‘Shhh!’ Skender’s eyes widened. ‘You don’t know what you’re saying!’
He looked around wildly. ‘Go away! Get away from here!’
Kitty stepped back and stared at him, confused.
‘Go!’ hissed Skender. ‘And don’t come near me or my family. I don’t want to speak to you again!’
Kitty turned without another word and stumbled down the concrete stairs. Her chin was grazed where she had hit it on the brick wall and blood was seeping out. The tears flowing down her face mixed with the blood and made her chin sting more. Blinded, she somehow found her way home.
Martin was sitting at the table eating toast.
‘Hey!’ he said. ‘It’s nowhere near time to . . . ’
‘Forget it,’ she snapped. ‘It’s not them. We’re just being stupid.’
‘You’re wrong, Kitty!’ His voice followed her up the stairs. ‘You’re wrong!’
She flung herself down on her bed. Her chin was hurting, her eyes were sore and swollen, her nose was running and David was still missing. Martin put his head around the door.
‘Andrea’s on the phone,’ he said. ‘What do you want me to say?’
‘Tell her I’m not doing this any more,’ said Kitty. She pulled the pillow over her head.
18
KITTY considered faking sickness on Monday, but she knew that sooner or later she would have to go to school. She was determined to do exactly what Skender had said, and stay right away from him.
In English, Hephzibah waved and pointed to a desk close to her and Ngoc, but Kitty pretended not to see. She sat by herself and kept her head down for the whole lesson. When the bell rang, she kept writing until everyone else had gone, then she packed up her books and scurried to her next class.
Science was the worst, because Skender was there. He kept well clear of her, but she felt his presence like a poisonous spider in the room. After an introduction, the teacher announced that they would be doing a long experiment for the next few weeks, and they would need to work with a partner. Kitty’s heart sank. She saw Skender and Piao getting themselves organised at one of the benches and she was edging towards the far side of the room when a hand lightly touched her arm.
It was the mousy girl from the chess club.
‘Ummm – we didn’t get to play each other last week,’ said the girl with a tentative smile. ‘I’m Rebecca.’
‘Oh yeah. I’m Kitty.’
‘Maybe we could work together?’ offered Rebecca.
Kitty searched her mind for alternatives.
‘Umm – I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ she said finally.
Rebecca snatched her hand back as if scalded.
‘It’s not you,’ said Kitty hastily.
‘Oh, sure.’
‘No, really,’ said Kitty. ‘It’s just that I— ’
‘You don’t have to explain.’ Rebecca retreated and went to sit by herself as far away from Kitty as she could get. Kitty realised then that Rebecca always sat alone, just like her.
This day could only get worse, she thought; and so it did. The teacher paired her with a pony-tailed blonde girl called Larissa, who was usually joined at the hip to another girl so similar to her that Kitty had been wondering if they were twins. They were part of the social set often found gossiping on the bus. Larissa plonked her books down on the lab bench and glared at Kitty.
‘We’ll be doing this until the end of term,’ she announced.
‘Oh. Okay.’
‘When Camilla comes back I’m gonna have to work with her.’
‘Whatever.’
There was one good thing: Larissa worked so slowly they were still finishing well after lunchtime had started, and everyone else had gone by the time they came out. Kitty set off in the opposite direction from the chess room, looking for a refuge, but before she had got far she felt a tap on her shoulder.
‘Hey!’ Aiden was smiling, his face bright red. ‘It’s my turn to beat you.’
Various excuses came to Kitty’s mind, but she couldn’t bring herself to brush Aiden off the way she had Rebecca. She followed him miserably to the chess room.
Skender glanced up when she came in, then turned his back. She felt like a cockroach. Trembling, she sat down opposite Aiden and bent her head over the chessboard.
She played abysmally, hardly noticing the pieces, unable to plan ahead. What she did notice was how much laughter there was in the room. How could all these people be so happy?
Aiden won two games against her in record time, but he didn’t seem to take much pleasure from it. She sat gazing blankly at the chessboard, and barely registered that a different hand set up the pieces for a third game and turned the white side towards her.
