The light around her changed. She was so weak now her eyes were all she could move effectively and they flicked to the far wall. With her blurred vision she could see the door as a solid block with light leaking underneath and down one side. She could see two black outlines underneath. They were moving. They were legs! Someone was here!
She tried to shout out again. Her tongue lolled in her mouth, her lips opened and closed but nothing came out but her breath. She managed some movement: her foot writhed and scuffed behind her, her fingers scratched at the stone. The slit of sunlight was partially blocked. Her eyes flicked back to her own fingers desperately scrabbling to get a grip, reaching out towards the door.
Was that a voice?
She stopped her movement for just a second and focussed her hearing. She concentrated with everything she had left. It was! Two voices! One was close, so close.
‘Come on! We’re wasting our time here!’ she heard. A loud voice but far away. An angry-sounding man. It sounded like he was shouting at her.
Then a woman’s voice, softer, kinder: ‘I could have told you that. I’m not even sure what we’re looking for.’ The light changed again, it was brighter. The legs walked across the underside of the block of shadow.
She was moving away!
She could hear the footfalls; they scraped and kicked up the dust from the ground. She gave one last push, her hands and feet scuffing and scrabbling. She tried to move, to sit up, to shout out. Nothing happened. Her body wasn’t responding. She had no control of anything. There was nothing left. She heard another two clunks. The engine started again. It moved away. She held her eyes firmly shut to try and stop the tears. It was no use.
* * *
Harry dropped Maddie back at the station. She was already an hour late coming off-duty — something she was making a habit of, it seemed — but she wanted to check her email system before she went home. She was three failed login attempts down when a message on her screen warned her that she only had one more go at getting it right — fail and she would be locked out. And the whole system would probably explode.
She cursed. She concentrated and made sure of every letter as she typed the password she had written down on a post-it stuck in her notebook. It worked. The screen opened up with no explosions. Her inbox showed just one email. It was from Detective Chief Inspector Lowe.
Maddie,
I trust you are settling in okay. As part of your new role you will be required to attend some meetings with returned missing persons in order to conduct, or at least be present for their return interviews. We have two such interviews scheduled for tomorrow and Friday. These are two separate persons. Both are juveniles and their interviews will take place at their respective schools. After the interviews I would suggest it to be a good time to discuss with the school how future instances can be avoided.
I know I asked for your assistance with our missing person enquiry but this is absolutely key to your role and we have sufficient Major Crime resources to cover.
I have asked PCSO Dawkins to make contact with you. She will be accompanying you on both occasions. I have asked her to conduct the interviews, giving you the opportunity to observe.
JL
Maddie threw herself back in her chair. She didn’t enjoy being patronised and now she was being asked to accompany a PCSO to watch how a missing person interview should be conducted for a school kid. Julian Lowe himself had assigned her to work with Harry on the missing girl. The fact that he had taken her off it told her all she needed to know.
His email signed off with a signature that included his phone number. She considered calling him there and then but thought better of it. She was angry and she knew she was no good at hiding her temper. They weren’t used to her down here yet. Julian Lowe certainly wasn’t. She clicked to reply to the email and stared at the blinking cursor. She couldn’t think where to start.
She closed the system back down. She would head out with Harry first thing and then go and see the inspector face-to-face on her return. With any luck she would already have missed the school meeting and could play dumb. She would be sure to have her work phone switched off. For now, though, she was tired; she just wanted to go home — or rather back to her soulless hotel, which was the closest thing she had to home right now.
At least there was a bar there.
Chapter 26
By the time Maddie walked through the entrance to her hotel, she was very much ready for bed. She had planned on getting a drink, something strong enough to take the edge off the day, but decided she was too tired even for that. She pushed the button to call the lift instead. She caught the eye of the receptionist as she waited. The woman reacted like she had suddenly been stung.
‘Oh, Miss Earnshaw!’ she called out. Maddie was daydreaming, but switched on enough to remember the name with which she had been booked into the hotel, Greater Manchester Police being overcautious. The lift doors clunked apart in front of her. She put her foot in to hold it.
‘Yes,’ Maddie said.
‘A male visitor came to the hotel asking for you.’
‘A visitor?’
‘Well, not really a visitor. He has a room. He asked for you to be made aware that he was here. I have his details here somewhere.’ She fidgeted with some papers on her desk. She tutted like she couldn’t lay her hands on what she wanted. ‘It’s here somewhere. Oh, it doesn’t matter. I saw him come back down a few hours ago. I believe he is still in the bar if you want to go and see him. He’s a tall man, wearing a blue suit jacket with patches.’
‘How long is he staying for? I’m a little tired is all!’ She did her best to sound casual. She felt her pocket, checking her phone was there if she needed it.
‘Just one night. He did enquire if he could stay longer. We’re not full at the moment.’
