Page 71 of A Merry Little Christmas
Caleb told her to find the particular car that had been parked there on two specific evenings. ‘Find the BMW and then phone the police again and give them the registration number. And tell them you think that’s the car Will was driven away in, okay?’
‘And then phone Caleb with the registration as well,’ I added.
‘Okay.’ Penny nodded frantically. ‘But I want to come with you.’
He shook his head. ‘This is more important. Phone the police then get them that registration number.’
‘Right.’ She stared at us in dismay. ‘But we came on the bus. How will I get home?’
At that moment, Daniel and his dad arrived at the stall, asking where Will was. Caleb gave a quick explanation and luckily, Daniel’s dad saw the urgency of the situation immediately and offered to drive Penny back to Henley Green.
We watched the three of them dashing off, Penny fumbling for her phone as she went.
‘Don’t worry! We’ll bring him back,’ called Caleb. ‘Right, I’m going.’
‘I don’t care what you say, I’m coming withyou,’ I told him firmly.
He hesitated for barely a second. Then he took my hand. ‘Let’s go.’
*****
Once clear of the village, Caleb floored it, driving at speed through the countryside. He was taking bends at twice the rate I would, but I trusted him completely. He was an excellent driver.
‘It’s them, isn’t it?’ I said after a while. ‘They’vekidnapped Will.’
‘It’s my fault,’ he said shortly. ‘I was so sure it was you they were going after, I never even thought about the other blatantly obvious target. My nephew!’ He shook his head, disgusted at himself.
‘Don’t blame yourself.’
‘But I do, Katja. If I’d told Penny what was going on, chances are they wouldn’t even havegoneto the Christmas market today. I should just have come clean right from the start and informed the police.’
‘But you thought that might put me in danger,’ I said, trying to comfort him, all the time craning my neck to hopefully spot a black BMW up ahead of us.
‘This is the Portsmouth road,’ he said suddenly. ‘They’d better not be aiming to catch a ferry.’
‘They wouldn’t, though, would they? They’d surely guess we’d have called the police and told them the route. If they board a ferry in Portsmouth, they’d be trapped.’
‘That’s true. So where on earth are they taking him?’
We drove for a while in silence. Then suddenly, as we were passing a petrol station on the passenger side, I happened to glance at the cars parked there – and my heart lurched almost out of my chest. ‘I’ve just seen the car. I’m almost sure of it!’ I shouted, turning in my seat and straining to look back.
‘In the petrol station?’ asked Caleb urgently. As I told him yes, he was already slowing down and driving into an industrialestate on our left then doing a speedy turn and parking at the entrance.
I glanced at him, puzzled. ‘Aren’t you going to drive back there?’
‘No point. They’ve obviously just stopped for petrol. We’d probably meet them going on their way again. Far better to wait here for them to come past.’
So we waited. And sure enough, a few minutes later the car flew past where we were parked, and Caleb nipped in behind it, accelerating hard to catch up.
Penny phoned Caleb. ‘Do you have any news?’ she asked, a mix of hope and panic in her voice.
‘We’ve got eyes on the car we think took him. I presume there’s been no sign of Will at all?’
‘No. We’ve come back to the market just in case Will is still around here somewhere and I’ve phoned everyone I can think of, including the police. I’ve given them the registration number of that car and they said it’s registered to an address in Hove. They’re sending local police to check it out, and they’ve issued the registration to all police forces in the UK, along with a description of Will and details of a possible kidnapping.’
‘Great.’ Caleb nodded. ‘Tell me the registration just to make sure this is the right car we’re tailing?’
‘We’re pretty sure it is,’ I called. ‘It’s got the wonky roof rack and there surely can’t be two the same.’
