by S J Bolton
‘I don’t care,’ Xav said. ‘I really don’t care what I’ve got. If I’ve failed the lot, I couldn’t care less.’
In a way, he almost hoped he had, as though exam failure might act as part payment for what he’d done the night before. He hadn’t though; he always found exams easy.
Amber wrapped her arms around his waist, and Xav took a deep breath, because the urge to throw her off was close to overwhelming.
‘Amber, you need to pull yourself together,’ Talitha snapped. ‘You can’t go in in floods of tears.’
Grateful to Tal for voicing his own thoughts so that he didn’t have to, and guilty at those same thoughts, Xav gave his girlfriend a hug. ‘We’ll say it’s nerves,’ he said. ‘Then relief.’
‘Or dismay, if she does fail theology,’ Daniel said.
6
He was on time, he had to be. It was still early; she wouldn’t have done anything yet. The accident was bad, he wouldn’t try to pretend otherwise, and he’d have to keep a close eye on Amber and Dan over the coming weeks, possibly Xav too, but they’d get through it, just as long as Megan hadn’t made the phone call yet.
As Felix turned the corner into Megan’s terraced street and pulled over on a single yellow line, he realised he’d never actually been inside her house before. On the few occasions he’d dropped her off after a night out, he’d pulled up outside her front door to let her jump out. He’d never been invited in and neither, as far as he knew, had any of the others.
A few seconds after he’d set off towards her house on foot, he saw the police car.
Double-parked, blue lights flashing to warn other road users, it was directly outside Megan’s place. That was it then; he was too late. Felix almost turned on his heels, but common sense kept him moving forward. A few yards closer and he could see a tow truck lifting a vehicle onto its cargo bed. A few more yards and he realised it was his mother’s car that was about to be towed. (‘One more parking ticket, Felix, and I’m taking you off the insurance – I mean it this time.’) Felix heard his mother’s voice loud in his head and ignored it. A car being towed was the least of his problems right now.
Closer still and he could see the uniformed officer on the pavement, watching the car being lifted. Felix took the last few steps that committed him.
‘Excuse me,’ he looked from the police officer to the man in the yellow vest who was directing the loading of the car. Heavy chains had been wrapped around the wheels and two crane-like lifts were preparing to raise it off the ground. ‘That’s my car. What’s happening?’
The man in the yellow vest looked a question at the officer, who nodded at him to continue.
‘Can you give me your name, sir?’ the policeman asked. ‘This car is registered to a Mrs Elizabeth O’Neill.’
The lifts bounced, the chains tightened.
‘She’s my mum. It’s her car, really. She lets me drive it. I’m Felix O’Neill.’
‘And did you park it here?’
Steady. He needed to be worried, but not too worried, not yet.
‘No.’ Felix fixed his eyes on the car that was now several inches off the ground. ‘I lent it to my friend last night. I mean, I sort of lent it.’ He glanced around towards Megan’s front door. ‘Is she in? I came to find her. She needs to be at school.’
‘Would that be Megan Macdonald, of 14 Warren Road,’ the officer said, after glancing at his notebook.
‘That’s right.’ Felix looked again at Megan’s front door, at the railings outside where two bikes were chained. ‘What’s going on? Has something happened?’
Ignoring the officer’s grumbled objection, Felix strode up to Megan’s house. As he pushed open the gate and banged hard on the door, he told himself that he was doing well, that he hadn’t put a foot wrong so far, he just had to keep it up.
He glanced right to the narrow strip of land that passed for a front garden: gravel, a broken planter, some weeds breaking through.
A hand landed on his shoulder. The policeman had followed him.
‘Steady on, son. There’s no one in, I can tell you that for a fact. Now, when did you last see Miss Macdonald?’
‘Last night. What’s happened? Is she hurt?’ Felix looked back up the road towards the tow truck. ‘I need to tell my mum if the car’s been damaged. Can I go and see what’s happened to it?’
