‘My car’s too obvious for sneaking up on Ivan Vasilovich,’ Ethan said to Hayley as they stood beside it in the car park.
‘But it’s fast,’ said Hayley who had quite enjoyed the drive and imagined she would enjoy another one.
Ethan scowled. ‘Don’t get me wrong. I like my car. But right now it’s not the best way for us to travel. It’s too easy to spot. And Vasilovich is a smart man. He’s already outwitted the entire Tomasi family — and me.’
‘He’s formidable,’ Hayley agreed.
‘He’s driving. We can get their faster if we fly,’ Ethan said.
He turned on his mobile phone and rang the airport to ask if they had any flights to Naples available. But the only flight was already full.
‘Let me try,’ said Hayley, who usually prided herself on being able to get things done.
She introduced herself to the phone ticket sales clerk and explained the situation.
‘I’m really sorry, ma’ am,’ said the clerk in a strong Indian accent. ‘It’s true that we can make emergency seats available but only if an active police investigation is involved.’
‘So we’ll involve the police!’ exclaimed Hayley.
But Ethan shook his head and reached out for his telephone, snapping it shut.
‘I can’t understand why you’re hesitating,’ said Hayley, frustrated. ‘Vasilovich has your daughter. Of course the police will want to help.’
‘They’ll be willing to help,’ Ethan agreed. ‘The question is: will they be able to? I don’t know that anyone can help with people like this. I know them, Hayley. You’ll have to trust me on this.’
Of course she would. After all, they were looking for his daughter.
‘We’ll take the train down,’ he said. ‘It will give us the chance to sleep too.’
Hayley could only agree that sleep would be a very good idea. She had been running on excitement for too long now and was starting to feel wilted with exhaustion.
‘Hopefully we can get something to eat as well,’ she said, yawning. ‘I could do with a meal.’
‘We’ll leave the car here and take a taxi to the station,’ Ethan said, once again flipping his telephone open. ‘I should check on the time of the next train.’
Hayley waited beside him. It was actually very pleasant in the sunshine. Many of the Italian women who passed looked so stylish, in well-fitting jeans and boots, with glossy, glossy hair. Hayley was increasingly aware that she had been wearing the same clothes for quite some time now.
‘Can I purchase those tickets over the phone?’ Ethan was asking. Then he looked up at Hayley. ‘We’ll share a compartment,’ he said.
Hayley folded her arms and raised her eyebrows at him in a way that she hoped looked meaningful.
Ethan pressed the mute button on his phone. ‘They insist on two people per compartment,’ he explained. ‘If we don’t share with each other, we’ll each end up sharing with someone else.’
Hayley shrugged. ‘Oh, well, if we have no choice then sharing’s fine,’ she agreed, hoping that this sounded as though it wasn’t a big deal.
While Ethan provided his credit card details, Hayley looked back over the town. It was a beautiful place with high towers of stone that seemed the colour of honey in the bright sunshine. It had rained earlier and the land around them seemed even more brilliantly green as a result.
It was a beautiful place but what struck her most was that there would be shops in the town. Those stylish Italian women must buy their things somewhere. At the very least, she would find a place where she could buy something clean to wear.
Ethan slammed his phone shut, looking slightly frustrated.
‘Is something wrong?’ asked Hayley.
‘I’d hoped the next train would be sooner. It’s an hour or two before we need to get to the station,’ Ethan said.
How Hayley felt for him, as he stood there, running his fingers back through his hair and his forehead creased with worry. Of course, he wanted to get down to Vasilovich and, possibly, to Katy, as quickly as possible.
But as long as they had this hour…
‘I want to go shopping,’ Hayley said.
Ethan looked startled. ‘Shopping?’ he repeated.
‘Clothes shopping,’ Hayley clarified. ‘It’s not just frivolous. I need something clean to wear. I haven’t anything to change into.’
Ethan tipped his head to one side and shrugged. ‘I suppose we might as well.’
***
An hour later on the train platform, Hayley was still in yesterday’s clothes, but there was a big, soft leather bag at her feet. It was comfortingly filled with a new pair of jeans, a knee-length green dress and a couple of shirts, pairs of underwear and fitted thinly knit woollen cardigans. And toothpaste and soap, of course. She had never before taken such pleasure in such simple things. And there was the promise of a place to shower on the train.
‘I want that even more than I want to eat,’ Hayley confessed.
Ethan was wearing a new leather jacket. Hayley had chosen it for him in the leather-goods store where he had purchased the beautiful bag for her. The soft folds of his jacket were dark brown like his hair, and looked just as touchable.
