Chasing the Dark Read Online Free PDF

biscuits. Weirdly, he wasn’t that hungry. Maybe he’d been at the salami when the tramp was asleep.
    â€˜How this work?’
    I turned round. The tramp was clutching my mobile, making trembly stabs at the buttons.
    â€˜Where’ve you been for the last decade?’ I said, trying to be friendly.
    He gave me a bleary look. ‘In hell.’
    Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. He’d got a number scribbled on a scrap of newspaper. I punched it in and showed him how to make a call. When I told him we’d have to go upstairs to get a signal he groaned and said, ‘Later, Joe. I go later.’
    â€˜You got a name?’ I said.
    He frowned for a minute as if he wasn’t sure, then he said, ‘Yuri’.
    The sound of it seemed to upset him. He grabbed my hand. ‘You no tell. They find me, they kill me.’
    I wanted to believe he was crazy or lying, but the fear coming off him was like something you could touch.
    â€˜OK. I swear.’
    â€˜You get me new clothes, Joe?’ He wasn’t threatening or ordering now, just asking. ‘I go to London.’
    â€˜All right,’ I said, though the shape he was in, I couldn’tsee him making it as far as the back gate.
    He huddled down on the mattress, sweat dripping off his face.
    â€˜I’m taking Oz,’ I said, getting ready to run if he tried to stop me.
    â€˜You come back tomorrow?’ he murmured.
    I stared at him, lying there, half dead with only me to help him, and heard myself say, ‘Yeah’.
    He let out a wheezy grunt. ‘Do not come in day. Maybe someone see you.’
    â€˜OK.’
    I stuck around till he fell asleep but left when his nightmares started. I had enough of my own to deal with.
    If Yuri hadn’t told me to stay clear of the house in daylight I’d have gone back next morning to see if he was OK. He was right, though. I couldn’t chance some nosy dog walker spotting me going through the back gate and calling the cops, so I took Oz for a walk on the other side of the woods. He raced off, and I let him go. The trees along the path were tall and thick. One of them had keeled over with its roots in the air and its insides rotted out. It looked like I felt – empty and useless. I slumped against it, picking off the soggy bark and thinking about that creep Eddy Fletcher going round badmouthing Mum, accusing her of seeing Ivo Lincoln on the sly. Not that I’d have blamed her if she had. The stupid thing was, she’d never have cheated on Eddy because for some totally screwed-up reason that no one in their right mind could work out, she was crazyabout him. But even I could see that her being in Lincoln’s car that night was a bit weird.
    A rumble like a muffled bass beat shook the ground. I swung round looking for Oz. Just as I heard a faint barking I spotted a horse and rider way off through the trees. I crashed towards the noise, speeding up as the yaps turned into squealy yelps. The rest of the soundtrack said it all. A screeching whinny, angry shouts and a sickening thud. I burst through the bushes. The horse was standing in a little clearing, all snorting and agitated, while Oz rushed around with his hackles high, barking at a boy on his backside in the dirt who was yelling: ‘Shut up, you stupid dog!’
    â€˜He’s not stupid, he’s frightened. Oz, stop it. Come here!’
    The boy turned round, his riding hat tipped sideways over his straggly blond fringe and his long freckly nose quivering like he’d just got a whiff of something rank.
    â€˜You’re right. It’s you who’s stupid. If you can’t control your dog, keep him on a lead.’
    Talk about up himself. He looked about fifteen but he sounded like Prince Charles.
    â€˜Yeah, well he’s more used to cars than horses,’ I said, sticking out a hand to help him up.
    Ignoring it, he struggled to his feet. ‘So why don’t you both go back where you