by Lyn Gardner
“I’m an only child, worse luck. I don’t even have cousins,” said the boy. He smiled. “If I had a sister, I’d want her to be like you.”
Olivia felt on the verge of blurting out her suspicions. As casually as she could, she asked: “What about your mum and dad?”
“My mum died,” said the boy. Olivia’s stomach lurched again. “You do ask a lot of questions,” he said. His phone bleeped, then began to ring. He looked at it and frowned. “I’m sorry, but I have to dash.”
He set off at a run. Olivia realised that she hadn’t asked him the obvious question. She sprinted after him. “Your name! What’s your name?” she called.
The boy didn’t stop, but he shouted back over his shoulder: “It’s Alfie. Alfie Marvell.”
Olivia’s legs suddenly gave way. She uttered a little mewl of pain and crouched on the grass holding her stomach. Her phone began to ring. She noticed that the call was from Tom, but she still pressed ignore.
Chapter Seventeen
Olivia walked out of the toilet block with her washbag under her arm, and passed the campsite’s little shop with its closed sign. It was a few days after her conversation with Alfie and the weather had turned really nasty. She was busy struggling to open her umbrella when she realised that there was somebody talking in the old red telephone box by the shop. The windows were all steamed up so whoever was inside couldn’t see out and she couldn’t see in. The door wasn’t quite closed and Olivia was certain it was Evie’s voice she could hear. She wondered why she was using the old-fashioned telephone box when she had a perfectly good mobile phone.
“Tonight. The Imperial Hotel. Be there.” Olivia heard the clunk of the receiver being replaced, and drew back into the shadows. The door of the telephone box opened and Evie and Tati emerged, looking furtively around.
“What if they can trace the phone call?” asked Tati.
“I wasn’t on long enough,” said Evie.
They set off towards their tent. Olivia waited a few minutes until they’d disappeared inside and then she put up her umbrella and plodded across the field to her own tent. The rain had eased a little, but the sky was heavy with thick, black clouds and from far away came a growl of thunder. The wind was whipping up too, so Olivia had to angle her umbrella carefully to stop it blowing inside out. As a result a rivulet of rain was running down her forehead and on to her nose, where it dripped mournfully off the end.
Olivia was looking forward to the warmth of the tent, which was glowing cosily, but as she came nearer, she heard Eel’s voice. What she was saying brought Olivia up short.
“I think Livy’s really unhappy about something.” Her sister’s voice sounded sad. “Dad’s really worried about her. He thinks she’s avoiding him.”
Then Aeysha said: “Well, she is behaving very weirdly.”
Olivia quietly clicked off her torch and stood frozen to the spot. They were talking about her! She knew no good ever came of eavesdropping, but she couldn’t help herself. It was becoming a bit of a habit.
“It feels a bit like when she fell out with you two and Tom over The Sound of Music,” said Eel.
“It does,” said Georgia, “but in that case Katie Wilkes-Cox was being a witch and stirring things without any of us knowing. So what we thought was happening and what actually was happening were two quite different things.”
“I spoke to Tom earlier,” said Aeysha. “He’s worried, too. He said that she’s not returning his calls.”
“What can we do?” Georgia’s voice came next. “Livy is convinced that Evie and Tati have something to do with the scam and the man who swindled Jack out of his money.”
“Well, what do you think, Georgia?” asked Aeysha. “You’re the one who’s been going around with her like you’re in some spy novel.”
Olivia guessed that Georgia was blushing at this. “I don’t know. Some of Evie and Tati’s behaviour is a bit suspicious.”
“Are you sure that Livy isn’t just jealous of Evie?” asked Aeysha. “I think there’s something more, something we don’t know about. Something is gnawing away at her. I can’t put my finger on it, but I have a feeling it goes right back to the day the others arrived here in Edinburgh.”
“I think it might have something to do with that magician boy,” said Georgia excitedly. “Livy started to say something about him the other day but she didn’t finish.”
“Maybe you could ask her about it?” said Aeysha.
