Marina followed the sat nav, her foot hard down as far as she dared. On the way to Jaywick. On the way to meet her daughter.
She had insisted that that was part of the deal. The voice hadn’t been too pleased. ‘After you’ve seen … ’ it nearly said a name, ‘your patient.’
‘Look.’ Marina kept her own voice as calm, as reasonable as she could. ‘I’ve already told you I’ll see your patient. I’ve agreed to that. But we’re negotiating here. And I won’t talk to him until I’ve seen my daughter and know that she’s safe.’
‘No,’ said the voice. ‘We’re not negotiating. You’re going to do what you’ve agreed to do and then you’ll get her back.’
Marina wanted to scream, to rage. If they had been there in front of her, she would have attacked. But she swallowed that down, kept her voice calm, controlled. She knew she would only get somewhere if she behaved like a professional. ‘No,’ she said, in as measured and slow a tone as she could manage, ‘this is a negotiation. You’ve told me what you want me to do. And I’ve agreed to do it. But that agreement comes with certain conditions attached. I want to see my daughter. If you won’t do that, then I go to the police and tell them everything.’
‘What’ll happen to your daughter then?’
Again Marina had to control herself until she was sure she could speak without screaming. ‘You’ll let her go. Because there would no reason for you to keep her. You’ve explained your plan to me. And without my help, there will be no plan.’
There was silence on the line. Marina waited. She was suddenly aware that she was shaking. She wished she felt as strong as she had made herself sound. She wondered if she had gone too far. If they didn’t go along with her proposal, she might never see Josephina again. She knew now what was at stake. She guessed that if they were desperate enough to kidnap her daughter to make this work, they wouldn’t stop there.
‘All right,’ the voice said. Anger and defeat in its tone. ‘You can see her. But then you do what we want. And you don’t get her back until you’ve done it. Right?’
She felt a wave of relief wash over her. ‘Thank you. Just make sure she’s safe.’
‘She’s safe. Now get going.’
The phone went dead. The postcode was texted for the sat nav. She entered it and drove.
As she did so, she thought about the voice. In the time she had been talking to it, it had evolved. It was no longer intransigent, unyielding; it could be reasoned with. She knew that happened in negotiations; sometimes whole relationships developed. The way this person spoke led her to believe they were an amateur. A professional wouldn’t have engaged with her on any level. If she had made demands, been obstinate or refused to play, a professional would have harmed her daughter, even executed her.
This person – or persons – was reachable, and Marina felt a glimmer of hope at that thought. Perhaps the initial intransigence was down to fear, she thought. Perhaps they didn’t know what they were doing and had hidden behind a character.
She was glad now that she had left a clue. Just a small one, at the service station. She just hoped that someone had seen it, would be clever enough to work out what she had done, and follow her.
She kept driving. Hoping her daughter was all right. Wishing her husband was there with her.
Trying desperately to be brave, for their sake.