The Passenger by Daniel Hurst (great book club books TXT) 📕

to be the one behind Charles’s brutal murder. I wouldn’t just lose my savings then.

I’d lose my freedom, and Louise would be alone with no income, no home and the shame that comes with everybody knowing what her mother had done.

But what if James gets caught with it? What if the police find out what these two men have done and trace back their crimes to me? If they know the ring came from my safe, they will know I was the one who was in Charles’s flat that night.

But what other choice do I have? A quick check on my watch tells me that we aren’t far from arriving into Brighton, and if I haven’t given up the code by then, Louise will pay for my silence. I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and hope for the best. I’ve tried to put it off as long as I can.

‘I’ll give you the code if you promise to let my daughter go,’ I say into the phone.

‘No. Code first, then I’ll let her go,’ James replies.

‘At least let me speak to her so I know she is all right,’ I try.

‘I don’t have time for this! Give me the code!’

‘Let me speak to my daughter first!’

I’m determined not to give in until he does as I ask, reminding myself that he has nothing without the information I can give him.

‘Fine. You’ve got ten seconds,’ he replies, and the line goes quiet for a moment.

‘Mum?’

It’s great to hear my daughter’s voice, even if she does sound absolutely terrified.

‘Lou, are you okay? I’m so sorry about this.’

‘Just come home, Mum. Please.’

‘I’m on my way right now, and I’ll be there soon. Are you hurt?’

‘No, I’m fine,’ Louise replies, and the sound of her meek voice tells me that she is anything but.

‘Are you tied up?’

‘No.’

‘Okay, I need you to listen to me. I’m going to give him the code to the safe. But I need you to do something while he is opening it. I need you to try to get away from him. Run and lock yourself in the bathroom while his back is turned. Do you think you can do that?’

The line goes quiet.

‘Louise?’ I cry, terrified at what the silence means.

‘Ten seconds is up,’ James says. ‘Give me that code.’

I take a deep breath.

‘Okay. The code is 87219923.’

I slump down onto the closed toilet seat as I keep the phone to my ear. I’m exhausted and angry, but I just want this to be over with now.

Gripping the device tightly, I wait for James to talk to me again or hang up. I won’t know which until he reaches the safe. As I wait, I can hear more talking on the other side of the toilet door, but I still can’t hear the man who chased me in here. I wonder if he has given up now and moved to a different part of the train, perhaps preparing to get off quickly when the train reaches the station, and disappear before I can point him out to the police in Brighton. He probably presumes I’ve already called 999 from in here and that they are on the way to the flat, as well as the train station. But I haven’t. I’ve given his partner what he wants.

‘Give me that code again?’ James asks, bringing the temporary silence on the phone to an end.

‘87219923,’ I repeat, keeping my voice calm.

I can hear the sound of the keys being pressed on the safe, and it gives me severe anxiety to know that somebody other than me is pressing them, but there’s not much I can do about it from here.

‘It’s not working,’ James repeats.

‘What? Are you sure you’re putting it in right?’

I wonder if Louise has had a chance to run into the bathroom yet while James is distracted. He hasn’t shouted after her yet, but then he is preoccupied with getting his hands on a bundle of money. But then James speaks again, and I suddenly feel like the walls of the train toilet are closing in on me.

‘I’m not the one entering it. It’s your daughter.’

Shit.

James has got Louise doing it for him.

I was expecting him to do it.

I was hoping he would be distracted while he was at the safe, giving her a chance to run and hide. But she is the one pressing the keys on the safe. That means I have just put her in even more danger.

‘It’s been temporarily locked for ten minutes! What the hell have you just done?’ James cries down the phone, aware now that something is wrong.

My safe comes with a feature that means it won’t open for ten minutes if the incorrect code has been entered three times in a row. I knew that would happen because I had given him the wrong code, but that was only because I thought Louise would be safely locked in the bathroom by now.

Instead, the sound of her screams down the phone tell me that James is finally making good on his threat of hurting her.

Oh, my God, I’ve killed my daughter.

35

AMANDA

‘No! Stop! I’m sorry! I got the numbers mixed up! I’ll give you the right code! Just don’t hurt her! Please!’

I’m a terrible mother for risking my daughter’s life, but I thought there was one last genuine chance to get out of this without letting him in that safe. If Louise could have made it to the bathroom and locked the door while James was distracted, then she would have been safe when he discovered that the code was wrong. Then James would have had no choice but to give up and leave before I called the police, and disaster would have been averted. The ring would still be locked away, and my secret would still be safe. But I’ve messed it all up now, and it sounds like James has never been angrier.

‘You stupid bitch!’ he yells at me through the phone, and I’m not sure