Dead Man's Gift 01 - Yesterday Read Online Free Page B

far as he was concerned, there was very little to say. Tim had been thinking about dying. He’d never really appreciated how lucky he’d been in life: a beautiful family, plenty of money, and a career that held what he’d always assumed was real power. Now he stood to lose all of it, and there was nothing he – Tim Horton, handsome, confident government minister – could do about it. He was totally reliant on someone else – a man he didn’t even like, and who probably liked him even less – to save his life, and if he failed, then tomorrow would be the last day that he ever saw. It was an utterly terrifying prospect, one he still found almost impossible to comprehend, and he told himself that if he somehow got through this, he’d change his life, devote more time to others, including his beloved son, and try to repair the relationship with Diane.
    On the table his phone vibrated. He’d received a text. Leaning over as nonchalantly as possible, he checked the screen.
    It was Scope, saying that he was parked down the road close to the pub.
    ‘Who is it?’ asked Diane, watching him with something akin to suspicion in her eyes, as if she didn’t trust him to go through with this.
    ‘Jenny,’ he said, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible. ‘She wants to know if I need to see her before the pre-hearing meeting tomorrow.’ He texted ‘Out in ten’ and replaced the phone on the table, conscious that he could be getting a call at any moment from the kidnapper, demanding that he show the text to the camera, which would effectively destroy everything.
    He sat back in the chair, praying he hadn’t overplayed his hand.
    Diane was still staring at him.
    ‘What is it?’ he asked.
    ‘I know this must be so hard for you, I really do …’
    ‘Do you? Do you have any idea what it’s like to know you’re going to die in the next 24 hours and there’s nothing – absolutely fucking nothing – that you can do about it?’
    ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I do. Because if anything happens to Max – if he dies – then that’s it for me. I’ll die too, because there is no way on earth I want to live without him.’
    Tim sighed. ‘I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I know we’re both under pressure.’
    ‘Please don’t do anything stupid, Tim. Like involve the police or anything.’
    ‘Of course I won’t,’ he lied. ‘Max is my son too. I want him to live just as much as you do. Even if it costs me… …’ His words trailed off. He couldn’t bring himself to finish them aloud.
    Diane leaned across the table and squeezed his hand. Her touch felt warm and their eyes met. ‘I love you,’ she said, fighting to keep her voice steady. ‘I know I haven’t said that for a long time, but, you know, whatever happens, it’s true.’
    ‘I love you too.’ But he wondered how she’d feel if she knew he was betraying her.
    The room fell silent again and Tim waited, counting down the minutes, still clutching his wife’s hand, wondering what kind of inhuman bastard could sit watching this scene remotely and not feel some kind of pity for the people involved.
    After what felt like a long enough interval, he stood up. ‘I need the toilet again. I feel sick.’
    Diane looked at him suspiciously once more, and Tim wondered what the hell she thought she was playing at, doing the kidnapper’s job for him.
    ‘Wouldn’t you feel sick if you knew you were going to die?’ he demanded, before stalking out of the room.
    The moment he was inside the toilet, he opened the window into the back garden and squeezed himself through it, toppling hands first onto the patio. As he got to his feet and started across the garden, keeping as close to the fence as possible, he knew he was taking a huge risk, but gambled that, though the kidnappers almost certainly had sensors on the doors, they wouldn’t have put them on the toilet window. Of course, he could have been wrong, but there was nothing he could