Buried-6 Read Online Free PDF Page B

thought she was probably not the type to react. Not the first time, anyway. Instead, she let her eyes drift across to Mul en’s wife and spoke softly to her. ‘It wasn’t a speech.’
    ‘I’m the new boy,’ Thorne said, ‘so you’l have to forgive me if we go over some old ground, but I was wondering about the delay.’
    Mul en stared right back at him. It was a grudging invitation for Thorne to elaborate.
    ‘Luke went missing on Friday after school, but the first cal to the police was made at a little after nine yesterday morning. Why the wait?’
    ‘We’ve already explained al this,’ Mul en said. The edge to his voice revealed traces of a Midlands accent. Thorne remembered Porter tel ing him that Mul en was original y from Wolverhampton. ‘We just thought Luke was out and about somewhere.’

    ‘Only on Friday evening, surely?’
    ‘He could have gone to a club, then stayed over at a mate’s or something. There was usual y a certain amount of leeway on a Friday night.’
    ‘It was me.’ Maggie Mul en cleared her throat. ‘I was the one who thought there was nothing to worry about. I was the one who persuaded Tony that we should just wait for Luke to come home.’
    ‘Why didn’t you say this yesterday?’ Porter asked.
    ‘Is it real y important?’ she said.
    ‘I’m sure it isn’t, but—’
    ‘We waited. That’s al that matters. We waited when we shouldn’t have and I’l have to live with that.’
    ‘There was an argument,’ Mul en said.
    Thorne’s eyes stayed on Maggie Mul en. He watched her drop her head and stare at her feet.
    Mul en sat up straight in his chair and continued. ‘Luke and I had a stupid row that morning. There was a lot of shouting and swearing, the usual kind of stuff.’
    ‘What did you argue about?’ Thorne asked.
    ‘School,’ Mul en said. ‘I think maybe we were putting him under a bit of pressure. I was putting him under pressure.’
    ‘Luke and his dad usual y get on so wel .’ Maggie Mul en looked at Porter, spoke as though her husband were no longer in the room. ‘ Really wel . It’s not normal for them to argue like that.’
    Porter smiled. ‘The fights I used to have with my mum and dad . . .’
    ‘Sometimes I think Luke’s closer to his dad than he is to me, you know?’
    ‘Don’t be sil y,’ Mul en said.
    ‘I get jealous sometimes, if I’m honest.’
    ‘Come on, love . . .’
    Maggie Mul en was staring straight ahead.
    Thorne fol owed her gaze to the elaborate fireplace; to the flame-effect gas fire and the half-life-sized ceramic cheetah sitting to one side of it. ‘Was this row real y that serious?’ he asked. ‘Serious enough for Luke to leave without a word?’
    ‘No way.’ Mul en was categorical. Said it again to ensure that Thorne and Porter got the message.
    ‘Mrs Mul en?’
    The drum and bass coming through the ceiling seemed louder for a few seconds. Stil staring towards the fireplace, Maggie Mul en shook her head.
    ‘Whether it’s got anything to do with this argument or not, Luke’s disappearance may stil have a simple explanation.’ Porter waited until al faces were turned to her before carrying on. ‘We’ve at least got to accept that possibility.’
    Maggie Mul en stood up and smoothed down the back of her skirt. ‘I’m happy to accept it, love. I’m praying for it.’ She walked across to the fireplace, reached for a packet of Silk Cut on the mantelpiece.
    ‘Obviously, we’ve checked out al his friends,’ Porter said. ‘But in the absence of any sort of communication from anyone who might be holding Luke, there has to be a possibility that he’s gone away with someone.’
    ‘You mean this woman?’ Mul en said.
    ‘He’d been spotted with “this woman” on other occasions.’ Thorne stood up too and walked behind the sofa, the relief from the pain in his leg almost instantaneous. ‘If Luke’s seeing an older woman, he might have thought better about tel ing you.’
    The boy’s mother was clearly not