‘What?!’
‘It belongs to Isaiah. It was meant to be held in trust for him but his father was the sole trustee and sold it from under him. He’s taken the money and disappeared. The police can’t find them anywhere. Isaiah is the rightful owner.’
‘But he can’t fix it,’ I cried. ‘His papa has our money.’
Mark shook his head. ‘I know, Becs. Your mum and I have gone round and round it. But before we do anything, we have to find Isaiah.’
Chapter 85—Becs
I stood stunned as Mum stumbled out to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Isaiah’s gone. I’ve told Becs about the house,’ said Mark. ‘We’re going to find him—if we can.’
She snapped awake. ‘Right. Give me a second. I’m coming with—’
‘I’m going to try Oscar’s first,’ I said. ‘Just in case.’ I ran out the door with the torch.
‘Be careful!’ called Mum behind me.
The moon had disappeared, leaving the tracks and bush black. As I ran, the torchlight bounced up and down against the trees, making freaky shadows everywhere. I hoped Isaiah hadn’t got far. Why didn’t he tell us he didn’t want to go to the city? ‘Crazy weirdo greenie,’ I muttered. This time I said it with a huge lump in my throat. Why didn’t I listen to him about Mark? I could’ve asked Mark and sorted it. Now he’s back to blaming the house. Mark’s words hit me again. Oh my God. What was he going to do about the house?
I cut the corner onto Oscar’s track. I skidded in the pine needles only just stopping in time. ‘Oscar!’
‘What the hell are you doing out here at this hour?’
‘It’s Isaiah. He’s run away. He left a note.’
He just stood there, staring at me. The only sound was the birds beginning to wake in the trees. I grabbed his arm. The traps he held swung wildly, clanging together. ‘Don’t you get it?’ I shouted. ‘He’s going for good. He doesn’t want to go to the city and he said you don’t need him any more.’
‘Damn boy,’ he finally muttered. ‘Doesn’t realize it was for his own good.’
‘Please, Oscar. Help me find him. Do you know where he might go?’
Oscar stepped to one side of the track and threw his traps in a pile. ‘Come on, Missy. Let’s get this business sorted once and for all.’ He strode off into the bush.
Even as the darkness lifted, I was glad I had the torch. Oscar didn’t keep to the paths, but knew exactly where he was going. His injured leg didn’t slow him down at all and I had to jog to keep up with him.
When we crossed a path, I shone the torch up and down it for clues where we were. ‘Wait!’ There was something on the ground just off the path. I ran to pick it up. It was one of the hoodies we’d given Isaiah. I shone the torch further down the path to see one of the bird boxes in the trees. We were on the path to the house! ‘Of course! Oscar, I know where he is. He’s gone to get his rucksack. It’s got his new books and the knife you gave him in it. He left it at the house last night.’
This time I led and could’ve run the path with my eyes shut. Light was filtering through the trees by the time we reached the house, but there was still no sign of Isaiah.
I raced up the steps and tried the front door. It was unlocked. ‘I was right. He’s been here.’ When I turned around, Oscar had stopped on the front steps. He gazed down the veranda then up at the front door.
‘Come on, Oscar. He might still be here,’ I urged. He didn’t move. I pushed open the door and skidded into the front foyer. ‘Isaiah!’ I called. His name echoed through the house.
I glanced back at Oscar as I ran to the lounge doors. He’d stepped inside and was staring around him. I heard his gasp when he saw the portraits on the walls.
I watched him slide his beanie from his head, then approach the photo of Mrs Herrick. Slowly he moved along the pictures. I noticed he hardly looked at Joshua Herrick and then came to stand in front of the photo of the two boys.
He just stood there. I was just about frothing at the mouth wanting to find Isaiah—until I saw the look on his face. The new daylight caught the sparkle of a tear in the corner of his eye.
‘That’s me and my brother.’
Chapter 86—Becs
I swear my heart nearly stopped beating. ‘But…?’ I whispered. Oscar stood mesmerized at the portrait.
‘How…?’ A zillion questions leapt into my head in the same millisecond. If he was…If it was true, why did he live in that tiny place? Why did nobody know?
He rubbed his eyes and moved back to Mrs Herrick.
