The Drowning Child - Alex Barclay

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afternoon. Well, during a hospital visit.’ Seth glanced down at Clyde’s full glass, then shook his jacket off, turning back to hang it on a wooden peg. ‘So,’ he said, ‘BOLO for bald brick shithouse, Franklin J. Merrifield – white male, dumb as a box of frogs, forty-eight years old, meth-cooking, drug-dealing, motherfucking, teen-raping, fire-starting—’

      ‘You knew the guy?’ said Clyde.

      ‘I knew the guy,’ said Seth. ‘Approach with caution.’ He smiled. ‘And that was tonight’s public service announcement from Tate PD with a few insider extras from reformed maker of trouble, prisoner number G65746.’ He walked up to the bar. ‘Aunt Shannon, I am at your service.’

      They shared the same glow, the same amber-colored freckles, but the rest of Seth – the shaven head, the narrow features, the flesh, the bones beneath – came together in a colder, darker way.

      Seth tilted his head toward Clyde.

      ‘Take a seat,’ said Shannon. ‘Let me pour you a drink. He’s like a scared puppy tonight.’

      Clyde’s right leg was bouncing now, striking the underside of the table, rippling the whiskey in his glass. It wasn’t long before it tipped over. He chased it across the table with his hand, but the rich flow of liquor through his veins and his shot reflexes meant all that happened was the moonstone slipped from his grip, skidded over the edge, and landed in the fallen whiskey.

      Shannon grabbed a cloth and rushed to Clyde.

      ‘Do not move,’ she said. She knew he had no balance, drunk or sober. She knew Clyde as well as he didn’t know himself.

      He stopped, then settled again in his seat. Shannon crouched down beside him, stopped when she saw the moonstone.

      ‘Is this yours?’ she said, picking it up.

      He nodded. She stood up and shook the whiskey off it. A drop struck the candle’s flame. It sizzled and died.

      ‘It’s a moonstone,’ said Clyde. ‘The traveler’s stone – it protects those who cross water when the moon shines.’

      His gaze moved from the wet black candle wick to what lay beyond the window.

      ‘You can’t trust water and you can’t trust fire,’ said Clyde. ‘And out there? That lake’s ablaze.’

      Franklin J. Merrifield drifted awake from a profound, distressing sleep. What followed was the slow realization that he was not in his cell. He could smell rain, grass, trees, earth. The last time he smelled those smells was on that final shackled walk from the courthouse.

      The only sound he could hear was rain hitting glass.

       Glass?

      He waited for his eyes to adjust, for shapes to form, for light to filter in, but the darkness was absolute. His heart started to pound wildly. His head felt strange, like it was overstuffed with packing materials; foam or twisted-up pieces of brown paper. His body felt solid, weighted down. His jaw was clamped shut. When he opened it, he felt the skin on his lips tear. He could taste blood.

      He had just one question:

       How the fuck did I get here?

       2

      Special Agent Ren Bryce was sitting in Manny’s Bar on 38th and Walnut in Denver.

       It has been six months since my last alcoholic beverage.

      She was five beers down.

       Until tonight.

      It was six months since a shooting at the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, when a serial killer called Duke Rawlins had taken the lives of two of her friends and colleagues, and her boyfriend of one year, Ben Rader.

      She picked up her cell phone.

       Don’t.

      She put it down, slumped back in the bar stool, closed her eyes.

       What if that had no back on it oh my God I am so fucking hammered imagine falling off a bar stool hitting your head and dying what a way to go appropriate Jesus.

      She opened her eyes, and picked up her phone again. She went into Album.

       Don’t.

      She found a photo of the boyfriend she had yet to call her former, her late … Ben Rader. The Late Ben Rader.

      Tears filled her eyes. In the photo, Ben was cooking, smiling at her over his shoulder. He had a beaming smile, and was one of the most beautiful men she had ever known; short, tanned, dark-haired, fit.

       You look so young.

      A man as handsome as Ben Rader could have relied on his looks, developed nothing more than his body, but Ben developed a soul that radiated kindness.

       I loved watching you cook Jesus you’re dead now you’re fucking dead this is so screwed up dead Jesus and you only look about eighteen you are so hot were no I can’t do past tense are are are amazing arms steady grip strength of all kinds love love love gone gone gone stop stop stop.

      She still had his texts; they felt like a weight in her phone that she was always aware of, but could never remove.

       Can’t imagine ever sending another loving text filthy text miss-you text to any other man I don’t want a stranger in my bed I don’t want another man in my head.

      Her cell phone rang. GARY flashed on the screen.

       No way.

      Her boss, Supervisory Special Agent, Gary Dettling.

       Yeah hey Gary I’m in Manny’s yeah the bar where the serial killer who killed our friends picked up one of his victims yeah what is that telling you what is it telling me who fucking cares have you been drinking Ren yes Gary two beers and I’m about to leave …

      She let it go to voicemail.

      Gary left a message, and followed it with a text.

      Call me – CARD

       Shit.

      Three months earlier, she and Gary had joined the North West Region’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team – CARD. There were sixty members in the country, split across five regions, ready to deploy at the invitation of local law enforcement to help in the crucial early stages of a child disappearance or abduction. Though an invitation was welcome, it wasn’t a requirement – when it came to a ‘child of tender years’, twelve years old and under, the FBI was automatically involved, whether there was an interstate element or not.

      Ren called him back.

       Breathe speak slowly breathe speak slowly enunciate.

      ‘Hi, Gary – sorry I missed you.’

      ‘Get a good night’s sleep,’ said Gary. ‘We’re—’ He paused. ‘Where are you?’

      Um … ‘On my way home.’

      ‘From a bar?’

      ‘From a bar.’

      Pause. ‘We’re booked on a six a.m. flight to Portland, Oregon, heading for the town of Tate. Missing twelve-year-old boy: Caleb Veir, last seen by his father at seven forty-five this morning when he left the family home to take the fifteen-minute walk to school.’

      ‘OK.’ Say as little as possible.

      Pause. ‘Ren—’

      ‘See you at five.’ Ren hung up.

       Step away from the phone.

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