Chapter 31 #2
It was a late night, wandering down blank alleys, dead ends without any substantive links between the girls tenuous and fragile, dissipating when we tested them.
Evelyn was nowhere to be seen, Kristian Chambers becoming more and more distressed, the football club engaging a private investigations agency and the press being managed at their end when they got a sniff of it.
It was a time bomb that was going to re-explode the case.
Brooke, Morgan and Chelsea were attractive white females, so they were good currency for the press, but Evelyn was the girlfriend of a premier league footballer, even though he’d been injured for most of the season, and another level.
I snuck home just before midnight, Vinny dropping me off, asking me if I’d heard from Cavan, which I hadn’t, not for a couple of days, not beyond a text asking how things were and sending me a photo of him at a cricket game, holding a pint.
Lucy was out, in a bar on Burton Road with her best friend, Megan, so the flat was quiet when I got in, showering before falling into bed, my alarm set for the morning because I didn’t need to be at Morgan’s parents until midday, which meant I could squeeze in parkrun and keep some sense of routine, as Wrigley was trying to balance coverage with some downtime, as well as an attempt to keep the overtime bill down.
I hadn’t had much chance to exercise this week, and my legs were feeling it.
My plans were to try and get a longer run in on Sunday, or a session with Jalen, if the case allowed.
My alarm woke me from a dream involving Vinny and a sun lounger and a disturbing image which I didn’t want to dwell on, so I headed to Ashfell Park earlier than I needed, parking up in an almost empty car park.
The last time I’d been there, I’d met Atlas, he’d passed on the photos and taken a selfie.
I looked at that photo again when I stretched, debating a slow warm up around the trees.
Atlas was taller than Vinny, as broad but lither, more of the build of someone who was a fighter or a short distance runner or hurdler.
He was attractive, if you liked pirates, and eyes that looked like they peered into your soul.
There was something about him that was familiar, but then, maybe it was because he’d probably followed me a few times – he’d certainly been here a couple of weeks ago, and probably studying me.
Wrigley wasn’t bothered by him, which made me wonder if he was someone that Wrigley actually knew.
I tucked my phone away in the running belt I used, along with my car keys and started a slow steady pace towards the start line, a few other runners ambling in the same direction, one or two dogs on leads looking more enthused than their owners.
It was a non-descript day. Light grey skies that I doubted the sun would penetrate today, the breeze slight and the temperature hovering around twelve degrees. Perfect running weather.
I half listened to the usual announcements from the race director – any hazards on the course, requests to give way to people walking, keeping dogs and leads, then the call out for anyone who was visiting from a different parkrun, and then the names of those hitting ten runs, fifty, and one hundred.
My name was called out – this was my hundredth parkrun, and I hadn’t realised it.
A round of applause and then we set off.
For the next nineteen minutes, I forgot about Chelsea and Brooke and Morgan and just ran, looking for ways to overtake the people in front when the path got narrow, pacing myself uphill where it was rocky underfoot, the course stepping into trail running for five minutes.
All my focus went into that perseverance needed to push past the point when it got too hard, and my lungs felt like I was going to vomit them up my throat.
I pushed hard off my toes when I reached the final hundred metres, passing a man I knew had been desperate to overtake me and was now paying for it, and another runner I’d never come close to.
I grabbed the token as I ran through the finish line, keeping on going so I could slow down rather than come to an abrupt stop.
A slower pace, a walk, deep inhalations and dizziness and then I vomited into a shrub, hoping no one saw, that no one would take pity on me because I’d pushed myself too hard.
I heaved some more, the dizziness ceasing, oxygen filling my lungs, my limbs throbbing.
“Drink this.” An unopened bottle of water was thrust at me.
I looked up at the owner of the hand.
Atlas.
I took the bottle, unscrewed it, or tried to, but didn’t have the strength.
“Here, let me.” He took it back and twisted it open, handing it back to me.
I was starting to shiver. I downed half the bottle of water and handed it back to him, full of questions I couldn’t ask right now, stretching out my legs and my arms.
“Was that a PB?”
“For this course?” I managed to speak. “Yes. It’s a tough one because a quarter of it is off road, rocky and uphill.” I reached out to take the water again, finishing it off. “You’re here. Again.”
“I figured I could reliably find you here.”
I nodded. “Was it you following me when I was walking home one night, after getting the tram from my brother’s?”
“That was me. I was out in Didsbury one night when you were with your flatmate too, but you didn’t notice me.” He pulled off his hoodie. “Put this on and at some point, we’ll have a conversation about you overdoing things.”
“Why are you stalking me?” I took the hoodie, wondering if I could get DNA off the thing.
“I was looking for an opportunity to speak to you without you thinking I was about to kidnap you.” We started walking to the funnel where my time token and barcode were scanned, my official time would come through in a couple of hours, although I knew I’d shaved thirty seconds off my previous PB.
“I had a conversation about being kidnapped yesterday and had to work out who’d realise I was missing first.” I had my breath now, along with an extra dash of curiosity.
“Who would it be?”
“Vinny. Which has made me question a lot of my life choices. I went back to Leeds. I found out more about Charlie, but nothing to link him still, apart from the knife.” I wondered if I was telling Atlas more than he already knew. “Where are you finding out all this info?”