‘You start,’ said a voice.
She looked up, stricken. Skender was sitting opposite her.
‘This isn’t my idea,’ he said. ‘They pull the names out of a box. My name, your name. Let’s just get it over with.’
She grabbed a pawn and moved it.
‘I wasn’t going to come here,’ she said. ‘I was hiding, but Aiden found me.’
‘Don’t talk,’ he said. ‘Just play.’
She was counting on a mercifully short game, but Skender seemed to be playing as badly as she was, if not worse. After several pointless moves they had both sacrificed a lot of pieces, but neither had made much progress. She kept her eyes on the board and didn’t speak. Around them, the laughter and chatter were louder than ever.
Skender’s queen was sitting in the path of her bishop. She considered it. He didn’t seem to be in the mood to be setting a trap for her, about to spring gleefully on her king.
Piao strolled over.
‘Did you say you were a friend of David Newman?’ he asked.
Kitty looked up. ‘That’s right.’
‘Do you know where he is?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘My sister’s been trying to get hold of him. They’re doing an assignment for Computer Studies, and he’s kind of dropped off the radar. It’s due in soon, and she’s getting worried.’
‘Oh, right,’ said Kitty. She glanced fleetingly at Skender. ‘Yeah, he’s sort of disappeared.’
‘Yeah,’ said Piao. ‘Well, if you find him . . . ’
‘Sure,’ said Kitty.
Skender stood. Other people were also on their feet, packing up and calling their results to Hephzibah and Ngoc. Kitty noticed that Rebecca had not turned up.
‘Let’s just call this a stalemate,’ said Skender.
‘Fine.’ Kitty swept the pieces off the board and crammed them into the box, eager to get out of the room. She had already made up her mind that she was never coming back to the chess club.
19
ANDREA walked past Skender’s apartment building on her way to school, but there was no way of knowing who was there. After the first excitement of tracking the family down, she was starting to see how unlikely it was that they were hiding David somewhere inside. The apartments in the buildings obviously weren’t very big, and the Ahmetis or whatever their name was had five children to fit in.
On the whole, she thought it was time to tell David’s father what they knew, and let him decide what to do about it. Maybe he would let her help set a trap, or something. Her pulse quickened at the thought.
She was at school early, for once, and had to sit through the Monday morning assembly. The Principal ran through the arrangements one more time for the big debate at the end of the week, and people around Andrea groaned. Sam’s name was mentioned, to sniggers from Tammy and Michelle, but there was no sign of Sam herself.
Andrea looked around for Martin after assembly, but she couldn’t find him before the morning classes started. First period was History, and Sam slipped into the room five minutes before the end.
‘Sorry, Miss,’ she murmured. ‘I had to go to the hairdresser for a style consultation.’
‘A what?’ Miss Tenniel was clearly as mystified as Andrea.
‘You know, Miss – trying out my hairdo for the big day, so I can look my best.’
‘Oh,’ said Miss Tenniel faintly. ‘Well, you’re wanted at the office. You might as well go now.’
‘Ooh-er,’ mocked Michelle as Sam rushed off again. ‘Has to look her best for the big day.’
‘Better try out a new face, then,’ said Tammy with a giggle. ‘You’re the one who needs a new face,’ snapped Andrea.
‘Ooh-er, listen to her,’ sneered Michelle. The bell rang and everybody jumped up to move to the next class. Andrea stuck her leg out and Michelle tripped over it.
‘Oops,’ said Andrea.
At recess she could see Martin in the distance playing soccer with a whole bunch of other boys. Sam was sitting on the sidelines watching, and Andrea retreated hastily, but before she had got far she felt someone grab her arm.
‘I think my dad is in trouble,’ Sam whispered, pulling Andrea into a quiet corner between two buildings. ‘I made my mum tell me a bit last night.’
‘What kind of trouble?’
‘Well, he was going to build this big hotel, right? He’s already put a lot of money into it. But it was a sort of partnership and this other guy, his partner, turned out to be a bit dodgy.’
