It was Thursday, the last Thursday that Mike would be spending in London. After nearly three months working undercover, tonight should see everything finally sorted. The last meeting had been a pure waste of time, along with the previous two. He felt like he was being led down the garden path, big time.
Mike had found out nothing he didn’t already know. For the last couple of years the list of missing people, mostly teenagers, had grown out of all proportion, and lately most of the missing seemed to be connected to the A1 corridor from London to Berwick-on-Tweed.
In a typical year, over two hundred thousand people go missing in the UK alone. Quite a lot turn up, mostly teenagers, who have run off in a huff. But lately the volume, and where they were missing from, had the police totally perplexed. Not one teenager from the towns and cities up the corridor had ever been seen again.
Mike smiled as he hurried down the stairs, ten flights but damn good exercise. He was thinking of the night six weeks ago when he’d kicked what he’d first thought was a bunch of rags on his doorstep.
A few days later, Smiler had turned up at the station. Since then Mike had seen quite a lot of Smiler, enough to know he was going to miss him when he went home.
Mike walked out of the office, and Smiler was standing in his usual place, talking to an old woman who regularly fed the birds on that spot. Even in this heat she wore the red belted coat she was never without, prompting most of the officers to nickname her Little Red Riding Hood. A few half-hearted attempts to chase her over the years had come to nothing and she was now a regular feature. She knew all of the detectives by name, and, despite Mike telling her over and over that he was not a Geordie, but had been born in Durham, she still called him Geordie, insisting that them strange folk up north all sounded the same.
'Hello, Nancy,' Mike said as he approached them.
'Hello yourself, Geordie… Nice day.' She threw a handful of seeds at the birds around her feet.
'It sure is, Nancy. Be seeing you.' He smiled when she nodded at him then, as if dismissing him, turned and went on feeding the birds.
Winking at Smiler, Mike moved closer to Nancy. Shoving a ten pound note into her pocket, which he had to bend to do, he said quietly, 'For the birds, love.'
'Thank you, Durham lad,' she whispered back.
Mike laughed loudly as he and Smiler went on their way.
Half an hour later they were sat at a table in MacDonald’s, tucking into cheeseburgers and fries. After spending most of the day in the library, Smiler was sounding off about wars going back as far as the thirtieth century BC. Mike was only half-listening, thinking about tonight. He’d had enough anyhow with the daft idiot who was part of the Laurel and Hardy duo in the office. He’d been spouting off all day about reports due, reports overdue, reports not finished. God, the tit thinks I’m a bloody secretary.
Then, half a dozen fries on their way to his mouth, Smiler suddenly froze.
'Choking?' Mike asked, picking up Smiler’s drink to hand to him. 'Sip it.'
Slowly Smiler shook his head before saying in a hushed voice, 'Don’t go.'
Puzzled, Mike frowned. 'What?'
'Don’t go… The meeting tonight… The car park… The high rise one… Don’t go… Please… It’s a set up.'
'What the hell?'
Smiler put his head down.
Mike frowned again. No one outside of the office knows about tonight’s meeting, so how on earth…? 'What are you talking about, Smiler?'
'There’s a woman, a big woman with red hair, wearing a red dress and red shoes.'
'And?'
'She’s there… It’s dangerous.'
Mike sighed. 'So where the hell is all of this coming from?'
Smiler lifted his head, looked Mike in the eye. 'You know I see things,' he answered in a quiet voice. 'I know you don’t believe in what you call mumbo jumbo, Mike, but you should keep an open mind. Actually…' Smiler suddenly stopped talking and began counting his fingers as he looked furtively around.
Mike’s heart sank, remembering what the doctor had said when he’d had a few words with him about Smiler. Quietly Mike asked, 'Smiler, have you been taking your medication?'
Smiler stopped counting for a moment, stared at Mike as if he was a stranger, then said, 'What?'
Mike felt a chill run down his spine. In total contrast to the warmth of the day, he shivered. The sun streaming in through the windows only made it more surreal as he repeated, 'I said, have you been taking your medication?'
'You know I have.'
'Look Smiler, I haven’t got time for mumbo jumbo.' Mike held his hands up. 'OK… But you know as well as I do where it’s coming from, don’t you?'
'You think it's drugs.' Smiler said slowly, and barely above a whisper.
Exasperated, Mike’s voice rose as he snapped, 'What the hell else could it be?'
'I’ve told you, I haven’t done them since we met. I promised and I’ve kept it.'
Mike sighed and, as if he hadn’t heard what Smiler had just said, went on, 'You promised you would keep away from that shit. You know it fucks you up.' Mike slapped his palm on the table. 'For God’s sake, Smiler, don’t you ever want to get better? Do something with your life instead of wasting it? Smiler, I still don’t think you realise what you’re capable of. You have the intelligence to do just about anything you want. You know this for a fact, you’re the smartest kid I ever met… You’re certainly intelligent enough to know that much more of that shit will leave you with no way back… at all… ever.'
'I’ve said I haven’t touched it.' Smiler’s voice was growing louder with every word until finally he was shouting. 'But you don’t believe me, do you?'
Mike didn’t have to say anything. His face held the absolute disbelief and disappointment he felt. Smiler had shown a marked improvement lately, but now it looked like they were heading back to square one.
'Where did you get it?' Mike demanded, vowing silently to personally rip the throat out of whichever dirty fucking creep of a pathetic arsehole dealer had coaxed Smiler back onto drugs.
Smiler glared back at him, the silence between them lengthening. Then suddenly, as if an explosion had gone off in his head, he jumped up, shouting. 'Should have known you were no better than the rest! Why would you be, eh?' There were tears in his eyes as he went on. 'Here, keep your fucking food.' He threw the half-eaten cheeseburger at Mike, and swiped everything else onto the floor before turning and running out of the restaurant. At the door he looked back and, glaring at Mike, yelled, 'You’ll be sorry… I hate you… Bastard, that’s all you are, just like the rest of them… I should have known… I should have known. I hate you… I fucking hate you. Tosser. Just like the rest.'
'Shit.' Ignoring the curious glances from the people around, Mike wiped the tomato sauce off his shirt, dropped the napkin on the table, kicked the remains of their meal to one side in case anyone slipped on the mess, then quickly headed after Smiler.
Outside, he looked first up then quickly down the street. Not a sign of him. The pavements were crowded, people hurrying past each other in a frantic effort to catch the tube, grab a taxi or find their car and get out of the city. He hurried along to the corner, pushing past the tide of people. Still no sign of him.
'Where the hell...?' He sighed. He hadn’t really expected to see him. Smiler was small enough to totally disappear in any crowd.
Tutting, he turned back. The last thing he’d meant was to hurt the kid’s feelings. Christ, people have been doing that more or less since the poor sod was born.
'And now I’ve gone and put me big fat foot right in it. Shit!' he muttered, receiving an odd look from an old lady who picked up her pace and hurried past him.
Feeling lousy, Mike headed towards the car park. I should have listened.
Should have trusted Smiler instead of condemning him right off, damn it.
Trust me, and my fucking big mouth! Sounding off without any real proof.
I hope he doesn’t do something stupid. It’ll be my fault if he does, The poor kid trusted me. Must have been a flashback. It’s not like I haven’t seen him have them before.
He ran his hand across his thick dark hair. Tired, that’s what it is I’m too damn tired.
Damaged, the sister’s words echoed in his head. Smiler is the most damaged person I have ever seen.
Of course he’s gonna have flashbacks.
Not paying his usual attention to what was going on around him, Mike hadn’t noticed the man who had followed him out onto the street. Just another bloke hurrying home, mobile phone glued to his ear, he stepped behind Mike to cross the road.