No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary Read Free Book Online Page A

was copying, but he wanted to hear it from Marnie.
    ‘No wounds, nothing in the airways. No evidence they were constrained. No sign of a struggle. No broken bones.’ She dropped her hands into her lap. ‘Fran thinks they starved, slowly. She called it . . . a quiet death.’
    ‘A quiet death.’ He wanted to throw something. ‘But there were tins of food down there.’
    ‘Fran thinks they got too weak to open them.’ Marnie’s voice hardened; her way of focusing, keeping emotion in its useful place. ‘I don’t remember any searches five years ago, for brothers. I’d have seen a picture if they went missing in London, but I don’t remember any search for missing boys.’ Her eyes went to somewhere Noah couldn’t see but which he could imagine, thanks to Debbie’s lack of discretion. Five years ago, there was enough horror in Marnie’s life without looking for missing children.
    ‘I promised Terry Doyle I’d take him their names, once we know who they are . . .’ She drank a mouthful of coffee. ‘What’ve you got for me?’
    ‘The houses were built by Merrick Homes. I had a shufti on the internet and it looks like the development was due to start nearly six years ago, but it got stalled because of funding issues, or permissions. They didn’t go on-site until late in 2011. Blackthorn Road’s unusual in that all the houses are three-storey, built tall to take advantage of the views. They called it Beech Rise, after the trees that Merrick Homes thoughtfully preserved and incorporated.’ He paused. ‘That’s a quote from their website.’
    ‘It’s what else they preserved and incorporated that concerns me,’ Marnie said drily.
    ‘I have an address, and a name. Ian Merrick, owner and managing director.’
    ‘Good. Let’s pay him a visit.’ She checked her watch and stood, dropping her empty cup into the bin. ‘It’ll have to be tomorrow now. Get some rest while you can.’
    ‘I was going to swing past the refuge,’ Noah said, ‘and see how Ayana’s doing.’
    Marnie scanned his face. ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘It’s just a visit. I know she’s fine, because she called me. I’d like to see her, though. I haven’t seen her since we got her out of that flat, away from her family.’
    Into a witness protection scheme. Ayana was giving evidence against her brother, Nasif Mirza. A man had died after Nasif attacked him with a scimitar. An earlier attack, with a different weapon, had left Nasif’s sister Ayana blind in one eye. She was one of the most courageous people Noah had met, and he wanted to tell her so, in person.
    ‘Give her my best wishes.’ Marnie was tying her hair away from her face, working blindly; no mirrors in here.
    Noah had never seen her consult a mirror. For someone so habitually neat, that was surprising. ‘We’re a team.’ Like Terry, he needed to know the boys’ names, and he wanted to be part of the effort that took them home. ‘What about Gutless Douglas?’ he remembered.
    ‘I’ve been trying his number, still no answer. He’ll have to wait until the morning too. I’ll brief the team first thing.’
    Marnie nodded at Noah. ‘Get some rest while you can. I don’t agree with DS Carling’s pessimism regarding this case, but he’s right about one thing. It’s going to be a nightmare for the next few weeks.’

11
    Marnie had no plans to move in with Ed Belloc, but sometimes you didn’t need a plan.
    They’d been sleeping together for six months, at his place since hers was too much like a hotel suite; she’d caught Ed tidying the pillows. His flat was better, messier; lived-in. Hers could’ve been sprayed with plastic for all the impression she’d made on it. She’d liked her flat once, for precisely that sterile neatness, its estate-agent readiness, the sense of impermanence. But recently it had started to unnerve her, as if she was part of the mess it was trying to repel. Ed’s place, never neat, felt like home these days.
     • • • 
    Ed