“I dunno,” said Georgia. “Since the accident she’s almost stopped talking to me too. I wish Tom was here. He’d get through to her, and find out what’s going on.”
Outside the tent, Olivia shuddered as water ran off the umbrella and down the back of her pyjama neck. It roused her. Since she had learned Alfie’s name, she’d felt more and more disconnected from her friends, the other Swans, the circus, even from Eel. Everyone was behaving as if the world still turned in the same way, but for her it didn’t. It had changed. Her arm was much better, and Jack had suggested that she rehearse with him tomorrow and maybe even take part in the evening performance. But she didn’t want to. She couldn’t bear the thought of being up on the wire with him, the two of them putting their complete trust in each other, trust that was built on a lie.
Olivia sighed. She wished that her gran was around. But Alicia was still suffering badly with her arthritis and Olivia didn’t want to bother her with the stuff about Jack. She was just going to have to have it out with her dad. Tell him that she knew about Alfie and that he couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. He’d have to come clean.
Right, she thought, and coughed loudly to let the others know that she was coming in. Silence fell in the tent. She stumbled inside, smiling brightly, and began pulling off her wellington boots.
Everyone turned to beam at her and began talking at once.
“There you are, Livy!” said Aeysha, a little too brightly.
“Hello, stranger, where’ve you been?” said Georgia, a little too loudly.
“Cleaning my teeth,” said Olivia shortly.
“Lydia says that Will Todd’s teeth are going to drop out. She’s convinced they haven’t seen toothpaste since the day he arrived,” said Aeysha.
“Yes,” said Georgia, “he’s driving Mum to distraction.”
“Maybe that should be extraction,” said Aeysha, with a grin. Georgia shrieked with laughter, and even Eel got the joke. But Olivia just sighed.
There was an awkward silence, and then Eel said: “I’d better get back to my own tent. Emmy and the others will be sending out a search party.” She stuck her head outside. “It’s starting to blow a gale,” she said. “See you in the morning.” She looked back at her sister and said very solemnly: “I love you, Livy. Loads and loads.”
“We all do,” said Aeysha, quietly reaching for her friend’s hand.
Olivia knew she was going to cry but fortunately everyone called goodnight to Eel and Aeysha turned off the torch. The three of them lay in the dark.
“It’s great you’re going to be able to go back on the wire tomorrow,” said Aeysha into the darkness.
Olivia knew that Aeysha was being kind and trying to be a good friend, but she felt so fragile she could hardly speak. She longed to confide in her friends and tell them why she was angry with Jack and mistrustful of Evie, but she knew that if she did she would break down completely, so she just said gruffly: “I’m tired,” and rolled over with her back to the others.
She lay staring into the darkness for what seemed like hours, until she could hear the steady breathing of the others. The rain was lashing down and the wind tore at the canvas as if it had claws. She heard a party of Scouts, who were camping further down the field, pass by on their way back to their tents, laughing and joking. For a while it was quiet, apart from the rain hitting the tent like tiny stones and the howl of the rising wind. Then she sensed movement outside and heard two men talking in low voices. She listened harder and realised it was her dad and Pablo.
“Are you sur
e this is a good idea, Jack?” asked Pablo.
“Anything that gets me my money back is a good idea,” whispered Jack fiercely. “We’re really low on funds, Pablo. Things are desperate. I know audiences are picking up very nicely, but it’s not enough. This may be nothing, but it’s a lead and it’s worth following.”
Their whispers faded away, and a minute or two later Olivia heard a door slam and the bus’s distinctive engine start up. It lumbered along the rutted track that led to the road. Olivia’s heart was beating faster. She hoped they would both be safe, particularly on such a filthy night.
Then Olivia heard another noise outside the tent. More people were passing by, despite the rain. Somebody tripped over the edge of the tent, and Olivia heard Evie say something rude before Tati shushed her. Aeysha stirred in her sleep, coughed, turned over and fell back into a deep slumber.
Olivia sat up. Where were Evie and Tati going at this time of night? They were heading for the road. She remembered what she’d heard Evie saying on the phone – they must be going to meet someone at the Imperial Hotel that night!
