I walked quickly, putting some distance between me and the festival crowd. It helped me forget about Beck and all the rest, letting the silence and the smells surround me. It was a good place to be.
Old Xavier had said Kielty was kind of special, and maybe he was right. Some parts were just the boring rows of fir trees that had been planted on an industrial scale forty or fifty years ago. This bit in the middle was really old though. Xavier had raved about it, like he really thought I was interested. Ideal topic for the project I was supposed to do next year, so he said, identifying which bits were which. Excellent opportunity to do some on-the-spot research.
Well, not just now, thanks. For now I’d just walk, get a feel for the place, find some space.
And if, as I wandered round, I happened to keep an eye out for what Dex Barker (and anyone else) was doing – so what? It was only sensible to keep your eyes open. I definitely wasn’t planning to get involved. I certainly wasn’t going to give advice, or tell the police anything.
Nothing good came of that.
GEORGE
I didn’t see Becky again until it was nearly dark. After Finn left me I’d walked around for a bit, but there didn’t seem to be much going on, so I went into my tent to lie down. I started reading through my biology notes. Just for something to do.
Then Becky came over to invite me to eat with them. I was pleased. I was feeling hungry and realised I’d no idea what I was supposed to do for food. There weren’t exactly any shops nearby. The food Becky and Dex had taken from the house was as much mine as theirs – it was my dad’s house – but I didn’t feel I could go and demand it from them.
I followed Becky over to the van, feeling much more cheerful. We passed Finn on our way and he nodded but said nothing. He was probably thinking I should be doing as he’d told me and stay away from Dex Barker, but I had to eat, didn’t I? And Dex had promised me a job. He wasn’t a nice person, but I could handle him.
He certainly wasn’t a problem that evening. He only stayed in the van long enough to swallow more than his share of the lentil and onion stew Becky had made, then disappeared into the night.
Becky looked after him, frowning. He hadn’t said where he was going and she didn’t ask.
I was happy he’d gone. Now we would get the chance to have a proper chat, hang out together a bit. Becky knew all about this festival thing, but when I started to ask her how things were organised and what kind of work I would do as a volunteer she just looked vague.
‘We’ll get you a staff wristband and take it from there.’
‘But I want to help. You’ll be helping, won’t you?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’
I decided I’d ask Dex myself in the morning. Becky had always been a bit on the dreamy side.
Unlike my mum, who was always totally on the ball, checking up on everything … Oh shit! I still hadn’t texted her! How could I have forgotten? I pulled out my mobile and checked again for signal. Nothing. ‘I can’t get any reception here. Look.’
‘Yeah, that’s right. Mobiles don’t work in the valley. It’s one of the good things about being here.’ She smiled faintly. ‘No one can get at us.’
‘But I’ll need to text Mum. I promised I’d keep in touch at least once a day. If I don’t, she’ll get worried. She’ll phone Dad’s house and then …’ I didn’t want to think about what might happen. If Mum had to ruin her holiday, rushing back to find where I had disappeared to, I’d never live it down.
Becky twirled one of her strange dark locks around her finger. ‘Okay, calm down. I said you can’t get reception in the valley. If you go up one of the paths you’ll probably be fine.’
I squinted out of the high, narrow windows. It looked pitch black out there. It was weird being somewhere there were no streetlights and you couldn’t even send a text. It’d be something cool to talk about back at school, but just now it was starting to freak me out.
I really didn’t fancy walking around in the forest on my own. ‘Will you show me the way?’
‘I think it’s best to take the little bridge over the river, and follow the path up from there. You’ve seen the bridge, haven’t you? I’d better stay and tidy up here. Dex sometimes brings people back to talk business and he likes everything to be tidy.’
Great, I thought, but all I said was, ‘I don’t suppose you have a torch?’
‘Can’t you use the one on your phone?’
‘Oh. Yes.’ God, I was useless.
Becky stood up and opened the door for me to leave. She seemed keen to be rid of me.
