by Lyn Gardner
“Good luck!” called Aeysha.
“Take care, Liv,” said Tom.
“Don’t look down,” said Georgia helpfully. Tom and Aeysha frowned at her. “Sorry, Livy. It just popped out because I’m nervous.”
But Olivia was grinning, even although they couldn’t see her face. “I’ll try and follow your advice, Georgia,” she called into the wind. She felt so sure that everything was going to be all right.
As soon as she stepped on to it, the wire sagged slightly. Olivia shifted her balance and then walked quickly along the wire. Georgia and Aeysha both held their breath. It never failed to amaze them the way that Olivia walked the wire as if she had completely solid ground beneath her feet. It didn’t seem to matter to her that she was over thirty metres up in the air; she behaved as if she was taking a stroll in the park.
Her friends all breathed again when Olivia reached the surround of the building opposite and tensed as she negotiated her way over the parapet and on to the roof. Olivia scrambled upwards towards a small battered-looking window and perched on the raked roof. She took a screwdriver out of her pocket and slid it into the frame of the window. It gave easily. She had to duck slightly to avoid the edge of the window as she pulled it outwards and then she scrambled over the sill. Once inside she switched on her torch, blew the others a kiss and then disappeared.
Inside the building, Olivia shivered as she looked around her. It was a warmish spring evening but the building felt cold and damp as years of neglect had taken their toll. It was very dark inside and she was glad of the torch, but it was still a gloomy and scary place to be on your own. The top floor of the building must once have been used by a business as it was divided into offices. In some of the rooms there were still desks and chairs, and great old metal filing cabinets, their drawers hanging open and empty. On some desks there were a few discarded files covered in dust, some splattered with pigeon droppings. There were even a few old mugs left on desks as if their owners had just been called away, and one desk boasted an empty crisp packet and a desiccated plant. Above it was pinned an old calendar, a faded good-luck card and a photo of a long-forgotten office Christmas party in which everyone was wearing silly hats.
It reminded Olivia of the time that she and Eel and Jack had been in Italy and they’d visited Pompeii. The city had been destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 and had been preserved under layers of ash. She had experienced the eerie feeling that the dead from all those centuries ago might return at any moment to reclaim their houses and carry on with what they had been doing the moment before catastrophe struck and they were suddenly engulfed by lava. She got the same feeling now and even wondered if the building might be haunted.
Olivia took a few steps and the floor creaked badly. She knew that she had to be careful because the floor could have rotted in places. Take a wrong step and she might plunge through to the floor below. She took a good look around and felt rather puzzled. There was no sign of any building work going on here. If you were going to start work on a building like this, either to restore it or demolish it, surely the first thing you’d do was empty it out completely? She headed towards the stairs that led down to the next floor and as she did so, something flashed past her. She gave a little cry of fear and her heart began to boom, feeling as if it had suddenly become too big for her chest. She swung her torch wildly around and found a startled pigeon sitting entirely unperturbed on one of the rafters, watching her. She was so relieved that she sank down on to the top step for a moment. She wished she’d accepted Tom’s offer to come with her. They’d both be laughing together now, while instead she was feeling mighty nervous. Walking the wire had been the easy part. The building felt as if it was about to spring a nasty surprise on her. She stood up carefully and started down the stairs.
It was darker on the floor below but she could see immediately that the partitions had been cleared and it was almost empty. Where, she wondered, was all the heavy machinery that was causing such disruption to the Swan? But she could see some things stacked in the middle of the room, so she shone the beam of her torch over them. There was a lot of recording equipment, with lights winking on and off all over it, and some massive speakers, bigger than she’d ever seen in her life. There were also what looked like alarm clocks all over the place. It was very odd. She wondered if someone was planning some kind of illegal warehouse party and hoped it wasn’t going to be tonight. The last thing Gran needed was to be kept awake all night.
