A Long Way Back (Unfinished Business #2) - Barbara Elsborg Page 0,91
in the shed which was his father’s domain. If his father found them and read them… A tiny part of him considered burning them just in case, but they were his lifeline, his other worlds where he was Killian the brave. He sorted out his school bag and laid out the pages to dry. He’d probably have to write out the work again but he couldn’t get his head around anything but what had happened to his brother.
In the middle of the night, he woke thinking he heard Ru calling him. He lay in bed with his eyes wide open listening to his name being repeated over and over, but with the sound growing fainter as if his brother was moving away from him, calling for help and Killian could do nothing. Ru was gone.
THE NEXT MORNING, HE CREPT downstairs in his pyjamas to find a policeman sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee with his unshaven father. Killian didn’t even ask if they’d found Ru. He could see the answer was no.
“The CCTV camera outside the school showed Ru waiting, then leaving on his own at four,” his father said in a tone of voice that told Killian he was in trouble. “Where were you? The truth this time.”
Killian bit back his retort that he’d told the truth. “Games finished at three thirty-five. Mr Jones asked me and Wesley Dower to put the equipment away. Wes just threw it in and I knew we’d get into trouble if we left it a mess so I tidied it. I ran from there to Ru’s school still in my rugby gear. That would be maybe quarter to four, or a little later. It’ll be on the camera. Then I went for a shower. I was fast. Ru wasn’t there when I came out. I went to his school and looked but I couldn’t find him and I ran home.”
How many more times did he have to repeat the same thing? He wasn’t hungry, but he poured himself a glass of orange juice.
“Should I go to school?” Killian asked.
His father didn’t answer. Killian slunk out of the room and went back upstairs. He decided to go. He could ask Ru’s friends if they had any idea where his brother might have gone.
Killian didn’t feel well, he was hot and he ached, but how could he tell anyone? What did him being ill matter when his brother was missing? Killian thought Ru had been taken. Maybe by a stranger. They’d all had Stranger Danger drummed into them. But maybe he’d been taken by someone he knew. Ru had no reason to run away. He was the favourite son, but Killian didn’t resent him for that. No one could dislike Ru. He was sunshine and joy, always smiling. Why would anyone take his brother? Had they raped him? Tortured him? Killed him? Killian’s eyes prickled. I wish it was me instead of him. Please let him be all right.
He washed, cleaned his teeth and put on his uniform. His body was a mess of bruises. His mother wasn’t up by the time he left, but his father watched him go and said nothing. Killian kept his head down as he walked to school, taking the route that he and Ru generally used, the one he and his father had checked yesterday. He scanned the wet pavement, his gaze lingering on any piece of rubbish, in case it might be linked to his brother. Neither of them dropped litter but if he saw a wrapper off a chocolate bar Ru liked or one of his brother’s favourite pencils, or one of his funny keyring characters, or Bela’s favourite trinket—a bright red round bead, anything that might be a clue…
He saw nothing.
His journey across the playground felt as if he was parting the Red Sea. Everyone moved aside and left him on a solitary path to the school building. For a moment, he saw Ru’s bright smile ahead of him. But Killian blinked and he’d gone. He heard people whispering but no one spoke to him until he reached his classroom. Then his friends crowded round and asked him questions he couldn’t answer.
The police came to assembly, and the headmaster talked about Ru, asking everyone to keep a look out for him, and if they thought of anything that might help find him, to tell a teacher at once. A policeman would be at school all day and anything said would be heard in confidence.