Maddie stepped away from the lift and the door slid shut. The entrance to the bar was to the right of the reception desk. She could just see in — not enough though to see who was in there. She walked to the entrance to the bar from where she could get a better view. It was busy with people. Most were talking in low tones. There was some sporadic laughter from a table where a group had overrun a corner with extra chairs. She couldn’t see much of the restaurant area. She could see a man stood with his back to her at the bar. He lifted a glass to drink. He wore a blue jacket over darker blue jeans. The elbows had brown patches over them. His dark hair was neat, his back wide and strong. She didn’t need to see any more of him: she recognised him immediately.
‘Ah, here it is. Did you need his details, Miss Earnshaw?’ The receptionist called out to Maddie. She looked back over.
‘No need. Thank you.’ She took a moment and sucked in a breath. She moved further into the bar.
The stool next to him was free. She sat on it. He was half-turned away from her. A barman walked over to her.
‘A Jack Daniel’s, please,’ she said. ‘Over ice.’
‘Very good.’ The barman started to turn. He stopped as the man in the blazer addressed him.
‘You can put that onto Room 79,’ he said. The barman nodded, his eyes flicked back to Maddie and then he turned again.
‘I can buy my own drinks,’ Maddie snapped. She peered around the bar. She didn’t know what she might find, who she might see. Old habits. These people rarely travelled alone. She didn’t like feeling that she’d been caught out. She had never liked surprises.
‘And now you don’t have to.’
‘What are you doing here, Adam?’
‘I could ask you the same question.’
‘Working.’
‘Well, I came to look for you! I was worried.’
‘You never look for me and you’re never worried.’
‘I heard you got blown. From one of my blue contacts. No one on my side seems to know it. I was just making sure you’re alright.’
‘This blue contact . . . did he tell you where to find me, too?’
‘He knew a county and a hire car. It was no sm
all effort to find you from that. Did you really have to move 280 miles away? It wasn’t that much of a mess, was it?’
‘My bosses thought so.’
‘Your bosses are idiots.’
‘Actually, the fact you’re here suggests they were absolutely bloody right.’
He laughed — loud enough to draw attention to them. It made Maddie flash angry. ‘Shut up, Adam. You shouldn’t be here. I need to get on with things. This is not a good time for me. I’m trying to pick up the pieces of what’s left of my career.’
‘You always were a bit of a drama queen.’
Her Jack D arrived. She waited for the barman to move away again. ‘Adam, I never ask you for anything. I’m asking you now — go away. Please. Go back home and leave me alone.’
‘Leave you alone? Could you not have told me that before you left? You could have spoken to me about it. You could have saved me a trip. Instead you just upped and left and didn’t even think to talk to me.’
‘I did tell you.’
‘A text message. I got a text message saying what? Working away. Will be gone a while. What the hell does that mean?’
‘What it says.’
‘I thought we had something?’ His expression was still light, good-humoured but Maddie knew him better. His face carried a constant half smile. It could lull unsuspecting onlookers into a false sense of security, but not Maddie. She knew who Adam Yarwood was — or, more importantly, who his brother was. Adam was the kid brother of Leon Yarwood, a man who had risen through the ranks of one of the most notorious criminal gangs in the North West of England. Adam had never admitted it openly, but there was no doubt he worked for his brother when it suited him. Maddie didn’t want to know in what capacity. He was a big man and he had a temper. He could be useful to someone like Leon and not for his charm — although he could turn that on in spades when he wanted to. He had the looks to back it up too — a chiselled jaw with dark stubble and those dark eyes that you could find yourself lost in, the sort that seemed to always be half filled with mischief and the other half with lust. Like you were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and he was working out how to get what he wanted. Even now.
She looked away, then spoke into her whiskey. ‘We did. About once a week on average and then I wouldn’t hear from you until the next time.’
‘We were trying to keep you safe, remember? And they were your demands, not mine.’
‘Keep me safe? And coming here is about that too, is it?’
‘I was careful. We can’t have my mates or yours following me down here, can we! I did like you always told me. I dumped my usual ride outside a hire-car place. It’s probably a hundred miles from here. I got the train the rest of the way. And from the station to here took two taxi journeys with two different firms with a changeover somewhere remote. Over careful. Nobody’s interested in me anyway. I barely see my brother. He’s a liability at the moment. He seems to be enjoying the lifestyle a little too much — always off his head. Somebody will be along to take what he has if he’s not careful.’
‘You sound like you’re considering it.’
‘Me? It wouldn’t suit me. Not any of it.’
‘The money would.’
‘Money suits everybody. Come on, Maddie, what the hell are you doing down here?’
‘My job.’
‘Are you down here undercover?’ he lowered his voice and checked around. Maddie had trained him well. He knew what she did. In her previous life she’d been assigned to get close to Leon Yarwood. She hadn’t reckoned on a cocky, good-looking man getting close to her while she was working. No one had even known he had a brother, let alone that Adam was him. The lack of information was the reason she’d been sent to work him in the first place. But Adam had been working too. Leon had sent him to get close enough to her to satisfy himself that she could be trusted. He was just about to endorse her when he had found out the truth. He had followed her to a meeting with her handler. She hadn’t been careful enough. Had Adam reported back on what he had seen, she would have been killed — they both knew it. Fortunately for her, Adam couldn’t let that happen.