Their train pulled in soon after they got there and they sipped coffee from Styrofoam cups while waiting for the compartments to be cleaned of the detritus from its previous passengers.
‘I might grab another one before we board,’ Hayley said, draining the bottom of her cup.
‘You sure it won’t keep you awake?’ Ethan asked.
‘Nothing is going to keep me awake,’ she assured him.
By the time she returned to the platform, passengers were boarding and Ethan was waiting beside the door.
He looked impatient. She tapped him lightly on the side of the arm with her Styrofoam cup. ‘The train wouldn’t leave any quicker because I didn’t get this,’ she reminded him.
‘I know.’ Ethan gritted his teeth together. ‘I want it to go now. I want it to have gone yesterday.’
‘It’s a daily train,’ Hayley reminded him. ‘It probably did leave yesterday.’
They soon found their compartment. For the first part of their journey, there were comfortable seats that the uniformed attendant told them would be converted into bunks as soon as they liked. The knowing look he gave them made Hayley blush.
She had blushed more over the past couple of days than in her life to date, Hayley thought. She turned towards the window in hopes that the two men wouldn’t notice.
‘Signor, Signora, your passports, please,’ the conductor asked.
Ethan had done this before and had his ready, but Hayley had to rifle through her bag to get hers out. She passed it to the conductor and waited for him to check it. Perhaps he would have something to say about her name being different from Ethan’s — earlier on, it had been assumed that they were married.
But instead of checking her passport, the conductor slipped it inside Ethan’s, and put both of them into a pocket in the folder he was carrying.
‘Excuse me?’ said Hayley. ‘What are you doing with my passport?’
She was alarmed at the expression on Ethan’s face. He didn’t seem to mind about this imposition at all.
‘Can I have that back, please?’ she asked the conductor.
The conductor looked confused.
‘It’s just what they do here,’ Ethan explained. ‘Haven’t you ever stayed in a hotel that did that?’
‘Actually, I haven’t.’ But Hayley realised she’d get nowhere with this. She slid down into her seat, reminding herself that there was no logical reason for feeling panicked about separation from her passport. After all, she had no indication that they would need it any time soon. She just had to accept that this was the way that people did things over here.
The conductor explained that there was a shower booth at the end of the corridor and tipped his hat towards her before quietly leaving the room.
This was all the information Hayley needed. As soon as the conductor had left for the next compartment, she grabbed her bag and headed towards being clean.
***
Ethan watched her go. Hayley Wolfe, he thought. He liked her name. He liked the shape of her in her dress as she turned at the door and smiled back at him.
He liked her smile.
‘See you soon,’ she said.
He liked her voice.
‘You won’t recognise me when I’m clean,’ she added.
He wasn’t sure about that at all, but he liked that she could smile and joke. He liked her.
Dear God, someone had Katy, someone who was even less likely to look after her than Alvaro Tomasi. Tomasi, at least, was her uncle. He was her blood, with reason to make sure that she stayed physically safe. The Tomasis looked out for each other — most of the time. At least Ethan could be sure that no adult member of the family would see little Katy as a rival. She was safe as long as she was with them — but she wasn’t with them…
Ethan looked out the window as the train began to pull out of the station. There were quite a few hours left between now and when they would pull in to Naples. Too many hours. What if Katy had been taken to Tomasi’s place instead of down south to Ivan’s?
What if?
He strummed his fingers impatiently against the window frame. He knew that if Katy ended up near Tomasi, that this might be a good thing. Tomasi would find her, would save her, and then he, Ethan, could work on getting her back from him. He would not have to worry that — in the meanwhile — she was in physical danger.
Whereas while she was with Vasilovich it wasn’t just physical danger Katy faced. It was mortal danger. His subconscious seemed anxious to remind Ethan of this. But he didn’t want to think about that right now. He was on a train; he was getting to her as quickly as he could.
But Naples! There were few parts of Europe that were as uniquely beyond what Ethan could do for her. If he had suspected that Katy was being held in, say, London or Geneva, then there would have been people he could call to ask to look out for her, to act on his behalf. Unfortunately, although his business had connections spread right through the world, there was no one in southern Italy that he could trust.
For the next few hours there was nothing at all that he could do except wait for the train to get there.
Hayley returned twenty minutes later. She was wearing the green dress he had encouraged her to buy, and looked as amazing in it as he had suspected she would. The silky chiffon was the same colour as her eyes. Her hair was damp and hung in long pale gold strands that almost reached her shoulders. Her feet were shod in the strappy gold sandals she had chosen because they would not weigh much in her bag.
