The Runaway. Ali Harper

known Matt the longest.’

      ‘Where is Tuff?’

      ‘He’ll be at uni by now.’

      I frowned and glanced at the clock on the wall above the fireplace. ‘Bit early.’

      ‘Yeah, well.’ She smiled for the first time and I had the sense that she felt better for talking to me. ‘They’re both feeling the pressure. And the library opens at 8.’ She paused a moment, drew a breath. ‘It is weird.’

      I thought she meant the library. ‘Weird?’

      ‘Tuff’s, well, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the stress.’

      ‘Tuff’s what? What were you going to say?’

      She didn’t answer me, was lost in her own thoughts. ‘If Matt’d taken his laptop with him, I’d agree he’s holed up somewhere, ignoring Nikki and trying to get his dissertation finished. But he went missing at a party.’

      ‘Could he have come home on the Sunday? If Tuff was out and you were out? Maybe he picked up his stuff?’

      ‘Maybe. I did have a look in his room, but it’s impossible to tell. I’d have thought he’d have left a note though if he’d done that. Unless he didn’t trust us not to tell Nikki. That’s the only thing I can think of – he wants to disappear till he gets it in.’

      ‘How long’s he got?’

      ‘It’s due Monday.’

      ‘And you don’t think you should ring his parents?’

      ‘He did disappear before you know.’

      ‘Disappear?’

      ‘Well, took off for a few days. Never said where he’d gone or anything.’

      ‘Did you ever find out where he went?’

      She shook her head. ‘That was before Nikki.’

      ‘What’s their relationship like?’

      Jan pulled a face. ‘Nikki knows Matt’s out of her league – that’s what’s driving her mental.’

      ‘He must like her. They’ve been going out together for nearly a year,’ I said.

      ‘Yeah.’ She shrugged her shoulders like she was genuinely bemused by the whole thing.

      ‘Is there someone else?’ I asked again.

      She hesitated and I knew she was searching her conscience. I leaned closer to her. ‘We’re just trying to make sure he’s OK,’ I said. ‘We’re not looking to get him into trouble.’

      ‘Last night, I got a few phone calls where the phone was silent every time I picked it up. I don’t know whether it was Nikki, or just …’

      Jan’s gaze had fixed on the window. She stood up and crossed the room and stared out into the street. I couldn’t see what had caught her interest. She swore under her breath and it sounded like a gust of wind.

      ‘What?’ I asked.

      ‘That’s Matt’s car.’

      I got up and peered out of the bay window in the direction she pointed, followed her gaze to the burgundy Volkswagen Polo parked a few hundred yards further down the street. I hadn’t noticed it on my way there, but I’d come from the other direction.

      Jan turned and ran from the room. I followed her, through the front door back into the street. I wondered how I’d not noticed it earlier, but I’d been focused on the house, and a car with a smashed window isn’t that much of an unusual occurrence in Leeds 6. As I got closer though, I realized it wasn’t just a smashed window. In fact there wasn’t a single pane of glass intact – front and rear windscreen, every window, shattered. Another couple of steps and I realized the headlights and taillights were destroyed as well. The shards crunched under my feet.

      ‘Shit,’ said Jan again.

      ‘Vandals?’ I said.

      Jan looked up and down the street. ‘Why just his car?’

      She had a point. There were other, more attractive cars parked along the street. ‘Which is Tuff’s?’ I asked.

      ‘Tuff doesn’t have a car.’

      ‘Oh. How did he get back from the party?’

      ‘Should I ring the police?’

      ‘He must have come back in a car. The party was in Lincolnshire.’

      Jan stood blinking at the Volkswagen like she was willing the glass back into the panes. I looped around it and tried to read the message it sent. Anger. Raw, unchannelled anger, you could smell it. Every single body panel was dented, same for the bonnet. It looked like it had been attacked with a baseball bat.

      ‘Didn’t you hear anything?’

      ‘You don’t think Nikki …?’ Jan’s voice tailed off.

      I frowned as I considered the idea, but it didn’t add up. ‘Don’t think so. I mean she’s worried, but she didn’t strike me as angry. Least, not this angry.’

      ‘What should I do?’ Jan turned to me and I realized she’d got worried for the first time.

      ‘Phone the police. Report it.’

      ‘And tell them Matt’s missing?’

      I still find it difficult to think of the police as anything other than the enemy. Too much soft drug consumption. That’s my soft drug consumption, not theirs. But I remembered the roasting we’d got from not involving them earlier in our last case. ‘Don’t think you’ve got a choice,’ I said. I peered in through the driver’s window. Or the space where the window once was. ‘Radio’s still there. Doesn’t look like anything’s been stolen.’ The glove box was closed. I pulled my head back out. ‘Is Tuff insured? To drive it?’

      ‘I’m not dealing with this,’ Jan said. She held up her hands in front of her like she was trying to stop traffic. She turned towards the house. I still had my notebook and pen in hand so I wrote down the registration number and followed Jan back across the road.

      ‘I don’t know anything about it,’ she said, talking to herself. ‘This is Tuff’’s problem.’

      I followed her into the house, back into the front room. She picked up a denim jacket from the back of the settee. ‘I don’t know anything. I haven’t got time. I’m late. They’re not the only ones with deadlines.’

      ‘Why don’t I tell Tuff, then he can sort it?’ I said. ‘You said he’s at the library?’

      ‘Not my drama,’ she said, still shaking her head.

      I stuffed my notebook into my bag. We were obviously leaving. ‘What time will he be there till?’

      ‘Don’t know. He works Thursdays.’ She grabbed a bag and a ring binder from the floor in the hall.

      ‘Works where?’

      ‘The bookshop.’ She was out the front door, standing on the step waiting for me to leave so she could shut the front door. ‘The one opposite the uni.’

      I stepped out of the house and she slammed the door behind me, locked it and put the key in her pocket.

      ‘What time does he start?’

      But she didn’t hear me. Or if she did she didn’t acknowledge it. She was already out of the gate and headed down the street towards town. I watched her stride away until she turned left at the end and disappeared from sight.

       Chapter Six

      I caught the bus to Hyde Park Corner and threaded my way through