Half an hour later, they were there. Against the purple-dark night sky lit only by a dazzling full moon and a sprinkling of stars, they could see the castle’s towering black outline as the helicopter sped over the sea toward it. At the last moment the craft lifted, and they could see the lights outlining the circular landing pad in the courtyard within the castle keep.
The pilot guided the helicopter down on to it, battling a fierce headwind that was coming in off the ocean. It touched down with barely a bump. Steve and Tony ditched the headphones, and everyone unfastened their seat belts. The rotors slowed, and stopped, then the pilot came and opened the door, helping Annie down. She stood there, her hair whipping across her face in the breeze, and looked around at the castle’s tall forbidding walls and wondered with a shudder of foreboding where Redmond was, right now.
‘There’s a door,’ she told Max. ‘Over here.’
‘Does someone usually come out to meet you?’ he asked.
‘The housekeeper, Mrs McAllister.’
‘Then where is she this time? She must have heard us arrive. And supposing Delaney’s here, how the fuck would he get in? This place is a fortress.’
‘There’s a path up from the beach below the headland,’ said Annie. ‘It’s a slog, but it’s no trick to get in. You ring the bell, and Mrs McAllister opens the gate down there or . . .’
‘Or what?’ asked Max when she hesitated.
‘Redmond could afford to hire a helicopter. You saw his house. My guess he’s got a lot of gang money stashed away, so this would be no big stretch for him. Maybe his pilot landed round the headland, or even right here in the courtyard. Maybe Mrs McAllister thought it was me or Alberto coming in, came out to meet us, and got the shock of her life.’
Steve and Tony were alighting from the helicopter. Annie led the way over to the door Mrs McAllister usually emerged from. But she wasn’t there this time, and that was odd. Max was right about that. Annie felt a threadworm of fear crawl up her spine. But it was too late now for second thoughts. The pilot was getting back behind the controls, firing up the rotors. Within a couple of minutes, the helicopter had lifted off the ground, spun around, and was gone, away into the night sky.
‘So, no welcome party,’ said Max as they stood beside the door.
‘I hope she’s OK,’ said Annie.
‘She’s probably not,’ he said, and gave a nod to Tony, who twisted the circular handle on the old door. It opened, and Tony pushed through, into the body of the castle.