Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller by Daniel Hurst (free e novels TXT) 📗

‘Has she enjoyed it?

‘I think so, besides the usual side effects. You know, morning sickness. Lack of sleep.’

‘Of course. But was she looking forward to becoming a mother?’

‘Of course.’

‘She never indicated that she was fearful of the future or anything like that?’

‘No. Why would she be? We’re having a baby. It’s what she always wanted.’

‘I understand. We’re just trying to determine if your wife’s disappearance has anything to do with a change in her mental state in the weeks leading up to it.’

‘She had lost her temper with me a couple of times and was occasionally distant. I put it down to pregnancy hormones as she’d never been like that before. I did answer these questions in the form at the station.’

‘I know you did, sir, but we’re just going over everything to see if there are any details that you might have forgot to mention during the initial report.’

‘There isn’t.’

PC McGregor nods and jots something down in his notebook, but I’m not sure what it is that I could have said that would be of any use. I look to PC Stone sitting beside him and notice she is looking at one of the photos of me and my wife above the fireplace.

I wonder what the rookie is thinking.

What a shame, they used to be so happy, perhaps. 

‘We’ve checked your wife’s bank account,’ PC McGregor says as he closes his notebook and looks up at me again. ‘It hasn’t been used since the 23rd, three days before her disappearance.’

I nod my head because I was expecting them to say that. That’s because I didn’t actually withdraw any cash on the night Laura and I ‘ran’. I only pretended to. I knew she wouldn’t be able to get a good view of the cash machine from where she sat behind me in the car, so I went through the motions, but really the cash that was ‘withdrawn’ that night was already in my wallet beforehand. I use that money for funds in the village for food and newspapers without leaving a credit card trail, but there were no substantial transactions at the cash machine around the time Laura went ‘missing’ to raise any eyebrows.

‘We are continuing to monitor her account for any more activity,’ PC McGregor tells me.

‘Good,’ I reply because it is. They won’t find anything of interest there.

‘Is it okay if we have that look around now?’ PC McGregor asks, and I nod as I get up off the sofa.

‘What is it you’re looking for?’ I query as I lead the officers back into the hallway.

‘Anything that might give us an idea of what happened to your wife,’ PC Stone replies and I’m almost caught off guard by the sound of her voice.

She speaks.

This rookie has potential.

‘Just anything that might provide us with a clue as to where she could be,’ PC McGregor interjects. ‘Have you noticed anything missing besides a few items of her clothing? I know you said it doesn’t look like she has taken much, but it could be something less obvious than clothes. Any photos? Jewellery? Things that might hold some significance with her?’

I shake my head. ‘I don’t think so.’

PC McGregor nods. ‘You check down here. I’ll have a look around upstairs,’ he says to his colleague before climbing the staircase.

PC Stone smiles at me before wandering away into the kitchen and I’m just left standing like a spare part in my own home. I guess I’ll just wait here until one of the officers speaks to me again then.

I check my watch and see that I have been gone from the cottage for an hour now. I’d like to be back within two, but I have an array of excuses ready if I’m not. But I don’t think Laura will even care about hearing any of those excuses when I do return to her.

She’ll be more worried about what I’m going to tell her when I get there.

24

LAURA

I heard Adam’s car arriving back at the cottage a moment ago, so I’m just waiting for him to come inside and enter the bedroom before I demand to know where he has been for so long. He’s been gone for just over two hours. Seriously, how long does it take to go to the village, check the news and come back? Less than an hour surely. So why has it taken twice that amount of time?

I’m fuming.

I hear the front door open and close, and then I hear the sound of his footsteps on the stairs. By the time the bedroom door opens, I’m about ready to blow him back down those stairs with the force of my anger, but then I see the ashen look on his face, and I pause. He looks terrible. And what he says next explains why.

‘It’s in the papers.’

Adam’s words hang in the air for a moment as we both look at each other and comprehend what this means. Basically, it means any hopes we had about the body not being found and the police not looking for the driver of that car are gone. If it’s in the news, the police will already be looking into it.

‘The local ones?’ I ask, but Adam shakes his head.

‘The nationals.’

‘You’re joking?’

‘I wish I was.’

Adam’s frightened face is freaking me out right now so I bury my head in my hands to avoid seeing it anymore. This is it. It’s official. Our lives are ruined. I almost feel stupid for thinking that it wouldn’t be reported in the news and we might have been able to go back home in a day or two. Of course it was going to be reported. Somebody has died, and somebody has to be punished for that. But why does it have to be my husband?

‘What’s the latest?’ I ask when I can finally bring myself to lower my hands and look at Adam again.

‘Just that they found the body. Suspected hit and run. Appealing for any witnesses.’

‘Nothing about a suspect?’

‘Not