‘No. I think I might be out of that game now, Adam, don’t you?’
‘So what, you’re down here acting the copper? Flashing your badge and introducing yourself as PC fucking plod?’ Adam got angry quickly. He was an easy man to wind up. Maddie saw that a lot in people who were used to getting their own way.
‘DS actually.’
‘What?’
‘I’m a sergeant.’
‘You’re a snitch. The people you’ve surrounded yourself with all this time hate the cops, you know that, you’ve heard it for yourself, but there’s a specific type of cop they hate more than anything else. The undercover snake.’
‘I didn’t blow out completely. I didn’t make too much noise. You found me because you were looking for me. Nobody else is.’
‘You can’t be sure. You can’t guarantee you’ll be safe down here.’
‘So where should I go? Find an island somewhere and build myself something out of driftwood. I need a life. This will do for now.’
‘Come with me. Be with me.’
Maddie was caught out for the second time that day. She hadn’t expected him to say that. She took a few seconds. ‘And I’ll be safe with you, will I? What was that you just said about the undercover snake? How long do you think I would last in among your lot?’
‘You’ll be safe with me.’
‘And what if I don’t like it? Or when you go off with one of your hangers-on for a night or two? Am I supposed to put up with that shit?’
‘It’s a lifestyle, Maddie. A good one.’
‘Oh I see! So I am one of the hangers-on!’
‘No, never. You know I don’t see you like that. That’s not what I meant.’
‘I know what you meant. The fact that you came down here at all, the fact that you only booked in for one night, I know exactly what you meant. You thought you would come down here, snap your fingers, dangle this made-up life in front of me at a time when you think I’m vulnerable and I would just hop on the back of your horse and we could ride off together. Life isn’t like that, Adam. You certainly aren’t.’
‘Maybe you don’t know me at all.’
‘All the more reason not to give up everything I’ve ever known to come join you in one of your whims.’
‘This isn’t a whim, Maddie. I’m not some kid with a crush. There are plenty of girls out there that would jump at the chance to be with me. You know that, right?’
‘And not one of them has the same chosen career as me. We can never be anything. We’ve known that from the start. This was a mistake, but we have an opportunity to move on from it now. We should take it.’
‘A mistake?’ He covered his reaction with his glass.
Maddie felt a brief pang of guilt. She knew that had sounded harsh but that didn’t make it wrong. ‘A mistake,’ she repeated. ‘Please, Adam, have a drink with me — I’ve had a shit day. We can talk like we used to, about anything other than what we do to earn our living. Then I’m gonna need an early night and in the morning, I am begging you, please go home.’
‘I’m a plasterer, Maddie.’
‘And I’m an escort.’
‘Just proves we can be what we want to be. We’re good at it.’
‘Drink with me, Adam. That’s all. We know we’re good at that.’
Adam turned away and tapped on the bar with a large, gold ring. The barman made his way over. ‘Two more please,’ Adam said. When he turned back to Maddie, his eyes were one half mischief, one half lust.
Chapter 27
Maddie woke to the sound of her alarm. The blackout curtains were doing their job and there was barely enough light to find her phone to silence it. She sat up and rubbed at her head. The alcohol hung heavily and she felt fuzzy and dehydrated. She swung out her legs and looked back momentarily to where Adam was outlined in the bed next to her. She paced to the bathroom and turne
d on the light; it seemed like the brightest light in the world. She closed her eyes to it and rested the weight of her head on her palms as she leaned over the sink. Her eyes got a little more accustomed to the brightness. Squinting between her fingers at the large mirror in front of her, she sighed at her nakedness. How had she got to this point? She was right when she told Adam that this was their chance to move away from the mistakes they had made in the past but she hadn’t listened to her own advice. She had made the same mistake again. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. This was how their relationship had started in the first place.
She ran the cold tap and took a swig of water. She caught some in her hands and washed it over her face, shivering as it ran down onto her neck and chest. She filled two glasses and walked back into the bedroom. Adam’s bedside lamp was on and he was sitting up reading something on his phone.
‘I’ve come to appreciate the rooms here, you know,’ he said. ‘This is not the sort of place I would normally choose to spend my nights but it’s actually rather nice.’
‘Nice? I’ve seen the sort of places you treat yourself to. I don’t know why you thought you would be okay staying here.’
‘I’m more than okay, Maddie. You’re here.’
‘How much do they know about me? Your people, I mean.’
‘You mean my brother’s people.’
‘What do they know?’
‘About you?’
‘About me. About what happened.’
‘Nothing much. Nobody’s even talking about it anymore. They reckon some call girl was working as an informant for the blue side. The theory is that the cops had something over her and she had to stitch up Eddie Flint. Leon’s got the hump a bit. Eddie was becoming a problem and the cops might have got in the way of him resolving that. But this escort . . . nobody thinks she’s a cop. I even heard somebody say that he’d heard she was too hot to be a cop. I reckon I agree with that!’
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