Fine. I wasn’t going to hang around where I wasn’t wanted.
Even walking across the clearing in the dark was a bit scary. I didn’t see anyone I recognised, although I glimpsed a few figures, one of whom might have been Cami. I didn’t use the phone torch because no one else was using one and I didn’t want to look like a loser, but after I’d twisted my ankle twice (and it was still sore from falling off the drainpipe yesterday) and walked too far to the left I was beginning to wish I had. I switched it on as soon as I was across the little wooden bridge and out of sight.
I set off up the narrow, twisting path, trying to avoid the tree roots that were determined to trip me up. If I concentrated on that at least I didn’t have to think about being out here on my own. After a while the moon came out from behind the clouds. That helped a bit, the light filtering down through gaps in the trees. It was easier to walk by the light of that than struggle with my phone.
It felt like at least an hour had passed, although it was probably only twenty minutes, when my stupid phone began to show one flickering bar of reception. Yay! Maybe this was going to work after all. I’d been wondering if Becky had just sent me up here to get me out of the way.
I stopped to catch my breath and look around. I’d thought I’d heard footsteps behind me once or twice, but each time I turned to look and listen there was nothing. Now I heard a faint shifting of leaves, and then the almost-silence of the forest returned. It was probably some small animal out hunting, a fox maybe, or a rat. Eeuw. I wished I hadn’t thought of that.
The trees didn’t lean in so close here and I could make out the ghostly paleness of the new ferns and bracken, glowing eerily in the moonlight. I was actually high enough to look back over the treetops to the clearing far below. I could see the line of vans and the huddle of tents. The rest of the clearing was just shadows.
I thought I heard some voices from far below, shouts even, but when I tried to listen properly there was nothing. I’d probably imagined it. Being alone out here was starting to do my head in.
I began to key in a message for Mum. I wasn’t going to lie about where I was, I just wouldn’t explain. All fine. Started on biol. I bit my lip, wondering what else to say. Nothing about Dad or Janice, obviously. I didn’t often mention them to Mum. Relations between my parents weren’t as dire as some of my friends’ folks, but I didn’t like to push it. Bit tired will get early night. George x. There, that should do. I’d even used punctuation, like she nagged me to. I pressed send and waited for the little flashing symbol to show the message had gone.
Then I heard a noise. Not an animal rustle or voices from far below, but a soft, regular noise, close at hand, almost certainly footsteps. I swung around, my heart beating erratically, pointing my phone as though it was a weapon.
‘Who’s there?’ said a voice, low and angry.
I opened my mouth but no sound came out. A figure was coming down the path towards me, tall with a beanie hat pulled low.
The figure stopped and a voice said, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
It was Finn. I felt weak with relief. Finn wasn’t a stranger, he was all right. Wasn’t he?
He said again, sharply, ‘I said, what are you doing here?’
I glared at him, hoping he could see my expression in the darkness. ‘I’m sending a text message. Not that it has anything to do with you.’
‘You’ve come all the way up here
to do that?’
‘Becky said I needed to go up to higher ground.’
‘You’d be much better going up the east side of the valley, behind the bothy. I can get reception fifty metres beyond there, no problem.’
‘Well, thanks. I’ll remember that next time.’ I felt stupid, but it was Becky who had suggested I come up here.
‘You coming back down?’ he said. ‘I’ll walk with you. You shouldn’t be out here.’
What was it with this guy? Did he think I needed looking after or something? I was fine. I hadn’t been scared – much – until he appeared. And there was only the one path up here; it wasn’t as though I could get lost.
I wanted to say something about that to him, but he had already brushed past me and was heading on down. He seemed in a hurry.
‘What were you doing up there, anyway?’ I said, when he paused to let me catch up with him.
‘I fancied a walk.’ I didn’t believe that. Why would anyone go for a walk up here in the dark?
‘Strange time of day to walk.’
‘You hear more at night,’ he said. ‘When you don’t have someone clumping along behind you, that is.’
