Free Catch Your Death by Louise Voss, Mark Edwards

longed for safety and comfort – wanted to flee back to the States, she knew she had done the right thing. She would get through this period.
    If Vernon doesn’t find you, an internal voice whispered.
    No, he wouldn’t find her. And if he did, what could he do?
    He’ll say you’ve kidnapped your own son. He’ll take Jack back. He’s always threatened that he’d hunt you down if you ever tried to take him away. You’ll lose him.
    No! That wasn’t right. She had brought Jack to England for his own good. It was the right thing to do. And she was English – the law would protect her here, wouldn’t it? They wouldn’t let Vernon take her son away from her, not here. Would they?
    She was distracted from her worries by the sight of a mosquito flitting about near the window. She immediately thought of her work – the many long hours staring into an electron microscope, studying the West Nile Virus and others like it. Viruses are so tiny that they can only be seen with a modern electron microscope. So tiny that hundreds of thousands would fit on the size of a pin. Kate and her fellow researchers spent their lives absorbed in this miniature world.
    If only all her problems were as small – not huge like all this stuff with Stephen and Paul. She hadn’t come back to England to chase ghosts. She didn’t intend to open this door to the past. Honestly, she hadn’t even thought about Stephen or the Cold Unit on the way back here – it had been the last thing on her mind. As she’d told Paul, she hadn’t thought about it for years.
    But now she’d met Paul and read the letter, and a wound she’d thought long-healed had been torn open again. Feelings she thought were dead had proven themselves well and truly alive – and kicking.
    Tonight, after Paul left, she had toyed with the idea of checking out at dawn and moving to another hotel. She didn’t need this complication. She had to find a school for Jack, a new job for herself. She had to get settled as soon as she could, for Jack’s sake, and so that Vernon wouldn’t be able to accuse her of being some kind of irresponsible vagrant.
    But would she be able to go on with her life without finding out what had happened to Stephen and what she had “been right” about? She decided that she would spend another day, maybe two, with Paul, trying to figure out what had happened. She owed Stephen that. After that, even if they hadn’t unearthed the truth, she would have to put it aside and try to settle down.
    She didn’t know that within forty-eight hours she would be on the run for her life; or that settling down wouldn’t be an option.
     
     

CHAPTER 11
     
    Paul was waiting in the reception area when Kate emerged from the lift the next morning, Jack close by her side. He stood up to meet her, looking as tired as she felt, but also relieved. Perhaps he’d been worried that she might have done a disappearing act. She wouldn’t tell him how close she’d been to doing just that. She also wouldn’t tell him how relieved she felt, because getting dressed she’d wondered if he would actually be there. What if he’d had a change of heart? She could imagine him sitting at home, laughing to himself, thinking how crazy he was to get involved with this looney tunes chick with the dodgy memory.
    Even though he looked tired, he also looked as if he’d made a bit of an effort before coming out. His hair had been washed and was fashionably spiked, though it had gone a little flat on one side, and he seemed to be wearing aftershave. A little too much aftershave, if truth be told. He was wearing different jeans too, expensive-looking ones, though obviously she didn’t know him well enough yet to lift the back of his jacket to check the label. Yeah, and check out his bum while you’re down there, whispered a little voice in her head.
    ‘ What is it?’ he said, looking alarmed. lohHave I got something on my face?’
    She laughed and shook her head.
    ‘ I’ve brought my