The Bride's Trail by AA Abbott

Author:AA Abbott [Abbott, AA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AA Abbott
Published: 2017-04-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22 Ross

A morning of Amy’s company was as much as he could take, Ross decided. At the Malmaison, he told her he wanted to spend the afternoon and evening alone. He would order from room service, and he suggested she did the same.

Their flight from the pub had unnerved him. It not only demonstrated how annoying Amy was – after all, they’d travelled a hundred miles and she could still encounter someone who disliked her – but it revealed a startling layer of dishonesty. She knew more about Kat’s disappearance than she’d told him. How were they supposed to work together when she was withholding information from him? Ross sat in his room, sipping a beer at last. Of course, Amy might argue that he didn’t need to know everything; that her secrets were of no consequence in their search. Ross’ lips pursed. He would rather be the judge of that.

Lizzie, too, almost certainly knew more than she had divulged. At least he had Erik and Marty’s names, and half of Marty’s address. Ross began to search online. Erik, he assumed, would have the same surname as Kat: White. If what Lizzie said was true, it almost certainly wasn’t the name on his birth certificate. With no other information about Erik, Ross drew a blank. He was more successful with Martyn Bridges, obtaining the number of the house in Wellington Road, and of commercial premises in Florence Street.

Ross saw that Florence Street was a short stroll from his hotel, and decided to walk there at once. Just to be sure of seeing Bridges, he phoned ahead for an appointment. He was told Bridges was away on business that day but would be available in the morning. His staff would not supply personal contact details.

Ross paid a modest fee to a website that claimed to hold twenty million UK telephone numbers. He was given one for Wellington Road, but no one answered it when he called. Rather vexed, Ross spent an hour in the hotel gym before a few ruthless hands of online poker saw his bank balance increase even further. He paced his hotel room restlessly, bored. While he might have taken a more congenial travelling companion to dinner, he decided to leave Amy to her own devices and explore Birmingham by himself. Behind the hotel, there were several bars overlooking a canal lined with brightly painted houseboats. He sat outside with a beer, appreciating the short skirts of the young women passing by, if not their local accents. Finally, he took the lift to the top of the Cube, a squarish skyscraper mosaicked like a randomly-completed jigsaw. Here, he enjoyed a rare steak and a panoramic view of the city. Away from his daily routine, it felt like his holiday was beginning.

After the intensity of his day, Ross wanted an early night. Another beer sent him soundly to sleep in his hotel bed. The rest stood him in good stead, as he was surprised to be woken at six by the West Midlands Police.

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