The Runaway Read online

  “Tom was telling me more about Diana – she’s been through a lot. Lost her husband and her sister, both really young. And for some reason, she doesn’t talk about her sister any more. Don’t know why, though.”

  He sounds tired, suddenly. He has made friends here, finding things to like in people despite their strange foibles, because he has told himself that the cruel treatment of his father is something confined to the past, not these people’s responsibility. Suddenly the injustice done to Emrys seems more immediate.

  “It’s starting to get to you, isn’t it?” says Grace, watching her brother as he walks over to the window to look out at the farmyard and the heavy grey sky that hangs over it.

  “A bit,” he agrees. He can see Simon, who has looked after the farm while Ifan and Nia were away at the market today, whistling to himself as he sets off home after another day’s work.

  “You’re wondering if you’re angry with your new friends,” she says, beginning to tidy her notes away.

  “You don’t sound very worried about it!”

  “I’m not. You like people too much to let yourself get bitter towards them. And if you won’t grow bitter, I don’t need to worry about you. You’ll still be you.”

  Adam laughs. “You are very wise, you know.”

  “It’s true, I am,” Grace says with a straight face. The weight in the air lifts, and Adam seems to relax.

  “Thanks, Ayawa.”

  “Let’s make a start on tea. I saw you brought rice back with you from the shop, and you know you always undercook it.”

  “Only because I’m too hungry to wait!”

  Grace takes charge of the cooking of the rice, while Adam chops up the other ingredients. They eat their meal on the sofas, since Grace’s work still covers the kitchen table.

  As they are finishing washing up, they hear, over the clatter of plates in the sink, the dogs in the yard start to bark. Then there is a noise like shouting outside, and the slam of a car door before an engine starts up. About a minute passes before there is a knock at the door. Nia stands on the step, looking paler than ever.

  “I’m so sorry about this, but could I possibly borrow your car?”

  “Is everything all right?” Adam asks. Nia is wide-eyed and clearly shaken.

  “Ifan’s just gone back up to the village. I told him he wasn’t fit to drive yet, but he wouldn’t have any of it. He’s looking for Callum.”

  “Presumably not to shake hands and make up?”

  “I don’t know what he’ll do. I have to stop him!” She looks frantic.

  “Can we warn Callum and tell him to stay out of the way?” asks Grace, taking a step forward and speaking calmly as she offers up a practical solution. “I mean, if Ifan can’t find him at the pub, he’ll have to come home, right? And by tomorrow things might have quietened down.”

  “I don’t have a number for him, or I’d call him. I think Ifan had his number saved, but he’s taken his phone with him.”

  “He was with Tom!” Adam remembers. “I left them both at the pub after you’d gone. We’ve got his number here somewhere.”

  He finds the card that Tom gave them in case they had more information for the police lying on the hall table.

  “Thank you,” says Nia. “I’m so glad you’re both here.”

  *

  Tom and Callum have been in the White Lion for several hours. They have exhausted the line of conversation that began with Tom asking, “What were you thinking?” Callum has not been keen to dwell on that. He already regrets losing his temper with Diana, and fears what she may do in retaliation. If she seemed not to take him seriously before, he dreads to think what his standing in the village will become now. Tom’s phone rings, and Callum finishes his drink in silence while his friend is distracted.

  “Right,” says Tom, putting down his phone, “we need to leave.”

  “What? No, I don’t want to go home yet,” Callum protests.

  “Well, that’s tough, because your moment of stupidity earlier is coming back to bite you. Ifan is on his way over here right now.”

  “Ifan? What’s he coming here for? And why’s that a problem?”

  Tom shakes his head. “You don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what?”

  “You lashed out at Diana. But from where Ifan was standing, it sounded like you were having a go at him. And that stuff you said about not being respected by anyone… well, you can imagine how deep that would cut him. After you left, he wanted to confront you over it, but we got him into the car and sent him home with Nia. She’s tried telling him that you weren’t insulting him, but he’s got it into his head that you were, so he’s looking for you. And you know this will be the first place he checks.”