Hang on, I thought. Could it be? I’d never heard his surname. Everyone called him ‘old Oscar’. Even the social worker hadn’t said his surname. ‘But that would mean…’ My mind spun with the generation gap. ‘Oh my God! You’re Isaiah’s great-uncle.’
He gave a tiny nod. Can you believe it? All that time and no-one knew. Another Herrick secret. Suddenly a banging came from deep inside the house.
‘Isaiah!’ I said. ‘He’s still here!’
Oscar’s head snapped up. ‘Where did he leave his rucksack?’
‘In the room with the stained-glass window.’
‘The main bedroom,’ he said. He strode off through the lounge and down the halls, with me right behind him. It was true! He knew the house like he knew the bush.
‘Help!’ came Isaiah’s voice.
‘We’re coming!’ Our footsteps hammered down the halls, drowning out his calls.
We raced around the corner and into the room. Coloured sunbeams danced across the room in a rainbow.
‘Stop!’ cried Isaiah.
It was too late.
Oscar stepped into air. Most of the floor of the main bedroom had collapsed. Isaiah looked up from inside the hole, his hands raised in warning. Instinctively I snatched out, grasping Oscar’s jersey. Oscar swung his arms, trying to get his balance. Isaiah scrambled sideways as Oscar’s weight pulled me forward and we tumbled downwards into the hole with him.
Chapter 87—Becs
Becs! Becs! Are you all right?’ Isaiah’s voice came from far away. ‘Becs, wake up!’
I opened my eyes. At first I wasn’t sure who it was. Isaiah’s long black hair was coated in a fine white dust. He peered down at me, his eyes full of worry. ‘Thank goodness,’ he said. ‘Are you all right? Does anything hurt? Here, let me help you.’ As I moved, my head pounded like Oscar’s boots in the hallways. Isaiah helped me sit up. Nothing hurt, and I quickly figured out why. I’d landed on Oscar. Our fall had been broken by crumbling, rotten floorboards, but he was still unconscious. I shuffled to his side and grabbed his wrist. I’d watched enough TV to know the basics. They checked for a pulse first. Yep, there it was. Then what? I scanned my memory and nodded as I remembered. Breathing. I put my cheek close to his mouth. Yuck. ‘He’s breathing OK,’ I told Isaiah, ‘but we shouldn’t move him.’ Everything looked OK from the outside. His arms and legs weren’t twisted the wrong way or bent funny. I sighed with relief. I’m not sure if I could’ve handled that.
‘Will he be all right?’ said Isaiah. ‘I shouted for you to stop.’
‘I heard you calling out,’ I said. ‘I was so relieved you were here. I thought you’d gone.’
He looked up at the room above us. ‘I came to fetch my bag. I was nearly back at the door and the whole floor collapsed underneath me.’
I reached over and hugged him. ‘I’m so glad you’re all right.’
‘I’m sorry, Becs. I didn’t want this to happen.’ He pulled away and crouched next to Oscar. ‘I should have left my rucksack behind. I should have just gone.’
‘No!’ I said. ‘Coming here was good. If you hadn’t come here, Oscar wouldn’t have seen the photos and we still wouldn’t know.’
Just then, Oscar groaned. Gently, Isaiah shook his shoulder. ‘Oscar, wake up.’ When Oscar didn’t open his eyes, Isaiah sat back again with a sigh. ‘Still wouldn’t know what?’
Taking a deep breath I began again. I told him
about finding his note, and running into Oscar and his reaction at seeing the photos. He looked blankly at me.
‘Don’t you see?’ I grabbed his hands. ‘He’s a Herrick. He’s your great-uncle.’ Isaiah stared down at Oscar, lying in the rubble.
‘You can stay, Isaiah. You can stay right here in the bush.’
Chapter 88—Isaiah
I gazed down at Oscar. How could it be? All that time. All those years he had lived nearby, taken me hunting, taught me so much and looked out for me when my family had gone. All along and he never told me he was family too.
‘Isn’t it amazing?’ said Becs. ‘But why did he keep his name a secret?’
‘I do not know,’ I said. ‘But we have to do something. We have to get him help.’
‘Yes.’ She looked up into the room above. ‘Mark and Mum will find us. But I don’t know how long it’ll take.’
