The Disappearances (26 page)

Leona hadn’t fallen out of that window. His mum probably hadn’t even left it open.

Leona had opened it.

Leona had jumped.

She’d jumped because he’d started a fire and then left her to burn.

A flash of red filled Devil’s mind and he slowly pulled himself up. The girl was coughing; she was alive. She looked up at him, her arms around his neck. And he held her. He held her and he wept.

‘Tell me what’s happening, Devil,’ he heard Thomas’s voice shouting out of the phone. ‘You tell me right now …’

He looked over at the phone and kicked it away. He held the girl for a few more seconds, feeling her warmth against him, her life. Then, as the sirens drew closer, he put her down, stroked her head, said goodbye and started to run.

Evie trudged silently in the darkness, her eyes fixed ahead. Next to her was Raffy, his hands shoved in his pockets, his eyes thunderous. She watched him for a few minutes, remembering how his anger at the world used to intrigue her, how his refusal to fit in made him so irresistible. Back in the City, it had been her and Raffy against the world; their secret meetings had been the only thing she ever looked forward to. He was the only person who seemed to question things like she did; who found the rules of the City constraining, like wearing chains.

But now, now things were different. Except Raffy had continued to be angry, resentful, jealous. Like nothing had changed. Like it wasn’t the City that had made him like that after all.

And whereas his anger used to make him seem exciting and dangerous, now it irritated Evie more than she could put into words.

Raffy was walking next to her, slowing his pace when she slowed hers, speeding up when she did. And as she walked, she realised that she was trying to shrug him off, that she’d been trying for a while now, that he’d never let her, that the more she tried to edge away, the more he would come after her.

And all this time she had let him have his way, had reasoned with him, tiptoed around him, let him make his demands, let him get angry for no reason. Because she knew he needed her. Because she thought she owed him. Because she wanted to be happy in the Settlement, because she didn’t want to cause any trouble.

They were leaving the Settlement and something terrible was happening. And all Raffy cared about was keeping pace with her, making sure that he was right beside her, making sure that she wasn’t out of his sight, even though he’d been quite willing to keep her in the Settlement in spite of Linus telling him their lives were in danger.

Because it wasn’t her that he was thinking of.

It was himself.

Always himself.

Evie felt her heart thudding in her chest in indignation, frustration at herself for not seeing it before. Even Raffy’s anger with Lucas was self-sustaining, self-imposed. It wasn’t about the kiss; he’d despised Lucas long before that. Even when he discovered how much Lucas had suffered to protect him. He should be grateful. He should let Lucas speak, let him explain, give him the benefit of the doubt for once.

He should grow up.

Evie thrust her left hand into her pocket and allowed it to wrap around the cool, metallic object that she’d hidden there, that she’d hidden for nearly a year, secreted about her person, buried at the bottom of drawers, continually moved to make sure it was never found. It had been the first thing Evie had put into her bag, the only item she’d known she couldn’t leave the Settlement without. Before leaving the room she shared with Raffy, she’d transferred it to her coat pocket, just in case she lost the bag, just in case Raffy opened it.

It was Lucas’s watch, the watch she’d worked so hard to get back after Raffy traded it; the watch she had hidden for so long with no real idea of what she was going to do with it.

Now, holding it in her hand, she felt herself getting stronger, felt her old energies returning. She wouldn’t put up with it any more. She wouldn’t allow Raffy to get his way.

She allowed her gaze to rest on Lucas, who was walking a few feet in front of her. He was about the same height as Raffy, maybe an inch or so taller, but even compared to Raffy’s new muscular frame, Lucas was still broader. He walked tall, too, his eyes looking straight ahead but his entire body on alert; Evie could see it, even though she wasn’t quite sure how, or even what it was she was seeing. She just knew that he was watching, listening, just like he used to in the City.

She wondered what he’d been doing since they last saw each other. She wondered if he had anyone to talk to or whether he’d retreated back into his shell. In the City he’d always been so impenetrable, as though he had no heart, no soul. She had hated him; had seen him as the epitome of everything she despised about the City. And then … then she’d seen the real Lucas. When he’d confided in her, told her the truth so that she would convince Raffy to leave the City and escape certain death, she’d seen how hard it was for him; not the telling, but the stopping up of his emotions. It was like the pipe was full to bursting of water and he’d had to turn on the tap just enough to let out a trickle before closing it again.

