‘Yeah, I was…’ I trailed off, because none of that mattered. Only one thing mattered: ‘What about Davie, how’s he doing?’
Cody’s half-hearted smile faltered, slipping to reveal a broken, grief-stricken look. I couldn’t remember ever having seen him that way before. Cody had always seemed so enviably carefree.It’ll all work out, Commander, he used to say whenever Davie was fretting about something at the paper. As if he had a fundamental faith in the universe that everything would turn out right in the end. Now, though, I could find no trace of it. ‘They won’t tell me anything, we have to wait for his family. But… I don’t think it’s looking good.’
All the reassuring thoughts that had kept me going on the way here evaporated at a single stroke. My knees buckled. ‘What happened?’ I managed to force out, taking a seat beside him.
‘Davie was out on his bike today, and he got into an accident.’
A chill trickled down the back of my neck, and I burrowed more tightly into my scarf, despite the radiator gurgling only a few yards away from us. ‘What kind of accident?’
‘The official version?’ He put on an empty smile. ‘He was going around a corner and didn’t look properly, and he was hit by a car.’
Those words alone tugged at drawers containing other memories in my head, but I shoved them back. ‘And the unofficial version?’
‘A couple of twats with more money than sense decided to have themselves a little street race. Two cars were seen just minutes before. Unfortunately, I can’t prove that they were the ones who hit Davie. So I shouldn’t be going round spreading rumours. Or that’s what the police said, anyway, when I tried to tell them.’
I swallowed hard. ‘Do you know who they were?’
‘They were just here. I’ve seen them before, at uni. I only caught the name of the guy who hit Davie. After the collisions, he crashed into a building. Died on impact. Victor Mason.’
I let out a sound I didn’t understand myself, because yet again I didn’t understandanything. The facts Cody had given me all felt like questions. Even if I hadn’t already known Victor’s surname, thanks to Davie’s research, I would have realised who he was talking about. Nothing that had happened here was a coincidence. Victor had died after running into Davie. Davie, whom the Starlings knew was investigating them. First the professor, then Davie. I thought of the birds in my room, and my mouth was flooded again with the taste of bile. ‘What about the other driver? Did the police arrest him?’
‘No, like I said, they’re assuming it was a straightforward accident, just two people involved. I mean, they say the investigation is ongoing, but if you ask me, it’s a cover-up. They’ve all been paid off. The police officers, plus the only eyewitness to what led up to the accident. I saw him here earlier, you know, chatting away with those arseholes. Guess they justhappenedto bump into each other.’ Cody smiled grimly, knocking back the last dregs of coffee in his paper cup.
I could only guess how many he’d had. He looked so shattered–he must have been in the waiting room for hours. I was ashamed I hadn’t come sooner. But I was here now, and I’d do whatever I could to be there for him–to help. ‘So who’s the witness?’
‘Jess Holden. On the same course as me. Nice guy, as it happens. But even nice guys can be bought, I guess. You can bet your arse he’s just repeating whatever line they told him.’ Cody crumpled up the empty cup. Coffee dripped onto his trousers and my skirt. Neither of us paid any attention to it.
Moments like these pared everything back to its essentials. I was so worried about Davie it stifled all my other feelings. Except the helplessness, which grew with every passing second. Every now and then, the automatic doors opened, people in white coats scurried down the equally white corridors, tinny announcements wafted through the space, and the occasional beam of a car’s headlamp glanced through the window.
‘Go home, Mabel,’ Cody said after a while, laying a hand on my shoulder. Even through the fabric of my jumper, it felt cold, like everything inside me.
‘Isn’t there anything I can do?’ I asked, but immediately regretted it. After all, I thought, maybe that was the problem. I had done too much. Everything that had happened today was my fault. Not just the professor’s death but the fact that Davie was lying in one of these rooms. If I hadn’t pushed him to keep investigating, if I… if I’d just been better. I should have looked out for him. Like I should have looked out for Zoe. Now here I was, feeling like I’d lost them both, a long time ago. That was at the core of what hospitals did to me: making me realise I was too late to protect the people I loved.
Cody shook his head, giving my shoulder a squeeze. ‘I’ll stay until Davie’s mum gets here. As soon as I know more, I’ll give you and Zoe a call.’
‘Better just call me,’ I answered automatically, getting to my feet. ‘Zoe’s—Just call me, okay?’
‘Will do.’ Cody attempted another smile, but it just looked sad. Hopeless. Maybe that was what hospitals did to him: made him realise that things didn’t always turn out all right. Sometimes they just got worse and worse, until eventually they stopped entirely.
* * *
The rain set in as I made my way home. Threads of grey like a veil across my eyes as I approached the college. I’d got off the bus a few stops early–I needed the walk. As if that could clear my head. As if anything could clear something so clogged up.
I knew I had a lot to do. First, I had to talk to the police and find out if they were going to follow up the lead Cody had given them. I also had to speak to Zoe and make sure she was okay, although I still found her behaviour as hurtful as it was concerning. And I had to be there for Davie, in any way that I could. But how could I focus on any of it when I didn’t even know what was wrong with him?
Again I checked my phone, but Cody still hadn’t messaged. My eyes paused over the number in my missed calls. Blake had tried to reach me three times. There could be all sorts of reasons–we’d been in touch every day for two weeks, after all. But I sensed it was no coincidence. He knew about Davie’s accident. And I realised also what that meant: he knew how it had happened. Because his friends had something to do with it.
Heart thumping, I put my phone away and turned a corner. The park I was walking through suddenly opened up, the trees giving way to a flat space enclosed by a fence. It took me a second glance to realise it was a football field. And a third to see it wasn’t empty.
I jerked to a halt. Even if the floodlights around the edge of the pitch hadn’t been on, even if the beam hadn’t brought out the threads of gold in his curls, I would have recognised him at once. By his laugh, if nothing else, as it drifted over to me, stirring up a burning hatred.
The situation confirmed all my long-held assumptions about Ashton: here he was, larking around with a bunch of other people on a football pitch, and he was… happy. Even though a few hours earlier, one of his friends had not just seriously injured somebody, but had died himself. What kind of person acted this way? The answer was obvious: they didn’t. He wasn’t a person, he was a monster. Maybe that was what Professor Edwards had meant when he talked about the supernatural. Maybe it was the reason he was dead now too. Maybe Ashton really was the root of all the evil spreading like wildfire through Cambridge, through my little world.
I knew it wouldn’t help, that I could only make things worse, but I couldn’t be reasonable. I couldn’t be quiet. Not when everything inside me was screaming loud enough to burst my eardrums open and every shred of my soul, too.
Fists clenched, I left the path and strode through the gate towards them. I saw several small groups, but barely glanced at their faces. I had never been as disgusted by anyone than Ashton in this moment, and it was this repulsion that drew me to him.
Ashton didn’t notice me until I was almost on him. There was a brief pause, followed by a broad grin. He broke away from the group and came to meet me. ‘Mabel. I wasn’t expecting the pleasure of your company tonight. Did Blake invite you?’
