Free Look Behind You by Sibel Hodge Page A

way.’
    ‘You’d be surprised.’ Summers raises his eyebrows. ‘A few months ago, we were all called out looking for an Alzheimer’s patient who wandered off from his residential home. Even the helicopter was out searching. He was eventually found ten miles away, and no one called in to report a confused gentleman wandering around. The only reason we found him was because he ended up in a shopping mall and refused to leave when security was closing up.’
    ‘No one wants to get involved these days,’ Flynn complains. ‘A crime could be happening right in front of someone’s nose, and they’d probably keep their head down and walk past.’
    We walk in silence for a while as I digest that. Someone out there must have seen me. Would they ever come forward and help? Or had they already forgotten it?
    ‘Liam said he checked the house thoroughly.’ I risk a glance at Summers. ‘He said there was no sign of a break-in.’
    ‘Yes, he told me.’
    ‘He did? When?’
    ‘He called this morning from work to see how we were getting on.’
    I chew on my lower lip and wonder what else he’s told them. ‘Did he mention if he’d found my bag and my phone? He was going to have another look for them.’
    ‘No. Are they missing?’
    ‘I don’t know. I need to check at home. Liam said he’d cancel my bank cards and get the locks changed.’
    ‘That’s a good precaution. We advised him to change the locks yesterday, just in case,’ Flynn says. ‘We checked your bank accounts. The last time you used your debit card was to withdraw three hundred pounds on the fourth of May.’
    ‘Oh. That doesn’t ring any bells. I wish I could tell you more, but I just don’t… I can’t…’ I stand still, taking big gulps of air.
    Summers and Flynn wait for me.
    I look Summers dead in the eye. ‘I’m not making this up. Despite what Liam may have said to you, and what apparently happened to me before, I’m not lying.’
    ‘I didn’t say you were.’ Summers gives me a tight-lipped smile.
    ‘Have you spoken to Sara? Maybe I told her something. Maybe I was going to go somewhere and she knows about it.’
    ‘Sara, your best friend, who’s in India?’ Flynn says.
    ‘Yes. She was flying out there the day before Liam’s party.’
    ‘Liam didn’t have a number for her.’ Flynn pulls out the notebook from his pocket. ‘Do you know it, by any chance?’
    ‘Yes.’ I rattle off her mobile number from memory. He scribbles it down and underlines it several times.
    When we get back to the car, the hot sun is moving over the horizon. It looks like summer has well and truly arrived early for once. I slide into the back seat as Summers and Flynn get in the front. Summers take his mobile out of his pocket. ‘Right, what’s Sara’s number?’ he asks Flynn.
    Flynn shows him his notepad then flicks a few pages backwards and points to something I can’t see. Summers nods, punches in some numbers, and listens to the phone. I can hear the dialling tone ringing loudly. It rings and rings then cuts off.
    ‘Sometimes when she’s travelling, you can’t get hold of her for days or even weeks. She goes off on all these weird and adventurous trips in the middle of nowhere, and there’s no phone signal or Internet access.’
    ‘We’ll keep trying her,’ he says. ‘I spoke to Dr Traynor about your condition when you were brought into hospital. He says you were dehydrated but not severely so. It’s possible you didn’t drink for a day or two, which is the only thing we have to go on regarding a possible timeline.’
    Two days? Was I underground for two whole days?
    ‘We’ve done some checks on your home phone number, but there were no calls made to or from your house within that time frame that might give us some leads. We got your mobile number from Liam and checked that, too.’ His forehead creases.
    ‘Did I call anyone?’
    ‘There were several calls to and from the number you just gave us. Sara’s number. We were waiting