Don't Come Looking by AJ Campbell (top 100 novels of all time TXT) 📕

confirm my presence in court next week and check my messages. A text from Sasha asks how long we’ll be. I reply:

Having an early lunch with Gill. I’ll pick up Jim and head over. Should be with you within the hour.

‘I told Sasha we’ll be in there in about an hour,’ I say, when Gill returns.

‘How are Sasha and Marc? Brief me before we see them. I don’t want to put my foot in it. They’re off to Devon, you said?’

I nod. ‘Sasha’s moving her business down there.’

‘It all happened very quickly in the end, then.’

‘With two other houses for sale in the close, they had to accept an offer below the asking price, but they’re so keen to move.’ The waitress brings our order.

‘And how is Marc after all the drama?’

I exhale a deep breath. ‘Getting there. He’s in therapy. They found a great clinic, and he’s doing well, Sasha tells me. He’s working on his marker pen project. I told you about that, didn’t I?’

She nods. ‘Getting the right therapy is so important when you’re in such a dark place that despair overrides hope. Where was he all that time?’

‘He went to Cambridge for a night then came back to London.’

‘Why Cambridge?’

‘He says he doesn’t know. It’s all a blur. He can’t even remember the train journey. Or seeing me at the station before he left. He was born and spent his youth in Cambridge. Perhaps he thought he’d find some comfort there. Who knows? He returned to London and slept rough for a few nights before a homeless charity picked him up and helped him get his act together.’

‘Gosh, poor man.’

I take a bite of the turkey sandwich. It makes me gag. ‘You don’t have to come over to theirs this afternoon. It’s just they are off in two days, and I promised I’d help.’

‘I’m happy to come along and help too. Devon, lovely part of the world to move to. You’ll miss her.’

‘All of them.’

‘And what about their dodgy neighbours?’

‘Annie and Art are out on bail awaiting trial. They’re trying to sell their house to pay for their legal fees.’

‘Will they go to prison?’

‘There’s so much evidence; I can’t see even the best defence getting them acquitted.’ It transpired that Art had been a low-profile dealer for a number of years – supplying users like Marc – but his insatiable need for more got the better of him and he started messing with the big boys. And you mess with the big boys, you have to know precisely what you are doing. The good to come out of it all was that we managed to nail Shane Baker and JJ Harper. ‘Luke’s in a young offender institution, awaiting trial, as well.’

‘How’s his recovery going?’

‘Surprisingly well considering the injury he sustained. He was a lucky boy. The knife missed his vital organs. Such a disturbed individual. Incredibly intelligent but so deluded. Delusional disorder, a case of psychosis. Unable to see what’s real and what’s not. Dangerous when you marry it with his level of intelligence. In his sick mind, he was punishing everyone who had done wrong. He believed they all deserved it.’ I shake my head, puffing my cheeks out. ‘It can’t have helped that he found out about his adoption in the way he did or discovering his parents were drug dealers.’

‘You’ve got to feel sorry for the lad in some ways. He’s had a lot to contend with. What a waste, all those brains. Think about the good use he could have put them to.’

My dear friend, you always see the best in people.

‘There’s still time. He’s young. He’ll be there for a while, though.’

‘How long?’

‘It’s hard to say. A good few years given the number of victims, planning and malicious intent involved. It wasn’t a spur of the moment crime. It was long in the planning and execution.’

‘What about Robbins?’

‘On remand, awaiting trial. He’ll go down for a fair while. What a waste of a life. All for a fling. When he went to the police to confess, he realised the enormity of what he’d done. The affair with the pupil had been going on for over a year. His career was over, all his savings were gone. His wife left him. He snapped. Turned out he was going round to Napier Close to have it out with Luke, but saw him getting into a cab and followed him.’

‘And is Sasha OK?’ she asks.

‘I think it’ll take her a while to fully accept everything. She feels guilty that Marc was depressed and taking drugs right under her nose, and she never even noticed. She put his mood swings down to the redundancy and not being able to find another job. I feel a bit guilty myself. I had a sneak in his wardrobe, just after he left, and found a small pouch of coke. Perhaps I should have said something.’

‘You were only doing what you thought was best at the time.’

I force another bite of sandwich, but then I have to surrender. Chucking it down, I push the plate away. ‘Apparently, he’d been saying for over a year he hated his job and wished he could concentrate on his magic pen project, but Sasha didn’t listen. She was too scared of the financial impact of him being out of work for any length of time. They won’t have the financial burden after the move. Sasha’s found the twins places at a state sixth form, so they’ll be rid of school fees and be mortgage-free. It’ll release the funds for Marc to further develop his magic pen.’

‘A good place to be.’

‘You sound like Jim. That’s what he keeps saying. If we sell the house and move to Devon, we could buy our next home outright.’

‘Tempted?’

‘Not at all,’ I say, steepling my fingers. ‘I love my job and my home and would miss London too much.’

After we pick up Jim, heavy traffic delays us getting to Sasha’s, stop and go, stop and go, but I’m