Cami stayed a few steps behind me, not protesting but not helpful either.
We left the path and turned on to the forest track where I’d last seen Terry. I paused, trying to orientate myself. The cloud, which had merely seemed low when we were down in the valley, was now a damp mist. After a moment I thought I’d worked out where I was. That was where I had hidden, further back there, so Terry must have disappeared somewhere to our left. I set off purposefully in that direction.
‘You look like you know where you’re going,’ said Cami.
I paused, realising for the first time that he probably wasn’t the best person to have with me on my personal mission. He might already know what I was looking for – and he might very well not want me to find it.
‘Are you going to try and stop me?’
He put up his hands and grinned. ‘No, no. I said. Would I stand in your way?’
‘So are you going to help, then? You must know where they’re hiding the stuff.’
‘Actually,’ he said slowly, as though reluctant to admit it, ‘I don’t. Dex was happy to use me but that doesn’t mean he trusts me.’
I wasn’t surprised.
‘You can help me look, then,’ I said. ‘I think it’s somewhere up here.’ I wished I felt as sure as I sounded. Cami seemed impressed. He certainly followed me along the track a little way and then up into the trees again.
We moved slowly now, looking carefully around. The mist made the trees loom up strangely in the greyness.
‘What are we looking for?’ he said.
‘I don’t know, do I? Just something …’
I don’t know what I’d expected. A newly dug patch of earth, or a tree with an opening in its trunk like in the children’s stories, but there were no obvious places. I didn’t even know how big a stash we were looking for, but I kept on peering around. The trees here were slightly further apart, which meant there was more undergrowth, ferns and bracken and masses of brambles which clung to our jeans and made it hard to progress. It was wet underfoot, too, and slippery.
And then we heard voices.
We both froze, Cami looking as horrified as I felt. I really didn’t want to run into Dex or one of his cronies while we were snooping around up here. Why hadn’t I thought of that? I’d kind of assumed they only came here at night but that wasn’t true, was it. I’d followed Terry here in daylight.
We looked around desperately for somewhere to hide. It was too early in the year for much new growth in the bracken and there was nothing really high for us to crouch behind.
We stood for what seemed like ages, peering into the mist, ready to run if we only knew which way. Then Cami grabbed my sleeve. ‘Get down. They’re too near.’
He was right. I flattened myself into the undergrowth. It might be enough to hide us if no one actually looked straight at us.
I was keen to avoid being seen, but I also wanted to know who this was. I’d suspected Dex but it didn’t sound like him. This voice was less deep and more Scottish. Still angry, though. I strained to see through the damp leaves, scratching my face on more bloody brambles in the process.
‘You wanker, thought I wouldnae see you? I ken fine when I’m being followed.’
A pale jacket came in to view. It was Terry. And he was pulling someone along behind him, someone whose hands were tied to stop him fighting back.
Finn.
I almost jumped up when I saw him, but Cami kicked me hard. ‘Not yet,’ he hissed. At least he hadn’t said not ever. We had to help Finn. Finn was never at a disadvantage, never the one in trouble. How had he, who moved so quietly and took such care, managed to get caught?
I shuddered. When I’d followed this Terry guy I’d thought he was a bit of an idiot, now I saw he was tougher than I’d realised, thickset with a scar on one cheek. In one hand he was holding the end of the rope tying Finn’s wrists, in the other a knife.
‘You probably don’t want to make so much noise,’ said Finn conversationally. ‘You never know who else is around, do you?’
‘Naebody comes here in the day,’ said the man, tugging the rope so Finn staggered. ‘I’m just going to put you somewheres to keep you good and quiet, then I’ll leave it up to Dex. He kens you’ve been spying.’
‘Good. So he’ll also know the police have their eye on him.’
I couldn’t believe how cool Finn sounded. I wanted to tell him to shut up. This thug had a knife and he looked absolutely murderous when Finn mentioned the police.
‘They’ve got nothing on us,’ he said, but glanced around nervously. Cami and I pressed our heads to the ground. Thank goodness they weren’t coming any nearer to us, just moving past. We needed to act soon or we’d have missed our chance.
