Chapter 7

"Kim, seriously, you need to stop calling my car the Beardmobile before you end up with the gearstick somewhere the sun doesn't shine." Robin told her as they sped to Evan's house.

Kim tried not to hum the little theme song she had invented for the beardmobile. It was funny, but although the situation was dark and deadly serious she felt safer for being in the thick of it and doing something about it. If she'd watched the news at home and seen Layton was on the loose then she'd have been scared out of her mind. Being on the streets, back in the thick of the action and especially with Robin alongside her made everything seem less daunting somehow.

"Do you really think he's gone to find Evan?" she asked.

Robin took a deep breath.

"I can't explain why, I've just got a gut feeling on this one."

As they pulled up onto the empty driveway Robin wondered if he was wrong after all and that Evan was away from home but the sight of the broken pane of glass on the door caused his stomach to churn in fear.

"Shit, that doesn't look good," said Kim.

"No kidding," Robin stopped the car and released the seatbelt. As the two of them climbed out of the car and gave a slight run toward the door Robin began to feel a little awkward. The last time he'd seen Evan was when he'd put him in his place in the hospital just after the accident. Aside from that, he'd seen him from a distance across the courtroom at his bail hearing and that had been that. He still felt wretched that he had misjudged Evan so much, treated him as a friend for all that time, never knowing about the secrets he was hiding.

He reached carefully through the jagged glass and turned the handle on the inside of the door until it opened slowly. As they ran inside they could hear a muffled moaning sound and followed it to the kitchen.

"Bloody fucking hell!" cried Kim.

It wasn't a pretty sight. A trouserless Evan was something no one wanted to see at the best of times. Coupled with the bread roll shoved crudely in his mouth that he hadn't seemed to manage to either bite through or spit out and his tied wrists and legs it was a truly terrible thing to find.

"Evan," Robin said quickly, all history forgotten as he tried and failed to loosen the knots, "are you OK? It was him, wasn't it? Layton?" he looked him in the eye, the bread roll still in his mouth. Evan nodded. "Shit."

Robin removed the roll from Evan's mouth and watched him splutter and gag a little as he tried to regain a little composure.

"Molly," he gasped.

Kim and Robin glanced at each other.

"What about her?" Robin whispered, fear starting to rise inside of him.

"He took Molly," Evan began to weep.

Robin's heart started thumping so hard that he wondered if he was about to have another 'cardiac event'.

"Layton took Molly?" he whispered. Evan's slow, devastated nod was the confirmation he really did not wish to receive. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes for a moment. He needed to focus. This wasn't the time to go to pieces. "Right. Kim, find something to cut these binds. I'll radio in."

"Right," Kim reached for a sharp knife from the knife block and Evan flinched.

"He took one of those," he shuddered.

Kim looked at him.

"A knife?" she whispered.

Evan nodded slowly.

"I think he took it with him," he whispered.

Kim knelt down and started to rip away at the material with the sharp blade. The sight of it made Evan flash back horribly to the sight of 'Layton' ripping through the material in the first place. Oh why had he let Layton take Molly? Why didn't he try harder to stop him?

"Need assistance on Evelyn Way," Robin said quickly intro his radio, "number sixteen. House of a Mister Evan White." There was a crackle of static and some vomiting noises. "Yes, that Evan White." He paused and glanced at Kim as she freed his hands, "Layton's been here. Tied him up and kidnapped a young girl," his voice shook a little, "Molly Drake." He paused, "Yes. Alex Drake's daughter."

He closed his eyes as the voice on the radio confirmed that assistance was on its way, then he knelt beside the newly-freed Evan as he rubbed his sore wrists.

"I couldn't do anything," he trembled as he spoke. "He smashed the door, came storming in. Took a knife." He shook his head, feeling humiliated and shamed. "He ate my food, stole my clothes and took my car. Molly was worried about me, she saw Layton on the news and came by. She must have worried more when she saw the broken glass, let herself in… he knocked her out cold, tied her up and took her away."

