THIRTY-ONE
RUN!
Alex
‘Can you read another chapter?’ asked Noah.
He was sitting up in bed, having showered and changed into his pyjamas.
‘It’s getting late,’ I said. ‘You should settle down soon.’
I could hear Grainger moving around downstairs. He’d called up to say Oliver and Dom had popped out. He had made it sound like they were nipping out for a casual walk, or checking something on the estate, or something equally mundane.
‘I’ll come back and see you in about ten minutes,’ I said to Noah. ‘You can look at your book for a while.’
‘Okay. Can I have some water, please?’
‘Sure. Ten minutes.’
I smiled at the eight-year-old. Noah looked so much like his dad. It was definitely the eyes.
I went downstairs and found Grainger in the kitchen alone. He looked up from his phone as I came in.
‘Babysitting duties,’ he said as if he needed to explain his presence. He resumed his study of the phone.
‘Great,’ I said deadpan as I slid onto the bar stool next to him. ‘Where’s Oliver gone?’
‘Relocating Fletcher.’
I hesitated. ‘About Fletcher…’ I began.
‘You don’t need to say anything,’ cut in Grainger, pushing himself away from the countertop. ‘He’s a bad ’un.’
‘Thank you,’ I said.
Grainger patted my shoulder. Didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. ‘I’ve got to make a couple of calls. I’ll just be on the back porch.’
I ran the tap for a glass of water and took it up to Noah. ‘Time to settle down now.’
‘In a minute.’ Noah threw back his covers and checked his bed, pulling the pillows out of the way.
‘What have you lost? Can I help?’ I put the glass of water down on the bedside table.
‘Nothing.’ He dropped to his knees and looked under the bed, then stood up again and looked around the room.
‘If you tell me what you’re looking for, I might know where it is.’
‘Where’s my coat?’
‘Downstairs.’
He was running out the door before I could say anything more. I went out to the landing and looked over the bannister as he scarpered down the stairs to the coat stand. Then frantically rummaged through his pockets.
I suddenly realised what he was looking for.
‘Noah, come back upstairs,’ I said gently. ‘I know where it is.’ I didn’t name it, didn’t call it his comfort blanket, or blanky or any other term that might embarrass him. ‘You left it in my lodge.’
He stopped and looked up at me. ‘In your lodge?’
‘Yes. Come back upstairs. Do you need it tonight or can it wait until tomorrow?’
He plodded back up the carpeted stairs. ‘Tonight,’ he mumbled, looking down at his feet. ‘I can’t sleep otherwise.’
‘Okay. Look, if you go back to bed, I’ll nip and get it.’
It would only take me a couple of minutes, I reasoned. I could see Noah wasn’t going to settle without it, and I suspected he had it on him all the time. So going to sleep without it wasn’t an option.
‘Don’t tell anyone about it,’ he said, getting back into bed and pulling the duvet up.
‘No. Of course I won’t.’ I perched on the edge of the bed.
‘Not Grainger. He’ll laugh.’
‘I’m sure he won’t.’
‘But you can’t tell him. Promise? You have to promise.’
‘I promise. But you have to wait here while I go. Okay?’
He nodded. ‘Okay.’
I went downstairs. The house was still empty. No sign of Oliver or Dom. Buddy’s tail wagged lazily a couple of times as I went into the kitchen. He looked very comfortable in his bed by the Aga.
The back porch light was on, and I could see Grainger leaning against the bannister with his back to me, his phone to his ear.
I went to tell him where I was going but stopped.
I had promised Noah I wouldn’t say anything.
Even though I knew Grainger wouldn’t laugh at him and Noah wouldn’t even know if I had told him, I still couldn’t bring myself to do so.
Noah had trusted me with his secret. I couldn’t break that trust, not even if he’d never know. I’d know, and that was enough.
I took another look at Grainger, who now had the phone propped between his ear and shoulder, while he rolled a cigarette.
He turned, saw me and gave the thumbs up sign alongside a questioning look.
I nodded and smiled, returning the thumbs up gesture.
Grainger nodded before turning away and continuing his conversation.
I looked down at Buddy, who gave another short wag of his tail.
‘Two minutes,’ I said to him. ‘I’ll be back before anyone notices. No snitching.’
I grabbed my coat, checked that my lodge key was in my pocket, and slipped out of the front door, leaving the latch up so I could sneak back in.
It was darker outside than I expected. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the blackness. There was a small glow coming from the mess lodge, but all the other lodges were in darkness. I was glad mine was the closest.
I hurried across the track to my lodge. No fresh snow for over a week, but the ground was still frozen underfoot. Grainger had swept the steps and porch the other day, which I was particularly grateful for with only one hand free to steady me.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside, flicking the light on as I did so and closing the door behind me.