She listened hard. She was certain she was quite alone in the building. Then her phone bleeped and she guessed it was an impatient Katie wanting to know where she was. She stepped forwards and something small and furry ran over her foot. Olivia screamed and her hand came down hard on a button that said “Play”. Suddenly the room was filled with a roar of machinery so unbearably loud that Olivia was almost knocked backwards. Her ears hadn’t experienced such pain since she was three and had had a terrible ear infection that needed antibiotics. She fumbled for the stop button and pressed it. For the second time in just a few minutes she sank to the floor. She stayed there quietly for several minutes while her brain worked overtime. She knew now that there was to be no warehouse party; this was all part of Mr Wilkes-Cox’s plan.
Olivia headed carefully down to the next floor. Its layout was the same as the one above and she wasn’t at all surprised to find the same arrangement of outsized speakers facing towards the Swan and the same recording equipment and timers. She ignored them and hurried down the stairs to the ground floor. She opened the door and for a moment felt afraid but all she found was a nervous-looking Katie Wilkes-Cox.
“Quick, shut the door!” said Katie as she slipped in. “What took you so long and what was that terrible noise?”
“Come and see what I’ve found,” said Olivia, leading the way up the stairs. Katie turned her torch on and followed Olivia to the first floor.
“Look,” said Olivia, shining her torch over the equipment. The beam settled on the timers, and immediately she realised that they were set to coincide with the starts and stops of the Swan school day. Mr Wilkes-Cox was using noise as a weapon.
“Wow,” said Katie. “You do have to hand it to my dad – he may entirely lack a conscience or a heart but he is very, very smart.” She sounded despairing. “We’ve got to find a way to stop him.”
“Ssh!” whispered Olivia urgently. “What was that noise?”
Chapter Twelve
Over in the Swan, Tom, Aeysha and Georgia jumped at the sudden burst of machinery noise. They stared at each other fearfully. The roar ceased almost as soon as it had begun.
“Somebody must be in there with Liv and Katie!” said Tom. “I’m going to go over to find out what’s going on.”
“No, Tom,” said Georgia. “It’s too dangerous. Whoever is in there has obviously already found them poking around. Maybe there was some kind of night watchman we didn’t know about.”
“Or maybe Katie betrayed Olivia; maybe it was all a set-up? After all, Katie’s got form in that department,” said Aeysha quietly.
Georgia gasped.
“Whatever it is, Livy’s going to get into terrible trouble and you don’t want to get caught too, Tom. She won’t thank you if you give away the fact she went into the building on the wire,” said Aeysha.
“Do you think they’ll call the police and have Livy arrested?” asked Georgia tearfully.
“It’ll be Miss Swan who’ll have Livy under lock and key, particularly if she discovers how she got into the building. She’ll be furious,” said Aeysha.
Georgia tried to sound hopeful. “Maybe they’ll just let her go? Why don’t we go downstairs and wait for her just in case? At least we’ll be there to see if the police do turn up to arrest her,” said Georgia. Ayesha nodded.
“I’m going to stay here,” said Tom. “In case she comes back this way.”
The others left. He got out his mobile and stared at it. He knew that Liv had her phone with her. He wondered wh
ether he should try calling her. He was desperate to find out what was happening but what if they were wrong and Katie hadn’t betrayed her and she hadn’t been discovered? He didn’t want to do anything that might put her in danger.
*
Olivia and Katie stared at each other in the gloom. They had both gone so pale that they looked like ghosts. There was somebody else in the building. They could hear whoever it was moving about downstairs.
“It was a trap,” said Olivia in a dazed whisper. “I believed you, Katie. I trusted you and you betrayed me. You’re just the same Katie you’ve always been.”
“No, Livy!” whispered back Katie. “I promise. It’s not like that. I have changed. I’d never do anything to hurt you. Please believe me. It’ll be my dad, come to check the equipment. I didn’t know he was coming, honest. I thought he was safely tied up in a meeting tonight.”
She turned off her torch and pulled Olivia towards two huge filing cabinets standing side by side by the wall. Olivia switched her torch off too. She was shivering with fear. She didn’t know whether to believe Katie or not.