‘That’s what you think,’ said Finn. Then he stopped suddenly and jerked his arms upwards. The man was caught unawares and pulled off his feet by the movement of the rope. As he stumbled, Finn leapt towards him, trying to get a hand on the knife, but it was impossible the way he was tied. Although Terry was on his knees he was still the one with the weapon. He drew his hand back sharply to use it.
Cami and I had the same idea. We both launched ourselves at the two of them but Cami was nearer, and maybe faster, and he got there first. He landed on Terry’s back and rolled with him down the slope. Now they were fighting over the knife, swearing and wrestling.
Terry had let go of the rope and Finn was immediately up and after them, using the loose tail of cord as a weapon. He slashed Terry across the face with it, swung back to avoid hitting Cami, and then moved in again to smack the man with his two fists joined. Terry was momentarily stunned and dropped the knife. In the brief pause, I grabbed it and flung it as far as I could into the trees.
Terry realised he was losing. He shook his head to focus after the hit from Finn, rolled out of Cami’s reach, and ran. ‘Coward!’ yelled Cami, who looked like he wanted to run after him.
‘Leave him,’ said Finn, sitting down suddenly. He looked winded, and not nearly as calm as when he was being held captive. ‘Shit, that wasn’t good. Glad you two were here. I don’t know why you were here, but I’m still glad.’
‘Are you okay?’ I said. I wanted to throw myself at him, hug him tight, but he was frowning, seeming preoccupied.
‘I’ll survive. I just need you to untie me.’
Cami came over to examine the knot. He seemed quite pleased with himself. Probably he was happy not to be the one on the receiving end of a thumping.
‘Going to be difficult to undo that knot,’ he said, tugging.
‘I wonder where the knife went,’ I said, moving in the direction I’d thrown it. The chances of finding it quickly didn’t look good. The mist was thicker than ever and I seemed to have chosen the biggest patch of brambles around. I began to push them apart, peering into the debris of last year’s leaves, and finding nothing.
‘Makes a change, you rescuing me,’ said Finn, watching me search.
And then we heard a new sound. Police sirens. I’d once thought them out of place in the forest but now they were becoming all too familiar. I smiled. ‘Look who’s here! Maybe they’ll catch that Terry guy?’
Instead of looking pleased, Finn leapt to his feet. ‘Forget the knife. Come on!’
‘What …?’
He wasn’t going towards the sound of the sirens but set off right into the middle of the bramble bush. Then I saw where he was heading. It wasn’t a big bush, at all. It was a tumbledown building, half buried in the ground, with the brambles growing up the sides. It didn’t stand more than a metre high, but there was a wooden door that had been hidden by a mass of dead bracken.
Finn kicked the bracken aside and tried to force the door, pushing with his shoulder and then standing back to kick with his foot. It was padlocked but the metal wasn’t going to stay attached to the wood very long if he continued like that.
It didn’t. After one final kick, it flew open with a hard thud and Finn nearly fell inside. I grabbed his arm, half to help him balanc
e, and also because I was desperate to see what was inside. I’d been wondering about this stash for a very long time.
The floor of the building was below ground level. In the gloom, I could see a little stack of plastic-wrapped parcels along one wall. I felt a cold shiver up my spine. So much trouble hidden in there, worth so much money.
Then I noticed what looked very like Finn’s guitar.
‘Get the guitar,’ said Finn, gesturing to it with his hands. ‘Quick! Now!’
The sirens had stopped somewhere on the track below us.
I crouched down and reached for the leather case, manoeuvring it awkwardly through the opening.
‘How did …?’
Finn cut across me. ‘Cami, take it as far away as you can! You’ve got about two minutes to hide the thing. I don’t care where. Just make sure the cops don’t see it! And then get back here. Move!’
Cami must have realised there was no point in asking questions. He grabbed the case and half-ran, half-scrambled further up the slope. He was swallowed almost immediately by the mist. We waited, listening to his footsteps. ‘Come on, come on,’ said Finn. He stared up the slope, willing his cousin to reappear. Then he spun round to me. ‘You go and meet the police. Bring them here.’