‘Dodgy?’ Andrea was fascinated despite herself. ‘How?’
‘I don’t know, really. Mum wouldn’t say much. But if he’s dodgier than my dad he must be pretty bad, right? Anyway, Dad’s trying to pull out and get his money back, but the guy is kind of threatening him. So maybe those men you saw really were looking for me?’
‘No,’ said Andrea. ‘I really don’t think— ’
‘My dad’s saying we should move back with him,’ interrupted Sam. ‘Just me and Oliver, of course. He says we’d be safer with him. I just couldn’t bear it!’
‘What about your nice big room?’ said Andrea teasingly. ‘Maybe you could get your four-poster bed back.’
‘Yeah, right,’ said Sam. ‘No, I’m not going anywhere without my mum.’
‘I think you’ll be okay,’ said Andrea. ‘This is nothing to do with you. We’ve found out—’ The bell rang.
‘Look, it’s complicated,’ Andrea concluded. ‘Tell you at lunchtime, okay?’
AT LUNCHTIME she found Martin and Sam together, sitting on the grass.
‘I’m going to talk to David’s folks,’ she said, without preamble.
‘What do you think they’ll do?’ Martin was eating a sandwich, his mouth full.
‘Dunno. Go to the cops, maybe.’
‘Well, we haven’t done anything wrong,’ said Martin, a bit defensively.
‘Are you going to tell me what this is all about?’ demanded Sam.
‘Yep,’ said Andrea. ‘So, we’re pretty sure they were kidnappers that day, and we think we know who they are, but they weren’t after me or you.’
‘Who then?’ asked Sam.
‘They were after David,’ said Martin. ‘We think they’ve already got him.’
‘No kidding!’
‘I’m going to talk to his parents,’ said Andrea. ‘See if they’ve been sent . . . you know, a ransom demand.’
‘I tell you what,’ said Sam, ‘if they need ransom money I’ll get it out of my dad. I’ll make him give it to me.’
‘But you hardly even know David,’ said Martin.
‘I don’t care. If he needs the money I’ll get it.’
‘Are you sure your dad would pay?’ asked Andrea. ‘I thought he had money troubles?’
‘I’ll sit in his office,’ said Sam. ‘This is important. I’ll sit there and I won’t leave until he says yes.’ She grinned. ‘He can always find money.’
BY the time Andrea got to David’s house she had convinced herself that it would be best to talk to Moshe. She knew her nerve would fail her if she tried to tackle Alex, and it was quite likely she wouldn’t even see him. He often worked until eight or nine at night.
Things got off to a bad start when Moshe said, ‘We’d better do a bit of algebra today. We might be getting behind.’
‘Oh, we’re not doing algebra now,’ she said, not thinking. ‘We’ve started on some geometry.’
Of course he insisted on looking at her book, and she had to show him all the peculiar diagrams. He wasn’t too sure what they meant either, but he tried to puzzle them out, thinking aloud.
‘Pity David’s not here,’ he muttered. ‘He’d know all this stuff.’
‘Moshe,’ she said, putting her pen down. ‘Has David been kidnapped or not?’
‘Kidnapped?’ He frowned at her.
‘Because if he has,’ she stammered, ‘we . . . we can help.’
‘Listen, Andrea,’ said Moshe gently. ‘There is something you can do to help.’
‘There is?’
‘Yes. You can stop asking questions about David. I’ll tell you right now that he’s safe. He’s somewhere perfectly safe and secluded, and as long as nobody tries to find him he’s going to stay that way.’
‘But why . . . ’
‘Andrea, please trust me on this. Alex was worried when you told your story about the men and the white van. I don’t know what really happened, but Alex was anxious about David. It’s connected with his work, and there are reasons why I can’t tell you any more than that. We decided that David should go away for a while. Now, you must promise me that you won’t ask any more questions.’
‘But . . . ’
‘Andrea, please promise.’
‘All right,’ she muttered. ‘I promise.’
Moshe went back to the maths book, but after a minute he closed it.