  Callum’s stomach jolts at the idea of facing Ifan tonight, but he quickly conceals this. “So? I’m not scared of him.”

  Tom rolls his eyes. “From the sound of things, he’s in a right state. And if he beats you to a pulp outside the pub, you know who’ll have to write up the notes on it tomorrow morning and document exactly how many of your teeth are scattered over the street? Me. And I’d like a quiet day at work instead. So we’re leaving.”

  Callum is sufficiently surprised at how unsympathetic his friend sounds to agree to this. Tom marches Callum out of the White Lion and points him in the direction of home. They have only taken a few steps, however, when they see a car parked on the opposite side of the road. Tom catches sight of Ifan behind the wheel, and seeing the look on his face, says to Callum, “You should get out of here, quickly!”

  “No way. I’m not running.”

  Ifan gets out of the car and storms towards them.

  “What’s the matter, Ifan?” Callum asks, trying to sound nonchalant.

  “Nobody insults me like that and gets away with it!”

  “Ifan, the drink’s confused your brain. You’ve got the wrong end of the stick, mate.”

  “Ca dy geg,” Ifan snaps, and he calls Callum a few names that, though Callum does not understand the exact meaning of the Welsh, clearly are not compliments. “So no one respects me, do they?”

  Tom steps forward. “Ifan, don’t forget I’m a police officer, even if I am off duty. And if there’s any violent behaviour here, I will arrest you and take you to the station, where you can sleep in a cell until you calm down.”

  Ifan stops in front of Tom. “That’s true. You will, won’t you?”

  Without warning, he swings his right arm and lands a blow that knocks Tom to the ground.

  “Now then,” he says, looking back at Callum, who has not moved. The younger man stares, open-mouthed, at his friend lying on the floor, then turns back to Ifan.

  He lunges forward, but Callum is expecting this and jumps out of the way. Callum is not as strong as Ifan, and knows this, but he has the advantage of having drunk less today. He waits for Ifan to rush at him again, and this time he dodges and manages to trip him up at the same time. Ifan hits the ground, but seems not to feel the impact.

  “Get up, old man,” says Callum, standing over him. Ifan pulls himself off the floor and faces his opponent again.

  A second car pulls up behind them. Nia, Grace, and Adam jump out and run towards the fight. Ifan ignores them and this time he manages to land a punch on Callum’s jaw that sends him staggering backwards.

  “Stop!” a woman’s voice cries through the fog of Callum’s throbbing pain and Ifan’s slurred rage. Ifan hits out again and this time Callum falls down. As he looms over his rival, there is real fear in Callum’s eyes.

  “You think that hurt? I’m just warming up,” he manages to spit out. Callum scrabbles frantically, but Ifan stamps down on his ankle to stop him getting away. He howls in pain. Looking up at Ifan, Callum suddenly begins to feel afraid of how much damage Ifan might be willing to cause. As Adam reaches them and tries to break up the fight, Ca
llum decides it is time to bring this to a halt. He reaches down to his pocket and pulls out his penknife, which he holds out, pointing the blade at Ifan.

  “Stay back!” he says. Adam stops trying to pull Ifan away and gives Callum his full attention now instead.

  “Be very careful with that,” he warns.

  “I know what I’m doing. Back away, both of you, or I will use this!” If he can just sound threatening enough, Ifan will surely withdraw. And then tomorrow, in the clear light of day, Callum can go round to the farm and set the record straight with him. Then he’ll only have Diana to face, and her tactics are very different.

  Ifan stands over him, swaying slightly. A crowd seems to have gathered around them. The noise has drawn drinkers out of the White Lion onto the street. Tom is back on his feet and walking towards them, holding the side of his head. Ifan cannot quite remember how he got here. He knows he has been fighting with Callum, and that now the boy is beaten, for everyone to see. One more punch should do it. Then he will be satisfied and go home. He swings his arm again to land the last blow. There is a flash of metal and a scream.