‘Here?’
‘Yes. They more or less know the way. But you don’t need to, er, hurry. Okay?’
‘Okay.’
This made no sense at all, but going to meet the police was actually quite attractive. I slithered down the slope and had scarcely gone twenty metres before I saw them.
‘Ah, hi,’ I said, feeling stupid. ‘We’re up here.’
There were four or five men and one policewoman. They came to a halt beside me.
‘Where?’
I waved an arm up through the mist and hoped that those few seconds delay were enough. ‘Here. I’ll show you. Oops!’ Another few seconds wasted while I pretended to lose my footing, not actually that difficult on the wet pine needles.
When we got back to the brambles, Finn and Cami were both standing beside the open doorway, waiting.
‘Away from there!’ shouted one of the officers and they stood back obediently.
‘This seems to be their store,’ said Finn to him.
‘Okay, we’ll take it from here.’
Finn nodded and he and Cami came to stand beside me.
‘You arranged for them to come here, didn’t you?’ hissed Cami to his cousin.
Finn sighed. ‘Not exactly.’ Then he raised his voice again. ‘I don’t suppose anyone can untie this for me?’ He lifted his arms to show them the rope and the policewoman rushed forward, all concern now.
‘Let me take care of that. What has been going on? No, no, don’t answer yet, we’ll take your statements in due course …’
I sat down on the damp ground, suddenly exhausted. When they’d released Finn’s hands he sat down beside me, putting an arm around my shoulders. I turned so I could put both my arms around his waist and held him close.
After a while, they led us down to the waiting cars. I didn’t even ask any questions. I was too tired to worry about what would happen next. We were safe, all of us, that was the main thing.
Chapter Thirty-Three
GEORGE
‘Why did you ask me to …?’
‘Ssh, not now.’
We were all three sitting in the back of the police equivalent of a mobile office, a white van parked on the forest track. As far as I could see there was no one around to overhear us but Finn was obviously not taking any chances. Cami looked surly but didn’t repeat his question.
‘At least they got Terry,’ I said brightly. We’d seen him being driven away in one of the police cars, looking disgruntled. I hoped he’d got hurt during his arrest.
‘And hopefully Dex,’ said Finn. ‘Apparently they’ve sent other cars direct to the festival.’
‘And who else?’ Cami was frowning now, examining his cousin warily. ‘Have you set Marcus up? What else have you told them? ’Cos I know you’ve been telling them things. Marcus knows too. Shit, you’re such a bastard.’
‘Marcus isn’t involved in drugs so how could I set him up?’
‘And why would he?’ I said, glaring at Cami in turn.
Cami opened his mouth to say more, but noticed a policeman walking by and just shrugged. We subsided into silence, waiting. We’d been provided with hot drinks and biscuits but hadn’t actually been asked many questions yet. I wondered if they were going to caution us, like you saw on television. Surely not. We weren’t suspects, were we?
‘How long do you think they’ll keep us here?’ I said after a while.
‘I don’t see why we have to stay,’ said Cami belligerently. ‘We haven’t done anything wrong.’
‘I haven’t,’ I said.
‘They haven’t charged us with anything,’ he corrected himself.
‘Might be best if we stay away from the festival site until things are … sorted out,’ said Finn. Which presumably meant Dex being taken into custody. Even if Marcus wasn’t arrested himself he was going to be furious.
So I was gobsmacked when ten minutes later a police car drew up on the road ahead of us and Marcus himself got out of it. He said something to the policeman inside, smiling and raising a hand. He seemed almost friendly. Weird! Then he hurried towards our van.
‘Cameron fucking Campbell! Are you all right?’ He stood on the top step, taking us all in, and then pulled Cami to him and hugged him roughly. ‘I didn’t know what to think when you all disappeared like that …’
‘We’re fine,’ said Cami, wriggling out of reach. He eyed his brother cautiously. ‘We had a bit of a fight with one of Dex’s friends but he came off worse.’
