It was fitted out like a lecture theatre, with rows of chairs all facing in one direction. Seated at a table at one end, flanked by a couple of young men in sharp suits, was Diane Fairchild, and on the chairs were a lot of men and women with notebooks and cameras. The cameras were clicking away at regular intervals, and right at the back of the room a man with a camcorder was filming the proceedings. I guessed it was some sort of press conference.
“…at the moment our profits are up and we are expanding our product range,” Diane was saying. “The future looks rosy for Holtech.”
A hand went up. “Miss Fairchild, your company has just won an award for innovation. How do you plan to keep Holtech ahead of its rivals?”
“I shall carry on doing what I’ve been doing ever since I became Managing Director two years ago: produce quality products at competitive prices and continue to encourage innovation.” She paused, then smiled suddenly. “Why, only last week I came across a design idea that could take Holtech into completely new territory! I forecast a bright future for our company.”
Did she mean Dad’s robot? If she was really interested, it was crucial that Donna didn’t sabotage things by making a scene.
Just then one of the smart young men whispered in Diane’s ear, and she started to wind up the meeting. “One last question before I go.” A sea of hands shot up, and she pointed to a man in the front row. “You, sir!”
“Miss Fairchild, how do you plan to combine your business career with becoming a mother?”
“Oh, that’s all settled. Lionel has no old-fashioned ideas about a woman’s place being in the home. He’s looking forward to playing a large part in bringing up our child.”
More laughter. Then she stood, indicating the meeting was over. People began to get up and move towards the exit. At the same moment I heard a door open behind us, and when I turned round there was an angry-looking woman with silver-blue hair hurrying towards us. “Excuse me!” she began.
I propelled Donna forwards, and as the doors opened fully to let out the exiting reporters, we thrust ourselves into their midst. Donna was heading for the far end of the hall where Diane Fairchild still stood, talking to her two employees, but we were swimming against the tide of people and by the time we’d pushed our way through the crowd, she’d gone.
“Where now?” I gasped.
Donna pointed to a door in front of us. “There! That’s the only other way out.”
We went through the door and found ourselves in a corridor with a thick carpet and lots of doors opening off it. We’d just reached the door marked ‘MANAGING DIRECTOR’ when the woman with the silver-blue hair appeared at the opposite end of the corridor.
“There they are!” she cried in ringing tones. I turned round to look for an escape route, and came face to face with a burly security man. We were cornered.
Chapter Nineteen: FACE TO FACE
“OK, Mrs B, I’ve got the little blighters!” said the security man, grabbing my arm with one huge hand, and Donna’s with the other. “Read ’em the riot act, shall I, and see ‘em off the premises?”
“We should call the police!” said Mrs B. “They’re trespassing!”
“Look a bit young to be industrial spies,” said the security man, grinning. “But if that’s what you want…”
“Hang on a minute!” I protested. “We’re not intruders. We walked in through Reception like all those reporters. We just want to see Diane Fairchild.”
“Yes,” Donna broke in. “She knows us. We’re family.” She practically spat out the last word.
Just then the door marked ‘MANAGING DIRECTOR’ opened and Diane herself appeared, looking angry. “What’s all this noise?” she demanded. Then she saw us and her expression changed
“Don’t worry, Miss Fairchild, it’s all under control,” said the guard, squeezing my arm even tighter, but Donna wasn’t going to be fobbed off.
“You have to speak to us,” she said. “If you don’t, we’ll make trouble for you, Annie!”
Mrs B looked outraged. “How dare you threaten Miss Fairchild…” she began, but Diane didn’t let her finish.
“It’s all right, Olive. I’ll deal with this. Scott, let them go. You two – in here!”
She swept us both into her office, and closed the door firmly behind us. Then she sat down in the leather-covered swivel chair behind her huge desk and stared hard at us. She was frowning, and for once she looked unsure of herself. Finally she said, “Ian was the only person who ever called me ‘Annie’.” For a moment her eyes seemed to stare through us at a past that only she could see. Then she shrugged as if she was putting aside her memories, and turned her attention back to us. “So now you’ve discovered who I am,” she said.
“Yes, Mother!” said Donna.
She flinched. “Look, I don’t want to criticise your father, but it wasn’t my idea to tell you I’d died. If it had been up to me, you would have been told the truth. You still didn’t know, did you, when we met at the school?”
I shook my head.
“So how did you find out?”
I glanced at Donna. Her eyes were all glittery, and she was breathing fast. She was a ticking time bomb. I launched into an explanation, praying she wouldn’t interrupt me.
“When we suggested to Dad that he should show his new design to Holtech, he went ballistic. There had to be a reason. People had been saying things about you that didn’t make sense, and Nan refused to discuss you. We decided to look for some answers. That was when we found Dad’s letters to you, and your reply…” My voice tailed off.
“And now you’ve found out the truth, you think I’m some sort of monster, is that it?”
“How could you!” Donna yelled, so suddenly I jumped. “How could you abandon two newborn babies?”
Diane’s gaze wavered for a moment. You could tell Donna’s accusations were getting to her, but she didn’t lose her temper. Instead she said coolly, “If you’ve read my letter to Ian, you know the reasons. Back then I wouldn’t have been a good mother.”
