A Rip in the Veil by Anna Belfrage Read Free Book Online

twigs, leaves, the carcass of what looked like a desiccated hedgehog lay in the opening. John did a slow turn. In one corner something caught his eye and he moved closer. Very faintly on the uneven wall he could make out words, written in faded capitals with some kind chalky rock. “ALEX WAS HERE.” An arrow pointed downwards and he dug at the earth, ignoring Diane’s worried voice.
    “Jesus,” he groaned, staring down at what he had uncovered. “What the hell is this?” A small, rectangular object lay wrapped in what looked like a faded cloth pouch.
    “Outside,” Diane said. “We can’t see anything in here.”
    John followed her out into the sun and closed his fingers round a rusted metal object, still a clear red in streaks. It was her phone, and when he lifted it up to show Diane, bits and pieces flaked off to crumble into rusty dust.
    “What has happened to her? How can you logically explain this?”
    She sat down beside him. “I can’t. I have absolutely no idea.”
    They sat in silence on the hillside.
    “She just sent me a text,” John said, shaking his head. “How can she have done that if her phone lies buried in a cave?” Diane gave a helpless shrug. “And look at it,” he continued, “it looks as if it’s been in the ground for centuries.”
    His phone beeped again. A new text. From her. Impossible, he thought, feeling sweat break out along his spine. “ Take care of Isaac. Love u. A. ”
    John lay back against the ground and closed his eyes to stop the spinning sensation in his head. Alex was here, she even texted him – from a phone that lay in pieces in his hands. People don’t just disappear, he told himself, and then he saw Sanderson drowning in that funnel of light. His hand groped for something, someone. Diane took hold of him and squeezed.
    “It’ll be alright, we’ll find her. Somehow we’ll find her.”
    He turned towards her and hid his face against her jeans clad thigh. “I don’t understand.”
    “Who does?” Diane sighed, running her hand through his hair. “Come on,” she added a few minutes later. “We’d best get going.”
    *
    Diane drove all the way back to Edinburgh, with John sitting stunned beside her.
    “There must be a logical explanation,” he said, twisting in his seat to face her. “There must be, right?”
    “Of course.”
    “And if there is, then she’ll come back, won’t she? People don’t just disappear, do they?”
    “I’m not sure,” she said, keeping her eyes on the road ahead of them.
    “But you said! You said there had to be a logical explanation.”
    She sighed and glanced in his direction. “Even if there is, I don’t think she’s coming back.”
    “Of course she is!”
    Diane looked away. “She might be dead.”
    John folded his arms over his chest and decided not to say another word.
    She parked outside the office and turned to face him.“You want me to come with you?”
    Yes, he really wanted her to, but this was something he had to do on his own. Oh God; pick up Isaac and tell him his mother was gone; call on Magnus and inform him Alex had disappeared into thin air.
    “No, I’ll be fine,” he said, releasing his seatbelt to scoot into the driver’s seat.
    “You sure?”
    “Yes.” He drove off before he begged her to come with him.
    *
    John hesitated in front of the bright red door. He loved this little street in Stockbridge, lined with similar row houses in unprepossessing grey stone, all of them with doors that attempted to give them a touch of individuality, exploding in reds and greens and blues and even, unfortunately, in yellow.
    Isaac tugged at his hand. “Offa?”
    John smiled down at him. “Yes, let’s see if your Offa’s home, shall we?”
    He was, a bright smile appearing on his tanned face when he saw his grandson, mirrored in Isaac’s face. John watched them hug and felt something twist inside. They had each other, they were of blood. He was just a random man, with no biological ties to either of