They crouched behind the filing cabinets in the dark, hardly daring to breathe. They heard footsteps coming up the stairs, then Mr Wilkes-Cox walked into the room. He swung his torch around the room and then went over to his equipment.
“Looks good,” he muttered to himself. “Another nice peaceful day ahead for the Swan.” He turned to walk up the stairs to the next floor when Olivia’s mobile went off. Katie’s dad swung round and shouted, “Who’s there?”
Olivia felt Katie squeeze her hand as she stepped out from behind the filing cabinet and said, “It’s all right, Dad, it’s only me. My mobile just rang.”
Her father was shining the torch right in her eyes.
“Kitten! What on earth are you doing here?” He looked around suspiciously. “Are you on your own?”
“Quite alone, Dad.”
“How did you get in?”
“Oh,” said Katie, gazing up at him adoringly and putting her arm through his. “I came over this way to see my old friend Kylie Morris. You remember her; we took her on safari with us.”
Mr Wilkes-Cox was frowning. “I didn’t think you kept in touch with anyone from the Swan.”
“Oh, I haven’t seen Kylie for ages. She’s leaving too. She says lots of people are going. The Swan’s losing its reputation.” She looked at her dad wide-eyed. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Dad, but it’s definitely working. You are clever.”
Momentarily Mr Wilkes-Cox looked pleased, but then wariness clouded his face. “But why on earth would you want to come in here, and how did you get inside a locked building?”
“Well, that’s the thing,” said Katie. “I was just saying goodbye to Kylie when I noticed that the front door was swinging open. I thought maybe you had accidentally forgotten to lock it. I was going to call you but I thought I’d better check everything was OK. Of course, I did think that maybe I ought to just ring the police, but I wasn’t sure if that would be the right thing to do.”
Katie sounded as innocent as the first snowdrop of spring. Olivia held her breath. Would Mr Wilkes-Cox fall for it? Katie was acting superbly and sounded remarkably convincing. The bit about the police was a brainwave. The last thing Mr Wilkes-Cox would want was the police asking awkward questions about his equipment.
“Hmm, yes, you were quite right not to call them, Katie,” he blustered. “I always think it’s best to leave them out of things. They just go poking their noses around where they’re not wanted. You should have called me, instead of running around derelict buildings on your own. It’s not safe.” He put his arm round his daughter and started to steer her towards the stairs. “Well, everything looks as if it’s in working order here. The Swan is going to get exactly what it deserves again tomorrow. You go and wait outside, and I’ll just have a quick look around to check that nobody else got in while the door was open.”
“Oh, they didn’t, Dad. I’ve looked. The building’s completely empty apart from a few pigeons. I think you just didn’t close the door properly last time you were here and then after a while it blew open. It’s quite windy today. It was lucky I was passing.”
“Yes, it was, kitten,” said Mr Wilkes-Cox. “I’m going to have to bring in some proper security for this place. Let’s go home.”
“Yes, let’s,” said Katie, “and you can tell me everything about your plans for the site. I want to know everything you’re up to. I hate the stupid Swan. I’d like to see it torn down brick by brick.”
Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. She waited until she heard the door of the building bang shut, then stood for a moment uncertain of what to do. If she just left, she would have achieved nothing and as soon as the school day started tomorrow, the Swan would be bombarded with noise. She couldn’t bear the thought of her gran’s pale, strained face. It made her feel so angry she wanted to smash all the equipment to smithereens. But even if she’d had a hammer, she knew that she wouldn’t have used it. It wasn’t in her nature to destroy with such cold-minded intent. She stood immobile for a second longer and then she started unplugging all the equipment as fast as she could. Of course Mr Wilkes-Cox could just plug it all in again, but he’d have to come back first and at least he’d know that someone was on to him. It might even win the Swan a few days’ respite from the noise. When she had finished, she headed back up the stairs towards the roof, the wire and home.
Georgia and Aeysha raced up the stairs towards the top rehearsal room. Their eyes were wide with panic and their cheeks were flushed from running.
“We saw someone come out of the building,” shouted Georgia. “But it wasn’t Olivia. You’ve got to go over there, Tom, and see what’s happened to her!”