Donna placed her hands on the table and leant forward, glaring at Diane. “So how come you’re pregnant now? Are you going to give this one away too?”
Diane flinched. “This time it’s different. This time I can afford a nanny, so I won’t have to give up work, and Lionel’s very supportive. Nobody’s going to lose out this time.”
Least of all you, I thought. I could see why Donna was so upset, but I couldn’t help feeling we were all better off without Diane. All she cared about was Holtech and her career. I began to feel sorry for the new baby, when it was born.
“Look,” I said, trying to calm things down. “Never mind what happened all those years ago. All we want now is for you to have a look at Dad’s robot. It’s his best invention yet, and I know it’s a winner. We aren’t going to make a fuss about anything else, are we, Donna?”
Donna didn’t say anything; she just went on glaring at Diane, who shrugged. “I’ve already told you I’ll consider it, but it doesn’t sound as if Ian is ready to deal with Holtech yet.”
Just then, the door opened and a man came in. It was the same man who’d come to the school with Diane, and again I got the feeling I knew him from somewhere. He was wearing a worried frown.
“Is anything the matter, darling? I heard there’d been some trouble.”
I realised this must be the new husband. “Nothing I can’t handle,” Diane said, but she looked relieved at the interruption.
“The design team are waiting in the Boardroom,” he said. “Are you sure you feel up to it?”
“Stop fussing, Lionel!” she said impatiently. She turned to us. “I’m afraid if Ian won’t co-operate, there’s nothing I can do to help him. See if you can make him change his mind. Now, I really must go.” She rose from her chair and walked towards the door, which Lionel was holding open for her. “Lionel will show you the way out,” she said over her shoulder as she disappeared out of the room.
Lionel’s gaze flickered ov
er us briefly. I could tell that although he was looking at us, he didn’t really see us; his mind was somewhere else. It was plain he didn’t have any idea who we really were. Diane obviously hadn’t told him about her secret past.
“Right, then,” Lionel said. “Follow me!” and he walked out into the corridor.
I don’t know what made me do it, but before we followed him, I picked up one of Diane’s business cards from a small rack on the desk and put it in my pocket. Then we were walking back down the corridor, across the lecture hall and through Reception, where Mrs B glowered at us as we passed her desk.
The automatic doors opened to reveal steel-grey skies and a steady downpour. “Dear me, rain again. You’d better hurry or you’ll get soaked,” Lionel said. He gave a brief, dismissive wave, and then turned on his heel. As the doors closed behind us, he was already striding back the way he’d come.
As we hurried down the slip road and off the industrial estate, Donna’s anger finally surfaced. “She’s a selfish cow!” she burst out, as Holtech disappeared from view. “I’m glad she left! Who’d want a mother like that?” When I didn’t immediately agree with her, she stopped dead in her tracks and glared at me. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen under her spell too, like that grovelling husband of hers!”
“Don’t be stupid, Donna. It’s just…” I struggled to put my thoughts into words. “I’m glad she left. She wasn’t right for Dad. She would have made him miserable. But that doesn’t make her a monster.”
It was the wrong thing to say. “Don’t you think he’s miserable now?” she yelled, her face all shiny with raindrops and tears. “He’s been miserable ever since she left! And what about us? Didn’t we deserve a mother? Don’t you dare take her side!”
“Donna…” I began, but she was in full flow now, and nothing would stop her.
“Any normal person would despise her for what she did to us, but oh no, not you! You’re unnatural! Well, if you think she’s so wonderful, you can be friends with her. I don’t want anything to do with either of you!” And she ran off down the road, splashing through the puddles, oblivious to everything but her fury and unhappiness.
I didn’t try and stop her, because I still had a stitch from running after her earlier, and anyway, I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I carried on walking as quickly as the pain in my side allowed, back towards Lea Green. I’d almost reached there when a battered old Fiat turned left out of the school gates and pulled up just short of where I was standing. A face peered out of the window, and Miss Wren’s voice called out, “Alex, are you all right?”
She looked hard at me and answered her own question. “No, of course you’re not. Come in out of the rain.” She opened the door for me to get in, then she drove on a little way until we were well clear of the school. She drew in to the side of the road and switched off the engine.
I waited for her to give me the usual lecture on bunking off, but instead she said, “Did you find Donna?”
I nodded.
“And then you both went to Holtech.” It was a statement, not a question.
I stared at her. “How did you know?”
“Someone from Holtech rang the school to say two students in Lea Green uniforms had barged into a press conference.”
I silently cursed Olive Bluerinse. Without her, we could have made some excuse for disappearing. Now Bull would throw the book at us.
Miss Wren must have guessed what I was thinking. “I’ll do a deal with you, Alex,” she said. “You tell me why you went to Holtech, and what happened when you got there, and I’ll mark you down as present in my lesson, so Mr Bull won’t find out it was you and Donna. But I want the truth, mind.”
