‘That’s a hospital, not a police station,’ he says in a slow, country kind of voice.
‘Oh, good. Didn’t want to do the wrong thing,’ I rabbit on, one step away from a confession.
He picks up his cap and places it firmly on his head. Then he puts both hands on the desk and stops smiling. Now he looks serious. ‘And what can I do for you two young ladies today?’
‘Oh, well, um –’ Great start.
Ruby elbows me, so I’ll get my act together. ‘I’ve just moved to Gideon—’
‘Ah yes, you’re the Frost girl,’ he says with a voice that makes me wonder what else he knows.
‘I am. And we’re living in—’
‘The old Sarenson house.’
‘That’s right,’ I say.
‘And you want to know what happened to Matilda.’
Ruby draws a sharp breath and steps back from me. It’s like she thinks he can read minds.
‘I do. Yes.’
‘You’re wondering how I know that?’
‘I think you’ve heard I visited Mrs Sarenson –’
He smiles then and drops the whole formal police routine. Ruby stays back, though. She’s clearly not convinced.
‘So you haven’t even been here two weeks and already you understand the workings of a small town.’
‘I get that people talk, yes.’
‘Well, unlike Mrs Sarenson, I don’t believe that Tilly died that night. We did investigate it. We take a missing teenager seriously in a small town because it doesn’t happen very often, but really there is no evidence that suggests anything bad happened. And we came to the conclusion that she did probably just run away.’
‘Did you find her dad?’ I ask in a tiny voice.
‘No we did not.’
‘Did you find anything that suggested she had money with her?’
‘There was a sum of money missing from her mother’s purse. Yes.’
‘Oh – really? How much?’
He gives me a look that says, “I’m not at liberty to tell you.”
‘But, but I’m sure she’s dead.’
‘Mrs Sarenson mentioned you’d seen a ghost.’
Behind me Ruby groans. I’m prepared to believe she’s groaning at the idea of painting her nails orange and red, and not at the stupidity of her best friend telling a stranger that her daughter is a ghost.
‘That’s right.’
‘Why?’
‘I saw her, down at the river. She was a ghost.’
I think to show that our time has come to an end, he takes off his cap and places it gently on the bench next to him. Then he looks at me like a father would and I imagine he probably has children my age, and is wondering how on earth this one got to be so strange. ‘This is a police station. We generally deal in facts, not –’ He waves his arms around in the air as if demonstrating some otherworldly force, and then continues. ‘Not ghosts. If you have any evidence of Matilda’s death, then, please, our door is always open.’
‘That’s it? You won’t even search the river?’
‘The river? Why do you suppose she died in the river?’
‘Because she’s always wet and cold and the town kids have been tying ribbons on the bridge.’ I wonder if what I’m saying implicates Danny and Julia and suggests they know a lot more than they’re letting on. It would explain Julia’s attitude to me.
‘I know about the ribbons. My daughter’s in your class at school. She’s tied ribbons on the bridge. It was the place they hung out after school. It’s to say that they miss her.’
Ruby leans forward and grabs my arm, pinching my skin with her fingernails. ‘Thanks,’ she says, ‘for all your time. We’ll be going now.’
‘Will we?’
She nods at me, and I understand she’s trying to get me out before I can screw anything else up.
‘So if I find evidence that she’s dead, you’ll search?’
‘Of course. Take care, Miss Frost.’
Ruby pretty much pulls my arm out of its socket, trying to get me away from there. As the little door closes and I imagine the policeman inside shuffling papers around on his desk, she keeps hauling me down the street, clearly eager to be as far away as possible.
‘I told you to convince him – not tell him she was walking around cold and wet,’ she groans.
‘It might have convinced him,’ I say weakly.
‘Honestly. You’re an idiot sometimes.’
‘Thanks very much.’
We walk past school and Max is shooting hoops in the front basketball court. Ruby does a quick turn and stares through the fence. ‘Is that Max?’
‘Yes. He thinks he’s a jock.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. I’m a ghost whisperer and he’s a jock. Dad’s working at the pub and Mum’s taken up knitting.’
Ruby starts laughing. ‘Whoa! I wonder what’d happen to me if I lived here? Maybe I’d grow really tall!’
I laugh, trying to imagine her tall. It wouldn’t feel right. She’s always been little, dynamic and completely underestimated.
‘What do we do now?’ she says.
‘I don’t know. Go to the river?’
‘Why?’
I shrug. There’s no reason to go to the river except I think that’s where Tilly died, but unless I plan on jumping in and searching myself, there’s not much point.
‘You need to find out from Danny what he knows.’
‘I’ve tried. I can’t ask him anything else; he won’t tell me.’
‘Do you really think they’re leaving the ribbons for Tilly?’
‘I don’t know.’
Ruby senses my disappointment and links my arm through hers. ‘Hot chips?’
We’re outside the fish and chip shop. The waft of grease is overwhelming, even on the footpath. It’s old school. The front window has a faded painting of a fish being caught by a yellow-hatted fisherman with a ridiculous grin on his face. It’s enough to make you run.
‘Come on. It’s called Chish and Fips. I like it,’ says Ruby.
