Free Long Time Lost by Chris Ewan Page A

live?’
    ‘Europe.’
    ‘Do I get to pick a place?’
    ‘That’s rule number three. I choose. At least to begin with.’
    ‘But not England?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘You don’t ask much, do you?’
    ‘You’ll also need to work. We can’t allow you to access the majority of your funds for the first year. And then we’ll drip feed them. We have to make sure the money’s not being followed. That’s how Hanson found you in the Isle of Man, by the way.’
    ‘So place me somewhere with an international law firm.’
    ‘Not an option. You can’t work as a lawyer. You’d be too easy to track. Menial jobs are best. But not anything where you’ll meet lots of people. Being a waitress is bad. Working in a bar or a coffee shop is worse. We’ve had clients work as late-night cleaners in factories or stockrooms. Data input is OK. Basically anything that keeps you away from the public or your face behind a computer terminal.’
    Hanson glanced up from behind his laptop. ‘I’m going to choose not to take offence at that.’
    Kate had excelled as a lawyer. She’d been on the partnership track at her firm. And now she was being told she had to turn her back on eight years of hard work. To become a cleaner. Or a factory worker. To live in a strange place that was not of her choosing, leaving without saying goodbye to any of her friends or colleagues, giving up the search for her brother and her birth parents.
    ‘When this is over, I’m going to find Richard. You can help me to do that, can’t you?’
    ‘Kate,’ Miller told her gently, a look of regret on his face, ‘this will never be over. Not for you. Not like that.’
    ‘But I still testify. Right? I’m going to give my evidence against Russell Lane. You agreed to it.’
    ‘Whoa.’ Becca stepped back. ‘You did not tell her that.’
    Kate looked between them, bewildered.
    ‘You promised me I’d testify. I told you that was non-negotiable.’
    ‘It’s complicated, Kate.’ Miller was looking down now; at his coffee, at his hands, anywhere but at her.
    ‘Then forget it. Forget all of it.’ She jumped off her stool. ‘Richard is my brother. Understand? And Helen was my friend. She was a good person. She didn’t need to volunteer at that shelter but she did it because she wanted to help people. And now I’m going to help her. I’ll walk out of here into the nearest police station in order to testify if I have to.’
    ‘Er, Kate.’ Hanson had gathered up his laptop in a hurry and was hustling over to the kitchen counter, angling the screen for them all to see. ‘You might want to reconsider.’
    Despite herself, Kate looked, then immediately wished she hadn’t.
    Hanson had called up a news article from the BBC website. The report concerned the discovery of a man’s body among the foundations of a building site in Greater Manchester. Early indications were that he’d been killed in unexplained circumstances, possibly involving a fall. The dead man had been identified as a Patrick Martin Leigh.
    ‘This can’t be real. Tell me this isn’t real.’
    ‘Oh, it’s real,’ Miller said. ‘It’s like I told you at the beginning – there’s no going back.’

Chapter Sixteen
    Kate was still staring at Miller, speechless, when Becca grabbed the laptop and took her by the hand to the apartment across the hall. She guided her on to the sofa and sat beside her with the laptop on her knees.
    Kate looked blindly about the room. This situation wasn’t just bigger than her, it was swallowing her.
    A man had plummeted to his death. He’d been murdered, Kate was sure. And all because, like her, he’d been willing to testify in the trial of Russell Lane.
    ‘Listen to me,’ Becca was saying. ‘You’re hurting. You’re scared. And I’m sorry for you, I am, but I think maybe you needed this. Your situation is real, Kate. It’s terrible but it’s happening. Now is the time to commit to it.’
    But Kate didn’t feel capable of committing to anything. She felt