  Callum lies on the ground holding the knife that is now stained dark red. His relief at not being knocked senseless, or anything worse, swiftly turns to panic as above him Ifan claps a hand to his chest and looks surprised. He staggers back, and the onlookers who have held back until now rush in. A clamour of first aid and phone calls for an ambulance takes over, while Ifan maintains his state of shock.

  “He stabbed me,” is all he can manager to utter as he slumps to the ground. Everyone remembers this. They look around, but Callum is already gone.

  Tom knows he needs to take charge of the situation, but his head is pounding. He calls the station to request a car be sent over with two officers, but he knows the roads between Bryndu and Llandymna are bad, and it will be some time before they arrive.

  “What can I do?” asks Adam, appearing in front of him with perfect timing.

  “The ambulance is on its way, and Ifan’s in no position to give a statement just now. Your sister’s looking after him – she told me she’s trained in first aid. Next priority is to look for Callum. Can you help me?”

  “Course. Let me just tell Grace and Nia where I’m going.”

  He walks back over to where Nia kneels on the ground next to her husband, while Grace has used her jumper to put pressure on the wound and soak up the blood.

  “How long till the paramedics get here?” she asks, her hands pressed against the place where the knife went in.

  “Not long. How bad is it?”

  “I’m not sure. I don’t think the knife hit any major organs, but there’s a lot of blood. That’s right, Nia, keep him talking. He needs to stay conscious.”

  “Will you be all right if I go and help Tom? He needs to find Callum.”

  “Go. There’s not much you can do here. I’ll look after these two,” says Grace. Adam looks at Nia’s stricken face and realizes Grace is right to be worried for her as well as her husband.

  “Call me if you need to,” he says, and then leaves his sister with the wounded man, the distraught wife, and the crowd of fussing spectators. He goes back to Tom. “Right, where do we start?”

  “We’ll go to Callum’s house first, see if he’s gone there.”

  “Will you press charges against Ifan too? I’m assuming that black eye isn’t from walking into a lamppost.”

  “We’ll see,” says Tom. “Right now I can’t believe I’m having to hunt down my best friend.”

  They cover the streets from the White Lion to Callum’s home. The roads are strangely quiet and peaceful, and each lit-up window represents someone going about their evening unaware of what has just happened in their village.

  *

  Callum catches his breath once he finds a shadowy corner behind the old scout hut. From here he can look out from Llandymna over the dark fields, to see a blue light hurtling around the hill and towards the village. Is it an ambulance or a police car? Now that he has stopped running, which was agonizing because of the damage Ifan has done to his foot, he can feel the cold sensation of blood on his hands; it has trickled off the knife and is cooling now in the evening air. What if he has killed Ifan? He’ll go to prison for the rest of his life, and that’s assuming no one else gets to him first, given that people clearly like to dispense their own justice around here.

  He limps forward.

  “There you are,” says a voice. Adam rounds the corner behind the scout hut. Callum freezes.

  “Is Tom with you?”

  “No, we split up after we looked for you at your house. Tom spoke to your mum, but she hadn’t seen you. I thought you might have come here.”

  “So you’re all looking for me. Tom’s going to arrest me, isn’t he?” Callum says, eyeing up his escape routes even as he talks with Adam.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I didn’t mean to do it. But Ifan was acting like he was going to kill me.”

  “I know you didn’t want this to happen. Come back, explain that, and it’ll get sorted out.”

  “Not if Ifan dies, it won’t. Then it won’t matter what I say.”

  “Well, what are you planning to do?”

  “I’ll wait. I’ll hide until I know how bad it is – whether Ifan dies, or he lives and yells for my arrest. When I know what I’m facing, then I’ll talk to the police.”

  Callum decides he will not be able to get past Adam and will need to get away in the opposite direction, if he can just find a way to make sure he isn’t followed.

