Gone

by Rebecca Muddiman

  He saw Lucas’s fist before it cracked into his cheek. His brain was telling him to do something but his body was slow to respond. The blow knocked him to the ground and he lay there looking up at the grey sky and tops of buildings until Lucas moved into his view and looked down at him. He could see spit at the side of Lucas’s mouth and for a second all he could think was I hope it doesn’t drip down on me.

  ‘Where is she?’

  For a second he thought he’d managed to speak but then he realised it was Lucas who had asked the question.

  ‘Where is she?’ he asked again and bent down to pull Adam up.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Adam said.

  Lucas grabbed Adam’s face and squeezed. ‘Don’t fucking lie to me,’ he said. ‘You don’t want to know what I did to the last person that lied to me.’

  Adam managed to push himself up and pulled away from Lucas’s grip. ‘What did you do to her?’

  ‘I haven’t touched her. Yet,’ Lucas said and grabbed Adam’s coat, forcing him against the wall again. ‘Did she tell you what she did?’ His face was inches from Adam’s. ‘She tell you that she was a junkie? A fucking slag? A killer?’

  Adam pushed forward, trying to get Lucas off him. ‘Bullshit,’ he said, though he knew part of what Lucas was saying was true.

  ‘Yeah, she was a proper little slut.’

  Adam clenched his fists. He could hear heavy breathing but he wasn’t sure if it was his or Lucas’s.

  ‘She was a good fuck, though. I don’t blame you for wanting that back,’ he grinned and Adam took a swing at him.

  Lucas stumbled back and laughed. ‘You’ll have to do better than that, mate.’ Then he launched at Adam, hitting him in the gut, knocking him to the floor. ‘You’re as fucking stupid as he was,’ he said and slammed his fist into Adam’s face.

  Adam could taste blood in his mouth and spat it out, wanting to get rid of the coppery tang, but Lucas just hit him again and again. He tried to put his hands up, to defend himself, but Lucas had his knee on one of Adam’s arms and held the other down with his fingers digging into the skin. He could hear Lucas panting hard and fast and when he sat back a little to catch his breath, Adam brought his knee up, watching Lucas’s face pale. He pushed him off and scrambled to his knees but Lucas was already up and his foot swung at Adam, catching him under the chin.

  Adam fell forward; he didn’t need to spit the blood out any more, it just poured. He gagged on it and recoiled as Lucas booted him again in the ribs.

  Somewhere behind him he heard a noise, a woman’s voice, footsteps pounding on the pavement. His head was spinning. He closed his eyes and when he finally opened them there were two women in expensive-looking scarves standing over him, one scrambling around in her bag, the other just staring. They didn’t look the type to run towards brawling men.

  Pain shot through his head as he turned to look for Lucas, but he wasn’t there any more and Adam realised it was him he’d heard running away, not the women running towards him.

  ‘I’ll call the police, love,’ one of the women said. ‘God, where’s my phone?’

  Adam rolled onto his back and reached out for his phone, finding it on the ground beside him. He found Gardner’s number. ‘It’s okay,’ he said, his voice thick with pain. ‘I can do it myself.’

  As he turned and spat out more blood, his phone started to ring.

  Chapter 80

  17 December 2010

  Gardner followed Freeman into the canteen where she promised him some mediocre coffee. She looked knackered but he didn’t tell her that. She’d looked pretty pissed off when the doctor had told her Ben would be in surgery for at least a couple more hours. He didn’t fancy winding her up any more.

  ‘So what now?’ he asked instead as she passed him a plastic cup of brown swill.

  ‘I guess we wait,’ she said, dropping into the nearest chair. ‘Williams reckons everyone’s got their eyes peeled for Lucas and Emma. So until one of them shows up, or Ben’s up for a bit of storytelling . . .’ She pressed her face into her hands and groaned.

  ‘We’ll get there,’ Gardner said.

  ‘Will we?’ She looked up at him. ‘This is a complete mess.’

  Gardner wanted to offer some wise words but he was at a loss. He had less idea than she did what was going on. It seemed clear to him that Emma had at least been involved in Jenny’s death, even if she hadn’t killed her herself. Which left Ben and Lucas.

  Lucas was the most obvious candidate, but not with Emma. So if Ben and Emma had done it, why did Lucas Yates care so much? Gardner doubted he was avenging Jenny’s death.

  Freeman’s phone rang and she looked at it before excusing herself. Gardner checked his own and noticed he had a voicemail, probably received while he’d been upstairs in the land of no signal. He dialled his voicemail and was listening to his message when Freeman came back.

  ‘That was Tom, the pathologist,’ she said, oblivious to the fact that he was on the phone too. ‘He got hold of the X-ray and it’s looking good. Or bad. Depending on which way you look at it. Looks like a match for Jenny Taylor.’

  ‘Shit,’ he said.

  ‘Well at least we know now.’

  ‘No,’ Gardner said. ‘That was Adam Quinn. He’s in Alnwick. And he also found Lucas Yates.’

  ‘What? What happened?’

  ‘I don’t know. He got disconnected,’ he said as he rang Quinn back. ‘But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on his way here too.’

  Chapter 81

  17 December 2010

  Lucas pushed his way through the pub, past the Christmas shoppers and work parties. His hand was throbbing as much as the bass coming through the speakers. He found the toilets and shut himself into a cubicle to inspect the damage. There was blood all over his hand, though most of it wasn’t his, a fact that did little to make him feel better.

  He’d lost her. He knew that now. She’d got away from him again, could be anywhere, and now the fucking boyfriend was looking for her, as well as the cops. He’d considered letting the little prick go so he could follow him but the idiot seemed to have about as much idea where she was as he did.

  He slammed his fist into the cubicle door; the pain shot up his arm but he didn’t care. He was still pounding the door when he heard a couple of guys come in, shouting and laughing. If they noticed him smacking the door they didn’t care. He leaned back against the door, listening to them taking a piss and then leaving without washing their hands.

  Lucas opened the cubicle door and went to the sink. He washed the blood off his knuckles and stared at himself in the mirror. For a second he thought he could see the blood pumping through his veins, pressing against his skin, making it bulge. He blinked as the sound resonated in his head.

  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, tryin
g 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. H
e 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.’