‘Only if we can have sauce.’
‘On your half.’
‘Okay.’
We walk through the plastic strips and both of us get tangled. We emerge laughing and the woman behind the counter already has her little notepad and pen ready. Her hair is all up behind a hairnet and she’s smiling in her electric blue uniform. Ruby smiles back and pays before I can even get my hand in my pocket.
‘You’re number ninety-five.’ The woman tears off a little raffle ticket and slides it across.
‘Where are the other ninety-four people?’ Ruby whispers when we sit on the plastic chairs and wait.
I mime slitting my throat with one finger and she starts laughing. The woman spins round behind the counter, assuming we’re laughing at her. I feel bad, even though we’re not; we’re just laughing because we haven’t seen each other for ten long days and I’ve missed laughing.
The chips are hot, sweaty and have that rancid smell that means the last time they changed the cooking oil was when they had the window painted. Still, they’ve got heaps of salt on them and my half are smothered in tomato sauce, so they taste fine.
‘I don’t know what you’re complaining about, Lil. Gideon’s got hot chips.’
‘I know. Fussy, aren’t I?’
‘There really isn’t much to do here, is there?’
‘Nah.’
As we both dig into the white paper, searching the bottom for the crunchy scraps, Julia strolls around the corner with her two lieutenants. I force out a smile, but it’s not very friendly.
‘Who are you?’ she says, staring at Ruby.
I step forward, happy to try out the karate training I did when I was eight, which I don’t really remember. ‘This is Ruby. Ruby – Jul
ia.’
‘Ah, the Julia?’ says Ruby.
‘The Julia,’ I say, enjoying the look on Julia’s face as she tries to work out what she’s “The” Julia of.
‘Are the city girls cloning?’
Her lieutenants laugh. ‘She’s visiting,’ I say, ‘for the weekend.’
‘Oh. Well, enjoy.’
‘I will. Thanks. Just wondering, though, is there anything to do in town?’ Ruby says in the sweetest voice. I’m impressed. Normally she doesn’t go in for antagonising anyone – unless it’s of me, of course.
Surprised, Julia stares at her. Or perhaps she’s trying to come up with something witty and can’t think fast enough.
‘There’s lots to do in town. But you’ll just have to find out for yourselves.’
‘Well anyway it was very nice to meet you. Want a chip?’ Ruby holds out the tomato sauce-stained white paper bag with a few scraps in the bottom. I have to do everything I can to stop from laughing.
Julia starts to walk away and I call out before she can. ‘Julia, just a question—’
Ruby mutters, ‘Not now, Lil.’
But I don’t care. I’ve got no friends here anyway, so I may as well lay the matter of Tilly to rest so I can at least get some sleep. ‘What do you think happened to Tilly?’
‘You’re kidding, aren’t you?’
‘No. I really want to know.’
Julia steps forward as if she’s going to punch me in the face.
‘It’s just that you said she went missing. What does that mean?’
Julia is pretty at times, but not now; not when she’s staring at me like she can think of a hundred things to do to me if only she had a weapon. ‘It means something happened, after the show and she went missing.’
‘Ran away? Like Danny thinks?’
‘No. She didn’t run away, that’s crap. He wants to think that because he feels guilty –’
‘What for?’
Right now she has a choice whether to tell me, the outsider, something real, or just spit on me and walk off. ‘He dumped her. About an hour before.’
‘An hour before what?’
‘Before she was last seen.’
That creepy feeling sparks its way through my body. First, I find out that Danny told Tilly’s mum she’d gone to find her dad, and now I find out that he dumped her and Julia doesn’t think she ran away at all.
‘Bet he never told you that. So what I think, little Miss Interference, is that he dumped her and then she met up with someone, or something happened and she’s missing.’
I’ve got to say it. I’ll never get another chance and at least Ruby’s here, too. ‘Missing as in dead? Or missing as in gone?’
She stares at me, but I can’t read her. I have no idea what she’s thinking. Then she turns her back on me and joins her friends.
‘That went well,’ Ruby says, as we watch them walk away. ‘You have a real knack for offending people, Lil.’
‘I know. It’s definitely my strongest suit.’
‘Deep down I think Julia likes you,’ she says, making me laugh.
When we get back home, Mum’s sitting at the dinner table with coils of brown twine spread all around her, trying to teach herself how to do macramé on YouTube. Ruby hides a smile as she goes to give Mum a hug, but Mum sort of shrugs and indicates her hands are full. ‘I’m getting in early for the Gideon show,’ she says.
‘Ah yes, Lil told me about the craft stall.’
‘Did you, Lil?’
‘Oh yeah, Mum. Very proud.’
Mum narrows her eyes at me.‘We did macramé,’ Ruby says, ‘didn’t we, Lil?’
I nod. ‘In primary school. I made a green hanging basket with heaps of bead work.’
‘I remember that. The teacher loved it.’
‘It was for Mother’s Day,’ I say, looking straight at Mum.
Mum starts fidgeting in her seat as Ruby and I keep talking. I know that she threw out my hanging basket holder after a year or so, and then lied to me about where it was. Told me it was in storage in the roof. But I’d seen it in the bin.