  Adam looks grave. “And how exactly are you going to hide from the police?”

  “You think I can’t? Or do you just want to try and stop me?” Callum raises the knife towards Adam. There is still blood on the blade.

  “Careful. I think you’ve done enough damage with that for one day.”

  Callum brandishes the knife in what he hopes is a convincing manner.

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone else. But if you try to follow me, I will stop you, I promise. I’m going now. Tell them I’ll come back when I can.”

  Adam’s eyes are so full of sadness, Callum almost feels sorry for him. But he sticks to his half-formed plan and hobbles backwards, still holding out the knife, until the shadows have enveloped him completely. Nobody else sees him disappear.

  Adam returns to the road outside the White Lion. Ifan and Nia have already been taken in an ambulance to the nearest hospital. A police car is parked outside the pub and two officers are taking statements from witnesses. He finds his sister sitting alone on the low wall by the pub.

  “You OK?” he asks as he sits down beside her. Grace stares ahead.

  “I’m going to need a new jumper,” she says, mustering humour but not the light-hearted tone that should go with it. Tom joins them on the wall.

  “Well, it’s official. I’m not allowed to be involved in the case. Apparently it’s too personal for me, what with Callum being my friend.” He looks up at the sky and sighs with relief.

  “It must be hard, doing your kind of job in a place where you know everyone.”

  “It can be,” says Tom, “but only on days like today. It’s not normally like this. We’re a quiet village. Nothing much happens.”

  “If you’re not involved in this, as a police officer I mean, can I ask you a question?” asks Adam.

  “Go on,” says Tom, intrigued.

  “Hypothetically, if you were still on the case, and if – hypothetically – I had seen Callum this evening, but had no information about where he now was, only that I’d spoken to him and that he’d threatened me with that knife, and if I told you all this in a statement, what would you do?”

  Tom inhales deeply. “Well, I’d be in a difficult position. Hypothetically, that information might mean we’d have to class Callum as a ‘dangerous’ fugitive, since h
e’d threatened another person. And that might change things significantly. And even though I’m certain Callum isn’t a danger to anyone else, because I’ve known him all his life, as a police officer I’d still have to recommend a manhunt for him. Officers might be instructed to make use of firearms against him.”

  “And if, continuing this scenario, Callum assured you he would come back and hand himself in as soon as he heard that Ifan was all right, would you believe him?”

  “I would. He’s an idiot, sure, but he’s honest. But I wouldn’t be allowed to trust him, of course. That’s not how it works.”

  “Right, thanks,” says Adam as an officer approaches to take his statement.

  “I’m sorry about my brother,” says Grace, as Adam and the officer walk over to the police car together. “He thinks he’s being clever, but he’s put you in a difficult situation now.”

  “Not at all,” says Tom. “We were just talking hypothetically. We can hopefully avoid anyone else getting hurt tonight. But I would remind you and your brother that I will have to report anything you tell me about Callum’s whereabouts, just in case you do end up knowing anything.”

  *

  Callum stops to catch his breath. He has no idea what to do next. He has nowhere to go now. There will be no buses or trains away from any of the nearest towns or villages until morning, by which time people will no doubt be on the lookout for him. Besides, if he did find transport, where could he go? He has an aunt in Neath who might take him in – until she found out what he had done. Then he would probably be thrown out of the house. It is not so much that he is afraid of the police, or even prison. It would be fair, he supposes, if a bit steep a punishment in his opinion. It is the thought of facing his friends and family that drives him away from the village.

  Maybe tomorrow there will be good news. Maybe Ifan will wake up and decide to put it all behind him. Then everyone can go home. He just needs somewhere to shelter for the night. A barn would be ideal. The Evanses’ farm is nearest on this side of the village, and they have probably left Llandymna in an ambulance by now. But even if they stay there overnight, in the morning someone might find him. It feels too much like adding insult to injury, to hospitalize Ifan and then hide on his land.