She eased herself out of her sleeping bag, unzipped the tent as quietly as she could and slipped on her wellies. She crept into the cold air, shivering in her thin pyjamas. At least it had briefly stopped raining, although the sky was ominous and the wind evil. She had her torch in her hand, but she didn’t dare turn it on. She kept her distance, worried that Harry would scent her presence.
Evie and Tati were almost at the end of the track. She heard a car coming down the lane and stopping. There was the faint click of doors opening and closing. Olivia hid behind a tree and saw that the car was a taxi that reversed into the track and then turned back towards the city.
There was a sudden flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder. Olivia jumped. She felt frightened: for her dad and Pablo, and for herself standing under the trees when a storm was coming. She ran back to the tent and clambered inside just as more rain began to fall, coming so thick and fast it was as if somebody had trained a machine gun at the canvas. The wind had whipped itself up into a frenzy. Olivia was amazed that the others could sleep through such a racket.
She lay awake, listening to the storm. The walls of the tent felt so thin and insubstantial. She wished she was in her nice warm bedroom back at the Swan where she felt safe and protected; she wished they had never come to Edinburgh. The wind caught the front of the tent and it began to flap wildly where she hadn’t quite secured it properly. Aeysha woke up and groaned, then there was another flash of lighting immediately followed thunder so loud that it made Georgia sit up and scream.
“What’s happening?” asked Aeysha. There was a note of panic in her voice.
“It’s all right,” said Olivia, on her knees trying to secure the flapping canvas. “It’s just a really bad storm. I’m sure we’re safe.” But as she said the words there was a strange roaring sound, followed by a bright flash and terrible rumble, and the entire tent seemed to lift off the ground. Olivia fell back on top of Aeysha and the three girls clutched each other in terror, screeching in alarm. They heard a terrible tearing sound as if a mad-axe murderer was hacking at the canvas, and a gaping hole appeared in the side of the tent. The wind came screeching like a banshee through the hole and whisked the tent away as though it were made of tissue paper. The girls found themselves sitting in the middle of the field, the torn tent in tatters and the rain battering down on them.
A strange sight met their eyes. The mini-hurricane had blown a path right through the part of the campsite where the Swans had pitched their tents, but the rest of the campsite was virtually untouched, the tents still intact, if a little battered. The Swans were in complete disarray. Several of their tents were in shreds while Connor and Will’s had disappeared entirely. Somehow, Will was still fast asleep in his sleeping bag, snoring gently, and blissfully oblivious to the rain and all the people running around him trying to retrieve their scattered belongings.
Lydia was trying to gather everyone together and simultaneously comfort Emmy, whose teddy bear, Mr Bossyboots, had been blown into a prickly bush and couldn’t be retrieved. Connor shook Will, who sat up and looked around him with a dazed expression. “Where am I?” he kept saying, as if he had awoken to find himself on the moon.
“Where are Jack and Pablo?” Lydia was asking. “We need the keys to the bus; we can take shelter there while we dry off and work out what to do.”
“They’ve gone off somewhere in it,” said Olivia shortly.
“What?” Lydia shook her head in irritation. “Well, they should have said where they were going,” she said sharply, reaching for her phone. There was no answer from either Jack or Pablo’s phone, so she left Pablo a curt message. “Georgie and Livy, help me herd everyone into the toilet block out of the rain and then we can count heads and check nobody is hurt.”
Several other campers had staggered out of their tents and were trying to help. One of the Scout leaders fetched Mr Bossyboots from the bush, while Olivia and the others ushered the younger children towards the toilet block. At least the wind had died down now, as if it had worn itself out with all the huffing and puffing, and the rain had turned to a steady drizzle.
It seemed astonishing that just a few minutes before the weather had wreaked such total devastation, then returned to normal so quickly. Everyone was soaked through and miserable, and Eel was shaking with cold and crying because she couldn’t find her favourite tap shoes.
