Missing

by Cathy MacPhail

  ‘Maxine, hen. What was it your brother was so terrified of?’

  c

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Cam was in when she phoned. She thanked every saint she could think of for that. She needed to talk to someone about what had happened at Luella Oribine’s. She told him breathlessly and waited with impatience for his reaction. If he laughed or told her she was stupid, she’d call him every name. She’d slam the phone down. She’d scream!

  But he didn’t laugh. ‘This is serious, Maxine. You’ve got to do something. Whoever is behind this could be dangerous. You have to tell the police.’

  ‘And tell them what? The only proof I have is the word of a dotty old fortune teller.’

  ‘Your parents have to know.’

  ‘I tried that before, remember? Dad almost threw me out of the house.’

  ‘You have the medal now.’

  The medal. Yes, she had the medal. But how could she explain it to Dad? How could he explain it to Mum? The thought of that made her decision easy. ‘You’re the only one I want to know, Cam. I can’t tell them.’

  She listened to his long sigh of disapproval. She hated it when he acted like a big brother. ‘OK, but when he contacts you again, you don’t go anywhere alone. I’m going with you.’

  ‘He won’t contact me again.’

  ‘Yes, he will. He’s not going to leave it be now. He’ll want to know your reaction to the medal. He’ll be in touch.’

  Maxine didn’t want that. She wanted to throw the medal down the nearest drain and pretend none of this had ever happened.

  As she replaced the receiver, she wondered why Cam always believed her so readily. He had never heard the voice on the phone. He only had her word that there was someone else in the church that day. So she had the medal. How was he to know she hadn’t had the medal all along, hidden away in a drawer somewhere?

  Yet he believed everything she told him. Why? He didn’t even like her. He had liked her brother less. So why was he helping her?

  There were two answers to that. The first, and the least likely, was that Cam really did fancy her. The second, and it sent shivers up her spine to even consider it, was that it was Cam who was behind the whole thing. He was certainly clever enough to think up such a plan.

  But why? Because Derek had taunted him? No. It was silly even to think about it.

  She was becoming ... what was the word ... haemorrhoid? Schizoid? Paranoid? Whatever it was, she was definitely becoming one of them.

  ‘And where have you been today?’ her father asked her as soon as he came in from work.

  Maxine’s face flushed guiltily. ‘Where have I been? Me?’

  How much did he know? Had Luella Oribine phoned him at his office and told him about Derek’s medal? Surely not. She’d promised Maxine not to breathe a word. It would only distress her parents further. No. She was as dotty as a spotted dick but when she gave her word Maxine was convinced she wouldn’t break it. She wouldn’t have phoned Dad.

  Her father sighed impatiently. ‘It was a simple enough question, Maxine. Where have you been today? What have you been up to?’

  He didn’t miss the guilty look on her face.

  ‘And I’d say you’ve been up to something.’ He just stopped himself in time from accusing her. ‘Those phone calls you say you were getting. Have they stopped?’

  Maybe there were such things as psychic messages. She had been thinking about them, and here he was, asking about them. ‘Have you had any more?’ He sounded sympathetic. ‘Because if you have, I’d insist we go to the police. I won’t have any crank doing that to you.’

  ‘Do ... do you think we should?’

  And if they did, perhaps all her troubles would be over.

  ‘If you’ve not had any more calls, it’s best forgotten. I know what you’re thinking,’ he said. ‘Bringing the police in wouldn’t help your mother at all. Bring it all back to her. Let’s just forget it, shall we?’

  Maxine sighed as he walked away. If she’d had any doubts before, they were completely wiped out now. Tell her parents? That was a joke. First she’d have to get them to listen.

  There had been no more calls. That was what she’d told Dad. But maybe there was something in this psychic business after all. Because that very night she had another.

  Mum and Dad had gone out. They hadn’t told her where, leaving Mrs Templeton to babysit. Babysit! How embarrassing! It was only an excuse for the old devil to do her laundry in Mum’s machine. When the phone rang, the old dear didn’t even hear it.

