Chapter 31
Crash
I knocked on the door and waited patiently for an answer. There were footsteps inside as someone approached.
“Who is it?” came a voice, suspicious and frosty. It was a woman.
“Mrs Scott? My name's Richard, I'm an old friend of your son's.”
“He's not around,” came the quick reply.
“Well I wonder if you might know where he is?”
“Probably at college, I don't know. I don't really care.”
“I've been to his college and he's not there. They told me that they hadn't seen him in days. I'm a little worried Mrs Scott.”
I'd been there earlier that day, going straight to his halls from the airport. I'd asked around and no one had seen him for a few days, ever since Alice went missing. So it was him. It must be him. The f*cking little cunt.
There was a short silence before the door cracked open, still locked on it's chain. The woman peered through, her eyes hooded and dark and heavily wrinkled. She looked old, too old to be his mother. She must have had him late. Or aged fast.
“Who are you? I don't recognize you. You're not from college?”
“No, I'm an old friend from high school.”
“You look a little older than my boy.”
I planted a fake smile on my face, trying to be as easy as possible. “Yes, well he was a couple of years younger. Do you mind if I come in and have a glass of water, it's really hot out here.” Now that wasn't a lie.
Her face remained completely suspicious. “What school?”
“Granborough High. He was a couple of years below me but we played basketball together.” Jones had done his job well, giving me a whole load of info about Brad to allow me to flesh out this charade.
“He always did like his basketball,” she said, her face easing up.
I saw her hand lift to the chain and slide it along the latch, opening the door up fully.
I stepped inside, smiling, as she shut the door behind me.
She walked me through into the kitchen and poured me a glass of water. “So what's all this about, Richard,” she asked, handing me the cool glass. “You say Brad's not been around college?”
I took a sip. “Yeah, by all accounts he's gone missing, run off somewhere. I went up there to surprise him but he wasn't around. Thought he might be here, but obviously not.”
She shook her head, her eyes dropping a little. “No, he hasn't come back here in a while. We're not really close like we used to be."
“Oh,” I said, planting a look of sympathy on my face, “that's a shame. Why's that?”
“You probably know more that I do if you're his friend. He was never the same since that girl broke his heart.”
“You mean Elle?”
She nodded. “I usually don't like to swear but she was a real bitch.”
My body stiffened at her words.
“She was everything to him and then she just ditched him like that, without a reason, without a word. I mean, asking her to marry him was perhaps a bit rash, but the way she reacted was very hard on him.”
Marry him! Holy shit.
“After that he was always depressed and lonely. He just never recovered.”
I nodded. “Yeah, he was pretty low when I last saw him. That's why I wanted to surprise him. Come and cheer him up and see how he was doing.”
A sad smile appeared on her face. “That's nice. It's nice that he's got a friend like you. He never had that many friends.”
“Well, it would be nicer if I could find him.”
She didn't seem overly concerned by his absence. Their relationship must really have broken down. Or...
“Is there anywhere else he might go. Maybe a favorite place he liked or somewhere he might want to go to get away from things for a little while.”
I looked on at her, my hope growing as she began nodding slowly, silently.
“My mother's old farm,” she said. “He used to love it there as a boy.”
I could feel an energy soar inside me, banishing my weariness.
“Your mother's house? Is it far?”
She shook her head now, her eyes growing deep with memory. I felt a pang of pity for this poor lady, living alone in this house, her only son abandoning her in his madness.
“Out near Drewville, the Old Manor Farm. It's where I grew up.”
An old farm, isolated and secluded. He must be there. It must have been where he'd taken her. Quite why it hadn't shown up during Brad's search I didn't know. It didn't matter now, though. No, I knew where that freak was hiding.
“Thanks Mrs Scott. I'm sure Brad's out there. I'll go see him, bring him home, don't worry.”
A smile spread across my face. Yeah, I'd see him all right. See him to a f*cking jail cell.