‘Gee, thanks.’
He set off downhill and I stuck my tongue out at his back. He did have a very quiet way of moving, but so what? We couldn’t all be perfect. And he’d been here longer, he was probably familiar with the path.
He was just so up himself. I couldn’t wait to get back over the bridge. I’d head off to my tent without saying a word, he didn’t need to think I wanted to hang around with him.
Chapter Six
FINN
It was odd finding Beck’s sister hanging about on the path. I was pretty sure this was the direction I’d seen Dex return from. What could she want half-way up the hill? No one would walk that far just for mobile reception, that was for sure.
Maybe that innocent look was just for show. Could the girl be involved? Was that why she was here? After all, she had turned up with Beck and Dex.
It didn’t make sense, and, actually, I didn’t know why I was even trying to work it out. Better to get back down and keep an eye on Cami. Dex wasn’t my business, but Cami was. I’d just speeded up when I heard a sound that, for a moment, I couldn’t place. I stopped suddenly and George went into my back.
‘Aagh! What …’
I put an arm out to steady her, hissing, ‘Ssh.’ She was so loud.
It took a moment to work out what the disturbance could possibly be. The sound, so familiar in a city, was weird out here. It was a police siren, or an ambulance. In fact, both. We could see them now, coming down the steep track on the opposite side of the valley, blue lights flashing.
I began to run. Was it Beck? Had she …? Surely not. Not that again.
I ran even faster. I was panicking. Of course it could happen again.
The girl followed me across the wooden bridge and over the rough grass of the clearing. She stumbled a couple of times but I didn’t have time to worry about her now. An ambulance and two police cars had pulled up beside the row of campervans.
My heart was beating like crazy, and not just from the running. Then I saw the figure laid out on the ground. It wasn’t Beck. It was a man.
I caught hold of George’s arm before she got too close, and said, ‘We can listen from here.’
At first I thought she was going to rush on. Really, it looked like the innocence wasn’t a cover. She had no idea!
Then, fortunately, she seemed to realise it wasn’t a good idea to show ourselves and came to a halt. Much better just to listen.
The long dark shape on the ground was being examined by two people in green overalls. Paramedics, presumably. The body was, unfortunately, too slim to be Dex.
‘Who is it?’ whispered the girl.
‘Not sure. Ssh.’
I strained to hear what was being said.
Marcus, recognisable from his long, dark hair, was speaking to the police. ‘Yeah, it looks like just an unfortunate accident. My brother, Cami here, found poor Kev lying flat out. We thought it might be the drink, you know how it is, but once I’d had a light brought round I could see it was a bit worse … Hit his head, didn’t he? Must’ve slipped and banged it on this metal bin, that’s what it looks like … No, no one saw anything ...’
We watched as the injured man was lifted onto a stretcher. So it was the guy Kevin. I’d seen him around a few times. He seemed to be new, not part of the usual crew. A policeman went to speak to the paramedics and then climbed into the ambulance which immediately headed off. They didn’t switch the flashing lights or the sirens on again, so maybe it wasn’t too serious.
Once the sound of the engine had faded, we could hear one of the other policemen saying, politely, that yes it did look like an unlucky accident but if people didn’t mind they’d ask a few questions anyway. That almost made me smile. Of course Marcus would mind! But he couldn’t say so. Nor would anyone else.
I tried to make out who the others were in the crowd. Cami, who if he had any sense wouldn’t be there. And Dex, his shaven head shining in the light. And two or three other men including Chester, Marcus’s sidekick. Beck was nowhere to be seen.
‘Time to go,’ I murmured, taking George’s arm.
‘The police are asking questions,’ she said.
‘So? We weren’t here, were we, so we didn’t see anything.’
Fortunately she accepted that.
We headed across the darkness towards the tents. I pulled the black beanie lower. With the camouflage jacket zipped up to my neck, I blended pretty well into the background. Pity I couldn’t say the same about George. That hair was way too noticeable. I tried to walk so I was blocking any view the police might have of her.