  The voice was soft and breathless, but it was the same voice she had heard in the shadows of the church.

  ‘I’m sorry about the statue. It was an accident.’

  She didn’t answer him. She wasn’t sure that was true.

  ‘Now that you know I am Derek ...’ He hesitated, waiting for her to verify this. Well, she would. She’d pretend she believed everything he said. ‘We have to meet again. We have to talk.’

  ‘I thought we were going to do that in church?’

  ‘Someone was coming. I don’t want anyone else to know I’m here. That’s why I ran.’

  ‘I don’t understand why you just can’t come home.’

  ‘I’ll tell you that when I meet you. I promise. I’ll tell you everything.’

  That decided her. ‘OK, so where are we going to meet?’

  He had obviously already thought about that, for he answered immediately. ‘In the cemetery. At my grave.’ She heard him catch his breath. ‘Do you know how strange it is to be saying that ... at my grave?’

  ‘The cemetery?’ she asked him. ‘Why the cemetery?’ It seemed a morbid place for a meeting.

  ‘Because it’s the safest place,’ he said softly.

  c

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  ‘You told him you’d meet him in the cemetery?’ Cam’s voice on the phone was totally incredulous.

  ‘He said it was the safest place.’

  ‘For him, maybe. Certainly not for you. You can’t meet him there, Maxine. You should have insisted on somewhere else.’

  Maxine tutted. According to smart alec Cam, everything she did was wrong. ‘He wouldn’t go anywhere else. I’m supposed to meet him tomorrow afternoon.’

  ‘After school?’

  ‘No. Not after school. During school hours. It’ll be even quieter then.’ The words echoed eerily in her mind.

  ‘Yes, Maxine. Exactly. This boy, whoever he is, is dangerous. You have to tell your parents about this!’

  ‘Will you shut up about telling my parents! I’m not telling them and that’s final. And remember, you promised you wouldn’t tell them either.’

  At last he gave up. ‘All right. But I’m going with you.’

  ‘You’re taking time off school for me?’ She was really impressed. ‘Goodness, Cam, are you sure you don’t fancy me?’

  ‘Hold on to the phone. I’m going to be sick,’ he said.

  She was almost sure he was smiling when he said that. ‘Cam,’ she went on after a pause. ‘He sounded scared.’ And he had, this boy who said he was her brother had sounded terrified.

  ‘Good actor,’ Cam said at once.

  ‘You don’t think he could be ... Derek, do you?’

  ‘No. I don’t think he could be Derek. Derek’s dead and buried, Maxine. Your father identified him, remember? This isn’t Tales from the Crypt. This is real life.’

  ‘I know ... ’ she said, ‘but I was thinking of a film I saw just recently. Putting on Derek’s clothes and –looking like Derek doesn’t mean the dead boy was Derek.’

  ‘Rubbish!’ Cam was sure of himself. She needed that reassurance. ‘Your father identified the body. Of course it was Derek. Don’t build up impossible hopes, Maxine.’
r />   But was that what she hoped? That it was Derek? Hadn’t she always said she wanted him gone, for ever?

  Her parents came home not long after her call to Cam. There was a tension between them, as if something had happened. Mum didn’t say a word. She pulled off her coat and slung it across a chair in the hall. Then she went upstairs. Dad came into the living room where Maxine sat watching TV.

  ‘Shouldn’t you be doing homework?’ he said, then added sarcastically, ‘Or aren’t you bothering with homework now?’

  Maxine sighed. It was so typical. Whenever they’re in a bad mood, take it out on Maxine.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, regretting it almost immediately. ‘Bad night with your mother.’

  ‘Why? Where did you go?’

  He sat down beside her. ‘I took her to speak to someone. I thought it might help.’

  ‘A psychiatrist?’

  ‘A therapist,’ he corrected. ‘She’s very good. But your mother ...’ He ran his hands through his hair the way he did when he’d just about had enough. ‘Sometimes I think she’s beyond help.’