The police officer raised his hand, effectively blocking Felix’s way back onto the street. ‘What time last night did you lend Miss Macdonald your car?’
Felix pretended to think, then gave a vague shake of his head. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Ten o’clock? Eleven o’clock?’
Down the street, his mother’s car was swinging in the air as it was raised towards the truck’s cargo bed. People had gathered to watch, mainly kids, but one or two adults on doorsteps. His mum would kill him. On top of everything else, she’d never let him drive her car again. Not that that mattered now – nothing mattered now – but it was odd all the same, how he kept having thoughts that belonged to . . . before.
‘No, later than that,’ he said. ‘We were in the Lamb and Flag till last orders.’
The police officer seemed to make a decision. ‘Mr O’Neill, I think it would be a good idea if you came with me to the station.’
Panic raced through Felix like a swig of strong spirit. ‘Why? I mean, I can’t. I have to be at school. It’s results day. We should both be there, me and Megan.’ He felt tears spring into his eyes and didn’t try to blink them away.
The officer seemed to be thinking for a moment, and then he nodded and stepped back, out of Felix’s way. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Go and get your results. We’ve got your details. We’ll talk to you later.’
The master of the school – a tall, thin woman with spiky, grey hair – spread her arms wide.
‘My crème de la crème,’ she said. ‘Well done, darlings.’
Knowing it was expected, Talitha, Amber, Xav and Daniel stepped forward and let the master enfold them in a group hug.
‘So proud of you,’ she said, a second later when she released them. ‘Five As,’ she said to Xav. ‘Superb.’ She put a hand on Amber’s shoulder. ‘And you too, straight As.’
‘Even in theology,’ Xav glanced at Amber, who didn’t react. She’d retreated into herself, her eyes had lost focus and she hadn’t spoken since the doors had opened thirty minutes ago. People were only going to buy the nerves excuse for so long. He had to get her out of there.
Around them, though, the gathering in the school dining room was turning into a party. Two hundred people or more were talking too loudly, full of excitement and relief. For the first twenty minutes or so, after the doors opened at nine o’clock, a nervous quiet had prevailed as the leavers lined up to get their envelopes, leaving the parents hovering at the opposite end of the hall. Gradually, as more and more envelopes had been opened, as leavers had shared results with each other, with parents, with teachers – who knew them already, but pretended afresh to be delighted – the noise levels had grown and the two groups had merged.
Every few seconds, a flash of light appeared, as the official photographer captured the tiny moments of triumph and relief.
The master’s eyes flicked from one face to the other. ‘No parents here?’ she said. ‘I hope you’ve told them.’
‘We stayed at Tal’s house,’ Xav explained. ‘We’ve all phoned results through. They’re thrilled.’
‘And rightly so.’ The master’s face fell. ‘Where’s Megan? Did she slip away? And Felix, too. I was going to have a photograph with the six of you, but in the circumstances, maybe . . . Is she all right, do you know?’
‘We haven’t seen Megan,’ Talitha said quickly. ‘She didn’t come in with us. Felix went to look for her.’
‘There he is.’ Xav had spotted his car, with Felix at the wheel, pulling into the car park.
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‘Hmmm,’ the master said. ‘Excuse me, folks. I’d better just . . .’
She walked away without finishing her sentence, towards the desk at the front of the hall where a teacher – Mr Sparrow, Latin – sat with an almost empty box. She and Mr Sparrow spoke for a few seconds, then both glanced back at the group.
Without conferring, acting on instinct, the four of them moved a little further from the crowd of people.
Talitha said, ‘Did you see her face when she mentioned Megan? She knows something.’
‘It’s too soon,’ Xav said. ‘She can’t.’
‘We should ring again,’ said Daniel.
‘No,’ Talitha argued. ‘Wait for Felix.’
Felix and the master reached them at the same time. Her face was troubled, his unreadable.
‘When did you last see Megan?’ the master asked. ‘Have any of you heard from her this morning?’