‘Do you think he’s badly hurt?’ she said.
At least she’d waited until we were out of earshot, but really, she did ask some stupid things. ‘How should I know? Badly enough to be taken to hospital, obviously.’
‘They don’t think it was an accident, do they?’
‘Maybe not. Or maybe asking questions is just routine.’
In the light from one of the tents, I could see she was frowning. She was actually trying to make sense of this. Maybe she was one of those lucky people whose lives did make sense. If she wanted to keep it that way, she had better stay away from Dex Barker. In fact, preferably she’d stay away from this whole place.
‘Who is he, the guy who was hurt?’
‘Kevin? He’s a guy who works for Marcus.’
‘And was Marcus the guy with the long dark hair?’
‘Ye-es.’ Didn’t she even know that?
We’d reached her tent.
‘Do you think it was an accident?’ she asked.
I ignored her. Far too many questions. ‘This is yours,’ I said, indicating. I wasn’t sure she’d recognise it in the dark.
She gave me a disgusted look. ‘I know.’
‘You okay then? I think I’m going to crash.’
‘I wanted to ask …’
I didn’t wait for her to finish the sentence. Leaving seemed like the only way to shut her up.
GEORGE
I watched Finn walk through the jumble of tents to one at the far side, and then I bent to unzip mine. Great. Now I’d annoyed him. I hadn’t meant to. I wanted to know stuff and I was sure he could tell me if he wanted. Clearly he didn’t want.
I went to use the portacabin loo and then retired inside my tent, zipping myself in as though that could keep the strange dark world at bay.
It didn’t. I could hear muffled voices from other tents and the sound of the river, much louder than during the day. After a while I heard cars drive away which I hoped meant the police had gone.
It was quiet for a moment and then the shouting began.
‘Who called the fucking police? I want to know! You cunts! I said an ambulance, not the police.’
‘I didn’t ask for police …’
‘They didn’t find anything …�
�
‘Do I care they didn’t find anything? Is that any thanks to you?’
‘He was an idiot, anyway, always nosing around. What on earth was he doing out the back there?’
The shouting got louder and louder, making me shiver. Then the first voice said, ‘Okay, enough!’ Immediately everyone shut up.
The voice continued more quietly now, but if I strained I could still hear it. I guessed this was the boss-man, Marcus. He said, ‘I’m going to get to the bottom of this. We all meet in the office at eight tomorrow morning, okay? I need to find out what Kevin was up to.’
There were mutters of assent, and then silence fell.
It took me forever to get to sleep. I wasn’t excited tonight. And, thanks to the brilliant sleeping bag, I wasn’t even cold. I was just scared.
Why were they worried about what this Kevin guy was up to? And why was nobody concerned about his injury? Maybe it was a good thing Finn hadn’t answered my questions. Maybe I didn’t want to know.
I wished I was safe in my bed in Dad’s house. No one knew I was here, except Becky and Dex. And I couldn’t see them being any use.
Chapter Seven
GEORGE
It felt like I didn’t sleep at all but I must have done. When I woke up I lay there for a while. I wasn’t sure what else to do. I checked my phone – still no signal – and then switched it off. I was going to need to save battery.
I stayed in my sleeping bag and read until hunger finally got to me. Then I dressed, awkwardly, still lying down, and unzipped the tent. I needed food and I needed not to have to keep relying on Becky for it. Making that decision made me feel a bit better, grumpy rather than scared. I laced up my walking boots, the only sensible thing to wear with all this wet grass, and marched across to the line of campervans.
There were a few people about, but no one took any notice of me.
I knocked tentatively on the door of Dex and Becky’s van. I really didn’t want to find Dex was the only one here. I needn’t have worried. Becky was alone, still dressed in the pink silk ballroom dress and black jeans of yesterday. I wondered if she had even been to bed. She looked odd, pale and unfocused.
Music and Lies (George and Finn Book 1) Page 3
