‘This can’t be right,’ she said in a low tone. ‘No one said anything to me about a helicopter.’ She felt the colour wash out of her face.
‘It was just how things turned out, that’s all. I have to go back up north, and so do you and Connor, so it makes sense for us all to travel together, doesn’t it?’ He stopped suddenly, taking in her pale features. ‘Why, is there a problem?’
‘No, of course not,’ she lied through her teeth. How could she possibly voice her true thoughts with Connor beside her? ‘Why would there be?’
Craig put his head to one side as though he was trying to assess what was going through her mind. ‘You’re used to flying, aren’t you? Living on Islay, I dare say you would find it the best way to travel.’
The lift came to a halt before she had time to answer, and the doors opened out on to the roof space, so that a gust of fresh air met them. Rebecca looked out to see the brightly painted helicopter, ready and waiting on the helipad, its rotors turning.
She patted the blankets in place around Connor to make him snug, but after that she stayed rooted to the spot, so Craig took over the handling of the trolley bed and someone who introduced himself as the copilot came over to greet them.
‘I’ll give you a hand getting the patient on board,’ he told Craig, stopping for a moment to greet Connor. ‘We’ll soon have you tucked up cosy as you like.’
Connor nodded, and turned his head to look at Rebecca. ‘You’re coming, aren’t you, Becca? You said you would.’ His face was pale, and she realised that even this small excitement had been enough to tire him out.
‘Yes, I did. Of course I did.’ She ventured forward a few steps to give him encouragement and then stood still. ‘I’ll just wait here for a moment while they get you on board.’
Craig came to find her when the child was settled inside the cabin. ‘Are you ready?’ he asked.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ she said. She looked at him. ‘I don’t do helicopter rides. I tried one once and told myself never again. You should have warned me. Someone should have told me.’
‘There’s nothing to it,’ he said. ‘Helicopters take off day in, day out. The sky is clear, and we’re all set to go. What could go wrong?’
‘You tell me,’ she said abruptly. ‘You were the one who said you had to stay over while your transport was fixed.’ She looked him in the eye. ‘That means there was a problem, right?’
His shoulders lifted in a negligent shrug. ‘It was nothing. Just a faint judder in the engine. But they’ve checked it out and everything’s fine.’
‘No, I don’t think it is. Everything is not fine, far from it. No one told me about this and I’m finding it hard to take in.’
‘You’ll only be up there for half an hour…an hour at the most,’ he said. He moved closer to her and placed an arm around her shoulders, drawing her against his chest. ‘I’ll sit with you and hold your hand if you like.’ He pulled an exaggeratedly fiendish face, halfway between a leer and a smile, and Rebecca balled her hand into a fist and thumped him lightly in the arm.
‘This is not funny. It’s not at all funny.’ She was battling with herself, trying to shake off the nerves that threatened to overwhelm her. At the same time she was trying not to think about the way it felt to have his arm draped about her, drawing her into the warmth and shelter of his body. She would not be enticed by the comfort of that embrace.
It was a sham, a pretence set up to fool her into complying with what he wanted her to do.
Like Angie had said of her ex-boyfriend, he was a ratfink. None of them were to be trusted.
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