Page 61 of The Girls in the Lake
‘Myself, Paton and Sam will go and see if we can find Marshall. Once we’ve located him, I’ll request a POLSA team to come and take over until we’re good to go.’
Josh didn’t wait for Paul to say yes, he just grabbed his jacket and began to head out of the door, closely followed by Sam and Paton. It had only been a couple of hours since Marshall had left the station, so he would have either gone home or to his boat. At least that was what Josh hoped, though in reality he could be anyplace including Manchester Airport waiting to catch a flight to anywhere in the world.
He rang Sykes as he walked. ‘Can you get a wanted marker put on James Marshall for me and make sure it’s distributed to all the airports?’
He hung up, knowing it would be done before they’d even got as far as the marina. Next he rang Karen Taylor and asked if she could get Cal to meet them with the lake warden’s boat at the marina. He didn’t know if they were going to need it, but he was covering all bases. He just hoped they weren’t too late, and that Marshall thought they were all too stupid to figure out what was really going on.
Seventy
Ethan opened the door to his cabin, sniffed, then stepped to one side for Grace to enter.
‘Sorry, it really is a bit of a shithole.’
She laughed. ‘I like it. You know what it reminds me of?’
He shook his head.
‘Have you ever watched the movieThe Parent Trap? Not the old black-and-white one? The one with Lindsay Lohan when she was a cute kid.’
He shrugged. ‘No, I don’t think I have. I’m more into superhero kind of stuff likeBatmanandX-Men. I’m also quite partial to a Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtle, but that’s between you and me.’
She giggled and her face lit up.
He thought she was beautiful.
‘Well in it she goes to a summer camp and they have to stay in these cute wooden cabins by the lake. I always wanted to go to a summer camp and stay in one.’
‘Well your wish is my command. Welcome to autumn camp, where the accommodation has seen better days, but the views are pretty good and the company is even better.’
She followed him inside as a distant rumble of thunder erupted over the lake. ‘I love a good storm. I bet you get amazing views from here.’
He nodded. ‘I suppose we do. I’ve never taken much notice of them before. We’ll be able to watch it from the window.’
He went to the kitchen area and put the boxes of pizza down, then he got some plates out of the cupboard. He began to fish in the drawers for cutlery, and Grace shook her head.
‘Fingers are fine, pizza tastes better when you eat it with your fingers.’
Laughing, he picked up a slice and took a huge bite. Strings of hot, melted cheese dribbled down his chin and he scooped them up with his finger, shoving them into his mouth. ‘Sorry, I eat like a pig.’
Grace tore a piece of the spicy meat feast off and took a bite. They ate in silence until there were only crusts left in the box. Ethan didn’t have any nice wine glasses, just two chipped glass tumblers, which he took from the cupboard and rinsed under the tap. He opened the bottle of rosé they’d picked up at the off-licence and filled the glasses. He passed her one.
‘Sorry, I don’t really have company over often.’
She took it from him and clinked the glass against his. ‘I’m not like the others, you know.’
He looked at her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘The other girls on the boat: the rich, bratty, spoilt kids. My mum and dad both work; we don’t have money. Well, we have money, but not Claudia’s kind of money.’
He nodded. ‘Not many people do have Claudia’s kind of money. I’m the same. I got a scholarship and met all my rich friends at school.’
‘I met her through a friend of a friend; it’s not really my scene to be fair. I mean, it’s nice, the posh parties and stuff, but it’s not my reality and it sometimes makes me mean and ungrateful about the things I do have.’
‘Yeah, I guess it does. I’m the same.’
A huge flash of white light filled the sky followed by a rumble of thunder. Grace ran to the door. Throwing it open, she stepped outside. He followed, and they stood there looking up at the cloud-filled sky waiting for the next flash of lightning.
‘One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…’
