The Fire Bay Adventure

by Fleur Hitchcock

“No, mate, no. Sold out.”

  “You mean, sold out, sold out – like you’ve totally absolutely run out?”

  “Yes. Now – get out of the way like a good boy. I need to get out of here.”

  “How much are they?”

  “Next time, thirty quid each.”

  “But!” Josh pointed at a battered sign that read £15.

  “Yes, but it’s the trader’s prerogative to set the price, and demand and supply sets the price, and there’s a bigger demand than supply, so next time – thirty quid.”

  “That’s…” Josh couldn’t think of the word, but he thought it began with an “e” – “ex … something.”

  The man threw the sign in the back of the van. But Josh wouldn’t let it go.

  “So, if there’s a next time, will there be more? Like, on Wednesday or something?”

  The man stopped and leaned against the back of the van, looking at Josh as if seeing him properly for the first time. “I am, as it happens, waiting for a shipment. In which case—”

  “When will that be?” asked Josh, not trusting himself to look the man in the eye and instead focusing on a frayed length of yellow nylon string tied to the back-door handle of the van.

  “I don’t know,” the man said, speaking really slowly as if Josh was only two years old. Josh noticed the man’s greasy hair hung down the same length all the way round his head. He looked like a mushroom.

  “But soon,” suggested Josh.

  “Maybe yes, maybe no. But anyway, I’m going to be selling those ones over in Porthmerron. Now…” the man said, opening the driver’s door and sitting down, “I want to get home to my lovely lady wife. And you, son, are in my way.”

  Josh stood away, trying to hide his disappointment. He put a studied scowl on his face and sniffed back an unwanted tear. The man ground the gears and reversed over the cobbles. In a fit of fury Josh pulled his red notebook from his pocket and wrote down the number plate and a description of the man. Hairy, mushroom-head hair, rude, grey eyes, yellow teeth. And as an afterthought he scribbled: Extortion. He jammed the notebook back in his pocket and stomped off to pop seaweed and throw pebbles in the sea.

  Once Josh had run off to the market, the whole time she was helping unload the burnables from the pallet and slot them into the bonfire, Ava was thinking of what Chloe had said. Was it more than coincidence?

  “Here’s the hero of the hour!” said Jake, ambling along the beach, dragging a branch. He stopped and slapped Aiden on the back.

  Ava noticed that Aiden went bright red.

  “Not just me,” he said, poking Ava, “She helped, and the others.”

  “Well, from what I heard, it was your quick thinking that saved them,” said Jake.

  “It was,” agreed Ava.

  “Have you seen it in the daylight?” asked Pearl, joining them. “Just a shell of a place,” she said. “Nothing but walls and a roof this morning. Shocking.”

  “Just as well I left my lobster pots there cluttering up the alley,” said Jake.

  “It was,” said Aiden, going an even deeper red.

  “I’m proud of you, kids,” said Pearl. “Just marvellous, what you did.”

  “Brilliant stuff,” said Jake, wandering off to the harbour.

  Ava watched him go, and over his head saw a white van wiggle slowly up the high street through the haze of smoke still hanging around the post office.

  “Anyway!” said Aiden, his ears tomato red, his glasses foggy. “Must go and … look for that cat.” He began to walk away over the beach. Chloe trotted after him.

  “Cat?” Pearl asked as Ava moved to follow them.

  “Yup. We need to find a cat – Mr Tibbs. A black cat that went missing last night during the fire. Have you seen it?” asked Ava, pretending to search the cliffs.

  “No – but actually, Ava, love, I did mean to ask, did you want to carry a barrel in the festival? Got a few extras this year, unclaimed. You’re tall enough, and with your hair in braids you’d be fine.”

  “Me?” said Ava imagining what it would be like to run through the town with a flaming barrel on her head. “Oh yes!” she said, “Although – it depends on Grandma.”

  “She carried them herself a few years ago, and your grandad,” Pearl said thoughtfully. “I’ll ask her.”

  Ava raced across the beach to catch up with the others. “Guess what? Pearl asked if I wanted to carry a barrel tomorrow.” She felt the smile practically crack her face.