‘I thought I might dress for dinner,’ she said. ‘I’m so glad to be clean!’
Ethan had packed a couple of changes of clothing in his own overnight bag. He went to wash and change himself before they headed down to the restaurant car.
Once seated, Hayley ordered with some relish and ate with even more. Ethan was hungry himself and the food was well cooked for train food. But even more than he enjoyed it, it was a pleasure to watch Hayley. It was a common enough thing to say, of course, but he loved a woman with a good appetite.
‘You’d enjoy Italy if you were here for some other reason,’ he said. ‘The food, the wine, the lifestyle, it’s all beautiful.’
‘La dolce vita,’ Hayley agreed, raising her wineglass. ‘The good life.’
Ethan nodded and raised his glass in response. ‘May we have it back someday.’
Over dessert and the last of their bottle of wine, he said, ‘Hayley, I didn’t give you much choice about coming with me, but I’m glad you stuck it out.’
She opened her eyes wide with surprise. They were so blue, the colour seeming even more unusual by the dim light in here, and by the reflection of her dress. Apparently, not coming with him was a thought she had not even considered. A moment later, he caught her looking around the car with more attention, as though wondering about the strange fate that had brought her here.
‘I feel involved,’ she said. ‘You saved me from being shot. You paid my father’s medical and accommodation bills. I know that they were substantial. I suppose I feel like I owe you for that. I want to help you if I can. I know how important family is.’
She felt she owed him something? Despite his determination that there could be nothing between them, Ethan felt oddly disappointed to hear that. It was just his masculine ego, he reasoned, but he would have liked to hear Hayley confess that she was attracted to him.
‘You don’t owe me anything,’ he said. ‘When I paid your father’s bills it was almost blackmail.’
Hayley laughed. ‘You’re right, it was,’ she agreed. ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive you.’
He liked her laugh. He liked that she knew how to lighten a moment that needed lightening, because it made the situation more bearable for him, too.
‘It doesn’t matter why you helped my father,’ she said a moment later. ‘I will just always be grateful that you did.’
There was a tiny smear of raspberry sauce on her upper lip. If the table hadn’t been fastened to the ground between them, he would have been tempted to lean across and wipe it clean. Lick it, even.
‘You love him very much?’ Ethan asked.
Hayley nodded. ‘My mother walked out on us when I was very small,’ she said. ‘He raised me on his own.’
‘He did a good job.’
‘Thank you!’ Hayley grinned, looking genuinely pleased. She liked him too. He was sure of it.
If a relationship hadn’t been so obviously impossible, then Ethan realised he might have been feeling in danger right about now.
‘There have been times in my life when I thought Dad was the only person I could ever trust,’ Hayley said. ‘It’s been terrible to have him ill and needing to rely on me and feeling that I couldn’t provide the help he needed.’
‘You’re lucky to have family like that.’
‘I…’ Once again, Hayley looked surprised.
Through the window beside them, a sparkling Italian evening was rushing past.
‘I’ve never thought about it before,’ she said musingly. ‘But you’re right. This is something I don’t tell people very often. I was married once, you know.’
They had known each other for only a couple of days. Although he assumed there was no one in her life at the moment, he knew too little about her to be really surprised by an announcement like this.
He could tell she was nervous by the way she fingered her camera case.
‘Yes?’ he prompted.
‘Not for very long,’ Hayley said quickly. ‘Just long enough to have a honeymoon and get back home to discover my new husband had been having an affair with my best friend.’
Her husband and her best friend? Hayley’s eyes had darkened as she made this confession and Ethan found himself wanting to comfort her for the long-ago pain.
‘That must have been terrible,’ he said. ‘A double loss.’
‘It was,’ Hayley agreed, putting down her wine glass. It rattled slightly against the table. ‘I don’t know how I would have gotten through that without my Dad.’
He couldn’t be sure if she was shaking slightly or if this was the movement of the train. He realised now that, despite her cynicism about weddings — and who could blame her for that, after what she had been through — she had the same strong feelings about family as him. The same strong feelings that kept him locked up in his villa and now sent him careening around the country, trying to keep his daughter safe.
‘You can see why I value my independence,’ she said. ‘I think people can be happy on their own. Not enough people consider that. Not to mention that you are far less likely to be hurt.’
‘Do you hate your work very much?’ he asked.
‘Not all of it. How do you feel about yours?’
‘Truthfully? I like it. I’d planned on spending these past couple of years expanding the business though. Making my partner David into a full business partner as well. Not on the hunt for Tomasi.’
He ended on a rough, angry note. Hayley gave him a pitying look.