"Shit," Robin knew that wasn't the most comforting thing for the godfather of a missing girl to hear but couldn't stop the word escaping.

Evan looked at him with terror in his eyes.

"Please Robin, you've got to find her."

"We will, we will," Robin said quickly.

"Mister White, I know this is a very traumatic time but if there anything else that happened we might need to know about?" asked Kim, "anything about Layton. Something he said? Any clue to where he might be taking Molly?"

Evan shook his head slowly.

"It's all a blur," he said quietly, "it happened so fast, but…" he trailed off and hung his head. It seemed too silly.

"Go on," Robin prompted.

Evan glanced at him. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to say it or not.

"It sounds ridiculous," he said quietly.

"Believe me, Evan, after some of the stuff we've seen very little sounds ridiculous," Robin said quietly.

Evan hesitated. He swallowed.

"Layton," he said quietly.

"What about him?" Robin asked.

Evan took a deep breath.

"He was… different," he whispered.

Robin bit his lip.

"In what way… different?" he asked.

Evan closed his eyes. He didn't want to think about this, let alone talk about it.

"Robin, I've met Layton on several occasions. I've spoken to him on the phone. I've had the misfortune to cross his path many times and on every single one of those occasions he's been a jabbering wreck. Terrified. Full of nerves. Quivering, twitching, trying to make me look away." He looked Robin in the eye. "This time, he couldn't have been more different," he said.

Robin swallowed.

"How?"

"He was a showman," Evan said quietly, "everything he did, he did with grandeur. He wanted all eyes upon him. There was none of the nervousness. No shaking. No fear and paranoia. He was… self-assured. He had a cutting manner that he's never had before. It was like…" he looked at Robin seriously, "it was like there was someone else in there."

"Someone else?" Robin felt a terrible shudder spread through his body.

"He was looking at me with different eyes," Evan whispered. His face began to crumble and huge, choking sobs wracked his chest, rendering him unable to expand further on what he'd said. Kim and Robin looked at each other with anxiety in their eyes. Evan's words might have seemed strange but they'd caught them both by surprise and made them both stop to think.

It could have been a throw-away comment with multiple explanations for Layton's different behaviour but they'd both seen enough to think more deeply about it.

"Remember what happened when Alex woke up," Robin whispered.

Kim swallowed. She didn't even want to think about what Robin was implying.

"Let's just find the guy," she whispered, "then we can make any judgements about who or what might be inside his head, OK?"

Robin nodded slowly but he couldn't chase that fear away Evan had got him worried in a completely unexpected way, and suddenly it seemed that the hunt for Layton was becoming more important with every passing moment.

~xXx~

It was getting dingy when Keats awoke. He stretched and yawned. Robin's bed had been even more comfortable than he remembered.

"Sleeping in here without Simon's hairy arse in my way was a much more pleasant experience," he said as he slowly climbed from the bed. He opened the curtains and peered outside. Evan's car was still in the car park, with its precious cargo in the boot. He wasn't quite sure what his plans were involving Molly yet but he was certain she would come in handy for blackmail somewhere along the line.

It was time to make a move. He was sure of that. Dreams and nightmares born of Layton's memories had been plaguing him all the time he'd been sleeping and he had a whole map built into his mind to take him right to a barge, the barge where Layton had fired a bullet into Alex's head. Layton's memories were like having a drug-addled satnav in his head. It was a weird experience indeed.

Quickly he made his last preparations to move on. He gathered his pizza and a bottle of water from the fridge, took a photograph from Robin's lounge and finally paid a visit to the bathroom where he left a nasty surprise in the toilet for Robin to find when he arrived home eventually.

"Well, Robin," he said to himself as he prepared to leave the flat, "I give the accommodation four stars. Catering, excellent. Bed, comfy and cosy. But you need to do something about the girly soap in the bathroom."

With that he hurried to the car and slipped inside before anyone could see him, setting off on the next phase of his journey. It was time to head for the river.