Instinct made me quickly scan the room. It was empty.
I stood still for a moment. I had no sense that anyone else was in the lodge.
All the same, I hurried over towards the kitchen area where I’d tucked the blanky in the corner earlier.
I picked it up. As I did so, my eyes were drawn towards the fridge.
My heart missed a beat, and a jolt of fear shot through me. The picture Noah had drawn was missing. Gone. I looked around the floor and worktops, but it wasn’t there.
Henderson had been in here, I was sure of it. There was no sign of forced entry but then there never had been and the new bolts I’d fitted only locked from the inside.
I had an overwhelming primal need to get out of there.
I sprinted across the room and out onto the porch.
My instinct was to run but I forced myself to lock the door behind me.
I didn’t know how Henderson was getting in.
I had to assume he had got hold of the spare key or got one cut, I didn’t know, but it wasn’t the biggest thing on my mind.
I just wanted to get back to the gatehouse.
I raced across the terrain, blindly hoping I didn’t hit an unexpected dip or rabbit hole.
It was more luck than judgement that I reached the gatehouse in one piece with no injury.
As I reached for the garden gate, a movement in my peripheral vision made me jump.
I pushed open the gate, looking into the blackness where I thought I’d seen something, as I hurried up the path.
I stood at the door for a moment, taking my time to scan the area. Nothing. There was nothing there.
‘Get a grip,’ I muttered to myself as I went into the house.
I closed the front door quietly, just in case Grainger had finished his call and was back in the kitchen. I listened but couldn’t hear any kind of movement. My shoes were quiet on the flooring. The house was particularly silent.
I paused at the foot of the stairs. I couldn’t hear a single thing, not even the muffled tones of Grainger on the phone outside.
Suddenly, I was on high alert. Something didn’t feel right. The same sort of sensation I’d experienced in the army when the atmosphere changed just before something went off. The air in the house felt different––something had shifted. It felt colder than it had before I left.
I slowly walked down the hallway towards the kitchen, stopping just before the doorway. Again, I listened. Nothing. But I felt a cold draft drifting around my ankles.
I reached to my back pocket for my phone, then remembered it was in my bag. My bag was in the kitchen. Shit.
Had Grainger left the door open? Maybe it was as simple as that.
All the same, I gingerly peered around the doorframe into the kitchen.
The first thing I noticed was the back door was ajar, the second thing was Buddy’s empty bed.
Through the glass of the door, I could see Grainger sitting on the porch chair, his back to me.
My shoulders relaxed. Honestly, I absolutely needed to get a grip of myself.
‘Hey, Grainger,’ I said as I stepped out onto the decking. ‘Is Buddy out here with you?’ Grainger hadn’t moved. His head was forward and his hand hung over the arm of the chair. His cigarette was in the snow, smouldering. Silly sod had fallen asleep.
It was then I saw the dark patch on the deck. A dark red pool and dark red splatters, stark against the white snow. My eyes were telling me it was blood. My mind did not want to agree.
‘No.’ The word was like a wisp of air. ‘No.’
Louder this time. It was me. My brain took over.
I rushed to Grainger, dropping to my knees in front of him and recoiled at the sight of his throat coated in blood where it had been slit open.
‘Grainger.’ This time it was a sob. ‘Oh, fuck.’
I didn’t need to carry out a medical examination to know that he was dead, but I grabbed his wrist to check for a pulse. Of course there wasn’t one.
And then the reality hit me.
Henderson.
It had to be Henderson. The fucking bastard. I wanted to rip him apart with my own hands. I looked around frantically for Buddy. What had happened to him? My next thought was Noah. My breath caught in my throat.
I was up on my feet, running into the house. Noah. I had to get to him. Was Henderson in the house already? Where the fuck was Oliver? Dom? Anyone. Where were they?
I hurtled up the stairs, not even trying to be quiet as I barged into Noah’s room.
He looked up from the book he was reading? ‘Did you get it?’
‘What?’ It took a moment for me to remember. ‘Yes. It’s in my pocket.’ I crossed the room to his bed. ‘Listen, Noah. We need to leave the house. Quickly.’ I was pulling back his duvet as I spoke. I grabbed a jumper from the chair. ‘Put this on.’
‘Why are we leaving? Where’s Dad?’
‘He’s out with Dom. We just need to go over to my lodge. Just until your dad comes back.’
‘What for?’ He stood in the middle of his room.
‘We need to do something over there.’ I had no idea what I was saying.
‘We do?’
‘Yes. Erm… baking. I want to bake a surprise for your dad. We need to do it at mine.’
Noah eyed me suspiciously. ‘I want my dad.’