When the Evil Waits by M Lee (top fiction books of all time txt) 📕

‘Detective Inspector Ridpath and Detective Sergeant Parkinson from Greater Manchester Police. It’s about the disappearance of David Carsley.’

‘The police were already around here about two weeks ago. I told them I was out that day and saw nothing.’

‘It’s not you we’d like to speak to but your son Tony.’

‘Tony’s done nothing wrong.’

‘We didn’t say he had. Could we have a chat with him?’

She thought for a moment and then opened the door wider. ‘You’d better come in. Wipe your shoes, please.’ She indicated the mat in the hall.

Dutifully, Ridpath wiped his shoes, going that extra mile to make sure they were clean.

‘I’ll get him for you. He’s doing his homework at the moment. He’s at the grammar school, you know.’

She went upstairs, returning two minutes later with a young boy, tall for his age.

‘Hi Tony, my name’s Detective Inspector Ridpath. I’d like to ask you a few questions about the day David disappeared.’

The boy stayed silent.

‘Can you answer a few questions for me?’

The boy shrugged his shoulders.

‘Can you tell me what happened when David disappeared?’

‘We were playing basketball… then Daniel realised his brother was missing so we went looking for him but couldn’t see him anywhere.’

‘You were playing basketball with the boys from the estate? I thought I told you never to mix with them.’ Mrs Greene’s voice could shatter cut glass.

Her son stayed silent.

‘That’s great, Tony, we just want a few more details about that day. How did you guys meet? Was it by chance?’

Tony glanced at this mother and then shook his head. ‘I texted Daniel. I was so bored at home and Mum had gone out.’

‘I told you to stay in that day and read. Why—’

Ridpath interrupted her. ‘So you texted Daniel. What time was that?’

‘About noontime. I also texted the other guys and we agreed to meet up at one p.m. in the park near the basketball court.’

‘Are you sure of the time, Tony?’

He nodded.

‘Are the messages still on your phone?’ asked Ridpath.

He nodded again.

‘Can you show them to me?’

‘My phone’s upstairs.’

‘Go and get it, please.’

They sat in the lounge room, listening to a clock tick on the mantlepiece. Finally, Mrs Greene blurted out, ‘He’s a good boy, I told him never to pal around with those boys from the estate. They’re a bad lot, you mark my words.’

‘He’s not in trouble, Mrs Greene, and they’re not a bad lot. They were just playing basketball together.’

Tony returned with his phone and showed Ridpath the messages. The first was timed at 12.05.

Wanna meet for a game?

The reply came a minute later from Daniel.

Yeah, stuck in house. Right minging. Dad’s watching telly and brother’s a pain.

Mint. I’ll text the others. Meet at one?

I’ll try, need to work on my dad lol.

Dad says OK but have to take me bro

Gr8

‘So you’d done this before, arranged to meet?’

Another glance at his mother. ‘Yeah, it’s no fun stuck inside.’

‘So you went out and met the Carsleys?’

‘Yeah, saw them at the playground. Dan’s brother was playing on the swings.’

‘What time was this?’

‘A little after one. One of the guys was late. So maybe ten past one.’

‘Are you sure?’

Tony Greene frowned. ‘Yeah.’

‘About the time, I mean.’

‘Yeah, about ten past one.’

‘And Daniel’s brother was with him, playing on the swings.’

‘That’s what I said.’

Ridpath glanced across to Emily. What the hell was going on? It couldn’t have been David Carsley on the tape, then. But the description matched perfectly.

It was Emily who asked the next question. ‘What happened next?’

‘We went to play basketball.’

‘What about David?’

‘He stayed in the playground.’

‘On his own?’

Tony Greene nodded. ‘Daniel didn’t like his little brother hanging around with us so he told him to stay there while we played.’

‘So how many others were on the court with you?’

Tony counted on his fingers. ‘Altogether six of us. Me and Daniel, the Cassidy twins, Mike Murphy, and Fred Simpson, but Fred was called away by his mum after a couple of minutes. Right narked he was.’

‘Not easy to play basketball with only five people.’

‘It’s easy, we played attack vs defence. Three defenders versus two attackers.’

‘But that means you just used one basket, right?’

‘Yeah, you only need one.’

‘Which one? The one closest to the playground or the one furthest away?’

‘The one furthest away. The basket at the other end has a hole in it.’

‘Who played attack?’

‘I did with Daniel. We’re the best.’

‘So let me get this right. If you’re playing at this end, your back would have been towards the playground, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘So when did Daniel notice the man was speaking to his brother?’

‘What do you mean? What man?’

‘Daniel told us he noticed a man talking to his brother and ran to tell him to stay away.’

Tony Greene frowned. ‘I don’t remember that. We played all the time. When Daniel noticed his brother wasn’t in the playground, we all ran with him to look. We’d had enough anyway.’

Ridpath stared at Emily Parkinson.

She took up the questioning. ‘Are you sure, Tony? This is important. Did Daniel ever leave the game to run back to his brother?’

‘No, he was with us all the time. You can ask the others if you want.’

Chapter 58

Ridpath stood outside the house trying to work it all out.

‘I don’t understand what’s going on,’ said Emily. ‘I could have sworn that was David Carsley on the CCTV monitor in the ATM, but it couldn’t have been him. Tony Greene has confirmed David was with his brother in the playground at ten past one.’

Ridpath ran his fingers through his rapidly thinning hair. ‘The way I see it, there are two possible scenarios. It was him on the ATM CCTV and the man in the white car picked him up and dropped him back at home.’

‘But both Daniel and the father said they were at home all morning. The tweets suggest they are telling the truth. Plus to get in the white car and then be taken home means he knew the man. But Turnbull asked if they knew anybody with a white car and they said no.’

‘The second scenario