‘Three,’ he whispered, ‘two … one …’ He turned the handle.
The door was locked.
Carter swore under his breath and Allie stifled a giggle. ‘Plan B?’
Reaching in his pocket he pulled out a twisted wire. ‘Two minutes,’ he said. ‘Time me.’
Leaning down he pushed the wire into a lock Allie couldn’t see, and moved it gently with his fingertips until without warning, the door gave way.
‘Whoa. Less than two,’ she said admiringly. ‘Where did you learn to do that?’
He gave her a look. ‘Where do you think?’
‘Church?’
He smiled and pushed the door. It swung open with a sound like a sigh. ‘Yeah, right.’
‘So,’ Allie whispered walking into the office, ‘how does burglary make you a better future prime minister?’
Closing the door behind them, Carter took a cream-coloured cashmere throw off one of the leather chairs and pressed it into the base of the door. ‘I have no idea,’ he said.
Then with a click that seemed to echo in the quiet school, he turned on a small desk lamp. Standing beside the desk, the two of them looked around Isabelle’s office, taking in the tapestry of the unicorn on one wall, the thick Oriental rugs, the shelves crowded with books and magazines, and the many neatly filled mahogany cupboards. An empty teacup with the Cimmeria seal sat on the desk amid stacks of papers. The air smelled faintly of Isabelle’s distinctive citrus perfume.
‘I feel like a criminal,’ Allie whispered, suddenly unsure.
‘Oh no you don’t,’ Carter said. ‘We’re here now. Let’s get this over with.’
She knew he was right. It was too late to turn back now.
‘Where do we start?’
Allie was mostly talking to herself, but Carter answered her immediately.
‘I’ll take the bookshelves. You start with the cupboards.’
For half an hour they worked in hurried silence. Carter started on the left side of the room and moved from shelf to shelf, looking for anything unusual. Allie sat on the floor, looking through the low cabinets.
The first cabinet held mostly maintenance records, phone records, receipts – nothing of interest. The second one held academic records, graded papers, and other bits of schoolwork from years past.
As soon as Allie opened the third cabinet, she knew she was on the right track.
‘Bingo,’ she whispered.
Carter looked up. ‘What is it?’
‘Student records.’
He stopped what he was doing and walked over. Looking for Ruth’s records, Allie started to flip through the Js. Then stopped.
‘It’s not here.’
He looked puzzled. ‘It has to be. Look again.’
‘Jansen,’ Allie muttered under her breath. ‘J-a-n-s-e-n. No. It’s not here.’
‘It could be in the wrong place or something,’ he said. ‘Start at the beginning.’
Impatiently, Allie flipped through the neatly labelled manila folders, passing familiar names, as well as many she’d never heard of, until she reached one that stopped her.
‘Found it?’ Carter asked.
‘No … It’s mine.’
Her fingertips rested on a thick file with her name written on the top in thick black ink.
‘Pull it.’
She could hear the tension in his voice.
‘Do you think?’ she asked.
‘Two things, remember?’ he said. ‘We’re looking for two things.’
With reluctance, she set her file aside and went through the rest of the records, lingering on the one labelled ‘Carter West’.
‘You want yours?’
Shaking his head, he said curtly, ‘I know what it says.’
‘OK.’ Allie flipped through the last few files. ‘Ruth’s file isn’t here.’
‘They must have pulled it.’ Carter walked over to Isabelle’s desk. ‘It could be in the desk – I’ll start looking. You look through your own file.’
Allie sat on the floor, staring at the blank expanse of the folder cover, her fingers poised to open it. Now that the moment had come, she was scared.
Do I really want to know the truth?
Above her, she could hear the sound of Carter shuffling through pages and opening drawers. He was moving quickly – she knew she didn’t have much time.
She opened the folder.
The first few pages were all the normal things: admission forms with no surprises, transcripts from her last two schools. Looking at her old grades, she winced and quickly flipped the page.
Then things got weirder. A copy of her birth certificate. Photos of her as a young child with her parents. A photo of her as a baby with a woman she didn’t recognise, laughing at the camera.
A letter addressed to Isabelle in her mother’s handwriting hurt her heart, and she held it up into the light to see it better. Then her breath caught. Words and phrases seemed to jump out at her.
‘We need your help, Izzy’ ‘… we don’t know what to do’ ‘Christopher could have been taken …’ ‘We don’t want to involve Lucinda but we think the time has come …’ ‘… danger …’
‘We need your help, Izzy?’ She calls her ‘Izzy’?
She turned the page. This one on thick, expensive paper contained a short note in elegant handwriting she did not recognise. It was dated July this year.
Isabelle.
Admit my granddaughter immediately under Protect
Protocol. I will be in touch.
Lucinda
For just a moment, Allie stopped breathing.
Why is that note in my file? Who is Lucinda?
Increasingly anxious, she turned the page. The next few pages were photocopies of old Cimmeria school records, but they were not her own.
They were her mother’s.
Her hands shaking, Allie flipped through them quickly, scanning each page and then turning it. Scanning and turning. Scanning and turning.
The last page was a note on yellowed card. She recognised the handwriting from the earlier note from Lucinda.
