Hide and Secrets

by Sophie McKenzie

  I glance back at Tyler who grimaces. He’s expecting the worst too.

  I brace myself and put the phone to my ear.

  ‘Hello, Mum.’

  I’m expecting her to yell. To scream. Instead there’s just the jerky sound of her breathing.

  ‘Mum?’

  ‘Oh, Cat. You’re all right?’ I frown, barely able to make out her words. ‘You’re really okay?’

  ‘Yes, we’re all fine,’ I say. ‘Bess is asleep. Emma and Roshan have been really nice and—’ The rest of my sentence is drowned out as Mum bursts into tears.

  I walk over to the little wooden table, the phone still at my ear as an emotion I’m not used to feeling around Mum worms its way into my head: guilt.

  ‘I was so frightened, Cat,’ Mum wails, her voice cracking. ‘I mean, I was furious at first, especially after your first message, but then by the second I was starting to worry and… and when you didn’t come back last night—’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘I did send a message saying we were okay last night… but there wasn’t a signal. We’d got lost and—’

  ‘Tyler managed to get a message that you were fine through to his dad,’ Mum says, a note of accusation in her voice. ‘Which was – on the one hand – a relief, but on the other meant that the police search wasn’t—’

  ‘The police were searching for us?’ I ask.

  ‘Of course they were.’ Mum breaks down again. ‘I went over and over your chart all night. At first I couldn’t see anything, but then I realized Mercury was in retrograde and… well, you know what a foreshadowing of doom that is…’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I say again. ‘I… I just had to come here.’

  ‘Why? What on earth are you doing in Norfolk?’ Mum’s voice sharpens. ‘And what possessed you to take Bess with you?’

  ‘Bess wasn’t meant to come,’ I explain quickly. ‘She followed us. And… and… we’re here for Dad.’

  A sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

  ‘Mum, I’ve seen him. We talked. He’s alive. He’s okay.’

  Silence.

  ‘Mum?’ Suddenly I desperately need her to believe me. ‘Mum, I found him. It’s true, what I told you: he was framed, he had to go into hiding to protect us. But you were right about Rik, he was the one who framed him and…’ I trail off.

  Mum lets out a long sigh. ‘I understand you’re grieving, Cat. I’m very aware. But…’ She pauses and I can hear the struggle in her voice to keep her temper. ‘This fantasy about Dad has to stop.’

  ‘It’s not a—’

  ‘I know we didn’t have a… a body, but I saw the wreck of Dad’s boat. All the authorities agreed he must be dead.’ Mum’s voice rises. ‘Why are you putting me through this?’

  ‘Mum, listen—’

  ‘Once we’re home I’m going to find an astrological counsellor for you to speak to. Perhaps they will be able to—’

  ‘No.’ I’m practically shouting. ‘No, Mum, I don’t need to speak to someone, I’m not imagining Dad.’

  There’s an ominous silence on the other end of the line.

  ‘Is Tyler all right?’ Mum’s voice is sharp, as if she’s both hurt and angry. ‘His father drove up here first thing this morning, you know.’ She sighs. ‘This… expedition of yours is having far-reaching consequences.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘I’ve arranged for a local taxi service to come and pick you up,’ Mum goes on, clearly determined to ignore everything I’m telling her about Dad. ‘Mr Tuesday and I will be waiting for you at Alexandra Palace. As soon as you get here, we’ll drive home.’ She pauses. ‘And, for your own good, you are grounded for the rest of the summer.’

  The line goes dead.

  I sink on to the bench next to the wooden table, trying to get my head around Mum’s refusal to believe me. Does she really think I’m hallucinating about Dad? Or, worse, making up a story deliberately to upset her? Tyler sits beside me, looking worried.

  Emma wanders over from the cottage doorway. I hand her the phone.

  ‘Everything all right?’ she asks. ‘Your mother sounded upset but very grateful you were okay. Gosh, she was so lovely. I used to watch her when I was a teenager and she was on that morning show on TV. She’s really got the gift, hasn’t she? Does she do your charts for your birthdays? Look into the future for you?’

  I gaze up at her smiling, eager face.

  ‘Not really,’ I say.