  “Yay,” said Aiden.

  “Brilliant!” said Chloe. “Though I’m glad it’s not me.”

  “Josh won’t be happy,” said Aiden.

  “Where is Josh?” Ava said. “Not still hanging around hoping to get a VR headset?”

  “I do hope not,” said Chloe.

  “What do you mean?” asked Aiden.

  “Chloe thinks they’re all connected.”

  “The fires?”

  “Yes,” said Chloe, “the fires, but also the VR sets. It’s just, we know that they’re being sold very cheaply here – like, suspiciously cheaply – and suddenly there are a load of fires.”

  Aiden nodded as if he was slowly understanding what they’d said.

  “So hopefully Josh hasn’t magically found fifteen pounds to buy one too,” said Ava.

  “Exactly,” said Chloe.

  “Are you serious?” asked Aiden.

  “Totally,” said Chloe.

  “Well, let’s see if we can find the people from the post office,” said Aiden. “If they bought one, then it’s a start. If they didn’t – then…” He shrugged.

  “We could pretend that we’re looking for the cat,” said Chloe as they stomped up the hill from the beach towards the post office.

  “We could ask the police if they’ve seen Mr Tibbs, and maybe find out where the people from the post office are,” said Ava.

  Aiden looked at her as if she was mad. “Why not?” she said.

  “What – like the people from the post office ran from the fire and grabbed the cat at the same time?”

  “You got a better idea?” asked Ava.

  They set off for the village, pretending to search for Mr Tibbs. Chloe made it more realistic by shouting “Mr Tibbs” at every alley and every shed door until Ava thought that she was overdoing it. They slowed as they reached the post office. Quite a crowd had formed, and there were people in yellow high-vis jackets and safety helmets pulling the burned thatch from the roof.

  A white van was trying to get through the mass of people blocking the road.

  “Keep back, keep back please,” said a man in a helmet.

  “Does anyone know where the people from the post office are?” asked Chloe. “It’s just, they might have found a missing cat.”

  “They’ll be down the road at the pub, love, or they might be at the hotel. Or talking to the police by the warehouse fire.”

  Which is when the family they’d rescued appeared.

  “We were so lucky that you came along. Just so lucky,” said the dad. “Have you seen the place?”

  “No – Jake and Pearl were just telling—” began Ava.

  “You’re such a hero!” said the mum, lunging towards Aiden, but he was quick to step back so there was an awkward gap.

  Ava tried to fill it. “Have you found Mr Tibbs?” she asked.

  The boy let out a wail. “He’s lost forever.”

  “I’m sure he isn’t,” said the mum. “Let’s go and get some ice cream, Tom.”

  “But it’s cold,” Tom said, being led away towards the café.

  “Excuse me,” said Chloe. “Did you by any chance buy a VR set from a man at the market?”

  “We did, as it happens,” said the mum.

  “Told you!” hissed Chloe.

  “But if you’re wondering if that started the fire, we also had dinner by candlelight – so we might not have blown it out properly,” said the dad.

  “Oh!” said Ava.

  “Oh indeed,” said Aiden.

&nbs
p; “But the two fires are just a coincidence unless the people in the flat above the post office also bought a VR headset,” said Aiden, trying to be fair. “And there’s the candle.”

  The end of the courtyard was sealed off with blue police tape but people were moving around inside the burned-out building.

  “I could go in and talk to a police officer now,” said Chloe.

  “I don’t think you should,” said Aiden. “It’s a guess, AND you shouldn’t contaminate the scene.”

  Ava laughed. “We were running all over it last night – with Bella!”

  “OK. But I still don’t think we should tell the police – yet. I mean – you are just guessing.”

  Ava sighed. “I get your point,” she said, “but the chances of two fires in one night – here? In the middle of, like, nowhere?”

  Aiden felt himself turn red for the third time that morning. He was still completely sure, though, that so far it looked like two accidents, no matter how weird and coincidental they were. Not two crimes. “Please?” he said in the end, wishing that the girls would just stop attracting attention. He didn’t think he could take much more of it. He’d blush himself out of existence.

