Local Gone Missing(49)

“Spike. He was nice. He had green hair and amazing tattoos, Mum. There was one of a dragon flying up his arm.”

Spike. I clench my fists to stop myself from shouting.

“Wow! And what did Spike have to say?”

“Boring stuff about money. Oh!” And his seven-year-old face crumples.

“What?”

“It was supposed to be a secret. Dad said he wanted to surprise you. Will he be cross?”

“No, lovey. You know I don’t like surprises, anyway.”



* * *



—

Liam looks done in when he finally comes home from the police station and sits at the table.

“They’ve released me while they continue their inquiries,” he says. “Did they make much mess?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m really sorry, Dee.”

“Never mind that. They’ll be back.”

“I haven’t done anything.”

“Oh, shut up. I don’t want to hear any more of your crap.”

His head goes down again.

“Look, this isn’t my fault,” he mutters. “Someone wanted to teach Pete Big Bollocks a lesson and decided to plant drugs on him so he’d be arrested and the festival canceled.”

“Are you joking? Did you tell the police that?”

“?’Course not. I’m not stupid.”

“No, that’s right. You’re really smart. Getting involved in a criminal scheme that could put you in prison was a brilliant idea.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” he says. The big boys made me do it, rings in my head.

“But you were part of it.”

“No, not really. I just mentioned someone who might be able to help. That’s all. I swear. I heard they wanted to buy a hundred ecstasy tablets and hide them in Diamond’s jacket or something. But it all went wrong.”

“No shit. The girl was in a coma for nearly forty-eight hours, for God’s sake.”

“That idiot Ade must have nicked some and given them to her, showing off. No one was supposed to take them—the police were meant to find the drugs and close the festival down.”

“You seem to know a lot for someone who wasn’t really involved.”

Liam gets up and pulls a packet of biscuits out of the cupboard.

“Liam!”

“I’m starving. Look, they talked about it a bit in the pub, that’s all. When it was in the planning stages.”

“Why didn’t you talk them out of it, then?”

“I tried. . . .” And he crams a pink wafer in his mouth. “Look, don’t blame me. This is all Ade’s fault.”

“Will they trace the drugs back to you?” I whisper.

“Me? No. I told you—I just gave them a name.”

“Spike’s name. You went to see him, didn’t you? And took our son.” I forget to whisper and the name echoes round the room.

Cal put his head round the door. “Sorry, Dad. I forgot it was a secret.”

“Not to worry, mate. Why don’t you get back to your game? We’ll be in in a minute.”

I sit and watch him. Thinking, thinking. The police won’t go away now, will they? They’ll push and push until something gives.

“You swore you’d stay away from him, Liam.” I force myself to speak quietly so Cal can’t hear but the strain hurts my throat. “He’s toxic, for Christ’s sake.”

“I was only trying to help Dave,” he says even quieter than me so I have to lean forward. He looks up at me. “Okay, I can see it was stupid now but I was desperate, Dee. I haven’t had a decent job for weeks and Dave was promising me work. I just wanted to get him onside.”

“Desperate? We’ll both be bloody desperate now,” I hiss at him. “People will find out you’ve been nicked—it’s a small town—and they won’t wait to see if your name’s cleared. Who’s going to employ you—or me—now?”

Liam comes and puts his arm round me. “It’ll be all right. You’ll see.”

“Of course it won’t.” I shove him away, harder than I mean to, and he bangs into the doorframe. “But I’ve already lost one job, remember?” I say through gritted teeth as he rubs his elbow. “Doll fired me yesterday—and dobbed you in with the police—so you can kiss good-bye your work at the pub. We’ll have to move.”

“Look, love, I know you’re angry but this is going to be okay. Dave owes me big-time now, so let’s not panic. And I’m talking to my solicitor again in the morning. She’ll get it sorted.”

I go to the fridge and pull out a stray cold beer.

“Can I have one?” he says.

I walk away, back into the sitting room. I can’t bear to speak to him.





Thirty-seven


WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019





Elise


Anxiety was gnawing at her brain and Ronnie’s driving wasn’t helping.

“The lights are changing,” Elise shrieked as they sped through on amber.

“God, you sound like Ted,” Ronnie laughed. “We’ll be there in a mo.”