  ‘Ah, well.’ Emma smiles. ‘I expect she doesn’t want to impose herself. She’s very sensitive like that, isn’t she? Now I better get your little sister up and your wet clothes in a bag. Your mum’s sending a car but I expect you already know that.’ She disappears inside.

  ‘Cat?’ Tyler asks. ‘Hey, are you all right?’ He shuffles closer along the bench. I lean against him. His body feels like the only stable thing in the whole world. He puts his arm round me and strokes my shoulder. ‘What did your mum say?’

  I outline our conversation, getting more emotional as I speak. ‘I get that she’s mad, but why doesn’t she believe I saw Dad?’

  Tyler shrugs. ‘Maybe she thinks you’re making him up to justify running away,’ he suggests. ‘I talked to my dad just now and he didn’t believe it either. He’s swallowed your mum’s version that you’re… I dunno… having some sort of bereavement crisis breakdown. I told him you’d seen your dad, but he got all serious and asked if Bess and I had seen him too. And when I had to admit that we hadn’t, he got sad and said you must be very troubled.’

  ‘Great,’ I mutter.

  We sit on the cottage doorstep, lost in our own thoughts. I can’t make sense of it all: Dad is alive, but Mum doesn’t believe it. And Rik still wants the diamond – and revenge.

  For all that’s happened, I’m right back where I started a week ago: Dad’s life is in danger and I’m the only one that can help him.

  I have to find that diamond.

  As Roshan and the little boys arrive home, Bess appears from inside the cottage, her hair neatly brushed and the shadows gone from under her eyes. She sits beside me, sucking her thumb, which I haven’t seen her do for years.

  Guilt bites at me again.

  ‘We’re going home soon, Bess,’ I tell her.

  She nods, curling up against my side and staring at the little boys, now playing across the grass. After all her jumping around earlier, she seems to have withdrawn again. Or maybe she’s just shy around Emma and Roshan’s kids.

  ‘I’m going to look for the Blue Fire diamond as soon as we get back,’ I mutter to Tyler. I hesitate. The person I used to be would never have asked the question now on my lips, but that’s not who I am any more. ‘Will you help me?’

  ‘Try and stop me,’ he says, a smile spreading slowly across his face.

  28

  By the time the taxi Mum has sent delivers us all the way back to Alexandra Palace, it’s almost 2 p.m. I sleep through quite a bit of the hot journey and wake, feeling disoriented, to find myself back in the car park outside the exhibition centre exactly twenty-nine hours after leaving it.

  Mum and Mr Tuesday are waiting for us. Neither of them say anything as they herd us towards their respective cars. Tyler casts me a sympathetic look as his dad orders him into their battered estate. I watch him disappear as Mum, Bess and I reach our car. It’s fully packed, ready for the journey home.

  ‘Weren’t you supposed to be at the astrology show for another two days?’ I ask, as I get into the front seat beside Mum.

  She slams her door, tight-lipped, and reverses out of her parking space. ‘I was also supposed to be giving the keynote speech, but that wasn’t possible either,’ she says, her voice tight and clipped, as we turn on to the road, London spread out in front of us. It’s a perfect summer’s day, clouds scudding across a bright blue sky.

  I frown. ‘Why couldn’t you do your speech?’

  ‘Why do you think?’ Mum glares at me. ‘It’s not possible to concentrate when your children have run away. I
was terrified. Not to mention humiliated.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Mum,’ I say awkwardly. ‘I would have said something, it’s just… you’d never have let me go, so—’

  ‘Of course I wouldn’t!’ Mum explodes. ‘It was dangerous! You ended up sleeping outside in the middle of the country, where you could have been attacked by someone under a negative aspect… or by wolves.’

  ‘There aren’t any—’

  ‘Letting your sister get caught out in a high tide, when you know how tides work.’

  I fall silent, guilt stabbing at me again.

  ‘And all the time I’m worried sick about the two of you. And as for the embarrassment of having to tell Tyler’s dad you’d run off with his son…’

  ‘You make it sound like—’

  ‘And the utter, utter humiliation of everyone at the convention knowing that I can’t keep track of my own children, who I’ve been boasting are the apple of my eye and the best, most helpful daughters ever born to woman.’ Mum heaves a shuddering sigh and turns the car sharply. ‘Not to mention having to deal with that… that Emma, who was kind enough to look after you all, but talked non-stop. I bet her Mercury is in Gemini.’ She tuts. ‘Thanks to you, Cat, I’ve had to offer the wretched woman free readings for six months. So that’s an expense. And don’t get me started on the cost of the taxi that brought you back to London.’ She scowls. ‘It’s all coming out of your allowance, that much I promise you.’