Lucas stopped, turned and spoke to Linus, to Benjamin. She looked around and saw that there was a large rocky hill in front of them; she’d been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed her surroundings.

‘Okay,’ Lucas said. ‘We stop here. Linus is going into the cave ahead to get his car.’

Linus disappeared into the darkness; Raffy shuffled towards Evie. ‘Linus has a car?’ His eyebrow arched upwards as he regarded Lucas, his tone of voice was one of insolent disbelief.

Lucas turned to him, his eyes steely. ‘Yes, Raffy, he has a car. Any other questions?’

Raffy shrugged as though to demonstrate his lack of interest. ‘Come on, Evie,’ he said. ‘Let’s wait over here.’

He moved towards a rock and sat down; Evie looked at him but didn’t move. Raffy glared at her, but still she stayed where she was. Finally she turned to Lucas. ‘When did he get a car?’

Lucas caught her eye and she felt herself getting hot. ‘I don’t know,’ he said, looking away quickly. ‘I think he might have always had it. Trying to get an answer out of him is impossible.’

He looked down at the ground.

‘Trying to get anything out of him is like that,’ Evie laughed awkwardly. Her voice was shaking slightly, her whole body coursing with adrenalin, but Lucas had already turned, and was inspecting a stone on the floor; their conversation was over.

She felt a lump appear in her throat and found herself walking over to Raffy. He moved so that she could sit facing him, but she faced the other way instead; away from Raffy, away from Lucas. Then she folded her arms and looked up at the sky.

She didn’t know how long they remained like that, the three of them together but entirely separate, lost in their own thoughts. But eventually she looked back down again, and when she did she saw that two lights had appeared on the horizon, far away at first but nearer and nearer until the glare made Evie reach her hands up over her eyes. The car stopped and Linus jumped out. ‘What do you think?’ he beamed.

Evie, relieved to have him break the intolerable silence, jumped down off the rock. ‘Looks great,’ she said, trying to muster some genuine enthusiasm.

‘Then get in. You’ll love the inside.’

Evie nodded and walked towards the car.

‘Get in the back,’ Linus said. ‘Lucas gets car sick; he needs the front seat. Don’t you, Lucas?’

Lucas walked up behind her and opened the door for her. She felt his hand brush against hers for a second and her heart missed a beat. ‘Not car sick,’ he said. ‘I just … don’t like cars very much.’

She caught his eye and that’s when she saw something she never expected to see on Lucas, on the man who was so contained she’d often wondered if he had any emotions at all. What she saw was a boyish expression of embarrassment, sheepishness. Because he didn’t want her to see his weakness. Because he didn’t get that his weakness made him suddenly so human, so vulnerable, it made Evie catch her breath.

‘Okay, slow down. You’re going to have to speak more clearly,’ the policeman said as he rummaged around for a pencil. ‘You’re saying the explosion an hour ago was you? That you let off a bomb?’

Devil nodded. He was sweating; he’d run all the way here, had waited impatiently in line and was now finally at the front desk of the police station, a grey squat building in the middle of the high street. ‘Yeah. This bloke got me to do it. His name’s Thomas. I need to talk to someone. Someone in charge. This is big, man. Really big. He’s crazy.’

The policeman nodded carefully. ‘Just one minute.’

He left the desk, leaving Devil to catch his breath. He’d never willingly been in a police station before; had only been here a few times, late at night, dragged here by coppers to account for his whereabouts during some crime or other. Usually he’d been as uncooperative as possible, his expression sullen, his eyes full of hate.

But not now. His breath was still laboured; he gripped the counter in front of him to steady himself.

A policeman appeared next to him. He was wearing a suit; he was senior, Devil could tell from the tone of his voice. Relief flooded through him. They knew about the explosion. They were taking him seriously. ‘Would you like to come with me?’ he asked.

Devil nodded, followed him around the back, into an interview room.

The man sat down; motioned for Devil to do the same. Devil sat down on the metal chair, took a deep breath, looked up at the policeman, waiting for the question, for the ‘So …’ that would get him started.

