Page 99 of Stolen

The other woman’s ambivalence plays across her face. She returns to her chair, perching nervously on the arm like a bird ready to take flight.

‘I thought at first Catherine was just trying to fit in, you know, like people do when they’re kind of on the fringes of things,’ she says. ‘She hardly knew anyone at the wedding. Sian said she only picked her as a bridesmaid because she needed an ugly one. I know she meant it as a joke, but she was never super nice to Catherine to be honest.’ Zealy looks away, an ugly flush stealing across her caramel skin. ‘I don’t suppose I was, either.’

The ugly one. Quinn feels the familiar tingle along her nerve endings.

That’s how Ian Dutton described Catherine, too.

Back in Dubai, Quinn and her cameraman, Phil, had patched Dutton up as best they could.

He’d refused to let them take him to hospital, so they’d poured a quarter-bottle of Scotch into him and settled him on the sofa with an ice pack.

Whoever had beaten him up had been very professional about it. They’d been looking for information, same as Quinn. They’d particularly wanted to know who he’d told about his plans to elope with Sanaa.

Dutton was adamant he hadn’t breathed a word to anyone. They’d broken his nose and several ribs before they’d believed him.

‘You’re sure Sanaa didn’t tell anyone either?’ Quinn had pressed. ‘Not even her parents?’

‘They’d have gone straight to Sanaa’s husband,’ Ian said.

‘Maybe someone followed you? Or overheard something?’

‘We were careful. No one knew where Sanaa was. There’s no way—’

He broke off suddenly.

‘What?’

‘One of the bridesmaids in Florida. She was like a peeping bloody Tom.’ His words were distorted by his broken nose:peepung bloodeh Tom. ‘I’d forgotten till now. I saw her lurking around one day when I was talking to Sanaa on the phone. I suppose it’s possible she overheard me.’

‘Whichbridesmaid?’

He frowned, then winced with pain. ‘The ugly one. I forget her name.’

Quinn had her suspicions then, but she’s certain of it now: Catherine Lord is the woman who took that video of Ian and Sanaa eloping and sent it to the police.

Either she hated Dutton enough to land him in a world of hurt just for the fun of it, which, given she didn’t even know him before the wedding, seems unlikely.

Or she was protecting someone else.

The so-called ‘thin man’.

Who did Catherinereallysee carrying a child along the alley by the hotel that night?