  I look out of the window. Through her reflection in the wing mirror I can see Bess is gazing out of the window. She’s already put on her headphones and has that dreamy look on her face that she always gets when she listens to a story. Earlier today, I’d thought she might be on the verge of speaking at last, but now that seems as far away as ever. The miserable knot inside me tightens.

  As we drive on, my thoughts flicker to the conversation I had with Dad. I glance at Mum.

  ‘Were you having problems… you and Dad? Before… before he went?’ I ask quietly.

  Mum’s head whips round. She stares at me, clearly startled, then turns to face the road ahead again, her jaw clenched.

  ‘Were you?’ I ask.

  Mum takes a deep breath. ‘It was a difficult time,’ she says, then peers at her satnav.

  I wait, expectantly, for her to say more. But, instead, she starts gabbling away about the route out of London.

  Clearly, there’s no point trying to get her to talk about Dad.

  I close my eyes and focus on the only thing that makes sense right now: working out where the Blue Fire diamond is hidden.

  Tyler’s right that ‘under the stars’ could mean literally anywhere. But Dad said the diamond was hidden ‘at home’. That means outside or… of course… the attic: that’s at the very top of the house. What could be more obviously ‘under the stars’?

  Tyler and I have already looked through a lot of the bags and boxes up there, but there are quite a few more. And plenty of nooks and crannies ideal for hiding a gemstone. I’m itching to tell Tyler, but he’s in his dad’s car and, as neither of us have a phone any more, there’s no way I can communicate with him.

  ‘Mum?’ I say softly, as she pauses from her satnav-related rant to take a right-hand turn. ‘I lost my mobile in the sea. Do you think—?’

  ‘If you’re about to ask me for a new one you can stop right there,’ Mum cuts in. ‘You won’t need a phone for the rest of the summer, remember? You’re grounded. When it comes to going-back-to-school time, we’ll see. Maybe a cheap one for emergencies.’ She sniffs. ‘And I’m seriously considering booking you in for a course of astrological counselling sessions.’

  I stare at her, horrified, then press my lips together. There’s no point arguing with her now, while she’s still so angry. Ten minutes later Mum pulls off at a motorway services garage. I get out of the car and look around for Tyler as Mum fills up with petrol. I don’t have any real hope he’ll be here – we lost sight of the Tuesdays within a few minutes of leaving Alexandra Palace.

  ‘Don’t even think about asking me for crisps or sweets,’ Mum says, misinterpreting why I’ve stepped out of the car.

  ‘I’m not,’ I say, stung. ‘I just need the loo.’

  Mum shrugs, then peers into the back seat, where Bess is now busily drawing a new picture. ‘Don’t be long,’ she says. ‘I’m not leaving Bess on her own.’

  I hurry away, following the signs around the outside of the building to the ladies. I’m in and out quickly. As I walk away from the toilet, a motorbike screeches to a stop in front of me. I spring back, startled. The rider jumps off. His helmet is painted with red skulls.

  Panic rising, I try to sidestep the man, but he stretches out his arm, barring my way.

  My stomach lurches into my mouth as, with his free hand, the man angrily wrenches off his helmet.

  Rik.

  29

  In person, Rik is shorter, thinner and more mean-looking than he seemed on my phone screen. Sweaty from his bike helmet, his mousy-brown hair is plastered to the sides of his head and his grey eyes glare into mine like pencil points.

  ‘Are you all right, Cat?’ he asks.

  He’s trying to sound concerned, but I can hear the tension in his voice. A shiver runs down my spine.

  ‘You said you were abroad.’ I take a step back. ‘How come you’re here?

  ‘I flew into the UK late last night,’ Rik says, smoothing his hair off his face.

  He’s lying. I glance at the red skulls helmet tucked under his arm. It’s definitely the same one Tyler and I saw on the rider outside Aunt Sandy’s house. Which means it was Rik himself who was watching us then.

  ‘But how did you find me here?’ I look around the garage. From where we’re standing only two of the petrol pumps are visible. Mum, Bess and the car are out of sight round the corner.