As Becs leapt to her feet, she hissed in pain. ‘Ow!’ She pulled her shorts leg up to take a look but there were only a few scratches. ‘I must’ve twisted something,’ she said.
I looked up into the room above. Even if I tried to lift Becs up there, she still wouldn’t reach the edge. And if she did get out, how far could she go on her sore leg? I needed something to stand on so I could pull myself out. Then I could get help for her and Oscar. Searching the floor gave me an idea. ‘If we stack boards against this beam, we can make a platform. I hope it is stronger than the floor.’
We worked together, but it took much longer than I thought. Pulling the torn boards out from the pile around us, we began with a wide base, building a rough staircase. It took even longer because many of the boards fell apart in our hands. We threw these to one side, searching for stronger wood to use.
‘That will be enough,’ I said at last. ‘I think I can pull myself up from there.’
‘Just a bit more,’ said Becs. ‘If you put too much weight on the edge you might pull more down.’ Nursing her leg, she checked Oscar again. ‘He’s still breathing OK. I reckon he’s just knocked out. He’s going to be so mad when he wakes up in the hospital again. I bet that doctor will be—’
‘Becs! Look at this.’ A board I’d picked up had caught on another hanging at a strange angle on the wall. When I looked closer I saw it was covering the corner of a small door. The board crumbled in my hands when I tugged on it. Becs knelt beside me and helped me pull on another. It split easily, revealing more of the door.
Becs gasped. ‘These have been nailed up here.’ She began tugging at another board. ‘There’s got to be something behind it.’
Chapter 89—Becs
We soon levered off the rest of the boards. I rubbed my hands down my shorts. They ached from all the yanking and tugging on the rough wood. Isaiah ran his fingers along the edges of the door. ‘Try to open it,’ I said.
Isaiah shook his head and sat back. ‘It is your house.’
No, it’s not, I thought. ‘I want you to open it.’ With one last look at me, Isaiah pushed on the door.
‘Harder,’ I urged, pushing with him. The door moved a centimetre. ‘Use your feet,’ I said. ‘Give it a good kick.’
When he saw I was serious, he spun round and pressed his feet against the door. With one kick, the door flew open, banging against the inside.
We threw our hands up over our heads as hundred-year-old dust rained down on us. For a horrible second I thought the rest of the floor was going to cave in. ‘Phew!’ I said. ‘That was freaky. Maybe we shouldn’t kick anything else. Hang on.’ Checking Oscar on the way, I limped over to get my torch. I gave it a quick test to see it still worked and passed it to Isaiah.
He crouched and shuffled through the door. I followed.
It was dark inside, and a strong musty smell filled my nostrils. The air was thick with dust, coating my tongue as I breathed. ‘Turn on the torch.’
Click! Our screams filled the tiny space, stabbing my ears. Isaiah dropped the torch, and darkness crashed in again.
Chapter 90—Becs
Pain spiked up my leg as I scrambled for the torch. I could hear Isaiah’s heavy breathing right beside me.
‘Here it is.’ I hesitated before pushing the button. Did we really see what I think we saw? Click! I lifted the beam of the torch, slowly this time.
‘Holy Jesus,’ he breathed. It was the first religious thing I’d heard from him. But I couldn’t have said it better myself.
There were two skeletons. One was a woman and a larger one a man. They lay side by side in the centre of the room. The musty smell came from the mouldy, tattered clothes they wore.
With the torch in one hand and Isaiah squeezing my other, we moved closer. Who were these people? Why were they in this hidden part of the cellar?
‘We should go, Becs,’ whispered Isaiah, tugging on my hand.
‘Not yet. Look at this.’ I bent closer to the skeleton of the woman. Around her neck was a heavy necklace. It was coated in a thick grey dust. I reached out and rubbed part of it. A green stone gleamed in the torch light. ‘Oh my God,’ I whispered. My stomach swaying, I sank to the floor.
‘What is it?’ said Isaiah.
‘Isaiah. Do you know who this is?’
‘No. I want to leave. We should not be here.’
‘Yes, we should. This answers everything.’ I looked up at his frightened face. ‘Look at their heads.’