‘I’ve just come from her house.’ Felix kept his eyes on the master’s, not looking at any of the rest of them. ‘No answer.’
He was going to be the best liar; Xav stored the knowledge away for future use.
‘She was with us last night for a while,’ Daniel added. ‘Then she went home.’
The master gave a vague nod, seemed about to speak, but then walked away.
‘Something’s wrong,’ said Talitha.
‘Oh, you think,’ Xav said.
‘I mean something else. She’s worried about Megan, but how can she be? Unless the police have been in touch already?’
‘You don’t think she’s done anything stupid?’ Daniel said. ‘Megan, I mean?’
‘What happened?’ Xav said to Felix. ‘Did you see her?’
Felix shook his head. ‘Not here. Come on, let’s go.’
They were almost at the door when Talitha remembered. ‘Felix, your results.’
They waited as Felix walked to the desk and was given his envelope by Mr Sparrow. He opened it as he walked back to them, and his face didn’t change. By this time, most people were leaving, the youngsters into the city to celebrate, the parents back home or to work.
‘Four As,’ Felix said, as he reached them.
‘Well done, mate,’ Xav tried to smile and failed.
‘Not one of us got less than an A, not in any subject,’ Daniel said. ‘We’re the “crème de la crème” all right.’
‘Yay us,’ said Talitha.
At that second, a flash blinded them. The official photographer had caught up with them and the moment was immortalised.
7
This was not how it was supposed to be. They should have been in town now, dancing their way down the high street, heading for the Eagle and Child, the Turf Tavern, or any of the town-centre pubs that would serve champagne to kids who might technically be old enough to drink alcohol but almost certainly couldn’t be trusted to handle it well. Their phones should have been ringing constantly with congratulatory phone calls. This was their moment, the first day of the rest of their lives, their triumph.
They should not have had to slip out of the hall, avoiding eye contact and the well-meaning enquiries of friends’ parents, mums and dads they’d known since they were tiny, and who it would have been nice to be hugged by, possibly for the last time; they should not have had to slink back to Talitha’s house, avoiding even the housekeeper whose attempts to congratulate them – the daft cow had even made them a cake with a decorative firework – seemed like nothing more than a taunt.
‘We all did great,’ Talitha told her. ‘This is lovely, thank you. Can we take it to the pool?’
They left her behind, bruised and bewildered, and retreated to their den to lick their wounds and plan their next move. If they had one.
Felix finished his phone call. ‘It hasn’t been taken to the city pound,’ he told the others. ‘They told Mum that much. It’s in police custody. They can’t tell her when she can have it back. She’s fricking livid.’
‘They’ll find nothing on the car.’ Talitha pulled the firework off the cake, sniffed it and tossed it into the corner. ‘Nothing that will tie us to what happened.’
‘Our DNA will be in it,’ Amber said.
‘We go in it all the time. It will mean nothing.’
‘We need to find out where Megan is,’ Daniel said. ‘Where she is and what she’s said. Has anyone got her mum’s number?’
‘Xav, what did she say to you? When you walked her to the car last night?’ asked Felix.
Since they’d arrived back, Xav had taken no part in the conversation. Uncharacteristically silent, he was sitting with his elbows on his knees, gazing at the laminated floor. ‘Nothing,’ he said. It was as though the effort of getting through results had worn him out; he had nothing left.
‘She must have said something,’ Felix insisted. ‘Did she say where she was going?’
‘Home.’ He glanced up briefly. ‘She said she was going home.’
‘We should have followed her,’ Felix told the rest. ‘We need to know what she did with that letter we signed and the film. If the police are searching her house, they’ll find them.’
‘Megan’s not stupid,’ Talitha said. ‘She won’t have left them lying around.’
‘Where then?’ Felix’s attention was still focused on Xav. ‘Where would she hide them?’
‘Fuck should I know?’ Xav said.
‘Why you?’ Amber asked him. ‘Why did she want you to walk her to the car? I’m her best friend?’
