Free One Way Or Another You Will Pay by Eve Rabi Page A

someone.
    “It’s work to me. I will change my shifts around in time but for now, I can only be here when I have a chance. I need more leg room here. It’s not like I’m not honouring our agreement or something.”
    He jerks his neck around, a mixture of confusion and nervousness on his face.
    Something is amiss.
    Oh, I know what it is – today, there is no bragging, no cockiness, no lecture on how magnificent he is. He seems somewhat stressed and eager to end the visit.
    When I start to leave, the lines on his brow disappears and his face relaxes.
    “Friday,” he mouths, before he walks away.
    The moment I arrive home, Ritchie enters our house.
    “I have two people who followed you out,” he says his voice full of excitement.
    He whips out his phone. “I did something I shouldn’t have done; I took photos of them.”
    Bear and I scramble to look at the images.
    I scratch my head. I can’t tell anything just by looking at the two prison-uniform clad officers.
    “This one,” Bear says, pointing at one of the ladies.
    Both Ritchie and I look at him, our eyebrows raised.
    “Look at her hair. Look!”
    I peer at her hair. A short bob, mahogany and …about two centimeters below her ear!
    My eyes fly to look at him.
    “What does that mean?” Ritchie asks, his eyes darting between Bear’s and mine.
    “Tom’s trademark.” I go on to explain.
    “So… the other one has long, blonde hair,” Ritchie muses.
    I turn my attention back to the photo. Even though it’s hazy, we can still see her face.
    She’s probably Asian, from Malaysia or Indonesia. She has tan skin, medium height, medium build, with broad shoulders.
    “I will tail her tomorrow,” Ritchie says. “In the meantime, Tom must not suspect a thing. You need to keep seeing him and play along. And don’t mention the cancer, that you’re onto him.”
    I look at Bear.
    Bear says nothing, but his brows become one.
    Ritchie gives me a leave-him-to-me wink and continues. “According to cops, the camera in the petrol service station, the image of the person carrying Savannah and dropping her off is unclear. Not possible to determine whether it’s a man or a woman because of the cap the person wore, right?”
    We nod.
    We are interrupted by Ritchie’s ringing phone. “Excuse me,” Ritchie says and answers the phone. When he hangs up he looks distressed. “Ally hasn’t been fetched from pre-school,” he says. “The school can’t locate Olga.”
    “Oh! Do you want me to fetch her?” I ask.
    “I got it,” Ritchie says and hurries off.
    I think of Ritchie’s wife, Olga. She only came once to visit us after Savannah was kidnapped.
    I’ve helped her out a lot since she’s been in Sydney and to be honest, I expected more from her. But I do understand that her brother is visiting from the Ukraine, so she seems busy with him.
    Still, it’s disappointing that we don’t have her support.
    But I have Ritchie’s support, so I’m grateful for that.

CHAPTER NINE
     
     
    “She’s Ingrid Felix, lives in Auburn, and drives a black Toyota Camry, not a white Mazda,” Ritchie says, as we all sit around the dining table.
    “O…kay.” Disappointing. I really thought we had a suspect.
    “Working at Remington for six years,” Ritchie continues. “But no white Mazda…”
    “Could have borrowed it,” Bear says. “I’ll tail her.”
    Ritchie shakes his head. “Don’t, Bear. If she is who we think she is, she will know you. Don’t want to tip her off. Leave her to me. I will check it out, okay?”
    “You’ve done so much already, mate,” Bear says.
    Ritchie gave a dismissive wave. “You take care of her,” he says, pointing his chin at me.
    I give him a grateful smile. “Why don’t you bring Olga and the kids over for dinner?”
    His face darkens as he shakes his head. “Things …”
    One word, “things,” but I get the picture. He leaves.
    I look at Bear and for a moment, we lock eyes. He averts his first and leaves the room without a