Gone (34 page)

He wasn’t giving in. She wouldn’t beat him again. He smashed his fist into the mirror, causing it to crack; the pain radiated through his hand and this time the blood was his own. He looked at the river of red that started to pool in the dirty white sink. He wasn’t giving in.

He’d been starting to think he was wrong, that Emma hadn’t come to Alnwick at all, hadn’t come to find Ben. But after he’d seen the boyfriend he was certain. Why else would he be here?

He turned and walked out of the toilets and back through the busy pub, knocking into people too drunk to make an issue out of it. As he got to the door he saw a couple of coppers standing there, trying to calm down a pair of slappers having a catfight. Lucas stopped, tried to find another way out. As he turned back to make sure they hadn’t spotted him, one of the slappers launched herself at the other. As she stumbled backwards, causing a domino effect, Lucas dodged her and tried to sneak past.

‘You all right, mate?’

Lucas kept his head down, tried to pretend he hadn’t heard him, but the copper was as wide as he was tall and blocked the exit.

‘I’m all right,’ Lucas said and tried to get around him, but he wasn’t having any of it. Behind them the other copper had hold of both girls, trying to keep them apart. Lucas saw another police car pull up outside. He had to leave. Now.

‘You’ll need stitches in that,’ the copper said, nodding at Lucas’s hand. He looked past Lucas for a moment as his colleague helped one of the girls towards the door. Her face was covered in blood, looked like her nose was broken. ‘Looks like we’re going to A&E,’ the copper said. ‘You might as well join the party.’

Lucas’s stomach clenched. Why the fuck wouldn’t he leave it? When did the police get so helpful?

‘We’ve got another one,’ the copper said to his mate as he led the girl outside to their car. ‘Come on,’ he said to Lucas. Lucas watched as the other coppers walked around the pub, asking people for ID.

‘All right, mate – thanks,’ Lucas said and followed him out. If the stupid bastard wanted to give him a lift back to the hospital, who was he to argue?

Chapter 82

17 December 2010

Gardner called Adam Quinn back, his foot tapping as the phone rang a few times. He was about to hang up when Adam answered. ‘Adam? It’s Detective Gardner. You all right?’

‘Yeah,’ Adam said and made a noise as if he was spitting. ‘I’m in Alnwick.’

‘Yeah, I got your message. What the hell happened? I told you to stay at home.’

‘I couldn’t just sit there. I needed to do something, so I decided to come to Alnwick and look for her myself. I saw an address in her diary the other day. When you mentioned Alnwick I figured it was as good a place as any to look.’

‘And you didn’t think to mention it to me?’ Gardner heard more spitting and held the phone away from his ear. Adam clearly wasn’t going to answer the question so he moved on. ‘What happened with Yates? Where is he?’

‘I don’t know,’ Adam said. ‘I saw him in the street and chased him. We had an altercation and he ran off.’

‘An altercation? Are you hurt?’ Gardner asked and Freeman stared at him, questioning.

‘I’m all right,’ he said but Gardner doubted it, realising what the spitting sound was. ‘He asked me where Louise was. She’s not with him. Where are you?’

‘At the hospital. The guy whose address that was – Ben, the drug counsellor I told you about – he’s in surgery. Lucas Yates got to him too. Do you need to go to the hospital? How bad is it?’

‘I’m fine,’ Adam said.

‘Where are you?’

‘Somewhere in the town centre. I’ve kind of lost track of where I left my car.’

Gardner rubbed his eyes. ‘All right, hang on and we’ll come and get you, take you back to your car. Where exactly are you?’

Adam paused before answering. ‘I don’t know. Hang on, there’s a pub down here.’

‘All right,’ Gardner said when Adam told him the name. ‘Stay there, we’ll come and get you.’

‘Okay.’

‘Do
not
go back to Ben’s house alone. I doubt Yates will go back but don’t take the risk. We’ll be as quick as we can.’ He hung up and looked at Freeman, who was watching him like a dog watches a biscuit.

‘So,’ she said. ‘Is he okay?’

‘He said he was.’

‘And what about Lucas?’

‘In the wind. Again.’

‘Shit,’ Freeman said. ‘So what happened?’

Gardner shook his head. ‘Adam decided to come and play detective. Ran into Lucas Yates and had an altercation. I’m guessing Lucas won. But Adam managed to find out one thing.’

‘Which is?’

‘Lucas doesn’t have Emma. He has no idea where she is.’

Chapter 83

17 December 2010

Lucas gave a fake name to the A&E receptionist and waved his friendly copper goodbye. Obviously he was heading back to the mean streets of Alnwick. It was Christmas – made everyone go mad. He looked around the waiting room, at the old people slumped over with their mouths open, already halfway to death; at the drunks puking all over themselves at five in the afternoon. The receptionist didn’t even bat an eyelid. Lucas wondered if he should enquire about his mate Ben. She’d probably be able to tell him where he was, how he was doing. But he didn’t want to draw attention to himself so he just sat there and waited for his turn.

When the young doctor was finished with him, Lucas went outside and lit a cigarette underneath the ‘No Smoking’ sign. Leaning against the cold, stone wall, he was trying to work out his next move when something caught his eye.

Getting out of a car a hundred yards away was DS Freeman. Lucas flicked the cigarette butt and moved behind the wall. What was she doing here? Had she heard about Ben or had someone recognised him inside?

