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Marco orders a Coke and drinks it through a straw, his eyes flicking constantly from the street to his phone and back again. Kris Doll is running late. He said he’d meet them here in their hotel lounge at two thirty, and now it is nearly 3 p.m. But finally Marco hears the sound of a motorbike’s thrumming engine and through the window on to the street he sees a man removing a crash helmet and running his hands through ropey dark hair before heading towards the revolving door.
Marco feels himself flush. The man is very masculine-looking and Marco feels some sense of responsibility for this situation. It is he, after all, who has been messaging Kris for the past three days, it is he who organised this meeting, but now he feels suddenly young and out of his depth and he throws a look at his mother that he hopes she picks up on.
‘Marco?’ says the man, striding towards them. ‘And you must be Lucy?’
Marco nods and half rises from his seat. He glances again at his mum as he does so and notices her flushing slightly. There’s something strangely glamorous about this man even though his hair is a mess and he looks a bit weather-beaten.
‘Nice to meet you,’ says Lucy, standing up and shaking his hand. ‘This is Stella.’
‘Great to meet you, Stella. Can I get anyone a drink? Anything from the bar?’
They all demur and Kris says he doesn’t want anything either; then he takes a seat to Marco’s left.
‘So.’ Kris looks from Marco to Lucy and back again, wearing a wry smile. ‘What the heck is going on here, then?’
‘I don’t know where to start,’ says Lucy.
‘Shall we start with who the hell isMike?’
Marco squirms slightly under Kris’s teasing gaze and says, ‘He’s no one. He’s just made up. He’s my friend, Alf.’
‘And where is Alf?’
‘Alf is in London. That was where we were when we called you.’
Kris peers at Marco questioningly but doesn’t say anything, a cue for him to explain a little more. Marco sighs and wriggles in his chair. ‘My mum is Henry’s – or Joshua as you call him’s – sister. Henry disappeared in the middle of the night last Thursday and didn’t tell anyone where he was going or why. My mum tried calling him and messaging him, but he blocked her, thenItried to message him and call him and he blocked me. And so, me and my friend Alf hacked Henry’s Google account and found hisbrowsing history and that was where we found you. And you said you were going to meet a British guy who was staying at the Dayville, which was our first clue to where he was. So we came over here and since we got here we’ve found out that he checked out of this hotel three days ago and now we have no idea where he is. But we think he came here to find someone. Someone called Phin.’
Kris smiles at Marco. ‘Exactly. Yeah. And I know someone called Finn and that is what’s freaking me out. I thought this guy, this Joshua, had just found me randomly on the net and was a regular customer. But now I’m starting to think he targeted me because he knew that I knew Finn.’
‘Yes,’ says Marco. ‘Me too. What did you tell him, about Phin?’
‘Well, not very much really. Just that Finn and I had … well, we’d …’ Kris’s eyes go to Lucy. ‘We’d had a friendship. Quite intense. But it had fizzled out and then he’d gone off to Africa to do his game work.’
‘What was he doing in Chicago before that?’ Marco asks. ‘Before he went to Africa?’
‘He worked at the Lincoln Park Zoo. With the big cats. But he always wanted to work as a safari guide and then he got a chance at a job out in Botswana a few years back and he just ran. Rented out his apartment. Didn’t look back.’ Kris rubs his chin with his fingers and turns to Lucy. ‘What’s the deal with your brother and Finn? Why is he so keen to trace him?’
Lucy sighs. ‘Oh,’ she says. ‘It’s a very long story. I think maybe he just misses him. We grew up together and we thought he was dead, actually, and recently found out that he was still alive and yeah, I think maybe he just misses him.’ She smiles tightly. ‘What else did you tell my brother? About Phin?’
‘I told your brother – and remember, I had no idea at the time that he was deliberately staking me out – I told him that Finn was in town. I told him I thought he might be staying in an Airbnb. And I told him that I was hoping to be meeting up with him soon.’
‘So Phin is here now? Definitely?’ Lucy presses her hand hard against her heart.
‘Yeah. At least I thought he was. But I’ve been calling him and calling him, messaging and messaging. Not heard a word back. And I don’t have an address for him.’
‘Do you have any mutual friends who might know where he is?’ Lucy asks.
‘Yeah. We have one friend in common. A woman called Mati. But I’m not allowed to talk to her, otherwise her boyfriend will probably hit me and then hit her, too.’
‘Was she Phin’s girlfriend?’ asks Marco.
‘Yeah. She was. Kinda. For a short while, anyway. And she was mine, too. But she also has a very jealous boyfriend so I keep my distance now.’
‘And what about the zoo?’ asks Marco, whose brain has been fizzing with other possible avenues to explore. ‘Did Phin have friends there who he might see when he’s here?’
Kris shrugs. ‘Yeah. I guess. He worked there for quite some years. I suppose he must have stayed in touch with some of them. It could be worth asking around there.’
