Other Selves by Chris Bridge

Author:Chris Bridge [Bridge, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: White Frog
Published: 2020-02-26T22:00:00+00:00

24

It’s 2.30 am. The rush of drunks has subsided. The police station has quietened. The police have let Shaun go but kept Danny. He’s in a cell and feels claustrophobic. The place is hot and airless after life on the streets. He’s sweating and he hates it.

As soon as Shaun and he were brought into the police station they were separated. Danny knew Shaun was in the next interview room. A police officer walked between the two. Clearly the stories tallied, so they let Shaun go.

‘I’m out of here,’ Shaun shouted on his way past Danny’s room. ‘See you soon, brother.’

Well, he has no other brother now. James is closed off in Danny’s past, unreachable.

‘You have to charge me or let me go,’ Danny says calmly to the PCSO who brings him a drink.

They do neither. Instead they ask him for a blood test and he complies. ‘You won’t find any traces of drugs or alcohol,’ he tells the PCSO.’ When you’ve had it tested you have to charge me or let me go.’

The PCSO tells him there’s plenty of time for that, so Danny sits in his cell with nothing but his thoughts. His brain surprises him. It didn’t used to be like this: asking questions, reflecting, continually harping back to the immediate past. He didn’t have to defend Shaun. The others melted away when they smelled trouble. Had they known this was about to happen? Had they warned each other, but not Shaun because he’d spent the day with Danny?

It had been like watching a film you’ve seen before, not the shocking first time view of the unknown but something familiar. The challenge from five men with baseball bats; the same utter absence of fear; that other voice inside him, this time telling him to take off his shoes; the same certainty that he would win; the same wild glee.

This is also who I am, he tells himself. That voice in my head isn’t a stranger any more, it’s part of this new me.

The door opens. The PCSO is back. He asks Danny to follow him. Even the drunks are quiet now, sleeping it off. Danny follows the PCSO down the corridor back to the interview room.

‘More questions?’ Danny asks.

‘Don’t ask me,’ says the PCSO.

In the interview room a stranger is waiting to talk to him. The PCSO leaves them alone. No one else comes in. There’s no recording being made that Danny can see. The stranger introduces himself as Harry. Harry is not in uniform. Danny doesn’t think he’s police. It’s the middle of the night, so Danny guesses that whoever this is he’s had to be sent for.

They shake hands.

‘Your real name is Danny Goulden. You’ve come up on the missing list. Do you want to be found?’

Harry looks straight into his eyes. Danny knows he mustn’t flinch so he returns the stare. Harry is sitting really still in a way that has to be learnt or inculcated. It’s intimidating.

‘No,’ Danny says. ‘I don’t want to be found.

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