Part Six
By Pebbles
Pebbles@ukgateway.net
Doug squeezed Luka’s hand wondering what to say. "Hey, I’m not going to leave you. Come on Bud. I’m not going anywhere." He watched Luka’s face and was relieved to see the wild look leave his eyes. He searched for a topic of conversation that didn’t dredge up ghosts from the past.
"Look I’m sorry about back there, at the hotel. I behaved like a real asshole!"
"Don’t be. If I thought someone was making a move on my girlfriend I would shoot first and ask questions later." Luka dead panned.
"Yeah! Well it sure took me by surprise. Carol always tells me everything - even if I don’t want to hear it!" Doug shook his head. He was still genuinely confused by her reticence.
Luka was silent for a while. Struggling with the pain in his thigh and the uncontrollable shivering which racked his body. "Well I think for her there was not so much to tell. There was no, what d’you call it? - ‘relationship’. She was just a good friend to me when I first came to County." He paused, searching for words. " Kerry and Mark seemed to be locked in some kind of power game. Benton made no secret of not trusting me. I welcomed Carol’s friendship and I tried to be a friend to her as she seemed also to be alone."
Luka paused again to see how Doug would react to this story. He just nodded to Luka to continue. "I never asked her about the father of her babies – I did not want to ..er..invade her privacy. She could tell me if she wanted to - I thought. Later, I started hoping she might be interested in something more." He pulled a tight smile. "But when I tried to get romantic she put me straight pretty quick. You were the only one for her."
"Yeah, well I’m glad she finally realised it!" Doug grinned. "Maybe I’ve got you to thank for finally bringing her to her senses!"
"Yeah maybe." Luka grinned back.
"Perhaps we might be friends, huh?" Doug hoped that they would at least get the chance to be. He couldn’t live with himself if his pig-headedness resulted in this man’s death.
"You never know - we could even go out drinking some time! You ever tried Sljivovica?"
"What the hell is that?" Doug wrinkled his nose.
"Plum brandy. Usually I try to avoid it but I could do with a shot now!" Luka tried to imagine the fire of the mostly home-made hooch he had consumed as a student slipping down his throat to warm his belly. Somehow his mind couldn’t get past the deadening cold which now possessed his body.
"Would you like to see a picture of my wife?" Luka suddenly felt the need to share more with his new friend. If he was to spend his last few hours with Doug then he wanted to feel like he was really a friend not just a stranger. "I have one in my wallet, in my jacket there" He nodded his head towards the pile of sodden clothing which Doug had discarded.
Doug picked up the jacket and started to go though the pockets, finally bringing out a black leather wallet. As he passed it to Luka a trail of water poured out of its fold. The look of panic on Luka’s face pierced Doug’s heart like an icy claw.
Kerry stamped her feet on the ground to try and keep warm. The fog was definitely clearing now. She could make out the glow of the moon above and the trees, which encircled the hotel car park, were emerging from the mist.
It was so silent; Kerry strained her ears to hear anything. What was taking them so long? She looked at her watch. Half an hour had passed since her telephone call. She realised that she had lived in the city too long. Out here the emergency services had to travel great distances. She tapped her crutch nervously on the stone step.
A soft footstep behind her seemed unnaturally loud to her straining ears. Carter cleared his throat, unnecessarily warning her of his presence.
"John?" She turned towards him.
"Kerry. How are you doing?" Carter moved closer to her.
"Oh, I’m fine." She thought for a moment, wondering whether it was appropriate to voice her fears. Looking into Carter’s concerned eyes she found herself opening up to him. "I’ve just got a bad feeling about this. I can’t explain it."
"What do you mean?" Carter frowned. "You said inside that you didn’t think Doug was really as drunk as he made out."
"Yes I know. And I do think that. It’s….it’s Luka." Kerry kept her eyes fixed on her shoes. "It’s not rational, I know but I just have this awful feeling that something has happened to him. He’s in trouble and were stuck here waiting for the emergency services to show up. I.." She waved her clenched fists in the air in frustration.
Carter stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep warm. "There’s no reason to think that. They’re probably just lost. They could walk in here at any moment."
"I know that! I’m sorry I said anything!" Kerry was annoyed more at herself for admitting to such irrational feelings.
"No, don’t be Kerry. You are human you know! I, er… couldn’t help overhearing your conversation earlier." Now Carter looked embarrassed but he decided to press on. "Is there something going on between you two?"
