Free Gone by Rebecca Muddiman Page B

worth a try. And just because she wasn’t there right now didn’t mean she hadn’t been with him at all.
    ‘Thanks anyway,’ Gardner said and headed back to the interview room to let the little shit go.
     
    Lucas watched the door to the interview room open but instead of DC Gardner, with his face like thunder, it was DS Stuart Wallace and his fat little sidekick McIlroy.
    ‘All right, Lucas,’ Wallace said, and checked the corridor before closing the door behind him. Wallace was a prick. Thought he was a clever bastard, playing both sides, but he’d made himself useful once or twice before. ‘I heard you were darkening our doors again,’ Wallace said, resting one foot on Gardner’s vacated chair while he pulled a pack of gum from his pocket. ‘Hope you’ve not been a naughty boy, Lucas.’
    Lucas glared at Wallace. He’d tell him to piss off but he wanted to see how it played out. See what Wallace could do for him.
    ‘Has our DC Gardner been giving you a hard time? You want me to sort him out?’ Wallace looked at McIlroy and they giggled like kids.
    Lucas sighed. ‘What do you want, Wallace?’
    ‘Nothing,’ Wallace said, standing up straight again. ‘I just thought I’d come in and say hello, see if I could be of assistance, but if you’re going to be like that . . .’ Wallace shrugged and walked back to the door. McIlroy was still standing there, folded arms resting on his gut.
    ‘What do you know about Emma Thorley?’ Lucas asked.
    Wallace frowned, as if he were trying to get his brain into gear. ‘Not a lot to know. Missing junkie. Gone for a week or something. Why? You know her? One of your slappers, is she?’
    Lucas shrugged. ‘So that’s it? Just a missing person. Nothing else going on?’
    ‘No. Why, you got something you want to tell me, Lucas? A dirty little secret?’
    Lucas just glared at him and Wallace laughed. ‘Chill out, mate. Just kidding. Don’t worry about it. There’s nothing to this. Heard Gardner talking to the boss. Reckons she’ll turn up in a few days, always does.’
    The door opened and Gardner looked even more pissed off than when he’d left.
    ‘What the fuck are you doing in here?’ he asked Wallace and McIlroy.
    ‘Just talking about our love lives,’ McIlroy said and winked at Lucas before walking out. Lucas watched as Gardner’s face reddened, his fingers curling into fists. He could hear Wallace whistling down the corridor. Tuneless git.
    ‘You. Out,’ Gardner said and Lucas wondered what he’d missed. But he didn’t need telling twice. He walked past Gardner, waiting to be escorted out of the building. Instead Gardner slammed the door behind him, leaving Lucas wondering what the fuck had just happened.

Chapter 21
     
    14 December 2010
     
    Freeman headed for Alnwick and turned on the stereo. Bikini Kill came on, blasting out ‘White Boy’. She turned it off and switched to the radio. She didn’t need to fuel her anger, she needed to think. She found Radio 2 and listened to someone being interviewed about something or other and let her mind wander. Wondering what Ben Swales would say when she showed up at his door.
    She pulled up outside the address she had for Ben. There was an old car on the drive, even crappier than hers. Freeman looked at the house. It was nothing special, just an ordinary semi, but she’d bet it’d cost a lot more than the same kind of houses at home. She could barely afford to rent the piece of crap she was living in, so how did Ben Swales afford this? She couldn’t imagine drug counselling paid that well.
    There didn’t seem to be any lights on in the house but she couldn’t be sure. The house across the street was lit up like Vegas with dozens of flashing Santas and reindeer, so much so that the houses on Ben’s side probably didn’t need to bother with their own lights throughout December.
    She got out of the car, walked up the drive and knocked on the front door. After a minute or so a light came on in the