‘Remember that, Mum?’
‘Yes. I’ve still got it somewhere.’
Ruby does big eyes at me, because she knows Mum’s lying too.
‘We should get it out. See if it’s as good as I remember,’ I say.
‘Not now. I’m a bit busy.’ Mum smiles.
‘Of course. You keep going with that tiger.’ I smile right back.
‘It’s an owl.’ She looks offended.
‘Tiger. Owl.’ I shrug. ‘That’s macramé for you.’
Ruby drags me away before I can upset Mum any more and pulls me towards the staircase.
‘Why do you do that?’
‘I don’t know. She just brings it out in me.’
‘She’s not that bad.’
‘I know. She could be much worse, but I have to take it out on someone and it seems to be her.’
‘You’re impossible sometimes,’ she says.
As we get near the top of the stairs, I start to feel the cold air.
‘Does it feel colder to you up here?’
‘Yeah. I guess,’ says Ruby. ‘Is that a ghost thing?’
‘Maybe. I’m not sure.’
I realise, as I touch the handle on my door, that I’m preparing myself for something shocking, but of course, as I open it, my room looks just like any other teenager’s room. Unmade bed. Nothing put away. And maybe it’s the daylight, or maybe it’s having Ruby with me, but there’s nothing ominous or creepy about it, except for the cold. I show her the letters on the floor. She traces her fingers across the carved boards, just like I did the first time. But she obviously doesn’t feel any charge or prickling – just wood.
‘The E does look like an F,’ she says. ‘It’s weird that you two have almost the same anagram. But then I guess neither of you really has that anagram. Your real name is Lilian and hers is Matilda, so these letters aren’t really all the letters in either of your names.’
‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Still, what are the odds?’
‘You tell me. I haven’t improved in maths just because I’ve moved to Gideon.’
She laughs. ‘So, how do we find a ghost?’
‘Why do we want to find a ghost? She’s scary and angry and I don’t particularly want that directed at me.’
‘But you love a bit of confrontation.’
I pull a shocked face. Me? ‘Fair point. But I don’t particularly want to confront a ghost.’
‘Lil, you have no choice. Only you can find out what happened to her, because you’re in her house and for some reason she’s chosen you to target.’
‘But why would she choose me?’
‘I did. You’re not that bad.’
‘You always make me feel just that much better,’ I say.
Ruby stands up and starts pacing around the room like she’s trying to concentrate. ‘Well, we know Tilly disappeared. We know she probably never went to her dad’s, because she didn’t even know where he was. We know she had some money, but not how much. And we know she and Danny had broken up,’ she says, listing everything on her fingers like points in our favour.
‘I think you’re right. We need to talk to Danny.’
‘No. You need to talk to Danny,’ she says.
‘What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going to go and macramé an owl,’ she says with a giant grin on her face.
Walking back up the long driveway to the Taylors’ house, I imagine I’m being watched from the big darkened windows along the front of the house. This is such a bad idea.
Before I can reach the front door and begin the embarrassing task of removing my shoes, Danny appears. The sight of him makes me smile, despite the reason I�
�ve come to see him. He’s wearing a blue t-shirt with sewn on red letters that say “HICK”. I wonder if he made it himself.
‘Nice,’ I say, nodding at his top.
‘I was hoping for irony, but it’s just possible that around here, it’s taken as truth.’
Talking to boys has never been my strong point, but if it weren’t for all the Tilly stuff, I think I’d do okay with Danny.
‘So. Julia’s out,’ he says, fishing for the reason I’ve come.
‘Yeah. I saw her earlier.’
‘You’re here to see me?’
‘Uh-huh.’
He nods and, tapping me on the arm, walks away from the house, and around the side, to the rest of their property, which I haven’t yet seen. The paddocks stretch for miles with cows here and there, grazing together. I follow Danny along the fence, towards the barn, until he stops and sits down on a bale of hay.
‘Does your family actually own all of this?’
‘Apparently. Please don’t be impressed,’ he says.
‘I’m not. Cows aren’t my thing.’
He grins at me, but doesn’t look up.
‘Danny –’
‘Yeah –’
‘I need to ask you something.’
Now he looks up, sensing perhaps the fear in my voice. I know he’s going to try to shut this conversation down, but Ruby’s right: I do have to talk to him about it.
‘Yeah,’ he says slowly, dragging it out.
‘It’s about Tilly.’
‘I’m not talking about her,’ he says with a force that surprises me.
‘Why do you think she ran away? Julia says she didn’t and her mum doesn’t think she even knows where her dad is and—’
He stands up and turns sharply, looking down on me with fury in his face. ‘What are you saying? That I lied? That I’m hiding something? What?’
‘I know you broke up with her.’
‘Good for you. We were always breaking up.’
‘But Julia said—’
‘What did Julia say? That I invented her running away because I felt guilty?’
‘Yes,’ I whisper.
‘Did she mention the fight she had with Tilly?’
I shake my head.
‘No. Of course not. She likes hiding behind the whole best-friends routine,’ he barks. He starts walking off and I jump up.
Haunting of Lily Frost Page 16
