Dead Man's Gift 01 - Yesterday Read Online Free Page A

They might have been well organized, but he very much doubted if they’d put a camera in every room – still less that they were being constantly monitored.
    Lifting the toilet lid, he pulled down his trousers and sat down. At the same time, he slipped his spare mobile out of his trouser pocket and bent over so it was hidden from view, just in case he was being watched. Taking a deep breath, he scrolled through the contacts folder, praying he’d stored the one he was looking for, feeling a twinge of excitement when he saw that he had.
    It was a long shot. Jesus, it was a long shot, but it was potentially the only way he could save his own life. He wrote a very quick text, pressed Send and stood up, replacing the mobile as casually as possible as he flushed the toilet, praying he hadn’t just sentenced his son to death.

5
    Everyone except his old man called him Scope. They always had. He liked the name. Thought it suited him, being simple and to the point. Once upon a time, he’d been a career soldier with a wife and daughter. Now he was a drifter, doing odd jobs here and there, and his wife and daughter were dead. For the last eight months he’d been renting a cottage on the western edge of the New Forest, working as a painter and decorator. Life had been quiet, and if he was honest with himself, pretty dull.
    And now it looked like all that was about to change. He put down the axe he’d been using to chop wood and stared at the phone, reading the text for a second, then third, time. It was from his former brother-in-law, Tim Horton, and it read like something out of a thriller.
    Am in terrible trouble. Max kidnapped. Being blackmailed. No police. Please come to house. Park fifty metres away out of sight then text me on 07627 533901. Don’t come in. They have cameras. They are watching. This is no joke. Please help!!
    Tim was a high-flying, public-school-educated politician who’d married Scope’s wife Michelle’s sister, Diane, and the two men had never seen eye to eye. Scope had always felt – with plenty of justification – that Tim had looked down on him, even though he’d always tried to hide it behind his smooth, easy patter. But the facts spoke for themselves. Since Michelle’s funeral, close to five years ago now, Scope had only seen Diane and Max once and hadn’t clapped eyes on Tim at all.
    But now it seemed seemed they were in serious trouble, although it was odd that someone would target the Hortons for a kidnapping. They had money, but not huge amounts, and there were plenty of people out there richer. Scope knew, though, that the text wasn’t going to be a practical joke. Tim wasn’t that kind of guy, and anyone who’d pinched his phone wouldn’t know his relationship to Scope anyway. This was genuine.
    Even so, he didn’t owe Tim anything. Right now he owed nothing to anyone. He didn’t have to get involved.
    But he was always going to. He remembered Max as a very young child. He’d been driving past the village where the Hortons lived once a long time back, and had stopped by to visit on the off chance they were in. He’d always liked Diane. She was something of a social climber, but her heart was in the right place and she could be fun when the mood took her. She’d been there with Max when he’d turned up, and he’d stopped for a coffee and played with the boy. Max had been a sweet-looking kid – barely two years old then – with a very loud laugh.
    Scope liked kids. He hated to think of them suffering, and Max Horton was still his nephew.
    Replacing the phone in his pocket, he headed back towards the house, knowing he had a long drive ahead and not much time to do it in.

6
    The silence in the room was so intense Tim Horton felt as if he could almost touch it. Diane had been crying silently for what seemed like a long while, but she’d stopped now. Neither of them had left the room since Tim had returned from the toilet close to three hours back, and they’d hardly spoken. As