‘Who the hell’s that?’ shot out of Belle’s mouth. Her heart literally leapt. It was too late for the postman, and hardly anybody else ever called here.
Jack was already on his feet. He nodded to the bedroom and Belle scrambled up and quickly went over to it, slipping inside but leaving the door ajar so she could hear what was going on.
She heard Jack cross to the door, open it. And then all the hair on her arms and neck went upright in a spasm of fear when she heard Nipper’s voice say: ‘Hi, I don’t know if you can help but I’m looking all round this area for my sister. She’s run away from home and we think she was heading down here. The folks used to holiday here and she always liked it so we think she might have come back. Good-looking girl. Blonde. Brown eyes. Mum’s going off her nut, she’s so worried. You seen her?’
‘What’s her name?’ asked Jack.
‘Belle. I’m her brother, Neil.’
‘Nah. Sorry, mate. Haven’t seen her.’
‘You’re sure? She always liked this area, so we thought . . .’
‘No. I haven’t seen her. Sorry.’
Belle heard Jack shut the door.
Presently he came to where she was hiding and pushed the door open. ‘You OK?’ he said.
Belle was sweating, literally gasping for air.
‘You can relax,’ said Jack. ‘He’s gone. I take it you haven’t got a brother called Neil?’
Belle shook her head and tried to start breathing again. ‘That was Nipper. One of Harlan’s cronies. I recognized his voice.’
‘He’s gone,’ Jack repeated.
‘What if he comes back?’
‘Then we deal with it.’