AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jock nodded and took a few steps before turning back to me. ‘Did you see the face of the guy who did this?’
‘Only briefly. But I definitely left a set of teeth marks on his palm.’
‘Good. I’ll keep an ear out and see if rumour brings anything up.’
‘I can’t go to the police.’
‘If people find out someone’s been attacking tourist lassies, you won’t have to. We don’t take kindly to arseholes here.’
Maybe they would find my documents. Maybe everything would be okay.
I moaned as the first rich, salted mouthful of the soup warmed my tongue. Man, someone here could cook.
Staying in one place for more than a day or two was risky, but Eva and Jock seemed like good people. And what other choice did I have?
I’d just have to trust that I covered my tracks well and that Dad would look for Esther McGowan, not Emily Reid. Just another expat in rural Spain. There was no reason to suspect I was in Spain, let alone in the middle of nowhere.
The unease still clawed at my belly as I ate.
TEN
ALEC
The sultry summer air almost immediately brought me out in a light sweat as I walked through Madrid Airport. We’d tracked her flight there, but she hadn’t taken any more flights, not under her new alias. If Wee Dave had double crossed me and given her another name, I’d go back and string up the bastard by the balls.
Stretching out my tense shoulders, I looked around the crowded airport. There were a million ways she could have gone, and still there was no sight of her anywhere. She hadn’t logged into anything online, nor contacted anyone. Fuck, she could be dead and no-one would even know.
My phone dinged in my pocket, and I pulled it out and read the text. Ellis’s name flashed at the top of the screen and I tapped on the message. ‘Found her on the airport CCTV. She changed on the airplane by the looks of it and left in blue jeans and a white top with her dark hair in a ponytail. She was carrying a brown rucksack and had dark sunglasses on. Looks like she got on a bus heading south. I’ll send you the registration and route details.’
Soon enough, the details pinged through and I headed through the airport to where the busses terminated. I picked my way through them before finding the one she had got onto. The yellow striped bus was an airport shuttle and would take me to the city centre. There was little point in quizzing the bus driver about whether or not he remembered her. She’d have ended up in the city station, regardless. Ellis was already on the case, trying to track down and hack the CCTV in the central station to figure out where she went next.
Leaning against the wall of the bus, one hand lightly gripping the bright yellow hand rails, I tried to picture her here. Where would she have gone? Would Esther have lost herself in amongst the millions of people in the city? Or aimed to stick to a more rural area? She was the spoiled daughter of a millionaire, so I imagined the city would be much more her style. There had to be some financial support somehow. She couldn’t have packed enough cash to see her through for very long, especially not in the fashion she was used to existing in. My initial fury after she dropped me in it had dulled to a heavy, solid anger. Not as fiery, but equally as intense. I’d enjoy dragging her back to Harold. She’d erased my sympathy with this insane manhunt she’d set me up for.
I fingered the wallet in my pocket, its thick leather exterior clammy against my fingers. Esther wasn’t the only one travelling under false pretences. The fake ID I had was more equipped for getting information out of the locals with the Scottish Police info. As long as no-one checked into it too hard. Or checked into me too hard. Most of my tattoos were hidden under the lightweight, but dark shirt I wore, the briefest glimpse peeking out near my collar. It was too hot to do the button right up to my neckline. Sure, some policemen had tattoos these days, but I’d never seen one quite so decorated. Mine twisted up my arms, engulfed my torso before dipping down into my waistband. Definitely overkill for an officer.
Tilting my head back, I rested it against the window, watching the city zip by. Every muscle in my body itched to swing into action, to catch Esther and drag her home, but there was so much waiting as Ellis did his thing back home.
Nine days had passed, and with each, the idea of finding her became more unlikely. I scanned everyone around me, wondering whether she’d done the same.
Had she stood in the same spot as me? A memory of her at my feet, staring up at me with those big green eyes assaulted me, making me twitch in my pants.
My knuckles whitened against the yellow hand rail as I tried to clear the memory from my mind. Whatever happened if, no, when, I caught her, it wouldn’t be that.
As much as I’d love to fuck her as she squealed out apologies for fucking with me, it was nothing but a dirty thought. A dangerous thought.
I’d find her and throw us onto the first available plane home.
Then wash my hands of her for good.
* * *
Five days later,my skin was browning after the terrific pink it had taken on from my long-winded hunt around the Spanish countryside. Esther had gone from bus to fucking bus, dotting around the rural landscape like an annoying fly. I groaned as I made my way into the small family-run hotel, the last one in the village where Ellis had traced the latest bus to. It was getting so much harder to track her now that we were out of civilisation proper. There was barely any CCTV, and I was relying on the goodwill of bus drivers, locals, and hotel owners to continue my hunt.
A pretty brunette smiled warmly at me as I approached the desk.
‘Hola,’ she said, her eyes dancing over my exposed arms. I’d soon given up hiding them in the blazing sunshine. My poor little Glaswegian ass wasn’t used to hot weather.
‘Do you speak English?’ I asked, really hoping she did. I’d had partial success with my online translator, but it made conversation difficult, not to mention my spotty internet access the further I travelled into the rolling hills.
