Long Time Lost by Chris Ewan Read Free Book Online Page A

That’s how good I am.’
    Kate felt a smile tug at her lips. A sudden flush of confidence.
    ‘Hanson, I am seriously impressed by you right now.’
    ‘More like it.’
    ‘But I have one question: what else can you do?’
    *
    Hanson could do plenty, as it turned out. First he produced a driving licence with Kate’s new headshot on it. Then he manufactured credit and debit cards. Everything was in the name Kate Elizabeth Ryan.
    ‘That’s the easy part. Now I have to start work on transferring your funds to your new accounts.’
    ‘How long will it take?’
    ‘You don’t want to know.’
    ‘Is it dangerous?’
    ‘Only if I get distracted and screw it up. And I probably will, if you keep standing here, watching over me.’
    ‘It’s late, honey.’ Becca was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, holding her heeled shoes by their ankle straps. ‘Why don’t you go across the hall and get some rest? Let the Boy Wonder do his thing.’
    Kate peered at the time at the bottom of Hanson’s screen. It was nudging past midnight. She’d been awake for almost twenty-four hours. She was wiped, but she was afraid to be alone, and it was unnerving to think of her identity being stripped apart and remodelled while she slept.
    Over at the kitchen counter, Miller was still slouched forwards on his crossed forearms, watching in silence. Was he pleased with how things were going? Was she passing his unspoken test?
    She kneaded the muscles at the back of her neck and crossed to the nearest window, pulling the net curtain aside. The street below was in darkness, a third-rate amusement arcade closed and shuttered up.
    There was no sign of any faceless men lurking in the shadows. No car parked ominously along the street.
    But she felt anxious all the same.
    ‘Will you come with me?’ she asked Becca.
    ‘I have to stay and keep Hanson awake. Take Miller. You can ignore his strong, silent routine. He could use some rest, too.’
    Kate let go of the curtain and faced him directly. He held her gaze without moving, then finally pushed himself up on the heels of his hands, summoning a crumpled smile.
    ‘I’ll take the couch. Beats listening to Hanson bang on about how terrific he is.’

Chapter Ten
    The office of the deputy governor of Strangeways prison in Manchester was little bigger than an inmate’s cell. It contained a cheap L-shaped desk with a dusty computer and a telephone to one side, a bank of metal filing cabinets and a wilting money plant. But the cramped space had one thing going for it – in a building designed to keep Category A prisoners under constant supervision, it was one of the few places where privacy could be guaranteed.
    Mike Renner perched on the edge of the desk with an old paperback novel curled into a tube in his hands. By Renner’s watch, he’d been waiting a little over eight minutes, which was eight minutes too long.
    He could feel a damp chill spreading across his shoulder blades, a constriction in his throat. He’d loosened his tie and collar but somehow it still felt as if an invisible noose had been slipped over his neck.
    Three more minutes crawled by before the door was pushed open and Russell was led inside by a guard in uniform. Russell stood slump-shouldered in his dark blue sweater and matching jogging trousers, contemplating his black training shoes as the guard headed for the door.
    ‘Hey,’ Renner called after him. ‘Take off the cuffs.’
    ‘Cuffs stay on. I’m not authorised to undo them.’
    ‘Not authorised. Really?’ Renner reached out a hand and lifted the desk phone from its cradle. ‘What do you think? Will your boss have a problem with me waking him at home to tell him you’re being a prick?’
    The guard wavered a moment, then let out a heavy sigh as he freed his keys from his belt and walked over to loosen Russell’s restraints.
    ‘I’m going to be waiting right outside this door.’
    ‘Sure.’ Renner waved him off. ‘Whatever makes you feel like