No Going Back Read Free

winter.
    â€˜About forty minutes. But we’re here on holiday, so they don’t know the area at all, and they’re not dressed for the weather. Look . . .’ Reynolds hesitated ‘. . . the truth is, Mr Whelan, we had a bit of a row. Katya, the older one, is a moody girl – you know, typical teenager – and I’m afraid she might have run away to teach me a lesson. Her sister would follow her anywhere.’
    Now they were indeed getting to the truth of it, Daniel thought.
    â€˜How old are they?’
    â€˜Katya’s fifteen and her sister’s twelve. Please, Mr Whelan, you’ve got to help me. They’re all I’ve got.’
    They’re all I’ve got . The words stabbed through the defensive layers he’d so carefully gathered around him, bringing the past back with a jolt that made him physically wince. Please. She’s all I’ve got . . . A plea uttered by a woman at breaking point. Daniel could still clearly see the sad shake of the doctor’s head as he murmured, ‘I’m sorry – there was nothing we could do.’
    â€˜Mr Whelan? Are you there?’
    Daniel dragged his thoughts back to the present.
    â€˜Yes, I’m here.’
    â€˜Do you have any children?’
    â€˜Yes, a son.’ He looked out of the window at the blowing mist of rain and imagined Drew wandering on the moor, lost and afraid. He sighed, reluctantly coming to a decision. ‘OK, Mr Reynolds. Tell me exactly where you are and I’ll get there as soon as I can. I’ll need something belonging to the girls for the dog to scent.’
    â€˜Yes, yes, of course. I have a glove of Elena’s. Thank you so much.’
    â€˜Well, I can’t make any promises. What the dog can do depends on a lot of things – including the conditions, and if this rain gets any heavier, they are going to be far from ideal. I strongly advise you to try the police again.’
    â€˜I will, I will. But you will come, yes? It’s a car park on the Princetown road.’ Reynolds gave Daniel detailed directions and thanked him again profusely.
    It was nearly twenty minutes later when Daniel drove into the moorland car park of Stack Bridge, and the visibility had deteriorated further. The parking area was situated in a hollow with high rocky sides, a stunted hawthorn the only tree in sight. The delivery truck took up nearly a third of the available space.
    â€˜Mr Reynolds? Any luck with Search and Rescue?’ Daniel asked as he jumped down from the cab and was met by a slim, dark-haired man in jeans and a tailored black leather coat. Another, taller man stood by a massive black 4x4 that was parked a few feet away.
    â€˜I think they’ve got another emergency, over Bovey way.’ Reynolds’s accent was more pronounced in person and Daniel placed it somewhere in Eastern Europe. He was talking about Bovey Tracey, on the other side of the moor, and pronounced the word ‘Buvvy’, as the locals did. ‘They say they’ll come when they’ve finished, if we haven’t found her, but who knows when that will be?’
    â€˜But . . . surely there’s more than one team?’
    Reynolds shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m just telling you what they said.’
    â€˜OK. Well, we’ll give it a go with the dog.’
    Daniel reached back into the cab for his coat and a fluorescent tabard. After the warmth of the lorry, the drizzle-laden wind felt bitter and he wasn’t dressed for hiking. Any added protection would be welcome. Pity the youngsters out on the moor with no waterproofs.
    From a compartment under the dashboard he took a small LED torch and a large-scale walker’s map of the area, both of which he stuffed in an inside pocket. He would have liked a couple of blankets, a flask of hot tea and a backpack to stow them in, but it couldn’t be helped.
    â€˜Come on, Taz. Work, boy,’ he told