He gasped at the holes in the sides of their skulls.
‘These people have been murdered,’ I whispered. ‘Hit with something hard or shot or something. Someone hid them in this cellar. That’s why it was boarded up.’
Isaiah knelt down next to me, shaking his head.
‘Isaiah. I’m sorry.’ I held his hand. ‘This is your great-grandmother. She’s wearing the same necklace in the photo we found. The man must be her boyfriend.’
Suddenly I felt like throwing up. I squeezed back out into the collapsed cellar. I took big gulps of air and when the sick feeling passed, I looked up to see Isaiah wriggling through the door.
‘Joshua Herrick must have done this,’ I said. ‘It all makes sense. Mrs Herrick didn’t leave at all. Joshua must have found them and…’ Isaiah looked as bad as I felt. ‘I don’t know whether he did it on purpose or not, but knowing they were there, knowing what he’d done…That’s why he drank so much. He’d murdered them and told everyone she’d run off with another man.’
A single tear slid down Isaiah’s face, leaving a track down his dusty cheek.
Chapter 91—Isaiah
Oh, Isaiah.’ Becs leaned over and put her arm around me.
I rubbed at my face, ashamed to be crying. How could this be? Was my family made up of nothing but secrets? ‘This was what Papa was afraid of. He must have known they were here all along.’
‘I knew there had to be a reason for him keeping you away from here,’ said Becs. ‘But it still doesn’t make sense. Why didn’t he tell the police when he found them? It wasn’t his fault. It happened a billion years ago.’
A loud groan behind us made us both jump. We turned to see Oscar trying to sit up. ‘Quick, Becs,’ I whispered. I shut the small door and she helped me cover it. I didn’t want Oscar to see it. Not yet.
Chapter 92—Becs
My flaming head is pounding. What bloody happened?’ I helped Oscar sit up as Isaiah finished hiding the little door. It was Oscar’s mother in there. How the heck were we going to tell him?
‘Isaiah,’ said Oscar. ‘What happened?’
Isaiah took a deep breath and gave a tiny shudder before he turned to face Oscar. ‘I fell through a rotten floor, Oscar. You followed me in here and fell in too.’
Oscar rubbed his head. He pushed my hand away when I tried to check for a bump. ‘I remember now,’ he grumped. ‘What’s this nonsense about running away? What are you playing at?’
I couldn’t help smiling. It was as if he’d never been unconscious; except he’d woken up grouchier than ever.
‘We are going to get you out, Oscar. We are building a platform.’<
br />
‘Get me out?’ Oscar grumbled. ‘I’ll get myself out.’ But when he went to get up, he swore. ‘Damn leg!’
‘Shhhh!’ I said. ‘I heard something.’ The others fell silent, turning their heads to listen. A voice calling my name echoed through the house. ‘It’s Nick! NICK!’ I yelled at the top of my lungs. This time Isaiah didn’t cover his ears. He yelled right alongside me. In less than a minute, Nick appeared above us.
‘Far out!’ she said. ‘Dad’s gonna spew when he sees what you did to his floor.’
‘Nick. You’re awesome! How did you find us?’ I said.
She shrugged. ‘I wanted to see where you were going. You made enough noise this morning.’
I grinned up at her, relieved that after a hundred times of telling her not to, she had followed me again.
Half an hour passed by the time Nick had fetched Mark and Mum. Mum bawled at the sight of us, safe and sound in our hole.
Isaiah didn’t say anything about what we’d found and I figured it was up to him to tell Oscar what happened to his mother. I didn’t envy him the job. It was awful. Mind you, I had a job of my own. I hadn’t told Isaiah what his papa had done and how it affected him—and us.
Chapter 93—Becs
Mum fussed so much about my leg that Mark ended up carrying me back to the shack. How embarrassing. Oscar limped all the way, leaning on Isaiah. Nick bounced up and down the path, asking heaps of questions.
For once I didn’t tell her to shut up. She’d given me such a huge hug when I climbed out of the hole, I didn’t know what to say. ‘I thought you’d got caught in a trap,’ she’d whispered, her face pale. I hugged her back. ‘No way. Us Burgess girls are way too smart for that, eh?’ I saw Mum and Mark grin.
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