“It must be something terrible,” said Aeysha. “We’re so worried.”
“Calm down and tell me slowly,” said Tom. “Who did you see coming out of the building?”
“Katie Wilkes-Cox. And her dad,” said Olivia calmly as she stepped off the wire and ducked under the window frame on to the sill.
“Livy!” cried her friends. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” said Olivia. “I’ve got a lot to tell you.” She explained what she had found in the building.
“Well, at least the Swan will get a bit of peace and quiet,” said Olivia. “It really does seem as if Katie genuinely wants to help us. She saved me from her dad. She didn’t give me away.”
“Maybe a leopard can change its spots,” said Aeysha.
Chapter Thirteen
“So,” said Jack. “I’ve shown you all the rigging for the flying, and once we’ve got your parents’ permission, every child involved in the production will get a chance to fly if they want to.”
A big cheer went up from the assembled children. Olivia, Tom, Cosi and Cosmo, and the boy playing Michael were the envy of the whole cast, who all wanted a go at flying. Jack had organised the workshop on the flying rig for everyone involved in the production but his ulterior motive had been to put the twins at their ease. He’d even managed to persuade Jasper that the twins’ minders should stay away from the theatre during the workshop.
“Now you know how safe it is, does anyone have any more questions?”
Cosi put up her hand. Jack was pleased. To his surprise, Cosi had taken a really intelligent interest in the flying rig and had already asked lots of questions. He had been very patient, showing her which wires and ropes were directly connected to her harness and emphasising the care that was taken to check that everything was in order before and during each flight.
“I just wanted to say thanks to Mr Marvell for showing us the ropes,” she said.
“You’re welcome, Cosi,” said Jack. “I just hope you realise now that nobody needs to have a fear of flying. Really. Nothing can go wrong.”
Jon was so thrilled to have Tom and Olivia involved in Peter Pan, and was feeling so well disposed towards Alicia, Jack and the Swan (which had provided most of the children in the produ
ction) that he was doing anything he could to keep them all happy. He hoped that Cosmo and Cosima might relax and perform better if they were having a good time.
Jon had noticed that they were both less stressed when they were away from Jasper and was now beginning to understand Cosima’s remark at the press conference. Jasper Wood may not have an iron hook instead of a hand but he could inflict real damage on his children with his sarcasm. Once, when Cosima had forgotten her lines, Jasper had behaved with a brutal, Hook-like coldness. It wasn’t hard to believe that, given half the chance, he really would make his daughter walk the plank into a shark-infested sea.
“You’re just not making any effort, Cosi,” he’d said. “You don’t deserve the family name.”
“I don’t want the family name!” his daughter had screamed back at him. “I don’t even want to be an actor! I hate it!”
Alicia, who had been at the theatre, had taken Cosi away to dry her tears.
“Poor little motherless things,” she said to Jack, over a late night glass of wine back at her flat. “They’re completely afraid of their dad and his insane idea of family duty. Even Cosmo is a seething mass of insecurities beneath that arrogant exterior. Did you know he takes eight different kinds of vitamin pill? That’s not normal behaviour for a twelve-year-old.” She sighed. “What they desperately need is a mum to stick up for them.”
“Liv and Eel don’t have a mum to stick up for them,” said Jack quietly, looking at the picture of Toni over the mantelpiece. He seldom mentioned his beloved wife. She had married Jack against Alicia’s wishes and mother and daughter had only just been reconciled when Toni had been killed. It was a painful subject for them both.
“No,” said Alicia, “but Olivia and Eel don’t have Jasper Wood as their dad. They have you, Jack, and you’re an amazing father. Not a conventional one, it’s true, and not one who’s there all the time, but one who really does listen to his children, who tells them when they’re making mistakes and who is on their side and there for them when it really matters.” Alicia looked Jack straight in the eye, recalling the terrible scene that had taken place in this very room only two terms ago when Jack, who had lost his travelling circus due to a road accident, had turned up destitute and asked Alicia to take his daughters in.