  “Look, there’s Josh,” he said, changing the subject. “Let’s see whether he got to meet the headset man.”

  In the distance Josh and Grandma crossed the high street towards the harbour. Josh looked furious and Grandma was obviously trying to calm him down.

  A moment later Grandma went back the other way. This time without Josh.

  The cousins wandered on down the alleyway towards the quayside.

  “Well, I’m still sure that there’s a connection, and I still think it’s a good thing that Josh hasn’t got any money,” said Chloe. “I mean, imagine if the farmhouse went up in flames.”

  “Where’s he gone?”

  They stopped, overlooking the harbour.

  A lone stall stood on the quayside. A blonde woman was struggling to put up a large sign that said Xarca phones £20. Behind her was a white van filled with small shiny boxes. In front of her was Josh, staring at the phones. He was deep in thought, examining the boxes. Beside him, Bella was scratching herself on the table, unaware of the effect she was having above her head where the piles of phones trembled.

  “Twenty quid, genuine article – slightly soiled stock, one day only,” the woman said. “Hey, what are you doing?”

  “Oh, sorry,” said Josh, pulling Bella away, who immediately went back to the table leg and continued to scratch her ear on the sticky-out bit. “Twenty quid?” said Josh. “For real?”

  Aiden stopped. Xarca? Xarca again?

  He wandered over and stood behind Josh, listening and watching the woman. “Here you are, sonny, absolute bargain. Totally brilliant phones. No signal down here of course, so there’s no way of knowing how well they work, but take them up the hill and you’ll be able to talk to your friends on the other side of the world clear as a bell. Twenty quid – cheap at twice the price!”

  “How come they’re, twenty pounds?” asked Josh, tapping the screen and examining the charging point.

  “Yeah, where are they from?” asked Aiden. “Twenty pounds is very cheap.”

  “Oh, contacts at the factory – you know, they sell off the seconds, the ones with damaged cases or boxes. We buy them – pass on the saving. Hello, love,” the woman said to Ava.

  “Hi,” she said, hanging back.

  “Xarca. The same make as the VR headsets,” Chloe muttered.

  “Have you got the money, then?” asked the woman, looking doubtfully at Josh.

  Josh reached into his pocket. Aiden knew he didn’t have any. “Left it at home,” he said, glancing up at Aiden and pointing at the word Xarca.

  Aiden nodded his head, wondering if Josh had made the connection between the phones and the headsets. “That’s a pity,” he said, trying to catch Josh’s eye.

  “But I could come back for one,” said Josh to the woman. “If you were here later?”

  Just then Grandma arrived on the quayside. She strolled over to the woman’s stall. “Twenty pounds for a mobile phone? That’s very good,” she said. “Can I have a look? Mine’s rather ancient. Could do with something that can take a picture. What do we think, Aiden – bargain?”

  “Grandma – er, can I have—?” started Aiden.

  “Here you are, madam.” The woman handed her one of the mobiles. “Very high quality, seldom seen in these parts. Any questions?”

  “Xarca, Aiden. Xarca,” said Josh. “Same company.”

  “Yeah, yeah, we know,” said Ava, “but we’re thinking—”

  “About the fires,” hissed Chloe.

  Grandma was deep in conversation with the woman. “Will it need charging before use? I do find that an awful nuisance.”

  “Do you think they’re the same people?” whispered Aiden.

  “I dunno,” said Josh. “It was a man with a mushroom head earlier, not a frog woman.”

  “What?” laughed Chloe.

  “Yeah – his haircut was like a mushroom – or a jellyfish. Anyway, he said he’d run out of headsets and packed up and rushed off, not before that horrible girl bought one and then, like half an hour later – this frog woman appears!”

  Aiden looked over to the stall. The woman did have a froggyness about her. Perhaps it was the green jacket and trousers. Or perhaps it was the slimy way she talked.

  “It was like – he went, she came. Like Superman and Clark Kent but more disappointing.”

  “Dur, Josh. Obviously one was a man and one was a woman,” said Ava, “but is it the same actual stand? Same table, same rubbish little plastic chair?”