Kerry shot him a shocked glance. "No! I mean, there isn’t anything.." She wondered why his question left her feeling so flustered. Just then they heard the roar of an engine and a Devon & Cornwall Constabulary Range Rover swept into the hotel car park closely followed by a white 110 Landrover Defender. Two uniformed officers stepped down from their vehicle and a heterogeneous crew of civilians piled out of the Landrover. Kerry forced herself to put her feelings on hold and stepped forward to introduce herself.
"Dr Weaver?" One of the officers offered her his hand. She nodded taking his hand, which he shook vigorously. "Sergeant John Crosby." He introduced himself in a soft westcountry bur. "And this is Constable Bradley. Can you fill us in on the details? I gather there are two men missing?"
"This is Dr Carter." After they had acknowledged the younger doctor she continued. "Why don’t you come inside? You’ll need to talk to Miss Hathaway who saw them last although you will find that she’s quite distressed." Kerry turned towards the steps with the two officers in tow. The rest of the party remained outside getting themselves kited out with wet weather gear, ropes and flashlights.
Inside the hotel lobby Kerry introduced the police officers to Carol. Having got past the formalities it was straight down to business.
"So it’s now about two hours since you last saw Dr Kovac and Dr Ross?" Sergeant Crosby turned to Carol with his questions.
"Yes that’s right. I left them by the side of the road and when I came back they had disappeared." Carol shot a look at Kerry wondering if she had already told the officer about Doug’s behaviour prior to this.
"And Dr Ross is a diabetic?" Crosby waited for Carol to reply.
Kerry butted in. "No, I didn’t say that Dr Ross was diabetic. Just that he was exhibiting behaviour that might by symptomatic of hypoglycaemia." She stared down the police sergeant daring him to challenge her.
He obviously decided to let it go as he moved on to other topics. "They were both wearing suits but with no outer clothing? Right. And you left them on the right side of the road between one and three miles of here?" To all this Carol just nodded her agreement. "Well Miss Hathaway I would like you to come with us and see if you can identify the spot where you left them."
"I should like to come too. I am a doctor and .."
Sergeant Crosby interrupted Kerry. "We already have a doctor on the team."
"I would like to come anyway and Dr Carter too." Kerry stood up.
"Fair enough." Crosby shrugged. "Let’s get a move on then."
Doug put the sodden wallet in Luka’s outstretched hand. He fumbled with the fold, trying to extract the photograph from its hiding place but his fingers would not co-operate. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks and Luka flung down the wallet in despair. His shoulders heaved as frustration and grief overcame him causing yet more pain to rip through his already exhausted body.
Doug quickly picked up the wallet and sat down next to Luka, squeezing his good shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "Hey, come on Luka. We can get this dried out. We shouldn’t try and get the photograph out now in case we damage it."
Luka continued to shake with cold, his breaths coming fast and shallow. It was just too much effort to talk anymore. He shut his eyes and sought an escape from this waking nightmare.
Doug was beginning to shiver himself from the cold. Mid November was not a good time to be spending the night outside in a thin shirt and your underwear. He still held Luka’s wet Jacket in his hands and whilst he wondered what to do next he absent-mindedly went through the pockets. Perhaps there was something else he should rescue from the damp. His fingers closed around a small cylinder. It couldn’t be? Yes, it was - a lighter!
"Jesus Christ! You’ve got a lighter!" Doug’s excited shout brought Luka back from the edge of consciousness. "I can make a fire!"
Doug jumped to his feet and started gathering bracken together in an untidy heap. Shielding the pile from the breeze he flicked at the lighter. "Come on baby, light damn you." He muttered trying to cup his hands around the fragile flame. Luckily the bracken was dry and in no time there was a crackling sound as the leaves ignited.
"Yeah! We have fire!" Doug fed the fledgling flames with more bracken and then searched around for something more substantial to keep the fire going. Within a short radius he found several slender pieces of branch which he broke into pieces and fed to the fire. He was pleased to see that a steady stream of smoke was going up into the air. Not only would it warm them but the fire might also help a rescue party find them.
Luka was no longer shivering. Doug knew that this was not a good sign. There was not much heat from the fire yet so he settled himself down behind Luka and eased the taller man up into a semi sitting position. He wrapped his arms around him trying to pass on some of his body warmth such as it was.
"Thank you." Luka murmured. "I am not afraid of dying. If there is a heaven then maybe I will be reunited with my wife and my children."
End of Part 6