As I sat there in the warm car, with my soaking clothes gently steaming away and the pain in my side gradually subsiding, I realised what a relief it would be to confide the whole story to someone else. I’d fallen out with Donna, Dad was still unapproachable most of the time, and Nan had promised Dad not to discuss the matter with us. Who else was there? Anyway, if I wanted to avoid a deeply unpleasant session with the Pitbull, it seemed I didn’t have much choice.
I told her everything: Dad’s robot, Eye Spy, how her conversation with Mr Cohen had led to my family research, how badly Dad had reacted to our interference, and how Donna had decided to confront Diane Fairchild with the truth. When I’d got it all off my chest, I discovered I was just as angry as Donna, but not for the same reason.
I looked accusingly at Miss Wren, who’d listened to the whole story without interrupting. “You and Mr Cohen and Mr Bull all knew who our mother was, yet we didn’t know ourselves. It makes us look really stupid!” Then an even more embarrassing possibility hit me. “And what about the other kids? Did they know too? They must have been really killing themselves with laughter behind our backs.”
Miss Wren looked quite concerned then. “No, Alex, I’m sure they don’t know the truth. Mr Bull and Mr Cohen only know because they’ve both been at the school such a long time, but I’m sure none of the newer teachers do, and I only found out myself by accident.”
I hoped I could believe her, but I was beginning to have trouble believing what anyone said to me after the events of the last few days.
“I wish I’d never discovered the truth!” I said at last. “I wish we could just go back to the way things were before. Everything’s such a mess now!”
“How’s Donna taking it?” Miss Wren asked. “And where is she?”
“Donna was really upset when we left Holtech. We had an argument, and she ran off. Perhaps she went home. I don’t know.”
Miss Wren started the engine. “We’d better go and check. I want to make sure she’s safe.”
By now it was lunch hour, and we passed a few kids standing outside the chip shop on the corner. The rain had eased off at last, and there was even some blue sky as we pulled up outside our house. I unlocked the door and called out, “Donna!” But it wasn’t Donna who came out of the kitchen at the sound of my voice. It was Dad.
Chapter Twenty: MISSING
Dad stared at Miss Wren. He looked surprised.
“Lucy! What are you doing here?”
My mouth dropped open in astonishment. Why was Dad calling Miss Wren by her first name? As far as I knew, the only time they’d ever met was at the parents’ evening.
“There’ve been some developments,” she said. “You and I need to have a talk, Ian. But first of all: is Donna here?”
“No. I’m on my own. What is all this?” He looked mystified.
“Alex, why don’t you go and change into some dry clothes while I have a word with your father.” She pushed me gently towards the stairs, then gestured to Dad to follow her into the sitting room. The door swung shut behind them. Wondering what on earth was going on, I did as she told me.
By the time I’d changed and towelled down my wet hair, I’d begun to figure it out. Miss Wren was the reason Dad had wanted a clean shirt on Saturday night and then come home so late. Was she also the reason he’d cheered up a bit lately? He’d never shown much interest in women before, but that didn’t mean anything. After all, I didn’t really know what he got up to when he wasn’t at home.
I knocked on the sitting room door before I went in, just to let them know I was coming, but I needn’t have bothered. They weren’t even sitting next to each other, and they seemed to be having a serious discussion.
“…I did warn you!” Miss Wren was saying.
“I know. So did Mum, but I kept putting it off and putting it off.” Dad sounded tired and worried. Nervously, I sat down next to Miss Wren and waited for him to tell me off for reading his letters, for bunking off school and, most of all, for daring to confront Diane Fairchild. Instead, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “Alex, I owe you and Donna an apology.”
I couldn’t believe it. Dad never apologised for anything. What had got into him?
“It was wrong of me to pretend that Annie was dead. I should have been honest with you from the start, I realise
that now. I suppose once she became a local celebrity, it was only a matter of time before you two found out the truth. But you see…” He paused, searching for words. “…I never could forgive her for walking out on me – on us – and if I pretended she was dead, then I didn’t have to admit it to anybody, least of all to myself. I suppose I’ve been a fool.”
“It’s all right, Dad,” I said awkwardly. “I understand.”
“No, it’s not all right. I’ve been a terrible father. I see that now.” He leant his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.
There was a strained silence, then Miss Wren glanced at her watch. “It’s time I got back for the afternoon session,” she said, getting up. “I’ll come back after school to see if Donna’s returned.” She went over to Dad and put her hand on his shoulder. “Will you be OK, Ian?” He clasped her hand briefly and nodded. Then she went quickly out of the house.
Dad and I didn’t know what to say to each other after Miss Wren had gone. He was obviously worried about what might have happened to Donna. I was angry with her rather than worried about her, and I wanted to tell her about Dad’s unlikely friendship with Miss Wren. Why did she have to choose this particular moment to disappear?
At half past three, Nan arrived home. She already knew Donna was missing, because Miss Wren had told her when she got back to school. “Why don’t you ring her friends, Alex?” she suggested. “She could have met up with them after school.” So I rang all the numbers we had for her friends, starting with Emerald, but nobody had seen her. That was when I started to worry too.
Miss Wren returned at half past four. “Any news, Ian?” she asked Dad as soon as she stepped into the hall. Dad shook his head. He kept running his hands through his hair, which looked even more of a mess than usual.
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