The Runaway. Ali Harper

the lifts were.

      Outside a room that bore a plaque stating ‘Earth and Earth Sciences Department’, was a grid of shelves – four wide and about a dozen high – each one about the size of a shoebox. Each box had a name tag. Matt Williams was easy to find – the last one on the right-hand side.

      ‘Are you sure it was Matt’s pigeonhole she was interested in?’

      ‘Yes,’ said Sally. ‘It was the bottom one.’

      ‘Can I?’ I crouched so I was level with Matt’s mail.

      ‘It goes without saying I’m not condoning such behaviour,’ Professor Kendrick said.

      I scooped up a handful of paper. The professor was right. Flyers about upcoming conferences, speakers from foreign countries coming to lecture, discount offers on everything from books to nightclubs. I frowned at Jo and handed the pile to her.

      ‘Are you sure she was taking mail?’ I turned back to Sally. ‘Perhaps she was leaving him a note?’

      Sally pulled a face as she considered what I’d just said. ‘I didn’t think of that. But if she was, why didn’t she just say? Instead of running off?’

      Jo sifted through the papers. And sure enough, there amongst the bumf I caught a glimpse of A4 lined paper, torn from a book and folded in half. I snatched it and opened it up.

      Professor Kendrick peered over my shoulder as I read:

       Matt. I’ll be in Old Bar, Thursday two o’clock. Be there. I mean it.

      The note wasn’t signed but there was a letter at the end of it. The letter ‘S’. No kiss, not underlined, just an S and a full stop, all in purple biro.

      ‘When did you see this woman?’ Jo asked Sally.

      ‘Yesterday, just before lunch.’

      I turned to the professor. ‘What’s he like, Matt?’

      ‘Bright. Well-bred. Popular.’ She pushed her glasses back up her nose. ‘I ought to inform administration.’

      I wasn’t keen to get any kind of authority involved, not until we knew what we were dealing with. ‘He might just have had a row with his girlfriend.’

      ‘And you said his parents are aware?’

      ‘If there’s another woman on the scene,’ said Jo, waving the piece of paper in the air, ‘he might be in hiding from his girlfriend. Case she breaks his legs.’

      ‘The eternal curse of good-looking men.’ Professor Kendrick shrugged her shoulders. ‘I imagine.’

      ‘Of course, the girl you saw might not have left this note. It’s not dated.’ I turned back to Sally. ‘What did she look like?’

      Professor Kendrick took off her glasses, polished them with a cloth handkerchief.

      ‘I don’t know,’ said Sally. ‘She was young. I assumed she was a student.’

      ‘Glasses? Braces? Blonde, redhead?’ asked Jo. ‘Clothes?’

      Professor Kendrick returned her glasses to her face and checked her watch. ‘I expect she wore clothes, didn’t she, Sally?’

      Sally’s cheeks grew pink and she threw a grateful glance at the professor. ‘I didn’t take much notice, I was late for my meeting. She had dark hair, I think. About this long.’ She pointed to her shoulders.

      ‘Young, female and dark, long hair? Anything else?’

      ‘I’m sorry. I’m not very good at this kind of thing.’

      ‘Anything at all.’

      ‘Eyeliner,’ said Sally with a note of triumph in her voice. ‘I remember thinking she wore too much eyeliner.’

      Great. That should narrow it down to well over eighty per cent of the student population, even if you included the boys.

      ‘Well,’ said Jo. ‘Here’s our card. If you remember anything, give us a ring, let us know. There’s a … an office manager if we’re not available. You can leave a message with her.’

       Chapter Three

      We trudged back up the hill towards the office. We hadn’t found out a right lot, and it was hard not to feel a bit deflated. We decided we’d wait till teatime to go round to Matt’s house on The Turnways again, see if anyone turned up. Before that we were meeting Martin Blink.

      Martin arrived at the offices on the stroke of half past four. He limped through the front door, and Jo jumped up from her desk and hugged the life out of him. They’d spent a lot of time together, after our last case, when Jo was in hospital recovering from her surgery on her shoulder, and I was trying to handle the chaos of the aftermath of what had happened. I think now he sees her as his protégée.

      I hung back, tried to position myself so that Aunt Edie wouldn’t see Jo’s eyes tight shut in the embrace. ‘Good to see you,’ I said. ‘How you doing?’

      He didn’t answer me, staring instead at Jo, running his eyes up and down her frame like he was looking for weak spots.

      I tried to see Jo through Martin’s eyes. I know I take her for granted. She’s the stronger one, I mean, mentally – the least neurotic person I ever met. To Jo everything is black or white. There’s the wrong way and the right way. Good versus evil. If there’s ever anything on her mind, she’ll go out, get hammered and forget about it. She doesn’t have brain worms – the things that wriggle around in your headspace, won’t let you go.

      I had noticed that since the last investigation she was smoking and drinking a bit more than she used to, and I was keeping an eye on it. But who wouldn’t be, in her position, after what had happened? She’d been shot and the physical scars were still healing. The mental scars might take even longer. She’d get there though. I’d make damned sure of that.

      Jo seemed to pass Martin’s inspection, because he took a step back, nodded and said, ‘Doing all right, kid.’

      And I felt my shoulders give a little.

      ‘I’m hanging in there,’ said Jo.

      She pushed a chair towards Martin and as soon as he sat down he didn’t look old. His face tells a lot of stories – frown lines buried deep in his forehead, but laughter lines like spiders’ webs criss-crossing from the corner of his eyes and disappearing into his hairline. When he’s not trying to walk you’d think he was in his fifties.

      ‘Doing just fine,’ said Aunt Edie.

      ‘Any ghosts?’ said Martin, setting a battered leather briefcase on the desk.

      Jo glanced at me and a wash of something that felt like acid burned my veins. I know she hates talking about the fact she killed a man. Even a man as bad as the one she killed. I tell her she did the world a favour, but I know she doesn’t believe me. Not yet.

      ‘I’m coping,’ said Jo.

      ‘It’s ace to see you, Martin.’ As I said the words I felt my breathing deepen, so that air made it past my chest and into the rest of my body. ‘What brings you here?’

      ‘Private matters.’ He tapped one finger against the side of his nose and then glanced across at Aunt Edie. ‘If your receptionist here could make us a cup of tea, I’ve a thirst like the Sahara. You got a room we could talk in?’

      I think I actually ducked. When I did dare risk a glance in Aunt Edie’s direction, she was holding on to the back of her office chair, her knuckles white under the fluorescent lights.

      ‘I’m the office manager, not the receptionist,’ she said in the tightest of voices.

      ‘Sorry, love.’ Martin held up his hands. ‘Didn’t mean