Leo felt a pang of… he didn’t know what. His two friends lived such normal lives. Probably had a monthly allowance that went directly into their bank from Kenny, and possibly from Lorraine also, while he had to mow people’s lawns to get any sort of income. And no bank card for him. And once the lawn-mowing season finished, no money either.
They reached the small shopping mall of Crystal Peaks and entered via the bus station entrance. It was busy as always, and they decided Jack would take the shops on the right, Leo on the left. The Card Factory and Poundland were really busy, and Leo wandered around, up and down aisles several times, buying a four-pack of Mars bars for a pound so he didn’t look like somebody about to rob the shop of a pound item. He only glanced into Specsavers, figuring it wouldn’t make sense for Isaac to be seen in there, he would stand out too much.
Jack took lots of time in Wilkinson’s; with a ground floor and a first floor it was a lot of area to cover. He bought a packet of crisps from the checkout stand.
Eventually both lads met up at the Sky desk outside the market hall entrance, both shaking their heads.
‘Let’s go check out McDonald’s,’ Jack said. ‘If he’s going to be anywhere else in here, that’s where he’ll be.’
Lunch was Big Macs and fries, with a banana milkshake each. But no Isaac. They hung around for as long as they could without suspicious looks from the staff, but still Isaac didn’t appear, and eventually they headed to Sainsbury’s for a quick walk around the huge shop.
Jack took a minute out to ring home, but the news wasn’t good. Isaac hadn’t reappeared or contacted Kenny. Slowly Jack was becoming despondent. He’d thought at first that Isaac had needed some space, that his mum’s death had suddenly hit with some force, but unease was growing in his mind. Why hadn’t he been in touch? Why hadn’t he put Jack’s worries to rest? And where the fuck was he?
Slowly they wandered back through the mall, scanning shops as they passed, and exited by the same door they had used to enter. They had been hopeful; now hope had gone.
It took fifteen minutes to walk home, and both boys were wet through. While they had been in Crystal Peaks the weather had changed; the rain was bucketing. Jack took off his shoes and ran upstairs for a couple of towels, subliminally aware that the towel stack was running low and they were no longer tidy.
He handed one to Leo, and they dried themselves before heading into the kitchen. Kenny was sitting at the table, the handset from the landline in the middle of the table alongside his mobile phone.
He looked up, and indicated they should sit down. ‘You want something to eat?’
‘No, we’re good. Had a McDonald’s in the hope Isaac might find his way there, but no luck.’ Jack sighed. ‘Nothing from the police search?’
‘Not a thing. They’ve been to every address on that list you gave them, and nobody’s seen him. They’ve even checked here, been up in the loft, in both sheds, but no sign. I was mad as hell before, but I’m not now, I want him home. They’ve even checked at your nan and granddad’s place, but I reckon that’s the last place he’d go. They haven’t rung here to check whether he’s home or not, so I guess they’re not that bothered.’
They sat in silence, lost in deep thoughts for a couple of minutes, and then Kenny stood. ‘Anybody want a lager?’ he asked, and walked to the fridge.
Jack’s mouth dropped open. The one rule his mother had hammered into their brains was no alcohol of any sort until they had moved to higher education.
He looked at his dad. ‘No thanks, Dad. Mum wouldn’t like us to do that.’
Kenny thought for a moment then closed the fridge door. ‘You’re right.’ He sighed. ‘She wouldn’t. Tea?’
‘Now you’re talking,’ Leo said. ‘We only had coffee at home this morning, a cup of tea would be great. I’ll do it,’ and he stood.
Kenny sat down, and pulled Jack close to him. ‘He’ll be back. He’s got to be back.’
19
The prison governor told Charlie Linwood at seven in the morning that his house had burned down. Charlie thought of the carefully hollowed-out space in the top of the roof beam that contained over a hundred and fifty thousand pounds, the space that was impossible to see and hard to access, and knew an anger so intense his heart stopped. For good.
The fire had been all-consuming and Tom and Holly had spent a couple of hours there, watching the onlookers, hoping the flames wouldn’t spread to the properties either side of the inferno, and knowing nothing would be saved.
‘Let’s hope they’ve finished targeting him now,’ Holly mused. ‘This does open up the murder investigation a bit, doesn’t it. We’d got it into our heads it was connected to the bookies murders, because Tina, Carla and Lorraine knew each other, but is it really connected? This is starting to look as if somebody is holding a grudge against Charlie Linwood. They got rid of his partner, they’ve got rid of his home, and he’s currently locked up. Bit of a slam dunk against him, isn’t it?’
‘It’s looking that way.’ Tom glanced at his watch. ‘Half past six. He’ll know soon that his home’s gone, it’s not going to be a good day for him, is it?’
‘Who hates him so much that they’re taking everything from him? It’s a bit extreme. And why didn’t they kill him? Or is that going to come next? Hurt him with everything that’s happened, then finish him off. Taking revenge a bit far, don’t you think?’
‘In the world Charlie inhabits? I’d say it’s par for the course.’ Tom smiled at Holly, and wanted to pull her to him and hug her.
They stood watching operations wind down as the fire was held under control, and Tom was about to walk across to the operations commander when his phone rang. He answered it, and frowned. His responses were short, and he was clearly not happy.
‘Tom?’ Holly said as he switched off.
‘He’s dead,’ Tom said, his tone clipped. ‘Charlie Linwood. Heart attack when he heard the news of the fire. Just dropped. No chance of reviving him.’
Holly felt incapable of speech. Death wasn’t something new in their line of work, but death by natural causes was, and it felt so wrong that it had happened on their watch.
The briefing that morning was sombre. Nobody joked. Tom took everybody through the morning’s activities, and said he would know more once they got the full report from the fire service, but initial findings showed it had been started deliberately.
He then moved on to the missing Isaac West; CCTV from further down his road had picked him up at 22:03, walking, not running to escape from something, and then nothing. No sightings, no contact, absolute silence from the lad.
‘I want every house within a quarter-mile radius of the West home to be visited. He may have been picked up by a car, maybe somebody he knew, or, worst-case scenario, somebody he didn’t know. Lucy, organise everybody into pairs, please, and I want the entire area covered today. This is a sixteen-year-old lad who’s done something completely out of character. Let’s get him found and back home with his dad and brother. Any questions?’ Tom glanced around the room, and saw to his satisfaction that people were already pairing up and moving towards Lucy.