He watched as the other copper got out of the car, followed by Emma’s boyfriend. Lucas ducked down as they started walking towards the entrance. He went back into A&E and stood behind a vending machine, watching as the three of them stopped outside. Freeman said something to the boyfriend and then they all walked on. When he was sure they’d left, Lucas went back outside. There were a couple of other ways into the building, fortunately. As he cast his eyes towards another entrance, making sure it was safe, he felt like his heart had been attached to one of those electric shock machines you see on telly. His mouth went dry, he couldn’t move.

Emma.

She had her head down and her arms wrapped around herself. She looked like she’d been crying. He wanted to run over and grab her by the hair and smack her in the face but he couldn’t. Not yet. Not here.

He watched as she disappeared from view, back towards the main road. Lucas followed her. His heart was racing. He could see his breath in front of his face as he walked behind her. She didn’t turn around once, didn’t seem aware she was being followed.

He kept his distance until she almost got to the end of the path and back onto the main road. Almost. She turned and looked up at the hospital, fear in her eyes. Maybe poor Ben was dead.

And then her gaze dropped, she saw him and he knew she had suddenly been reminded of what fear actually was. For a few seconds she was too stunned to move.

‘We meet again,’ Lucas said.

He gripped Emma’s arm and pulled her down the street, searching for another car. They’d passed maybe two people near the hospital but no one had noticed anything; they were too busy staring at the ground, trying to keep their faces out of the wind as much as possible. She’d tried to call out to them but he just wrapped his arm around her neck, like they were two young lovers, and put his hand over her mouth. She still struggled against him, her elbow dug into his ribs, but he kept hold of her and no one said a thing, no one even blinked.

He stopped at the side of the road as a car approached. He hadn’t noticed until now that she was crying. As the car moved towards them Emma pulled free of him and stepped out. The driver honked and swerved slightly but Lucas grabbed hold of her and pulled her back. The driver threw his arms up and mouthed something through the window before speeding off.

Lucas had hold of both her arms, hugging her close like he’d just saved her life. He could feel her trying to pull away but he held tight, his face close to hers.

‘That was stupid,’ he whispered. ‘Try anything else and I’ll not only kill you but I’ll come back for your boyfriend. Did I mention we met earlier?’ Emma whimpered and he pushed her across the road where someone had left a car running as they made a delivery. He wished he hadn’t dumped the car from Middlesbrough but it was bound to be hot by now.

As they got up close and he opened the car door, Emma pushed away from him and screamed. Across the street a couple of women turned around. For a moment one looked like she was going to come over but instead she just raised her hand to her mouth.

Lucas tried to subdue Emma but she struggled against him, pulling away. As she made it around the back of the car he put his leg out, tripping her. With one hand he opened the boot, the other grabbing the back of Emma’s jumper. The car’s owner dropped his parcel and ran towards them.

He saw the women across the road pull out phones. He thought about going over, smashing them up. No time. He needed to go. Now.

He threw Emma into the boot and slammed it closed before jumping in the front seat. The driver grabbed Lucas, trying to pull him out. Lucas punched him in the face and kicked him away from the car. He looked up to see the two women pointing out the car to a man built like a brick shithouse, just as he got the driver’s side door shut.

As the man crossed the road, Lucas slammed his foot on the accelerator. He saw the man reach out for the car but it was too late. Lucas turned a corner and felt the butterflies in his gut once more. It had been close. He’d nearly blown it again. He let out a laugh. It all added to the excitement.

Chapter 84

17 December 2010

The receptionist almost rolled her eyes as Freeman approached the desk again, this time with
another
person in tow.

‘Any news?’ Freeman asked and the receptionist sighed.

‘He’s just come out of theatre. But he’ll be out of it for a while, so . . .’ She shrugged at Freeman as if to say ‘piss off and stop asking me questions’.

‘Thanks,’ Freeman said and started to walk away.

‘He’s a popular guy,’ the receptionist said behind her.

Freeman turned. ‘What’s that?’

‘Someone else has been in asking about him.’

‘Who?’ Freeman snapped. ‘A man?’

‘No, a woman. Youngish lass.’

Freeman looked at Gardner and Adam. She was about to show the receptionist the photo of Emma but Adam beat her to it, whipping his phone out. ‘Was it her?’

The receptionist looked from Adam to Freeman, baffled. ‘Yes, her. Why?’

‘How long ago was she here?’ Freeman asked and the receptionist shrugged.

‘Not long,’ she said. ‘Twenty minutes, maybe.’

Freeman told the security guy to go back half an hour, starting with the cameras near the exits. At least this guy – Wayne, she thought he’d said – was helpful, even if he was a little too keen. The other one had seemed more interested in finishing his curry.

She tried to zone Wayne out as he explained the intricacies of the hospital security CCTV system and instead focused on the activity on screen. Dozens of people came in and out but no Emma so far. The fast motion on screen was making her eyes lose focus and there was a sudden rush of activity she couldn’t make out.

‘Stop it there,’ she said. ‘Go back and play in normal time.’

Wayne ran the tape back and pressed play. ‘So who are we looking for?’ he asked and Freeman had to suppress the urge to say, ‘
We’re
not looking for anyone.’

‘Young woman, about five-two, five-three, brown hair,’ she said. Her eyes skimmed the throng of people but she didn’t see her. Would Emma think about the security cameras? Would she think to hide amongst groups of people?