty chains and huge padlocks. She was really scared now; she could hear her own heart pounding and her stomach was churning. Martin held her tightly while Del unlocked the barn door.
‘Please tell me what this is all about,’ she pleaded with them. ‘I haven’t done anything to you. Why should you want to hurt me? Where is Dan? Why are you doing this?’
‘Shut up, can’t you?’ Del said as he opened the big door, then grabbed her right arm again. The barn was empty but for a couple of bales of straw, and she dug her heels in, refusing to walk until they told her what was going on.
They looked rattled, but they just caught her arms and dragged her across the straw-strewn floor towards what looked like a kind of big cage. ‘This is where you’ll stay until the boss decides what’s got to be done with you,’ Del informed her,