Talitha snorted. Amber turned on her, ‘What? You think you are?’
Xav got to his feet. ‘I don’t know why me,’ he said to Amber. ‘Maybe because Dan’s a drip, you couldn’t stop crying, Tal’s a bitch and it was all Felix’s fault to begin with. Maybe I was the lesser of five complete shits.’
A silence fell, as though Xav had voiced a truth they’d all known but had been keeping hidden; that they’d been drawn together by nothing more than a smug acceptance of their shared privilege, that they were none of them particularly nice, certainly not good, people.
And yet they’d worked hard, been polite and respectful to those in authority, they’d supported charity and given their time to the school. They’d broken no laws before last night, because no one really counted under-age drinking, a few recreational drugs and the odd bit of driving over the drink-drive limit. They might not be angels, but they were decent enough and things like this didn’t happen to people like them.
‘I keep thinking I’m going to wake up,’ Amber said.
‘The police.’ Daniel jumped to his feet and looked ready to run. ‘The police are here.’
The windows of the pool house overlooked the drive and a police car was parked close to the front door of the house. Two uniformed officers had already left it and were walking around the pool towards them. A few minutes later, all five were on their way to Oxford City Police Station.
8
‘Has something happened to Megan?’
The detective, a thin, fair-haired man in his early forties, wearing a pink shirt and glasses the same shade of lilac as his tie, blinked hard at Xav and said, ‘Why do you ask that?’
Xav couldn’t keep still. Since he’d been shown into the small, windowless interview room, he’d repositioned his chair a half-dozen times and felt an itch on every part of his body. It was as though the ants that haunted the grass around Talitha’s pool had hitched a lift in the police car and were determined to take part in the interview.
He’d found a stray paper clip on the tabletop and had broken it into three pieces. The detective who was fond of fondant colours had already asked him to stop jingling the keys in his pocket. Xav was being annoying; worse, he was giving too much away. He knew it, and still he couldn’t stop. Right now, the heel of his right shoe was tapping against the tiled floor and he couldn’t remember ever doing that in h
is life before.
‘She didn’t turn up at school this morning.’ He realised he was talking too fast and made a conscious effort to slow down. ‘She wasn’t at her house when Felix went to find her, and the car she borrowed last night was being towed away. It doesn’t take a genius to work out something’s happened.’
Xav’s mum reached out a hand, laid it on her son’s knee and applied gentle pressure. He forced himself to stop the heel tapping. He was scared by how much he wanted to hold his mother’s hand.
Being a couple of weeks short of eighteen – his birthday wasn’t until the very end of August – Xav was the only member of the group who was technically still a child. It had meant he’d been allowed, expected even, to have a parent or guardian sit in the interview with him. He’d been offered a solicitor too. ‘Let’s see how it goes,’ his mum had said.
‘He’s upset,’ she told the detective now. ‘This has been a difficult morning for my son and his friends already, and to learn that something might have happened to Megan on top of that is very disturbing.’
Never had Xav been so grateful for his mother’s calm demeanour, her quiet air of authority. Nothing seemed to faze her. She was beautiful too, even in her mid-forties, and her looks never failed to have an impact on those she came into contact with. People behaved differently around the very attractive; he’d seen it with his mum and, in the last couple of years, experienced it directly.
‘Megan’s a good friend of yours?’ the detective asked Xav, after a polite nod and a hint of a smile at his mother.
‘We’re all fond of Megan,’ his mother said, before Xav had chance to speak. ‘And naturally we’re worried.’
‘Megan’s here in the station, helping us with our enquiries.’ The detective was watching Xav carefully. ‘She isn’t hurt, but we have reason to believe she was involved in a road traffic accident in the early hours of this morning.’
‘Was anyone else hurt?’ Xav’s mother asked.
‘Xavier, I’d like you to tell us about yesterday,’ the detective said. ‘Start from the time the six of you met up.’