  “Is it the same van?” Aiden steered Josh round in a circle until he could see the back of the van.

  “No,” said Josh, rummaging in his pocket and pulling out his red notebook. “Different number plate – see?”

  Aiden looked over Josh’s shoulder. “Except…” The letters of the number plate were the same, but in a different order. Josh had written WR51 TUP. The number plate of the van parked in front of them was TR15 WUP. “It’s like an anagram.”

  “A what?” said Josh.

  “You know,” said Chloe, “when you mix up the letters to make a different word, like in crossword puzzles.”

  Josh looked completely blank.

  “Do you remember anything about the van apart from the number plate?” muttered Aiden.

  “White…” Josh stared into the middle distance and strained his memory. “With some yellow…”

  “String hanging off the back door?” asked Chloe.

  All four of the cousins walked casually over to the van. There was a yellow string flapping in the breeze.

  “Ta-da!” said Ava. “But did you actually see the headsets?”

  Josh shook his head. “Only boxes.”

  “Now what?” asked Ava.

  “Now we definitely get the police. Even if the headsets aren’t anything to do with the fires, there’s something really odd going on,” said Chloe. “I’ll run down to the hotel – see if there’s still a police officer there. Keep that woman here.”

  Aiden looked back at the woman. She was taking a twenty-pound note from Grandma and handing her a phone in a box. “No charger, I’m afraid, but it’s a micro USB, cheap as chips.”

  “Oh – OK,” said Grandma. “Seems a bit ripe not giving a charger with it. Not even a cable?”

  “That was my last one,” said the woman, waving a box around. “Take it or leave it.”

  “But hang on, you’ve got loads,” said Josh stepping forward. “What about those?”

  “Oh, they’re empty boxes. Just for merchandising, see.” The woman glanced along the quay towards the harbour-master’s office. “Just going to pack myself away.” She was suddenly in a hurry. Aiden looked round and saw Chloe at the far end of the harbour arguing with a figure in uniform.

  “Goodness,” said Grandma, standing back as the woman grabbed her sign and rammed it in
the back of the van. “What a rush!”

  “Gotta slow her down,” muttered Ava. “Josh?”

  “I got it!” said Josh, running round the back of the stall.

  “Wait,” said Aiden, but it was too late – Josh had already taken off Bella’s lead and thrown a stick over the van so that Bella’s shortest route was straight through the flimsy stack of mobile-phone boxes.

  “Oh dear!” said Grandma as Bella charged back the same way, sending the boxes all over the quayside.

  “Sorreeee!” shouted Josh. “We’ll help!” And he raced into the muddle, flinging the boxes in the general, but not specific, direction of the van. Laughing, Ava joined in, and Bella, thinking the whole thing a terrific game, charged around tossing the boxes back out of the van and on to the quayside.

  “Oh, Bella!” hooted Grandma, grabbing at Bella’s collar and missing.

  “Stop it! Stop it!” shouted the woman. “I’ve got to go now.”

  Aiden saw her glancing along the quay towards Chloe, as if she was waiting for something. Afraid of something?

  He joined his cousins in the confusion, adding to the chaos, taking as many boxes out of the van as they put in.

  “For goodness’ sake!” said the woman, just as Chloe began to return along the quay, having failed to get the policewoman to follow her.

  “I’ll shut the door,” shouted Aiden.

  The woman ran for the driver’s seat, which is when Josh and Ava leaped into the back of the van and slammed the door as the woman drove off, scattering Grandma, Bella, Aiden and the seagulls in her desperation to get out of Drake’s Bay.

  Brother and sister stared at each other across the sea of cardboard boxes, Ava could just see the top of Josh’s head over the big piece of white cardboard that had acted as a sign.

  “Josh,” she said, “why did you do that?”

  “You jumped first,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave you on your own.”

  “That’s rubbish and you know it,” said Ava. “I’m only here because I couldn’t leave my little brother on his own in the back of a strange van.”

  The van lurched, and Ava shot across the back of the space, thumping into Josh.

  “Get off!” he said, rubbing his elbow.