‘Get the police,’ I said. Tell them what’s happened, and keep out of this.’
‘I don’t understand,’ he said, bewildered. What are you doing here?’
‘Never mind. Get the police.’
He started to say something, changed his m ind and went slowly from the room. I heard him mounting the stairs.
‘Drink this,’ I said, turning back to Serena. ‘You’ll need it. Come on. The cops are going to get tough when they find out you’ve been hiding him.’
She took the whisky, gulped some of it, shuddered and put the glass down.
‘Why should they? He made me promise not to tell them. He came back two days ago. He escaped from his kidnappers. He said they would kill him if they found out where he was. He wouldn’t let me tell even Wadlock.’
‘Did he tell you who kidnapped him?’
‘Barratt and Perelli,’ she said breathlessly. ‘He said Barratt hired Perelli because Lee wanted to give up his past life.’
That was exactly what I didn’t want to hear.