the conversation they’d been having and waited with anticipation for the detective superintendent.
‘I thought this place was being given a visit at four a. m?’ he demanded of Bent. ‘To try and catch Mark?’
‘I checked, it was, but there was no reply.’
Henry emitted a muted grunt. ‘Right — Rik, scene manager, please. The pathologist will be here soon. It’s Keira O’Connell by the way. Alex, you continue as office manager and general dogsbody, please. Get a DC up here ASAP with some uniforms and get them knocking house-to-house. Somebody must have seen something.’
‘We’re pretty stretched,’ Alex said. ‘The scene’s still being worked where Costain was shot and we’ve still got people at the scene of Rory’s and Petrone’s death. We’re running out of monkeys.’
Henry nodded. ‘I’ll sort out the staff… but let’s get things moving here, now, quickly.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Karl, let’s go and hunt down a teenager.’
‘What do you know about this kid?’ Donaldson asked as he settled in the passenger seat of Henry’s Mondeo. ‘Is he a hoodie?’
Henry chuckled. ‘Decent lad, crap upbringing, a wonder he hasn’t taken the left-hand road before now. And none of this is helping keep him on the straight and narrow. But every cloud has a silver lining
… at least because he and his mother didn’t communicate, she couldn’t tell anyone where he was.’
‘And you think that’ — Donaldson jerked his thumb — ‘is why she was murdered?’
‘I don’t need anyone to tell me she was tortured, do you? And that’s a rhetorical question.’
‘OK, where are we going now, buddy?’
‘They always go to their mates and girlfriends, don’t they?’
‘Is that rhetorical, too?’
Bradley wasn’t at home, no one was, so Henry’s next stop was Shoreside High School where Henry demanded an audience with the head teacher, a man called Stirzaker who Henry knew vaguely and who was only too willing to have a chat. A cop at Shoreside High was always welcome. He was a modern type of head, flashy suit, stubble, but very child orientated. He let Henry and Donaldson into his office where Henry explained the situation leaving out the gory bits.
‘Let me see.’ Stirzaker sat behind his desk and tapped the keyboard on his computer, checking the attendance register. ‘No, Mark’s not in. Not been in for four days now, so he’s a cause for concern — educationally, that is. Computer’s flagged him up for further attention today, actually.’
‘Have you done anything about him so far?’
‘Two phone contacts with mum — no help. Next up was a home visit from Mark’s head of year. That’ll probably be tomorrow, now.’
‘Is Bradley Hamilton in?’
Stirzaker looked questioningly at Henry.
‘He’s Mark’s best mate, isn’t he?’
‘You know a lot about Mark.’
‘I dealt with his sister’s death.’
‘Ahh… that had a big effect on the lad. Let’s see.’ He checked the computer. ‘Bradley’s in.’
‘We need to speak to him.’
‘I’m not sure…’ Stirzaker’s voice tailed off.
‘I’ll come clean, Mr Stirzaker, Mark’s mum isn’t just dead, she’s been murdered.’
‘Do you suspect…?’
‘Mark? No. But we urgently need to find him, as you’ll understand.’
‘Poor, poor lad. I’ll get Bradley.’
‘We need to speak to him alone.’
Stirzaker looked uncertain, but Henry’s stern face made the decision for him. ‘And while you’re at it, bring in Kate Bretherton, too. Mark’s girlfriend, as I recall.’
Stirzaker checked the register again. ‘That’s odd, she’s not in. Very unusual. Just one second.’ He picked up the phone on his desk and dabbed in a number. ‘Yes, it’s me… Katie Bretherton? Not in today. Any idea why? Any phone call from the parents? Nothing. How odd. Thanks.’ He hung up and said, ‘Reception — all absences should be reported to there, but nothing in Katie’s case. Very odd. She’s one of our star pupils, a real achiever, never sick.’
‘OK, wheel in Bradley, then, please,’ Henry said.
‘Now then Bradley,’ said Henry after introducing himself and Donaldson, though the fact that Karl was an FBI employee seemed to fly over the lad’s head. He had been seated in one of the comfy chairs in Strizaker’s office, whilst Henry perched the cheek of his bum on the corner of the desk and Donaldson lounged by the door.
The young lad’s eyes darted from one man to the other, clearly frightened and intimidated — just as Henry liked ’em.
He smiled ingratiatingly and said, ‘I know we haven’t met before, but I do know you’re Mark Carter’s best friend.’
‘Was,’ Bradley corrected him.
‘Whatever… fact is, you know Mark well, don’t you?’
‘Look, am I in the shit, or something?’ Bradley reared. ‘Cos if I am you need to arrest me and caution me, and I need an appropriate adult present. I know my rights. I do Citizenship, you know.’
‘Let’s just forget that little outburst, shall we? Hm?’ Henry jiggled his eyebrows. ‘Mark came to see you last night, didn’t he?’
‘No,’ Bradley sneered.
‘I’ll go and ask your mum the same question, shall I?’
‘No,’ Bradley blurted. ‘Yeah, he came — so what?’
‘Bradley, you seem like a decent lad, so let’s drop the attitude, OK?’ Henry knew he sounded patronizing, but he was past caring. ‘What did he want? What did he say? And where can I find him?’
‘So I’m not in trouble?’
‘No, but Mark is, and not from the cops.’
‘He told me what had happened, the old man and Rory, and that somebody’d tried to run him down, too.’
Henry hadn’t heard about that, but he let it go for the moment.
‘He said whoever’d killed the old guy was after him, too, and he wasn’t safe in town, so he was going to run, go to London, he said. Then he went.’
‘Did you hear about last night’s shooting?’
‘On the estate, yeah, course. Kids doing a drive-by. Not really news any more.’
‘Wrong… men attempting to kill Mark and killing an innocent person instead.’
Bradley faded to ashen. ‘Is Mark OK?’
‘He did a runner, but Billy Costain is dead.’
‘Oh my God.’
‘I need to find Mark, I need to protect him.’
‘He said you couldn’t. He doesn’t trust you.’
‘That doesn’t change anything. There’s no way on earth he can protect himself. Has he got a mobile phone yet?’
‘Nah, he just doesn’t like them.’
‘You’ve been no great help.’
‘Well what do you expect? All I did was give him something to eat, a bit of cash, and then he went. Last I saw of him. I went to bed, y’know?’
There was a knock on the door. Donaldson opened it to find the head teacher, Stirzaker, there, hopping about worriedly. ‘I thought you should know. It’s about Katie Bretherton. I’ve just spoken to her mum. Apparently, she did set off for school this morning as usual.’
Mark had landed hard under Henry Christie’s body as the detective shoved him over the garden wall just a second before the bullets started flying. Mark had seen the car approaching, like some terrible bug in a sci-fi movie, and he’d recognized its outline immediately — because he’d seen it before when it had tried to flatten him just after Rory had been murdered.
