'I know, but it wasn't really his fault,' she said kindly. 'He was desperate, you see. He felt a lot better when we'd talked about it. That was why he gave himself up.'
Ben sat back on his heels and stared at her in disbelief. 'You talked him into giving himself up?'
'Well, it was his decision, of course,' she told him, 'but we talked it through together quite a bit.'
Ben blinked. 'You talked it through?'
'Of course.' She looked at him as if it was an odd question. 'He didn't want to at first. But he was obviously mixed up and tense so I chatted a bit to try and relax him and get him to open up—'
'Oh, Ellie...' Ben gave a groan and closed his eyes briefly. 'And what was his reaction to that?'
'Well, at first he threatened to shoot me if I didn't stop talking!' Ellie looked affronted and a glimmer of a smile crossed Ben's face.
'I'm sure he would never have kidnapped you if he'd known what you were like.'
'I just .thought it would help if he talked about it,' Ellie said, and Ben shook his head, his, eyes alight with humour.
'Presumably you told him that?'
'Of course!' She looked surprised at the question and Ben let out a long breath.
'In that case, it's no wonder he threatened to shoot you.'
'Nonsense. He needed to talk to someone and in the end he opened up quite a lot.' Ellie frowned thoughtfully.
'Well, I suppose I actually did most of the talking...'
'You astonish me,' Ben said dryly, his face darkening with anger as he saw the blue-black bruise on her right eye and the blood on her cheek. 'Did he hit you?'
'Oh, no.' Ellie lifted a hand-and touched her head. 'This was my fault. He let go of me suddenly and I hit the trolley. Tell me something, why is it that men have such trouble talking about how they feel?'
'Blame it on the tough, macho thing,' Ben said, his eyes still on her head as Sean and Jack hurried up to them.
'Everything OK here?'
It was now that he knew she was all right.
He scooped her up in his arms and laid her on the trolley so that he could take a closer look at her.
He still couldn't believe that she was alive. Alive and talking. Anyone else would have been totally floored by their ordeal, but Ellie was chatting away to the policeman now, explaining why he had to be tolerant to Ken.
She saw good in everyone.
Once the policeman had finished talking to her, she glanced at Ben cautiously.
'I suppose you're angry because I've got myself in trouble again.'
Her bravery squeezed his heart but he kept his tone light-hearted. 'Furious. And now I need to take a proper look at that head of yours. Were you knocked out?'
There was no way he was letting her out of his sight again.
Sean strolled up to them. 'That's nasty. Do you want me to stitch it?'
'I'll do it,' Ben said immediately, 'but she was knocked out so I suppose she ought to be admitted for observation.'
'No!' Ellie looked at him in horror. 'I don't want to stay in.'
Ben ignored her plea, moving his fingers gently over her temple as he examined her.