G.
So pleased to hear my daughter is doing well in Night
School. Blood will out, as they say. I’d appreciate weekly
updates on her progress from now on.
L.S.
Allie dropped the file, as if it could bite. But Carter’s voice interrupted her whirling thoughts.
‘Hey. You better come look at this.’
His tone was ominous, and she hurried over to where he stood at the desk holding a paper under the light. Allie peered over his shoulder to see it.
When she’d read the whole thing, she looked up at him, stunned.
‘Oh my God, Carter. What are we going to do?’
After that, they didn’t hang out for long in Isabelle’s office. Allie quickly returned her file to its place in the cabinet, while Carter straightened the desk. He folded the throw back over the arm of the leather chair and then switched off the light.
They both leaned against the door, listening for what seemed to Allie like a very long time, then he opened the door and slipped outside while she waited. When he was sure the hallway was empty he came back for her. They closed the door behind them, standing frozen as the click of the latch sliding into place echoed in the preternatural hush like a shout.
It was half past one in the morning. If they were caught in the hallway now they’d have no excuses at all.
They’d only walked about twelve feet when, without warning, Carter stopped. Holding out his arm just as they rounded a corner towards the staircase, he held Allie back. After looking around, he dashed into the thick darkness under the stairs; he didn’t need to say a word – she was right on his heels.
Pulling her up to him until her body was pressed against his, he whispered almost soundlessly into her ear.
‘Someone’s coming.’
With her head against his shoulder inhaling his scent of coffee and cinnamon, she nodded, then turned so
she could see what was happening around them. His arms were wrapped around her protectively.
But now she could hear the footsteps too. Very quietly, someone was padding down the hallway towards them.
Allie held her breath and tried to make her heart beat more softly.
They watched as a shadowy figure walked past them to Isabelle’s office door and tried the handle. Finding it locked, the figure paused for a moment as if considering the options, before walking away.
When Allie looked up at Carter questioningly he pressed his finger lightly against her lips. They did not move for five minutes, then, after he’d stepped out to look around, Carter took her hand and they hurried up the stairs.
They made it unseen down the empty hallway of the girls’ dorm into Allie’s room, where she pushed the door closed behind them, then clicked on the desk lamp.
‘Who was that?’ she whispered.
‘I couldn’t see him,’ Carter said. He wore a school uniform, though. So it’s a student.’
‘Do you think he saw us?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘He never looked our way.’
She relaxed a little. ‘I guess we’re not the only ones trying to figure out what’s really going on around here.’
The adrenalin that had propelled her through the night’s activities seemed to flood out of her body all at once, and she yawned hugely.
‘We both need some sleep,’ Carter said. ‘Tomorrow’s a school day after all.’
‘But we need to talk about all of this.’ Allie tried to force herself to feel more awake. ‘My file and that letter …’
‘After classes tomorrow – meet me at the chapel,’ he said. ‘And I’m going to breakfast at seven – go at the same time and I’ll protect you from the gossipers. In the meantime … get some sleep.’
He opened the window, then turned back to her. ‘One more thing. Earlier tonight? In my room?’
She blushed and waited for him to tell her it was a mistake.
‘Was fantastic.’ He smiled that sexy smile of his with his hair falling into his eyes, and climbed through the window.
A flood of warmth spread through her whole body. All the stress of what they’d learned tonight faded away and she smiled at the darkness.
‘Right back at ya,’ she said.
The next morning, Allie walked to breakfast at seven o’clock precisely. Carter stood waiting for her at the dining room hall.
‘Is my lady ready for her escort?’ he asked as she walked up.
‘Your lady could murder a bacon sandwich,’ she said.
‘How ladylike of my lady.’
They walked into the dining room laughing but felt the chill in the room instantly.
‘Whoa,’ Carter murmured.
Intimidated by the sense that everybody was staring at her, Allie moved a little closer to him while they served their plates from the buffet. As they hurried to where Rachel sat with Lucas, Allie could hear the whispers and harsh laughter all around them.
Rachel and Lucas both looked worried.
‘This sucks,’ Lucas said as they sat down. ‘What are we going to do?’
‘I think Isabelle has got to step up,’ Carter said. ‘There’s not much we can do, unless Allie wants us to follow her everywhere.’
‘Isabelle wouldn’t usually let this sort of thing get so out of control,’ Rachel agreed.
‘Maybe she’s trying not to show favouritism,’ Lucas suggested. ‘Everybody knows she has taken a special interest in Allie.’
‘Whatever.’ Allie stacked her bacon onto her bread. ‘All I know is I’m going to kick Katie’s arse if she comes anywhere near me today.’
Taking a gigantic bite she looked up to see Carter shaking his head.
‘What?’ she said with her mouth full.
‘Nothing,’ he said.
‘I think what he’s thinking,’ Rachel said, grinning, ‘is that’s our girl.’
‘Could I have everybody’s attention please.’ Isabelle’s voice rang out over the dining hall rumble. Silence fell.
Standing at the front of the room in a lavender cardigan open over a crisp white skirt and blouse, a silk scarf over her shoulder, she looked sterner than Allie could ever remember seeing her. ‘I would like to remind all students that bullying is grounds for expulsion on a single offence. I trust I won’t have to mention this again.’