‘I think we’ll put geometry aside for the time being,’ he said. ‘I’ll brush up on it before next week. What say we have a look at some poetry?’
‘Sure,’ said Andrea. ‘Or else . . . Miss Tenniel wanted us to check out some stories from the Iliad. Do you know anything about the Iliad?’
‘Does the sun rise in the east?’ said Moshe, rubbing his hands with delight.
20
KITTY was getting used to the leaden feeling in the pit of her stomach. It got worse when she approached the school gate each morning and lifted a little when she got off the bus and headed for home, but it never went away completely. She was starting to think it never would.
In the indigestible mixture of bad feelings that made up her life, one of the worst was something that she eventually recognised as terror. She was waiting for the moment when Skender would tell his friends exactly what she had done, how he had caught her spying on his family, the accusations she had hurled against his father. She couldn’t understand why it hadn’t happened yet, but clearly it hadn’t, because the chess club kids were all still being nice to her. Hephzibah and Ngoc kept on trying to include her in their conversations. She felt the heat from Aiden’s face whenever she entered a classroom. Even Piao, who seemed very reserved, had smiled at her in Science. To all these overtures she responded with desperate excuses, escaping as quickly as possible. She knew how disgusted they would be with her once they had heard the full story, and she cringed with embarrassment at the thought of enjoying their friendship under false pretences.
The only person who didn’t want to be friends with her was Rebecca. The next time their paths crossed Kitty smiled encouragingly, but Rebecca turned her back.
At home, she looked in the mirror with self-loathing.
‘Would you describe me as mousy?’ she asked her mother.
‘You’re a bit like a mouse, I suppose. A little nibbling mouse. Or maybe a possum,’ said her mother, picking up Kitty’s long, light-brown plait and letting it drop down her back. ‘A sugar glider, maybe. They’re little and sweet.’
‘Not so sweet at the moment,’ observed her father, who happened to be passing. ‘Quite sour, in fact. When are you going to cheer up?’
‘Get used to it, Paul,’ sighed her mother. ‘She’s not even in her teens yet.’
On Wednesday Larissa’s lookalike friend Camilla came back to school, surrounded by her
cronies and demanding to sit out the PE lesson. ‘All my chakras are still out of line, Miss.’ In Science, Larissa looked pointedly at Kitty, who ignored her and went on measuring things and writing the results in her book. Camilla sat at the bench with them, sighing. She said the smell of the chemicals made her feel light-headed, and after a while she tottered off to the sick bay with Larissa in attendance.
Kitty glanced at Rebecca, who couldn’t hide a little grin. Her eyes crinkled when she smiled.
When they were putting the equipment away at the end of the lesson, Kitty found herself next to Rebecca.
‘You know, you’re right to hate me,’ she said gloomily. ‘Everyone else is going to hate me soon.’
‘Hey, don’t start acting weird,’ said Rebecca. ‘I’m the weird one around here.’
Kitty knew that Moshe said David was safe, but she didn’t feel particularly reassured. Something was not right, and it wouldn’t be right until David reappeared and everyone was doing their normal things again. Maybe for her, at school, it would never be right again.
21
DAVID had been stunned and bewildered to be told he was going away. Andrea had just gone home after Monday’s dinner and he was getting ready for bed when his parents came into his room and told him to pack a bag.
‘There’s something tricky happening at your Dad’s work,’ Linda explained. ‘Some pretty bad people might be trying to get at him through his family. We think you should drop out of sight for a while.’
‘But there’s lots of stuff happening at school,’ he had said. ‘I’ve got assignments due, and—’
‘Sweetheart,’ said Linda. ‘Sometimes there are more important things than school. There’s just a chance you could be in danger, and we’re not going to take any risks. You have to trust us on this.’
Moshe had said he didn’t want to know where they were going.
‘That way, if they put the thumbscrews on me, I won’t be able to spill the beans,’ he had said. This had frightened David more than anything else. Of course it was meant as a joke, but the image of his gentle grandfather under torture was still disturbing.
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