Missing Years ( Part 2)

Tom gave him a steaming hot cup of strong tea with four sugars.

“Get that down you son and you’ll be as right as ninepence”

Ray never said a word; he was looking round the station trying to take it all in. He was obviously confused.

Doctor Steele took his pulse.

“Well it seems you’re ok. But what the bloody hell you thought you were playing at running through the streets at this time of the morning beats me! Look at the clothes you’ve got on, more suited to summer, not a bloody winters night”

“Take it easy on the kid Simon, he’s done no harm”

“No harm? If I hadn’t come across him when I did he could be dead by now, dead from the bloody cold. Silly sod!”

Ray looked up at both of them.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what’s going on. Everything seems strange. I can’t remember how I got here. I can’t remember anything apart from I’m sure my name is Ray Samuels”

“That’s normal son, Extreme cold can make you feel confused and weak. It’ll come back in a while. Tom make him another cup of tea. Have you got any spare clothes out the back?”

Tom nodded and walked out to the store room of the station. He found an old pair of trousers and a jumper. He brought them out and gave them to Ray.

“It’s not much but it’s all there is. Put them on and you’ll feel better. They might be a bit big but no worry!”

Ray put on the clothes over the top of his running gear. He drank his second cup of tea and began to feel alive again.

Doctor Steele stayed for another 20 minutes and then left Ray alone with Tom.

“Over to you now Tom, if you need me for anything give me a call. But let me get some bloody sleep first!”

Tom sat down beside Ray.

“Ok son, let’s start from the beginning. Where do you live, what’s your address somebody will be worried about you”

“I’m not sure. I remember a number 0708765678. I think it must be my phone number but I’m not sure”

“Well it’s a start and a bloody good one. I’ll call it and see what happens”

Tom walked to the reception area and picked up the phone, he dialled the number. It didn’t ring, it didn’t exist.

“No good son, anything else come to mind?”

“Yes, yes, I know where I live, I live in Romford in Essex, that’s it Romford. 278 Malvern Road, Romford. I live there with my wife and daughter”

“Well you’re a long way from home son, what you on holiday or something?”

“I don’t know, but I know where I live and that I have a wife and a daughter, but that’s it”

“Ok, good, one step at a time. Let me call the local Police in Romford and get them to make some enquiries, see what we can find out. You sit there and get some rest; you look like you could do with it”

Ray sat back in his chair and fell asleep. He was exhausted!

Tom made a call to Romford Police, he told them he had a young man aged about 30 called Ray Samuels who said he lived in Romford. He gave them the address. They said they couldn’t do anything until the morning but they would go round to the address first thing.

Ray slept like a log. His body was suffering from complete exhaustion; it was as if he had not slept in years.

While Ray slept, Tom decided to make some enquiries of his own. Why on earth would a young man go jogging in the early hours of the morning in freezing cold conditions? It didn’t make any sense.

He logged onto the Police Computer System and entered the name Ray Samuels. There were four listed. One was in prison for drug related offences. One had died in a hit and run accident in 2005. One was awaiting sentence for GBH. The one that caught his eye was Ray Samuels, missing person 1982. He clicked on this one to get the full profile. He started to read the report. Ray Samuels had not been seen since March 1982; he had gone out jogging and had disappeared. There was a photo. Tom looked closely at the photograph on his screen, then looked at the man who was fast asleep opposite him.

It was the same man……