Doc Mortis. Barry Hutchison

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ moment.’

      The speaker gave another brief crackle of static, then a click. Ameena stared at it, slack-jawed, apparently finding it hard to believe that anyone would dare hang up on her. ‘Hello?’ she said. ‘Hello?’

      ‘You need to leave,’ said another voice. I looked at the intercom, trying to blink it into focus, before I realised the sound hadn’t come from there. A middle-aged man with a bald head stepped out of the shadows behind us. Even through the blurriness, I recognised him at once.

      ‘Joseph.’

      ‘Joseph?’ Ameena repeated. ‘What, the guy you told me about? From the train? That Joseph?’

      I nodded. The last time I’d seen Joseph had been on the train up to Marion’s house. He’d told me he was looking after me, helping in his own way to keep me safe. I still didn’t know whether to believe him or not.

      The train wasn’t the first time I’d met him. He’d been in the police station Ameena and I had run to while being chased by Mr Mumbles. He’d appeared in the school and freed me from the chair Caddie and Raggy Maggie had tied me to. He was popping up all over the place lately. And now, here he was again.

      ‘That man you just spoke to, he’s phoning the police,’ Joseph told me. His eyes were locked on mine, never once moving to look at Ameena.

      ‘The police?’ I muttered. ‘Why?’

      ‘Someone spotted the fire at Marion’s house and called the emergency services. They found her... remains.’

      I’d have felt sick, if I didn’t feel sick already. ‘They think I did it.’

      ‘They think you did it,’ Joseph nodded. ‘And they are extremely keen to get you in for a chat.’

      Headlights reflected off the glass in the door, making us all look round. A car drove by, not slowing. It wasn’t the police. Not yet.

      ‘Should I turn myself in?’

      ‘If you go in you won’t come out,’ Joseph said. ‘You have to get away from here. Now.’

      ‘But I didn’t do anything!’

      ‘They won’t believe you.’

      ‘How do we know we can trust you?’ Ameena asked. She was supporting most of my weight, but she wasn’t showing any signs of struggling.

      Joseph turned her way for the first time. A look of irritation flashed across his face. ‘Sorry, was I talking to you?’

      I felt Ameena go tense. Her mouth opened. I spoke before anything came out of it. ‘I need to find out where my mum is.’

      ‘I know where she is,’ Joseph said. ‘I’ll take you.’

      ‘You sure about this guy?’ Ameena asked, making no attempt to keep Joseph from hearing.

      ‘I’ll tell you what I’m sure of, Kyle,’ he said. He normally looked quite a relaxed character. Mischievous, even. But now there was none of that to be seen. ‘I’m sure that men are coming to take you away and lock you up. I’m sure that they will try you for Marion’s murder and they will find you guilty.’

      He stepped closer to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. ‘And I’m sure that, right now, I’m your only hope of seeing your mum again. One hour from now you can be in a holding cell, or you can be at your mum’s bedside. Your choice.’

      He lowered his hand and stepped back. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed.

      ‘What’s it to be?’

      Rows of orange street lights whizzed by, their glare reflecting off the windows of the car we were travelling in. I half sat, half sprawled on the back seat, my head resting against the cool glass. Whenever we hit a bump, my head would loll around for a moment, then thud against the window again. Maybe it hurt. I couldn’t say.

      I slept fitfully, plagued by nightmares whenever I closed my eyes. When I woke, I’d catch snippets of conversation between Joseph and Ameena. They were both sat up front, but even through the fog in my head, I could tell they weren’t bonding well.

      ‘...can’t believe he trusts you. He’s got no right to trust you. He hardly even knows you.’ That was Ameena’s voice, all cocky and aggressive.

      ‘He doesn’t know you, either.’

      ‘Yes, he does! Besides, I’ve saved his life.’

      ‘So have I,’ Joseph said. ‘Yours too, actually.’

      ‘Shut up, you have not!’

      ‘Have so.’

      They continued like that, bickering and arguing every time I woke up, until the sixth or seventh time, when I awoke to find Ameena leaning round in her seat, watching me. She smiled when I opened my eyes.

      ‘Dead yet?’

      I tried to shake my head, but the pain was too much. ‘No,’ I said. It came out as a croak.

      ‘Good.’

      ‘How much further?’ I asked.

      It was Joseph who replied. ‘Not far. Three, four minutes, maybe. Your mum’s in room forty-two. You’ll see her soon.’

      I struggled into a slightly more upright position and looked out through the windows. Tower blocks stood like giants on either side of the road. There was a lot of traffic about, but it didn’t seem to be slowing us down. We crossed a bridge, passed a corner shop, a restaurant, a pub. I didn’t recognise any of it.

      ‘How do you feel?’ Ameena asked.

      ‘Been better.’

      ‘You’ve looked better,’ she said, studying my face. ‘The whole pale and sweaty thing isn’t really working for...’

      Ameena stopped talking and just stared at me.

      ‘Whoa,’ she eventually whispered. ‘That was freaky.’

      ‘What?’ I asked. My lips felt cracked and dry. I licked them, but there was no moisture on my tongue.

      ‘Nothing, just a trick of the light or something,’ Ameena said.

      ‘What was it?’ Joseph asked. ‘What did you see?’

      ‘Nothing. It was just... For a second there it looked like I could see right through his head.’

      Joseph swore loudly and slammed his hands on the steering wheel. ‘No, no, no, not now,’ he hissed. ‘Not already. It’s too soon.’

      We both turned to look at him. ‘What?’ asked Ameena. ‘What’s too soon?’

      Joseph didn’t take his eyes off the road. I felt the car beneath me speed up. ‘He’s slipping away.’

      Ameena’s СКАЧАТЬ