‘I love taking photos,’ she said. ‘I love capturing people in one of those surprising moments when an expression on their face, or something that you see them looking at or touching, reveals more about their inner selves than any number of words ever could.’
‘But weddings must be difficult.’
‘After my own, you mean?’
Ethan inclined his head.
‘I suppose they were, at first,’ Hayley said. ‘I had to get back to them though. Either that or find something else to do to earn a living. And there isn’t really anything else that I’m good at.’
He found that difficult to believe. Despite her slight frame and girlish bearing, Hayley Wolfe exuded the sort of easy confidence that suggested she could be very good at anything she put her mind to.
‘Were you very much in love with Erica?’ Hayley asked suddenly.
Brought back into reality with a start, Ethan stared down at his dessert spoon and tried to work out what to say. The answer to Hayley’s question wasn’t as simple as it could have been. And he was beginning to think that when it came to matters of the heart, she deserved an honest response.
‘Of course I loved her,’ he said. ‘We were married. On the day of our wedding, I thought that we would be together for the rest of our lives.’
‘I see.’
Hayley stared down at the table as well. Was it possible that she was feeling jealous over his long dead wife? Ethan felt a pang of compunction and the urge to explain further.
‘Yes, I did love her,’ he said. ‘Erica was beautiful. Everyone loved her.’
‘But not in the same way as you?’
‘The truth about that is, I just don’t know.’ He found himself struggling to find the words to explain the emotions he had gone through such a long time ago. ‘Erica was an intriguing and brave woman. But since she died, I’ve sometimes thought that maybe what I felt for her was closer to fascination than to love. My partner, David, he sometimes seemed to be even more in love with her than I was.’
‘Your partner fell in love with your wife?’ Hayley touched her mouth with a corner of her napkin. ‘That can’t have been easy.’
Ethan tried to force a smile. ‘It wasn’t quite as simple as it sounds. I met Erica while I was already working for my commercial investigation agency. David met her at the same time. He actually asked her out before I did. But things just didn’t work out for him.’
Hayley leaned forward. ‘Do you think he might still mind that?’ she asked.
‘What do you mean?’
Ethan shook his head, bewildered by the sudden change that their conversation had taken.
She raised her fork and used it to point towards the window as though this meant something. He soon realised she was just using this as a gesture to help her think.
‘You’ve made a few enemies,’ she said. ‘Earlier, you were wondering who it might be who gave information about Katy to Tomasi or this Ivan Vasilovich. I was wondering if people like David might know. That woman at the office. Your personal assistant.’
‘Elspeth?’
Now at least he could genuinely smile. The idea was laughable. Elspeth was one of the few people in his life that he could actually trust. She might sometimes be rude but he was in no doubt that she loved Katy, and him.
‘You think Elspeth might have betrayed me?’ Ethan asked.
She had the grace to blush. A long pause followed. Hayley seemed to be arranging her thoughts and deciding what to say.
‘You know that somebody must have betrayed you,’ she said. ‘Ivan knew where Katy was, remember. He must have known for a while. No, listen to me.’
He had looked away, the way people did when they didn’t want to hear something. Ethan knew enough about human nature to recognise the truth that he was revealing in avoiding her eyes.
‘I’ve been thinking about it,’ Hayley persisted. ‘In order for Vasilovich to know that Katy was having nightmares and that you were on your way to take her out of the school, he must have had the school’s phone lines bugged. How long do you think it takes to organise something like that?’
She was right about that. Vasilovich had known what Ethan was doing. He had to have been getting the information from somewhere. But Elspeth?
Ethan frowned. He didn’t want to have to suspect her but the truth was, he didn’t want to have to suspect anybody. And hardly anyone had known where Katy was.
‘Just last year she decided to postpone her retirement.’ Very slowly, he thought out loud. ‘She said it was because she lost money in one of the bank collapses and had college fees for one of her sons to consider.’
‘A lot of people suffered in the crash,’ Hayley said.
‘I thought she was looking for a convenient excuse for wanting to postpone retirement for a while,’ Ethan continued. ‘I thought maybe she realised I still needed assistance. That she was offering to help me.’
‘Help you?’
‘Yes. In a way that I would not be very likely to refuse.’
‘And now you’re wondering how bad her financial situation really is?’ Hayley surmised.
‘I don’t want to be thinking like that,’ Ethan said, wretchedly.
‘She’s been with you for a long time?’
‘Virtually my entire career. Back when I was learning the ropes as an investigator she even looked after the family business concerns so that I would have the chance to pursue interests of my own.’ Ethan tapped the dinner table with his fingertip. ‘Elspeth would never betray me,’ he said.