As she turned and walked out, her footsteps echoed in the crowded room.
When Allie pointed at herself and mouthed, ‘Is that about me?’ Rachel, Carter and Lucas nodded.
Later, as they walked to class, they were divided over whether or not Isabelle had done enough to put an end to the gossip. Rachel didn’t think so, but Carter and Lucas thought she’d done all she could for now.
Walking into biology class, she saw that Jo, freed from her house arrest, was already at their table – her pixie-ish blonde hair neatly combed, and her expression subdued.
Allie didn’t know how she was going to handle this. She couldn’t really let on what she’d overheard last night, because how could she explain hearing it? And she couldn’t ask to move to a different seat – Jerry would want to know why.
The best thing to do, she decided, was take the high road.
If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all.
So she sat down next to Jo silently and turned her chair slightly so it faced away from her. Clearly Jo had decided to take the high road too, though, and they sat, side-by-side, without saying a word for seven long minutes until Jerry stepped up and began his lesson.
After class, Allie shot out of her seat and into the hallway. And she never looked back.
At lunch, Jo and Gabe avoided their usual table, sitting off in a corner of the dining room instead. Allie joined Rachel and Lucas, who, she observed, were sitting together more and more these days.
‘Hey,’ she said, dropping her bag. ‘What’s up with them?’
Rachel and Lucas exchanged a look she couldn’t quite translate.
‘The gossip,’ Rachel said after a second, ‘is that Jo was so drunk she now can’t remember what happened on the roof. And so she has decided that she believes the gossip about what happened on the roof.’
‘Oh brilliant,’ Allie said, plopping down into a seat. ‘So she now thinks I tried to kill her?’
They nodded in sync.
‘This would be funny if it weren’t happening to me.’ Allie sighed.
‘It’s not happening to me and I don’t think it’s funny,’ Rachel offered.
‘You don’t believe her?’ Allie asked hopefully.
‘No way,’ Lucas said.
‘We know her too well,’ Rachel said. ‘Look, I’ll try and talk to her later, see if I can talk some sense to her.’
‘Or at least get her to remember what really happened.’ Carter pulled out the chair next to Allie and sat down. ‘Like how she got so trolleyed she nearly killed us all. If you ask me, it’s pretty convenient that now that everybody knows something crazy happened that day she suddenly can’t recall behaving like a lunatic on day release.’
‘It’s not like her not to remember,’ Lucas said, frowning. ‘When she’s done this before she’s always remembered what happened.’
The doubt in his voice gave Allie an icy stab of worry. What if even Lucas and Rachel start doubting me? Then it would be just Carter and me.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Carter brushed the side of her head with his lips.
‘Don’t let her get you down,’ he whispered, and she found herself smiling at him in spite of everything.
She was aware that Lucas and Rachel were both watching them with dawning recognition, and that the whole school would soon know that they were together.
‘I’m good,’ she said, her voice firm. And she meant it.
For the rest of the day, Allie could not say she was bullied. Instead she was treated like a ghost – as if she wasn’t there at all.
Nobody outside of her immediate grou
p of friends spoke to her. Even when she passed Katie in the hallway, she merely turned her head away and flounced by.
As Allie walked to her room after classes ended, Jules stopped her in the hallway. ‘I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for how everyone’s behaving,’ the prefect said. ‘I spoke with Isabelle about it yesterday, and she has given Katie and two of her friends written warnings about this.’
‘You think Katie’s behind the rumours, then?’ Allie said.
‘I’ve known Katie all my life, Allie.’ Jules looked frustrated. ‘But I’ve told her we can’t be friends unless she fixes this. It is incredibly unfair to you. And it’s just not going to happen on my watch. She knows how I feel, and I expect her to sort this out.’
‘Thanks, Jules.’ The gratitude in Allie’s tone was genuine. ‘It feels weird to have people say things about you that aren’t true.’
‘If anybody harasses you or bullies you, come to Isabelle or me,’ Jules said. ‘We’ll deal with them. But, look, I know what happened between you and Katie yesterday and I’d rather this didn’t end up in a fist fight.’
Allie flushed guiltily. ‘OK, OK … I’ll try to control myself.’
When Jules had gone, Allie put on her running clothes and headed outside. It was another unusually warm afternoon – the sun felt hot on her shoulders as she jogged out to the chapel, and she decided to go the long way, taking in the summer-house as well. She enjoyed the run so much she was almost sorry when she arrived, but at the same time … there was Carter.
As she opened the gate, she saw him immediately, leaning against the ancient wooden door of the church, watching her.
‘Hey,’ she said, running down the stone path.
‘Hey back,’ he said. ‘Right on time. Look, before we go inside there’s something that we need to get out of the way.’
Reaching for her hand he pulled her to him, and in the shadows of the doorway he lowered his mouth to hers. She smiled against his lips and pulled him closer until she could feel the warmth of his body against her. Spurred on by her response he kissed her more urgently, holding her so tightly her lungs felt compressed. When he stopped a minute later, she was flushed and breathless.
‘I’m glad we got that over with,’ she said.
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