The Magpies A Psychological Thriller - By Mark Edwards Page 0,30

headed towards the advanced track. Further ahead, he could see half-a-dozen blue-overalled attendants running in the same direction. Two of them were carrying a stretcher.

The crowd thickened nearer the track, and as they got closer Jamie could smell smoke. He ran to the front of the crowd, stopping where the go-karts were lined up, ready to take people on the ride of their lives.

Somebody was lying on the track near the starting line, surrounded by medics and attendants. Two medics laid the stretcher on the ground and the process began of shifting the person onto the stretcher. As they lifted the person Kirsty, Heather and Lucy arrived by Jamie’s side and the person’s face became visible.

Jamie saw Chris standing there, looking down at Paul on the stretcher.

Heather cried out.

She ran towards the wall of tyres and tried to throw herself over it, panicking so much she didn’t realise that a few feet to the right was a gap which would have allowed her onto the track without this athletic display. She shouted, ‘Paul!’ and as she hurtled over the top of the tyres, she was caught by two of the attendants, who stopped her from throwing herself on her prone boyfriend.

Jamie, Kirsty and Lucy moved around the wall of tyres onto the track. Chris was standing over the other side. Jamie saw him look at Lucy, then look away.

Jamie caught hold of an attendant’s arm. ‘What happened? Is he dead? Tell me!’’

It was the same man who had advised them earlier. He wiped his face with his sleeve. ‘No, he’s not dead.’

Jamie exhaled with relief. He could see Heather, just a few feet away, kneeling beside Paul, tears rolling down her cheeks.

‘What happened?’

The man looked over at Chris – whose face was downcast, staring at the track – then back at Jamie.

‘Your friend and Chris had been bombing round the track, racing. Paul won by quite a big gap. He crossed the finishing line and came into the pits here. He took off his helmet, unfastened his seatbelt and stood up, ready to get out of his kart. I could see his face from here. He looked dead proud of himself.’

He shook his head. ‘Then it happened. Chris came up to the finishing line with another kart right on his tail. As Chris hit the finishing line he slowed right down, not realising, I guess, that the other guy was so close behind him. The other driver didn’t have a chance to brake – he swerved right into the pits and into the back of Paul’s go-kart. As he hit the kart the fuel tank exploded – Paul was thrown out. There was an explosion – a great ball of flame, I’m sure you must have heard the bang – and it was like he flew out of the flames. Landed right there, where you see him now. God, he hit his head hard.’ The attendant swallowed. He looked green.

‘What happened to the other driver?’ Kirsty asked. ‘Is he alright?’

The attendant pointed towards a man sitting beside the track with a blanket around his shoulders and a smoke-blackened face. ‘He’ll be OK. I think he’s just in shock.’

An ambulance arrived, its siren wailing. It stopped next to Jamie and the others and the paramedics lifted the stretcher and carried Paul inside. Heather climbed in with him. The other driver was helped in by one of the attendants.

Kirsty spoke to the paramedics who told her they were taking Paul to the hospital in Bromley.

‘We’ll follow them in the car,’ said Jamie. ‘Come on, Kirsty. Oh, hang on.’ He’d remembered Chris and Lucy.

Lucy had crossed the track and was standing talking to her husband. Jamie was about to ask them if they were going to come to the hospital, then he felt a surge of anger and thought, Fuck them. If it wasn’t for Chris they wouldn’t be here. And Paul wouldn’t be in the back of an ambulance with his head all smashed up. He would talk to them later – but for now, he was only interested in his best friend.

‘Never mind. He followed Kirsty towards the car park, holding tightly onto her hand as they squeezed between rows of stationary cars to get to their own. ‘I knew something was going to happen,’ he said. ‘But I thought it was going to be me.’

Kirsty just looked at him, her expression unreadable. ‘Let’s get to the hospital.’

Eight

Jamie sat beside Paul’s bed and stared at his friend’s motionless face. Behind him