  ‘Your phone wasn’t working, so I traced your last message, but that was from yesterday afternoon,’ Rik explains. ‘I was worried, so I located your mum’s car using her mobile.’

  ‘Oh.’ My chest tightens, as the realization properly hits me. Everything Dad said about Rik was true, including his ability to track people through their phones.

  ‘Don’t look so scared,’ Rik goes on, smoothly. ‘I only came back because I was concerned about you. It’s a risk but I need to know what happened. Why did you ditch your phone? Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m fine.’ I try to move past him but he steps sideways to block my way.

  ‘So how was the trip to Norfolk? Did you find your dad?’ Rik makes a visible effort to smile. It doesn’t reach his eyes.

  I think fast. How do I convince Rik that my travels were a dead end?

  ‘Well, Cat?’ A note of impatience creeps into Rik’s voice as he gives me that fake smile again. ‘What happened in Norfolk?’

  ‘I was wrong, I didn’t find Dad,’ I lie. ‘I thought he might be there, like I texted, but… but he wasn’t.’

  Rik frowns, studying my face carefully. ‘You mean he wasn’t in that caravan park at Saltcliff?’

  My stomach lurches into my throat. ‘How do you—?’

  ‘I told you,’ Rik says, impatiently. ‘I traced your messages. That was the last place you contacted me from.’

  ‘Dad wasn’t there,’ I say. I take another step away from him. Lightning fast, Rik grabs my forearm.

  ‘Ow.’ I try to pull away, but he keeps hold of me, my skin now pinching painfully under his fingers.

  ‘After all the help and support I’ve given you, you owe me the truth,’ Rik spits, his face now horribly close to mine. ‘I’ve put my life on the line coming back to the UK to help find your dad. And I think you’re lying about not seeing him.’

  ‘No.’ I gulp, trying not to show how scared I feel.

  ‘Well, something must have happened. Or else why didn’t you go straight home after the caravan park? Why did you switch off your phone?’

  ‘I got lost,’ I say, truthfully. ‘And it was just me and my friend Tyler, and we
had Bess with us and there was no signal, then we ended up having to sleep out in the open and getting trapped by the tide. We lost everything in the sea. These holidaymakers helped us, loaned us clothes.’ I point to the striped top and cream shorts of Emma’s that I’m still wearing. ‘I mean, you’ve seen the dresses I post on Instagram. Do you think I’d choose to wear this kind of middle-aged stuff? They don’t even fit me.’

  Rik glances at the top and the shorts, hanging bulkily from the belt Emma gave me, then studies my face carefully. I stare back, defiant. He purses his lips, nodding slowly.

  ‘Okay, I believe you.’ He lets go of my arm and I stumble backwards. ‘But there’s one thing I still don’t understand…’ Rik says slowly. ‘I went to that caravan park myself earlier.’

  ‘Oh?’ Dad’s grim-faced suggestion that Rik would hurt Mac to get information about him slams into my head. I try to look unbothered, but inside I feel sick.

  ‘And –’ Rik goes on – ‘I asked around and there was nobody there who’d ever heard of your dad.’

  My heart leaps. So Mac is safe. And he didn’t give Dad away.

  ‘I told you there wasn’t,’ I say, trying to sound indignant that he’d doubted me.

  ‘So my question is… what made you go there in the first place?’

  I take a deep breath. Whatever I say, I should stick as closely as possible to the truth. That way Rik is less likely to catch me out in a lie.

  ‘I found a brochure for it among Dad’s things,’ I say, looking Rik in the eye. ‘I thought maybe he’d been there, but – as you found out yourself – it was a dead end.’

  Rik considers this for a moment, then says: ‘There must have been a lot of stuff your dad left behind, yeah? All sorts of brochures and leaflets, financial documents… that sort of thing?’

  I nod, feeling wary.

  ‘Okay, then.’ Rik curls his lip ‘Well, it’s obvious that having you looking for your dad on your own isn’t working.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘So we’re moving to plan B.’ Rik motions around the corner, to where Mum is waiting for me. ‘You’re going to go home. Then you’ve got forty-eight hours to gather together everything that might help me find your father. I want to see anything remotely relevant. I’ll meet you in Brockledore village in two days and—’