  ‘Do you think it helps her getting these messages from Derek?’

  ‘Maybe it did at first. But now it’s an obsession. That’s what worries me. What she really wants is the impossible. She wants Derek back.’

  Maxine had it in her power to give her mother hope. Only ... it wasn’t Derek. It couldn’t be. Telling anyone but Cam would only make things worse.

  ‘It was definitely Derek you identified, Dad?’

  Wrong thing to say, she knew it at once. Her father went red with anger. ‘For heaven’s sake, Maxine! How can you say such a thing?’ Her father, always the gentlest of dads, was angrier than she’d ever seen him.

  She tried to think of the right way to put it to calm him down. ‘I only meant ... putting on Derek’s clothes doesn’t mean it was Derek.’

  He leapt to his feet and Maxine could see the tears starting in his eyes. ‘That was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life, Maxine. Don’t you dare try to say I made a mistake! Derek was seen in that squat, wearing those clothes. Don’t you think I’d know my own son?’

  Maxine tried to explain. He wouldn’t listen.

  ‘Do you think this is going to help your mother? Because it won’t. Accepting his death is all that will help her now. And you too, Maxine. You’d better accept it too.’

  ‘Accept what?’ Her mother was standing in the doorway, looking small and vulnerable.

  Dad swung round. ‘Nothing!’ he snapped. His glance at Maxine warned her to keep quiet too.

  Mum stiffened. ‘Something I’m not supposed to know about, obviously.’

  She didn’t look at him as he began to storm out of the room. ‘And by the way,’ he called back angrily, ‘we’re all going to that therapist tomorrow afternoon.’

  Tomorrow afternoon! But what about her meeting with the boy who called himself Derek? Maxine immediately began to make all sorts of excuses.

  Dad was determined. ‘You’re going, Maxine. If I have to carry you there.’ Then he was gone, slamming the door behind him.

  ‘He thinks I’m crazy,’ Mum said calmly.

  ‘Don’t worry about it, Mum. He thinks I’m crazy too.’

  No amount of persuasion next morning at breakfast would make him change his mind. Important classes Maxine just couldn’t afford to miss, life-changing studies that she mustn’t take time from. Nothing. She was going and that was that.

  ‘Miss Ross will have you at the school gate at lunchtime. I’ll be there to pick you up. Right?’

  He even waited to drive her to school, just to make sure she went. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this one.

  She didn’t find Cam until the break to tell him the news. His expression didn’t change. Did nothing ever upset this guy? ‘I think I still might go,’ he said.

  ‘But it’ll be dangerous.’

  ‘Ah, you mean without you there to protect me. All six and a half stone of you.’

  ‘I don’t see the point of you going on your own.’

  Cam began to explain, very slowly, as if she was an idiot. He could be quite offensive at times. ‘He doesn’t know you’ve told me any of this. I’ll go up there, as if I’m visiting a grave. I want to see him for myself.’

  ‘He’ll be hiding,’ she told him.

  ‘But I’ll be looking for him.’

  She had to give in. She wasn’t going to be able to go and that was the end of it. ‘Oh, all right then, but you’d better be careful.’

  He smiled at her. It occurred to her then that she was good for Cam. He’d never smiled so much in his life. This smile, however, was taking the mickey. ‘Ah, Maxine, I didn’t know you cared.’

  He said it at exactly the wrong time. Miss Ross was suddenly there, seeing the smile, hearing the words. ‘Quite a little romance going on here, is there?’

  Cam almost exploded. Before he could say a word, Maxine broke in with a mischievous grin. ‘Do you think we’re suited, Miss?’

  Miss Ross was nothing if not candid. ‘I wouldn’t have thought so. I believe that really smart girl in third year was more Cam’s type. And I know she likes him.’

  Cam’s eyes lit up. ‘You mean that redhead?’

  Miss Ross nodded.

  ‘And she likes me?’ His smile, Maxine thought, had turned into a stupid grin.

