Free The Disappearances by Gemma Malley Page A

pointed to one of the chairs; Lucas sat down on it.
    Rab sat in the other one, pouring more whisky into two glasses; Lucas refused the glass that Rab proffered him, so he offered it to Clara, who hesitated before declining. ‘More warming than tea,’ Rab said, as though an explanation were required. Lucas said nothing; he just waited watchfully as Rab sat back in the chair and exhaled slowly.
    ‘I didn’t know that’s what they were doing,’ he said, eventually. ‘I had no idea. The Brother just said I was to let them in when they came.’
    ‘Let who in?’ Lucas asked, leaning forward. ‘Who are “they”?’
    Rab shrugged. ‘I never got any names,’ he said, the sarcasm returning. ‘The Brother just called them our Informers.’
    Lucas glanced over at Clara, who visibly whitened.
    ‘Informers?’ Lucas asked. ‘Why didn’t I know about this?’
    Rab looked at him for a moment, then he started to laugh. ‘You?’ He shook his head. ‘You really think you’re in charge, don’t you. You really think …’ He shook his head again, wiped away a tear from his eye, then his face turned serious. ‘You know nothing,’ he said. ‘You’re the Brother’s poodle, whatever he tells you.’
    Lucas felt his eyes narrow. ‘Things have changed,’ he said, levelly. ‘The Brother is no longer in control.’
    ‘No, Lucas,’ Rab said, launching forward and grabbing his hand without warning. ‘The Brother is not in control. But not because of you. Not because of what you and your friends did. You think that changed anything? You have no idea. No idea at all.’
    ‘No idea about what?’ Lucas asked angrily. He pushed Rab’s hand away. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Rab. You’re a drunk. You live out here in the middle of nowhere … Just tell me about the Informers. What are they doing here?’
    Rab took a deep breath. ‘They bring stuff. Deliveries. Food, grain. From other camps and settlements. Taxes, the Brother calls it.’
    Lucas’s face creased into incomprehension. ‘But I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘I stopped the food coming from the Damaged Ones,’ he said uncertainly, remembering when he’d discovered that the ‘Evils’ created by the supposed New Baptisms had been put to work in farms outside the City walls, their produce shipped straight back to the City. ‘I stopped—’
    ‘You stopped nothing,’ Rab said, shaking his head wearily. ‘City can’t survive without the supplies the Informers bring. Dead of night they come, bring the food, and the Brother’s men collect it. That’s all I know. Been going on as long as I’ve been here.’
    Lucas stood up, his mind racing. He started to walk around the small room; Rab and Clara sat and watched him.
    ‘Okay,’ Lucas said suddenly, sitting back down. ‘Tell me everything you know about these Informers. Everything.’
    Rab pulled a face. ‘Nothing much to tell,’ he said gruffly.
    Lucas bent down so that his face was inches from Rab’s. ‘There are six graves a mile away from here,’ he said, his voice low. ‘A girl, here, whose friends are …’ he paused, not wanting Clara to know about the bodies. ‘Whose friends have disappeared.’
    ‘Who are dead, you mean,’ Clara interjected. ‘The flies? The spades? I’m not stupid, you know. I know what you were doing.’
    Her eyes were blank; she was rocking back and forth on the chair.
    ‘Who are dead,’ Lucas said, his voice quieter now. ‘A girl who is so scared of being Disappeared that she can’t sleep, can’t function, who hasn’t dared to tell anyone because telling them what she knows is to hand out a death sentence. And now I discover that people have been coming into the City undetected for years. Walking around as if they own it. Tell me what you know and tell me now.’
    Rab sighed and took another drink. He looked twitchy; his eyes darted around the room as though worried that someone might be listening. Then he started to talk, looking at