But no ‘So’ was forthcoming. Instead the policeman just stared at him. Devil stared back, his instinctive response, eyes fixed, mouth set, his entire face a challenge. Then he checked himself and looked away; he wasn’t squaring up for a fight – he was here to tell them about Thomas. He had to make them see they could trust him, that he was telling the truth.

He looked around the room. There were usually two coppers in interviews. Maybe that was only when you were under arrest, he found himself thinking. Maybe one senior cop counted as two regular ones.

‘You going to tape this?’ he asked, looking around for a tape recorder but not seeing one.

‘That won’t be necessary,’ the policeman said, a half-smile on his face.

Devil considered this. ‘I think you should,’ he ventured. ‘Get every word. Because what I’m going to tell you … The guy behind this is a nutter. He’s dangerous. You’ve got to stop him, man. But he’s got friends. Works for a big company. In town.’

He drummed his fingers on the table. The policeman opposite him had a nondescript face, with dark hair growing out of his nose. Long ears. ‘So you going to ask me questions, or what?’ Devil asked impatiently.

The policeman shook his head. ‘Like I said, that won’t be necessary.’

‘So … what then?’ Devil asked suspiciously. He looked over at the door. Was it locked, he wondered. His heart started to beat more rapidly. ‘Didn’t you hear why I came here? What I’ve got to tell you?’

‘Yes, you did,’ the policeman said. ‘But the thing is, Mr …’ He looked down at his notes. ‘Mr Jones, is there hasn’t been a bomb.’

Devil shook his head. ‘Hasn’t been a bomb? Nah, man. Of course there’s been a bomb. There are people dead, man. People injured.’

‘There was an explosion,’ the policeman said. ‘But it was caused by a gas leak. Forensics have been there with the fire brigade.’

Devil shook his head. ‘Are you kidding me?’ he asked incredulously. ‘It was a bomb. I had it. In a case. It went off. It was a bomb.’

The policeman smiled tightly. ‘So, if there’s nothing else?’

He stood up, and as he did so, Devil saw something, a little pin on his shirt. With an ‘I’ on it.

He felt the blood drain from his face.

‘There’s nothing else,’ he said, his voice shaking slightly.

‘Good. And we won’t worry about paperwork, shall we?’ the policeman said. ‘Don’t want you charged for wasting police time. The explosion probably just confused you. Made you think things were happening that weren’t happening. Do I make myself clear? If I were you, I’d lay low. I wouldn’t go bothering people, stirring things up. Do you understand? We wouldn’t want anything happening to you, after all.’ He leant closer. ‘You screwed up, you little prick,’ he hissed. ‘Months of work ruined because of you. So I’d run away now before Thomas gets really angry. Before he decides to come after you. Okay?’

He was looking right into Devil’s eyes. Devil knew a threat when he heard one. He’d given enough of them in his time.

He nodded. ‘Yeah, man. Whatever. I don’t want no hassle,’ he muttered.

‘No, you don’t,’ the policeman said and opened the door, showing Devil into the corridor, through another door, out into the front of the station. Feeling dazed, Devil walked out into the road. It was the same road as before but somehow it felt different now, like a switch had been flicked that changed the atmosphere, changed everything. He started to walk, but he felt like he was being followed; he turned, there was no one there, just an old woman grunting as she heaved her shopping down the road, another younger woman having a screaming row with a toddler. Were they working for Thomas too? Did they have one of those pins on? No, of course they didn’t. Don’t be stupid. Just keep walking.

He put his head down, walked faster, back towards the estate. No bomb. A gas explosion. How many people did Thomas have working for him anyway? Why hadn’t they just killed him instead of all this?

Because Thomas wanted to show Devil who was boss, he realised with a thud. Because Devil had turned the tables, turned himself in. Because Thomas didn’t like to lose, because he wanted Devil to be scared, every day, wondering what was coming, when it would come.

The estate was barely recognisable. Half the building was missing; the whole area was covered in police tape, loads of signs up saying ‘Danger’. Ambulances were treating people; outside the tape women were screaming, children standing around wide-eyed. Two buses pulled up. Coaches. A man got out, started shouting. Residents were being taken away somewhere else, he said. No one could stay here. Devil walked towards the tape, towards the estate. Several security men stood in his way, preventing access. ‘Sorry, mate, too dangerous,’ one said to Devil.