Hunted by joe mcnally & Richard Pitman

Author:joe mcnally & Richard Pitman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: joe mcnally

32

As the night wore on and the wind howled around the Lodge, the pain returned, slowly, like small biting animals hatching all over my back. I rejected the paracetamol in favour of a half bottle of whiskey, which dulled the soreness in my body in exchange for a spreading melancholy.

Fractured thoughts floated, ruined career, screwed-up comeback, broken relationships, nobody to turn to... I wallowed a while, then something that had been nagging at me all day finally surfaced. I hadn’t spoken to Lisa. She’d probably be thinking I was trying to avoid her.

I found her number. It rang eight or nine times before she answered. ‘Eddie. How are you?’

‘Okay.’

‘Listen, can I ring you back?’

‘Tonight?’

‘Five minutes, give me five minutes.’

‘Sure.’

I hung up, feeling better already. She sounded fine, not mad or anything. I thought about pouring another drink, considered what fourteen days of inactivity would do to my weight, then said what the hell and half-filled the glass.

The phone rang. I reached for it. ‘God, that was quick! Thought you said five minutes?’

Silence.

‘Lisa?’

Nothing.

‘Hello...?’

‘Eddie...?’

That sweet soft Irish voice, sounding hurt, unsure.

‘Jackie! Where are you?’

‘Who’s Lisa?’

‘She’s just a friend. Tell me where you are.’

‘No. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but obviously Lisa is seeing to that.’

‘Jackie, come on!’

‘Barely two bloody weeks, you bastard!’

‘Jackie, listen for God’s sake!’

She hung up.

Shit! What a day this was turning out to be. I laughed with frustration and relief. At least Jackie was all right. It had been a good clear line, maybe she hadn’t gone to Ireland after all.

The phone rang again. Jackie or Lisa. I answered carefully, ‘Hello?’

‘Eddie.’

McCarthy, sounding tense.

‘What is it Mac?’

‘David Cooper’s disappeared.’

‘When?’

‘Yesterday. He didn’t show up to ride at Fontwell today.’

‘He’s done that before.’

‘He was due at his mother’s house in London last night for her birthday party. Didn’t turn up.’

‘Maybe he doesn’t like parties.’

‘Don’t be facetious, Eddie, I’ve spoken to the police, they’re treating it seriously.’

‘The kid’s probably just got sick of his old man’s bullying and buggered off somewhere.’

‘You know the boy’s father?’

‘Unfortunately, yes.’

Mac said, ‘He’s just been ranting at me for the last ten minutes. He wants to put up a fifty grand reward. Both the police and I have advised against it in case he gets into a ransom situation with this guy.’

‘And?’

‘He’s going to do it anyway.’

‘Good for him. Gives me something to occupy myself with for the next two weeks. And, there’s nobody I’d rather take fifty grand off than Jack Cooper.’

Mac seemed baffled. I reminded him I’d been stood down by the doctor. Mac said, ‘If you’re unfit to ride, what makes you think you can charge around the country looking for David Cooper? What if the killer has got him?’

‘Mac, my career is sliding swiftly down the pan. The prospect of no job and no money makes fifty grand worth taking a lot of risks for.’

‘So now you think the killer’s got young Cooper?’

‘I hope not, for his sake.’

‘Yours too. The reward is for the boy’s safe return only. No payout on corpses.

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