  ‘But I can see what Maxine’s got too,’ Miss Ross went on. ‘It’s that sense of humour, isn’t it?’

  Cam began to look ill. ‘I better get to my class.’

  Suddenly, Maxine remembered she wouldn’t see him now until after ... after what? She hardly dared to think about it. She wanted to tell him again to be careful, not take any stupid chances. She was afraid for him, but she could say nothing. Miss Ross was there.

  ‘Cam?’ she called after him and he turned round. ‘I’ll see you later?’

  Cam glanced at Miss Ross. He didn’t want her to think there was anything going on between them, yet this conversation was practically proving it. He looked even sicker as he answered her. ‘I’ll come over tonight, OK?’

  Then he hurried off down the corridor to his next class.

  ‘It’s good to see you looking so happy, Maxine,’ Miss Ross said. ‘Your dad’s been on the phone about this meeting he’s arranged.’

  ‘I don’t want to go, Miss. Couldn’t you tell him I don’t have to? I can’t miss school.’

  ‘I think it’s an excellent idea. Family therapy. This has affected all of you. I really think this might be the answer, Maxine.’

  But not today of all days, she wanted to scream. Today was too important.

  Suddenly Miss Ross’s voice rang out angrily, making Maxine jump. ‘What are you doing here, Sweeney!’ It wasn’t a question. It was a reproof. Maxine gulped as Sweeney appeared from the doorway behind her.

  ‘Goin’ to my next class, Miss,’ he said in his gruff voice.

  ‘Well, get going then. Right now!’

  He glanced at Maxine as he brushed past her. There was a malicious smile in those eyes, she thought. She shivered. How long had Sweeney been hiding in there ... and how much had he heard?

  c

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  ‘You could at least be polite. The doctor is trying to help us.’

  Both Maxine and her mum were sitting glumly outside Dr Rice’s office. Her father was holding a tight rein on his anger. But Maxine didn’t want to be there. Neither did her mother. So why did they have to look as if they were enjoying it? Her mother seemed to have the same thought.

  ‘This was your idea,’ Mum snapped. ‘Not ours. We’re going along with it. What more do you want?’

  Dad was ready to give her an answer when the door opened and Dr Rice came out.

/>   She was much younger than Maxine had expected. She had a wide smile and white, even teeth. Her shiny, black hair was cut into a neat, silky bob. She took off her gold-rimmed glasses to greet them.

  ‘Mr Moody. Mrs Moody. Good of you to come back.’ She held out her hand. ‘And you must be Maxine.’

  Maxine had been prepared not to like her. Determined, even. But it was hard not to warm to that smile.

  ‘Come into my office,’ she said. ‘You had no problems getting time off school?’

  Glad to be rid of me, probably, she almost said. Instead she simply answered, ‘No.’

  ‘I really did think it was important for me to see you all together.’ She ushered them into three comfortable chairs beside her own. Maxine looked around for a couch. Didn’t they always have couches? Dr Rice followed her eyes and smiled again. ‘No, Maxine. No couch. Not even a desk. This is very informal. I just want you to talk.’

  ‘I don’t know why you needed me here again,’ Mum said with a little edge to her voice. ‘I said everything I wanted to say last night.’

  ‘I know that. But Maxine wasn’t here last night. And if you want to get through this I think Maxine has to be involved.’

  They were actually getting her involved at last? This was amazing. Maxine started to be interested.

  ‘I am getting through it!’ Mum snapped the words out. ‘In my own way.’ She threw a chilling look at Dad. ‘If some people would just let me be.’

  ‘Going to a seance every day to contact your dead son is not getting through it, Gill!’

  Dr Rice quietened them both before it became a full-scale war. She looked at Maxine. ‘Why don’t we all listen to what Maxine has to say? Maxine, what do you think about all this?’

  She was taken aback. Too surprised to say anything for a moment. No one had ever asked her that before. She was always too young. Pushed into another room while it was discussed. Kept out of every discovery, every piece of news. Now both her mum and dad were looking at her, waiting for her answer.