Page 58 of Worse Than Murder
‘Would you hide a dead body in a car?’
‘It’s a good a place as any other.’
The dogs walk over to us, tongues lolling, panting loudly, and sit down beside us in the shade.
‘They never found the van they took me in, did they?’
I look at him. I see the sadness in his face. Traumatic experiences never go away. They’re always there. People merely learn to live with them. Occasionally, something happens to bring them back to the forefront of the mind. For the first time, Carl is witnessing firsthand a police investigation. Is he comparing it to what happened in the search for him?
‘No,’ I say. ‘We looked everywhere for it. We never gave up. There’s a cold case unit at South Yorkshire Police who routinely go through unsolved cases. They’ll look at yours.’
‘Do you think it’s at the bottom of the River Don somewhere?’
‘It’s possible. It could have been resprayed and had its registration plates changed. It could have been burnt out. It could be hidden in a lock-up somewhere slowly rotting away.’
‘Was this what it was like when I was missing? Were there police everywhere and looking in rivers?’
‘No, Carl,’ I say, putting her arm around him and pulling him close. ‘The kidnappers asked for a ransom. It’s completely different. You shouldn’t be out here watching this. Come on, let’s get back to the restaurant.’ I stand up. The dogs notice movement and jump up, tails wagging. ‘I bet I can guess your favourite dinosaur,’ I say as we set off.
‘I don’t have one.’
‘Everyone has a favourite dinosaur.’
‘I don’t. Do you?’
‘Of course.’
‘What is it?’
‘Guess.’
‘Tyrannosaurus?’
‘No. Too obvious.’
‘Triceratops?’
‘Nope.’
‘I don’t know. Stegosaurus?’
‘No.’
‘I give up,’ he sighs.
‘Diplodocus.’
‘Why?’ he asks, looking at me with a frown.
‘Why not? It was the size of four elephants. What’s not to love about that?’
By the time we leave the woods and enter the clearing, we’ve worked out that Carl’s favourite dinosaur is a Velociraptor, that the firstJurassic Parkfilm is the best, Iron Man is the worst superhero because all he has is money, Hulk would definitely put up a good fight against Godzilla but would eventually lose, andThe Hobbitis two films too long. We agree to disagree on who the bestDoctor Whois. I opt for David Tennant; Carl prefers Matt Smith.
As we approach the restaurant, we see Philip out in the car park chatting to Gill Forsyth. He doesn’t look happy. The car park is packed with police vehicles and there are very few places left for his customers to use. When Gill looks up and notices me, she holds a hand up to silence Philip and heads towards me. Judging by the pursed lips and the steam coming out of her ears, she does not have good news.
‘Something’s happened,’ I guess.
‘No. Quite the opposite actually. Nothing’s happened.’
