The Ultimate Truth by Kevin Brooks Read Free Book Online Page A

before he went missing, Bash wasn’t quite as focused as he usually was. He just seemed
. . . I don’t know, a bit distracted about something. As if he had something else on his mind, you know? Something
other
than the fight.’
    ‘Did you ask him about it?’
    ‘Yeah, but he just shrugged it off. Said it was nothing.’
    I thought about that for a few seconds, then said, ‘When was the last time you heard from my dad?’
    ‘He called me a couple of days before the crash. He wanted to know if I knew anything about Bashir’s life before he came to Barton.’ Mr Ruddy shrugged. ‘There
wasn’t much I could tell him really. Bash is a very private person, he doesn’t like talking about himself. All he’d ever told me was that he’d lived in the East End of
London for a while and that he’d done most of his training at a boxing club somewhere in Stratford.’
    ‘Right,’ I said. ‘And that was it? You didn’t hear from Dad again?’
    ‘No.’
    I closed the file and just sat there for a while thinking about everything Mr Ruddy had told me, trying to work out if any of it meant anything. And, if so, what. But I didn’t get very
far. The truth was, I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing.
    ‘Can I keep this?’ I asked Mr Ruddy, holding up the file.
    ‘I don’t see why not.’
    I took out my mobile and showed him the photograph of the man at the funeral. ‘Have you ever seen him before?’
    Mr Ruddy shook his head. ‘Who is he?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ I said, taking the printout from my pocket. ‘What about these men?’ I said, showing him the picture. ‘Do you recognise any of them?’
    ‘That’s the one from the other photograph, isn’t it?’ he said, pointing out the man from the funeral.
    ‘Yeah, but what about the others? Have you seen any of them around?’
    ‘No, sorry.’
    ‘Is it all right if I show the pictures round the gym, see if anyone recognises them?’
    ‘Of course, no problem.’
    ‘Did Dad talk to anyone else here about Bashir?’
    ‘He talked to just about everybody. I don’t think they were very much help to him though. Like I said, Bashir’s a very private person. He keeps himself to himself. Everyone
here knows him, of course, and they all respect him as a boxer, but Bash didn’t really make friends with anyone. Not that I know of, anyway.’
    ‘OK,’ I said, getting to my feet. ‘Well, thanks for all your help, Mr Ruddy. I’ll let you know if anything turns up.’
    He smiled at me. ‘I hear you’re a pretty good boxer yourself.’
    ‘I don’t know about that,’ I said.
    ‘Your dad was very proud of you.’
    ‘Was he?’
    Mr Ruddy nodded.
    I didn’t know what else to say. I just stood there looking back at him for a moment or two, feeling the tingle of tears in my eyes, then I took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and went out
into the gym.

11
    Mr Ruddy was right about the other boxers. None of them knew very much about Bashir. They didn’t all want to talk to me – kids from the Slade are naturally
suspicious of anyone asking questions – but even those who were happy to talk didn’t have much to say. Apart from the fact that he was a brilliant boxer, no one seemed to know anything
about Bashir at all. No one recognised any of the men in the pictures either. By the time I’d talked to everyone in the gym except the dark-eyed girl, I’d pretty much given up hope of
finding out anything useful.
    I’m not sure why I left the girl until last. I suppose, if I’m honest, it was probably a mixture of fear and embarrassment. She was still working out on the heavy punchbag, and the
look on her face as she pounded her fists into it was genuinely quite scary. I mean, she was pummelling away at the bag as if she was trying to kill it or something. I’d never seen anything
like it. She looked so intense, so driven, that I seriously considered just leaving her to it. But she also looked really nice – those deep dark eyes, that beautiful