‘Is that right?’ Marcus was looking to Finn for confirmation and seemed to receive it. Marcus didn’t actually hug me or his cousin, but he did ask abruptly, ‘You two okay?’
We nodded.
‘Not that okay,’ said Cami, always happy to disagree. He pulled back the cuff of Finn’s camouflage jacket and showed the raw red marks made by the rope. ‘Look at this. And if George and me hadn’t been on hand to help …’
‘I would have sorted him,’ said Finn, shifting his cuff away from the grazed skin. ‘Probably.’
‘But why were you up here?’ Marcus asked. ‘Didn’t I tell you to stay on site?’
‘I was keeping George company,’ said Cami with a smirk. ‘She was playing girl detective, going to solve the whole thing and hand Dex over to the police single-handed.’
‘Jesus,’ said Finn, glaring at me. ‘How many times did I say to you …?’
‘You never said anything to me! You just told me to keep out of it. And why should I? You obviously weren’t.’
‘I know how to look after myself.’
‘Oh yeah?’
He had the good grace to look faintly embarrassed at that. Maybe he would have managed to deal with Terry himself, but I wouldn’t have bet on it.
‘And why were you up here?’ said Marcus to Finn. ‘Surely your part was already over?’
‘It should have been,’ said Finn, meeting his eyes and holding them. ‘I was keeping an eye out, just in case. Then I realised someone had hidden an extra, er, musical something. The police finding that wasn’t part of the plan.’
‘Oh no!’
‘But now it’s fine.’
Marcus might have said more but Finn opened his eyes wide in a warning and he fell silent.
There were still some secrets around, obviously.
Marcus and Cami had begun to talk in low, and then not such low, voices. ‘Time your mother came back from bloody India and started taking an interest,’ said Marcus.
Cami sniffed and said, ‘We don’t need her.’
‘You do. And you do, too, Finn. Time your Aunt Lulu made more of a bloody effort. I’m going to see to it.’
‘Good luck with that,’ said Finn, but somehow I thought he was pleased.
Yet another police car drew up be
side us.
‘What next?’ I said with a sigh. And then, ‘Oh no.’
The man climbing out of this car was the last person I expected – or wanted – to see just now. It was someone I knew very well indeed.
My dad.
Oh dear.
Marcus glanced up. ‘Oh, aye, your old man turned up a while ago. He’s been going mental.’
I stood up hurriedly and jumped down the steps from the van onto the rough ground. I’d rather meet him out here. This was a scene I really didn’t want to be witnessed.
‘Dad! Hi!’
He squeezed me to him, holding me for ages. Then he held me at arm’s length and took a long look. Then he started.
‘What the hell have you been doing? Telling me a pack of lies! You could have been anywhere, all sorts of danger, I was getting desperate. At a music festival! As if I would have agreed …’ He went on like that for quite a while.
I managed to chip in a few ‘I’m sorry’s and ‘oh you got hold of Becky’ (so that was how he’d managed to find me) but mostly I just let him carry on until he ran down. It was easier that way. And I did honestly feel bad. He looked ashen. He must have been really worried.
‘I did text you to say I was fine …’
‘Fine! Is this what you call fine? I’ll never trust a text message again!’ And he was off for another five minutes. I began to wish the police would hurry up and come and take our statements, at least that would make him stop. I kept my back to the van so I couldn’t see if Finn and Cami were watching. Even through the glass they could probably hear every word that was being said. Dad certainly wasn’t keeping his voice down.
Eventually, he wound down and said, ‘And now, young lady, you’re coming straight home with me. Janice doesn’t know I’ve found you yet and I hate to think what your mother will say …’
‘You haven’t told Mum have you?’
‘Actually, no.’ He looked embarrassed. ‘I didn’t want to tell her until I knew exactly what was going on.’
‘Thank God,’ I said sincerely.
‘Which doesn’t mean I won’t be telling her the whole truth now!’
Music and Lies (George and Finn Book 1) Page 18