How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini (9 page)

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Chapter 16

Ali was alone outside the tower block. The yard and the road were deserted. His own ragged breathing was the only sound. The night was like a damp cave, and the stars were hidden by clouds. He leaned back against the door, feeling the solid strength of Lever Tower behind him.

Then he pushed himself off and ran into the gloom.

His footsteps sounded loud, hitting the concrete –
bang, bang, bang, bang
.

Through the yard.

Along the pavement.

To the lane.

The woods looked different in the dark. They were no longer the spindly, thin cover of trees that they were in the daytime. At night, they were the wildwood. Their branches were twisted, clattering bone fingers. The dry leaves whispered to the night. And the night answered with cries that raised goosebumps on Ali's skin. He slowed to a walk. Then a careful tiptoe. All the while watching the trees. Searching for the shine of eyes staring back at him.

‘Hey!' A hand landed heavily on his shoulder.

‘Argh!' Ali screamed. The hand tightened. Ali ducked and pulled away. Images flicked through his mind: werewolves, demons, murderers.

‘Shh!' the voice said.

‘Who's there?' Ali could make out a huge figure, standing in the shadows. An adult. Ali stepped backwards, ready to sprint.

‘Ali?' The person stepped forward. ‘What are you doing out?'

‘Dave?' It was Caitlin's dad. Hanging about the lane in just the place where he'd run into the gang.

‘I'm just . . . I have to get my phone,' Ali stammered.

‘You shouldn't be here,' Dave said. His voice was cold and hard as ice.

‘No. I'm just going.'

‘Go home,' Dave said.

Who was Dave to tell him what to do? Dave wasn't his dad. Ali felt a flash of anger burning bright inside. ