Page 54 of Runner 13

Adrienne

Matt turns the gun over in his hands. It has a bright orange barrel. ‘I thought this would come in handy. I found it in Boones’s trailer when he invited me in. When the storm dies down, we can send a flare to signal our location.’

I let out a long breath. He doesn’t want to hurt us. At least not with that .

In fact, his voice cracks with emotion. ‘I thought by coming here and running in this race, I could do something for my dad. For his memory.’

‘You heard Adrienne’s story. Your father was a bad man,’ says Mariam through her chattering teeth. ‘He did it to my friend too. Drugged and assaulted her. We were waiting to gather proof before going public. We almost had enough.’

I blink at Mariam. ‘Really?’

‘Yes. But no one would listen to us after what you did.’

I ruined everyone’s credibility after lying. ‘I’m so very sorry,’ I say. I turn back to Matt. ‘And it must have been hard for you to lose him. But it was a heart attack,’ I say.

‘No, it wasn’t,’ says Matt. ‘Someone murdered him. I don’t care what the coroner said.

I’ve spent the past seven years wondering whether he deserved it.

I guess now I know that he did.’ He drops the gun in the dirt by Mariam’s ankle.

I let out a scream, but it’s swept away by the wind.

Matt drops his head into his hands and starts sobbing.

Mariam and I lock eyes over his head. Matt is unstable, volatile – but also in pain.

Cautiously, I reach out and lay my hand on his arm. ‘I’m sorry for your loss, Matt,’ I say. ‘And I’m sorry the truth is what it is.’ I pause. ‘Can I ask … how did you know I’d been to visit him that morning?’

‘That podcast guy. Jason. He visited me inside. I guess he’s been doing a big story on the case? He showed me a photograph from a neighbour’s CCTV. It shows you arriving at my father’s house.’

I nod. I had wondered why the police hadn’t bothered to ask the neighbours, but I guess they’d been so convinced he’d died of natural causes that they didn’t launch a full-scale investigation. ‘And I was the only one?’

To my surprise Matt shakes his head. ‘No. Someone else visited him that morning. But their car blocked my view of who it was.’

‘What kind of car?’ I ask.

‘One of those massive black SUVs. A Range Rover or something. I asked Jason about it but he couldn’t get any details. Apparently it was rented.’

Now my heart is really pounding. The CCTV camera still that Boones had of the car near my son. That had featured a black Range Rover. It can’t be a coincidence.

‘Jason had all that information?’ I scrabble in the bottom of my backpack as I ask the question.

‘He didn’t think my father’s death was natural either. I could never understand how the police could just accept that he had a heart attack. Not when he was so healthy.’

I pull out the paper I’d torn from Jason’s notebook and show Matt. ‘Is this the licence plate?’

‘That’s the one. I couldn’t forget it.’

The car had been at Glenn’s house that day. The same day my son was almost run over by it. Whoever had visited Glenn must also have tried to hurt Ethan. It was all connected.

‘And this.’ I point to the words that had given me such fear. STILL WANTS REVENGE . ‘Is this you?’

He nods, but then his head drops into his hands. ‘I wanted you to be wrong.’

‘I wanted to be wrong too,’ I say.

I still can’t believe that Glenn’s son is sitting in front of me. Why did Glenn never mention him in the months – years – we spent together? And he’s obviously an excellent runner.

He lifts his head up. ‘It was Jason who told me about Hot he deserves to see it to the end. His last hours of freedom.

But to my surprise he turns to me. ‘If you go now, you could do it. I’m done.’ Then he reaches up and turns on his own emergency beacon, depressing the two buttons.

‘What? No! I can’t leave you here,’ I say to Mariam, even though she is nodding along to what Matt is saying.

‘You can. You must. I’m not alone. And you need to show Boones that he might have made us pawns in his game, but we won’t give up.’

‘I don’t think he wants anyone to win,’ says Matt. ‘But you should.’

‘Go,’ Mariam says again. ‘Go and win.’

There are a little over eighty miles left – and an enormous jebel to cross. If I keep a good pace, I could be finished with six hours of buffer to make Boones’s cut-off.

You just have to finish, and then you’ll get answers. If Boones gives me the unblurred photograph, I can find out not only who tried to hurt my son but who killed Glenn too. Maybe that will help Matt rest.

‘OK,’ I say. I kneel next to Mariam. ‘Don’t take any risks with your leg. Get to a hospital as soon as you can.’

‘I will,’ she says.

Matt stares at the ground and I can almost hear the cogs of his mind working.

Processing what he’s learned. Knowing he’ll soon be back in prison.

Atoning for his father’s sins. I don’t know how I would cope in the same situation.

Not well. It doesn’t feel like justice to me. Another life Glenn has ruined.

I lift my buff back over my face, fixing my sunglasses over the top. The wind is still strong outside, but not as fierce as it was before.

Giving my shoulders one final shake to make sure my backpack is on comfortably, I take my first step.

My muscles scream at me; they’ve stiffened so much during the break and now they threaten not to play ball.

But I force myself to take another step, then another.

And then I’m back out on the course. Back on the heading for another eighty miles, towards the next water cache, and the next, and so on until … the finishing line.

If I ever make it.

But my why has never been so clear. It’s for me – but also for Mariam. For Matt. For Yasmin. And for all Glenn’s victims who lost their voice when I lied. I know there are more out there.

And by running maybe I can give them a voice.