back out onto Regal Road. As he came out of the alleyway, he looked around him and a bolt of fear flashed through him as he saw a police car navigating up Regal Road towards him.
‘Shit.’
He immediately back stepped into the alleyway and turned to run back down it. For a second he hoped that he hadn’t been spotted but his heart sank as he heard the sound of the sirens blare out.
CHAPTER 20
16:18pm
The police car turned into the alleyway as Peter reached the junction again. He knew he couldn’t risk going down the cycle path a second time - he could run into Mike coming back from ‘the tip’. He turned and ran round the corner back down the alleyway behind the terraced houses as he heard the tyres of the car scrape across the cobbles as it throttled down the alley. The car screeched to a halt at the junction because the turning was too tight to get the car around the corner. As Peter sped down the alleyway he heard the slam of the car door as the policeman Adam gave chase. He shouted into his radio to his colleague.
‘He’s in the alley behind Regal Road. I’m pursuing on foot.’
Peter rounded the corner and came back onto Regal Road opposite the cricket club again. For a second he debated whether to go back through into the cricket club and run the exact same way he had come but he didn’t know how to get back up onto the garage. Besides there might be more police at the shops attending to Cheryl, he thought. Peter glanced down the road and saw the outline of the Marshalls site, another childhood playground. He started running down the street and passed over the railway crossing and ran unsteadily across the muddy path leading to Marshalls.
Peter got to the entrance to Marshalls and was both surprised and grateful that security hadn’t been increased in the twenty years since he’d last been there. Despite the ten foot high perimeter fences, the entrance to the site simply consisted of a barrier fence. Peter vaulted over the fence like a hurdler and continued into the site, which was deserted because it was a Sunday. Peter had chosen to come in here because he was confident he could lose the police amongst the maze of bricks and pavement slabs in the grounds at the rear of the site. There were so many nooks, crannies, crevices and niches to hide in which is why it had been such a brilliant place to play Hide and Seek when the Excellent Eight were younger. Now he was 34 years old and playing Hide and Seek again.
He ran between two industrial warehouses, where the paving slabs, bricks and tiles were manufactured, and into a field of stone pillars. On the left-hand side of the grounds were bricks stacked ten feet high on pallets ready to be shipped off when ordered. The right-hand side of the grounds had paving slabs stacked on pallets. His plan was to do exactly what the Excellent Eight used to do when they were occasionally caught playing in the site by the security guard. He ran down the main path, splashing through the puddles and veered off. He darted between the blocks in a zigzag fashion, moving stealthily as if he was a child again. He continued - deeper into the grounds - until he came to the back row of the brick pillars which towered over him like statues. The last row was only a couple of feet away from the security fence at the back of the site. He could hear the commotion of the policemen entering the site, Mike who had gone towards ‘the tip’ must have caught up with his colleague Adam. It wouldn’t be long until more police arrived, Peter thought.
The pillar of bricks he was stood by had four sets of pavement slabs sat on a square pallet at three different levels like a stairway. One set of paving slabs stopped at about five foot, the second set at about seven foot and the front two sets at about ten foot high shielding him from view. He climbed up the first two steps, crouching behind the two higher sets of paving slabs in front of him and peeked
‘Shit.’
He immediately back stepped into the alleyway and turned to run back down it. For a second he hoped that he hadn’t been spotted but his heart sank as he heard the sound of the sirens blare out.
CHAPTER 20
16:18pm
The police car turned into the alleyway as Peter reached the junction again. He knew he couldn’t risk going down the cycle path a second time - he could run into Mike coming back from ‘the tip’. He turned and ran round the corner back down the alleyway behind the terraced houses as he heard the tyres of the car scrape across the cobbles as it throttled down the alley. The car screeched to a halt at the junction because the turning was too tight to get the car around the corner. As Peter sped down the alleyway he heard the slam of the car door as the policeman Adam gave chase. He shouted into his radio to his colleague.
‘He’s in the alley behind Regal Road. I’m pursuing on foot.’
Peter rounded the corner and came back onto Regal Road opposite the cricket club again. For a second he debated whether to go back through into the cricket club and run the exact same way he had come but he didn’t know how to get back up onto the garage. Besides there might be more police at the shops attending to Cheryl, he thought. Peter glanced down the road and saw the outline of the Marshalls site, another childhood playground. He started running down the street and passed over the railway crossing and ran unsteadily across the muddy path leading to Marshalls.
Peter got to the entrance to Marshalls and was both surprised and grateful that security hadn’t been increased in the twenty years since he’d last been there. Despite the ten foot high perimeter fences, the entrance to the site simply consisted of a barrier fence. Peter vaulted over the fence like a hurdler and continued into the site, which was deserted because it was a Sunday. Peter had chosen to come in here because he was confident he could lose the police amongst the maze of bricks and pavement slabs in the grounds at the rear of the site. There were so many nooks, crannies, crevices and niches to hide in which is why it had been such a brilliant place to play Hide and Seek when the Excellent Eight were younger. Now he was 34 years old and playing Hide and Seek again.
He ran between two industrial warehouses, where the paving slabs, bricks and tiles were manufactured, and into a field of stone pillars. On the left-hand side of the grounds were bricks stacked ten feet high on pallets ready to be shipped off when ordered. The right-hand side of the grounds had paving slabs stacked on pallets. His plan was to do exactly what the Excellent Eight used to do when they were occasionally caught playing in the site by the security guard. He ran down the main path, splashing through the puddles and veered off. He darted between the blocks in a zigzag fashion, moving stealthily as if he was a child again. He continued - deeper into the grounds - until he came to the back row of the brick pillars which towered over him like statues. The last row was only a couple of feet away from the security fence at the back of the site. He could hear the commotion of the policemen entering the site, Mike who had gone towards ‘the tip’ must have caught up with his colleague Adam. It wouldn’t be long until more police arrived, Peter thought.
The pillar of bricks he was stood by had four sets of pavement slabs sat on a square pallet at three different levels like a stairway. One set of paving slabs stopped at about five foot, the second set at about seven foot and the front two sets at about ten foot high shielding him from view. He climbed up the first two steps, crouching behind the two higher sets of paving slabs in front of him and peeked
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