Blood Loss by Alex Barclay Read Free Book Online Page B

dress that had shunted her large breasts down to her waist and left a pale, flat expanse of chest behind. Her legs were plump, and covered in black panty-hose. Her feet were squeezed into a pair of black shiny Mary Janes.
    Bob and Ren exchanged ‘nutjob’ glances.
    Cathy Merritt lunged for Mark, slapping him hard on the chest and pushing against him. Despite her bulk, he didn’t move.
    ‘I knew it,’ she screamed. ‘I knew it. What have you done? That judge! What have you done to Laurie? I heard this from a hotel receptionist!’ she said. ‘That’s how I heard my daughter had gone missing. I tried your cell, I tried Laurie’s, I got nothing, I called the hotel, and they told me all hell has broken loose, a child has gone missing. My child! That’s how I hear it! What have you done to her?’
    ‘What have I
done
to her?’ said Mark. ‘Are you insane? Nothing! We came back from dinner … she was gone. I had checked on her!’
    ‘You went for dinner?’ said Cathy. ‘You left her in the room alone?’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Mark. ‘She was not alone. Leo was there. And we had a sitter.’
    ‘Oh, you left her with a three-year-old and a stranger!’ said Cathy. ‘Well, then!’
    ‘As if you’ve never left her with a sitter,’ said Mark.
    ‘Sitters I know!’ said Cathy. ‘Not strangers. Who was this person?’
    ‘She works for the hotel. She’s a high school student …’
    ‘Why were you even getting a sitter?’ said Cathy. ‘You were taking Laurie away for the first time in years!’
    ‘I … I … we watched a movie together, she was going to bed in a little while … I didn’t think going to dinner … we’re in Breck, for crying out loud, it’s not like we’re in a war zone. We were going downstairs for a couple of hours. We could just as easily have been doing that at home.’
    ‘So, strangers can just walk in and out of your house, no problem?’ said Cathy. ‘And was it a couple of hours? Really?’ She pushed him again. ‘You know what? On the drive here, I’m thinking “once a worthless piece of shit, always a worthless piece of shit”. You haven’t changed one bit.’
    She turned to Bob and Ren, and stabbed a finger at them, then at her ex-husband. ‘Watch this guy,’ she said. ‘He is a liar, an alcoholic, and …’ she turned to Mark, ‘you’re a loser!’ Her eyes darted back to Bob to Ren. ‘A loser. Save yourself the time it took me to figure that out.’
    Erica Whaley appeared from the hallway where the rest rooms were. The female detective alongside her was reaching out to stop her from getting any closer to Cathy Merritt. But Erica shouted from where she stood, ‘Mark is
not
a liar. You don’t know him! You haven’t known him for years. He has a new life now.’
    ‘God help you,’ said Cathy. ‘You seem like a good person, Erica. And Laurie adores you, but … how,
how
can you be with this …’ She looked at Mark with years-long disgust.
    ‘He is a wonderful husband, and a wonderful father,’ said Erica.
    Mark shook his head. ‘Don’t Erica …’
    ‘No,’ said Erica. ‘I can’t listen to this. I can’t, honey. And I’m not having the FBI, and the Sheriff, and everyone else listening to it either. From the day I met you, you have loved me, cared for me, provided for me and the children, not done one thing to hurt us. Not one thing.’ She turned to Cathy. ‘I’m sorry, Cathy, but he is not the man you married.’
    ‘Well, you know something?’ said Cathy. ‘I’m not the woman he married! Because he wore me down. Your
wonderful
husband nearly destroyed me and he nearly destroyed our daughter—’
    ‘Destroyed?’ said Mark.
    ‘We were driving around in the middle of the night dragging you out of dives. Laurie was only a baby!’ She turned to Erica. ‘There’s your wonderful husband! The man, hanging over the toilet bowl, after a night of hard drinking? Wetting the bed? There’s your wonderful husband!’
    Who’d have