‘Someone did,’ Hayley reminded him.
‘Not Elspeth.’
‘David, then?’
He slammed his fist down against the table. The crockery and glassware rattled and, all around the restaurant car, eyes were turned in their direction.
‘What are you trying to do to me?’ he demanded. ‘These people are like family to me.’
Hayley reached across the table then, resting her fingers softly against his still firm fist.
‘I’m just trying to help,’ she said quietly.
He loosened his fingers and turned his hand around until it was holding hers. She was only trying to help him, he realised. The truth was that someone he trusted must have betrayed him, and that it was going to hurt to find out the truth, whatever it was.
‘I just thought we could use this time to try to work out who it is,’ she explained quietly. ‘Later on, this might turn out to be useful to know.’
‘I know,’ he confessed, ‘If I think of anything I’ll let you know.’
The truth was, of course, that he had no reason at all to trust Hayley, either. No reason except a deep, deep feeling that he could.
***
Their compartment had been made up into sleepers while they ate, and upon returning there was nowhere to sit except on the lower bunk.
‘Bottom or top?’ asked Hayley, feeling surprisingly shy when she saw it.
‘Which would you prefer?’ he asked. ‘I’m not sure I can sleep anyway.’
‘You have to sleep,’ she told him. ‘You need the energy, Ethan. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring but you will handle it better if you’ve rested.’
He slumped heavily into the bottom bunk, his head resting in his hands. Suddenly she had an idea.
‘Move over a bit. Turn around,’ she said, moving up behind him. ‘I know how to help you relax. I’ll give you a massage.’
He looked surprised, but moved over as Hayley had asked. She raised her legs onto the bunk and began rubbing his shoulder through his shirts. His muscles were stiff and tense. When she had been working the balls of her thumbs into them for some moments without any change, she leaned closer to put more of her weight into the task. She could smell his herbal shampoo and, beneath that, the spiciness of his aftershave.
It was his warmth and heat that had the greatest effect on her. He moved his head from side to side as she worked and as she kneeled behind him, she had to resist the urge to kiss the top of his head.
‘I’m really not sure I can relax,’ Ethan said.
She thought again of Katy. Ethan was desperately worried. Of course he wasn’t going to relax.
‘Should I stop?’ she asked.
‘I didn’t say I didn’t like it.’ His voice was deep. When he raised one of his hands and closed it over hers on his shoulder, she froze.
‘I can’t keep going if you won’t let me move,’ she said, hoping there was the right sort of light tone in her voice.
He said nothing but continued to hold her hand still as he turned until he was facing her. His eyes were dark. She was still kneeling up, her face higher than his as he reached both arms towards her and pulled her in closer.
The gesture was so simple and so uncomplicated and comforting and real that it just about took her breath away. Hayley leaned down against him, feeling his breath hot against the top of her chest.
His arms reached all the way around her and his hands pawed greedily at her back.
Hayley wanted to ask him to stop. She wanted to ask if he was sure that she wanted to do this. Didn’t he also think relationships were a mistake? Weren’t they obviously just drawn together by circumstance?
But he raised one of his fingers and placed it against her lips before she could speak.
‘No questions,’ he growled.
She bit his finger.
His eyes widened with surprised. Then she grinned at him, reached for his hand with her own and playfully pretended to kiss the finger better.
‘All right, no questions,’ she agreed, sinking to his level.
He wrapped his arms around her again and raised her slightly before laying her down on the bunk and stretching out beside her. The train was still speeding through into the night and they swayed along with it as he peeled off her new green dress and drew a line of kisses down her belly.
‘I can’t quite believe this. You are so beautiful.’
‘You keep saying that. You’ll make me vain.’
‘It’s true.’
‘You just want to get lucky,’ she teased.
‘Well, that’s true too,’ he admitted.
Then he kissed lower. She scratched at his back and then cried out.
Of course she wanted to know if he might love her, if this might mean anything, but there was so much to be done first. There was love to be made and explored before they slept and in the new day there was a child to find and save.
They made love hungrily and came together in a wave of release. After those few moments, Hayley opened her eyes and realised she was looking at Ethan as he really was, without any of the anxiety that complicated his daily life. He looked calmer now, and relaxed.
Relaxed enough now to finally doze. Hayley looked down at him and smiled. He was beautiful, and, for a while, he was hers.
She eased into the crook of his arm and realised that the biggest question of all was something she had to ask herself. How on earth was she going to get back to normal, solitary life, after this?