“I’ll go look for them,” said Olivia, giving her a hug. “But really, Eel, if all you’ve lost are your tap shoes, you should count yourself lucky. Kylie’s clothes are halfway up a tree. If the storm had been any worse we might have lost our lives.”
She could hear Lydia on the phone talking urgently to someone who she guessed was Alicia. She tramped across the field using her torch to pick a path through the devastation, and occasionally stopping to pick up an item of lost clothing. She discovered somebody’s drenched iPod and Georgia’s favourite green skirt that her dad had bought for her in a vintage shop on a day trip to Brighton.
Olivia shivered. Her feet were wet because her wellies had blown away and she was wearing flip flops. At least it had at last stopped raining, although the trees were still dripping furiously. She tried calling Jack. There was still no response. She hoped that he and Pablo were safe. She found the wreckage of Emmy and Eel’s tent, pulled it apart and quickly found Eel’s missing tap shoes. She turned back towards the toilet block and as she did so she discovered a small wooden box half hidden under the side of a nearby collapsed tent. She picked up the box and some of its contents spilled out. On the lid were engraved the initials E. P. – Evie Purcarete!
Olivia picked up the computer print-outs and newspaper clippings that had fallen out of the box. She carefully unfolded one of the newspaper clippings. It was a bit damp and fragile but perfectly readable.
Jewel Thief Strikes Again, read the headline above a report about the series of rooftop raids on Edinburgh hotels that had been puzzling the police all summer. Olivia shuffled through the clippings. They all referred to the robberies. Why on earth would Evie be keeping these news reports unless she was involved in some way? Maybe her own uncle wasn’t the only person she’d stolen from? Evie certainly had the skills to clamber across Edinburgh’s roofs in the dead of night. Maybe that’s what she was doing at this very moment. Maybe she was robbing the Imperial Hotel!
Olivia glanced at one of the computer print-outs. It took her a second to realise that it was an advertisement for a house available for rent in Edinburgh during the Festival. The very same non-existent house that Jack had paid for! Olivia’s heart skipped a beat. Finally she had evidence directly linking Evie to the scam.
She rifled through the papers, which turned out to be all of the e-mails between Jack and Mitch. Only someone who had access to Mitch’s e-mail address could have these. Olivia felt sick. What was Evie up to? What did she want? Was it another swindle? Whatever it was, she wasn’t going to
let Evie Purcarete get away with it.
Chapter Eighteen
Olivia sat in the back of the minibus, holding her sister’s hand, as they drove towards Edinburgh. She was trying to comfort Eel and Emmy. Eel was upset that nobody knew where Jack was, and Emmy, clutching a sodden Mr Bossyboots, was missing her mum and wanted to go home. They’d had to hire two minibuses and a taxi to get into town, and now they were driving through the dark deserted streets in the dead of night. Everyone was unnaturally quiet. It was as if they were all suffering from delayed shock at what had happened and the realisation that they had had a very lucky escape.
Nobody said anything but many were wondering if their Edinburgh summer was over for good. The minibus driver had the local radio station on low and they could hear ongoing reports of the freak storm. Every time there was a gust of wind Emmy squealed, and Eel had decided that the reason they couldn’t get through to Jack was because a tree had fallen on the bus, trapping her dad and Pablo inside.
As soon as Alicia had turned up in a taxi at the campsite, she had taken control. She gathered everyone together and that’s when they realised that Evie and Tati were missing. Lydia had put her hand to her mouth in horror and said, “I completely forgot about them. I was just counting Swans. Goodness, what can have happened to them? You don’t think they could be with Jack and Pablo, do you? Maybe we should call the police.”
Several of the children began to cry, but Olivia said, “Evie and Tati know how to look after themselves. I saw them leave the campsite in a taxi around midnight.”
Alicia looked relieved, before observing grimly that half the circus were running around in the middle of the night. “I’ll be having stern words with Evie and Tati when we find them,” she said. She looked hard at the Swans. “You do realise that if any of you slipped away like that, you’d be straight on the train back to London and your parents, and facing a very uncertain future at the Swan.” Everyone nodded with serious faces and chattering teeth.