Free Run Girl: Ingrid Skyberg FBI Thrillers Prequel Novella by Eva Hudson

Angelis’ performance. How could she just stand back and do nothing to stop him? What had gotten into her? She glanced at her hand. It was trembling.
    Oxley shook his head. “She never told me anything about what she was planning to do.” He glanced down at the bucket of water. “I swear that’s the truth.”
    “Has she ever mentioned any place here in the UK that might be important to her? Some place she wanted to visit?”
    The boy shrugged. “Apart from London, she only ever talked about Cambridge. I want to do my masters there. Sophie said maybe she could come and study there at the same time. She said she absolutely loved the place. Apparently her dad was a student there years back.”
    “You think she could be there right now?” Ingrid asked.
    Oxley coughed before he answered. Water was running out both his nostrils. “I truly don’t know. She never gave me any details.”
    “Does she know anyone there?”
    “Some old friends of the family. She said I’d love them. Said they were a bit eccentric… like me.”
    Adam Oxley hadn’t struck Ingrid as the eccentric type. She wondered if Rachel Whitticker had bothered to get to know him online very much at all.
    “Which college in Cambridge did her father attend?” Angelis asked. Oxley flinched slightly at the sound of his voice.
    “I… I… er…” The boy blinked rapidly, as if he were desperately trying to remember. “King’s,” he finally blurted out.
    “Thank you.” Angelis said and carried the bucket over to the sink and emptied it. “It would have been so much easier for both of us if you’d told me that at the start.”

14
    Ingrid was relieved to discover the taxi was still waiting for them when they pushed through the little blue wooden gate and back onto the street. Fumes from the taxi’s exhaust pipe were condensing in the freezing December air.
    They walked the twenty or so yards back to the dark blue mini-van in silence. Ingrid was still too mad at Angelis to speak to him. Adam Oxley hadn’t deserved that kind of treatment. He was only trying to keep a promise to his friend—however misplaced that loyalty was. She hoped he’d get over the traumatic experience without any lasting effects. But it was quite possible the kid would suffer from some kind of post traumatic stress. Poor bastard .
    Before they’d left him sitting in a daze at the table, his clothes completely drenched, Ingrid had insisted Oxley call his parents. His mom agreed to come pick him up later in the day. Hopefully he’d be able to get himself together before she arrived.
    They reached the taxi. Angelis opened a rear passenger door and stood aside. Ingrid ignored him and clambered into the car using the other door.
    “Oh, please. How long do you intend to keep this up?” he asked.
    Ingrid squeezed her hands into tight fists and concentrated on her breathing. She was so close to screaming at him she was concerned the taxi driver would throw her out of the car if she really let rip.
    Angelis climbed into the taxi and slammed his door. “I only did what I had to. Call Sol Franklin if you’re feeling so squeamish—I’m sure he’ll back me up.”
    Ingrid snatched down as deep a breath as she could then said, “And where exactly did it get us? We’re no nearer finding her than we were an hour ago.” She glanced at her watch. It was already a quarter before three. The sky was darkening. It looked like a storm was heading in their direction.
    “We know we should head for Cambridge. It’ll take no time at all in the chopper.”
    “Do we?”
    “She has a connection there.”
    “According to Adam Oxley.”
    “I really don’t think he was lying to us.”
    “No—but she lied to him.”
    “What?”
    “She ‘absolutely adores’ Cambridge? She’s never set foot in the country before. And why would she want to visit her dad’s friends? She hates anything to do with the guy.”
    “You think she gave Oxley false information so that he’d pass it on to