‘So why are you doing this to us?’
Lila and Anju were sitting on the sofa. Quint sat in the armchair opposite, still pointing the gun at them. He hadn’t relaxed. Lila had no idea how much time had passed. Could have been minutes, could have been hours.
‘You know why,’ he said. ‘And I know what you’re doing. And it’s not going to work. So you may as well stop it now.’
‘What am I doing?’
‘Trying to get me to talk. Humanise yourself in front of me. Make me feel like you matter. Save yourself the trouble. Don’t bother. It won’t work.’
Lila said nothing in reply. Just had a momentary flashback to a similar situation several months ago where she had tried the same thing. It hadn’t worked then, either. Trying not to let that thought add to her problems, she pressed on.
‘So you’re going to get this mythical money for yourself and double cross your partner, is that it?’
‘Shut up.’ Almost yawning as he spoke.
‘Is that your job?’ asked Anju. The bleeding had stopped now but she still looked pale. Possibly concussed, Lila thought, desperately wanting to help her.
‘Yeah it’s my job.’
‘So what, you’re a hitman? Is that right?’
‘Yeah.’ He shrugged. ‘Suppose that covers it.’
‘How d’you get into that?’ asked Anju, seemingly serious and interested.
Very clever of you, thought Lila. Ask anyone about their job and they’ll always talk about it. Even people like him.
‘Was in the army for a few years. Went over to Iraq, like I said. Did a few stints there. SAS. The army trains you for war. When you leave all you can do is fight. So I went back east, joined up with a few private contractors.’
‘You mean mercenaries?’ said Anju.
‘You could say that. All those rich Arabs want their own private army. I was just hired help. Good thing was, if there was any trouble, they just waved money at the problem and it disappeared.’ He smiled, almost wistfully at the memory. ‘We could do whatever we liked and get away with it.’
‘I can understand all that, but how did you get to be a hitman? I mean, it seems like a much more specialised job.’
‘Suppose it is, really. I came back home, homesick really. Tried to go into security consultancy. Got bored really easily though. Then someone asked me to off someone. And of course, I was good at it. So someone else asked. And someone else. And word got round. I was the go-to guy. For a price, of course.’
Anju leaned forwards, the expression on her face genuinely curious. ‘So why haven’t you killed us yet?’
‘Because you might be more help to me in looking round this house. Or you might not. Then I’ll think again.’
She sat back. Thinking. ‘Listen,’ she said eventually.
‘What?’
‘You said you’re going to take the money you find here and cut your partner out, right?’
Quint didn’t answer.
‘Well, like Lila says, she doesn’t think there’s any money here. And neither do I, to be honest. But I’ll tell you one thing.’ She leaned forwards. Lila noticed her top was gaping and she hadn’t had time to put her bra back on underneath. Quint’s eyes went there too.
Anju continued. ‘My parents are rich. And I don’t just mean rich for Cornwall. I mean very rich. They would pay you to leave us alone. Pay you really well. Honestly.’
Quint stared at her, as if seriously considering it.
It felt to Lila like the room held its breath.
‘Nah,’ he said eventually. ‘Too much hassle.’
‘What d’you mean?’ asked Anju. ‘I’m serious. They’d give you plenty of money to get me back safe.’
‘Maybe they would. But I’ve heard that before. Even fell for it a couple of times, when I was just starting out. Always ended up messy. More trouble than it was worth. Either they didn’t have the money when push came to shove, or they wouldn’t pay up, or they threatened me with the law . . . It never worked. So no thanks.’
‘Please,’ said Anju, ‘it won’t be like that this time.’
‘I said no.’ Steel back in his voice. He repositioned his gun arm. Reminded them he was still in charge.
‘But there is one thing,’ he said.
‘What’s that?’ asked Lila.
‘I’m hungry. Make me something to eat.’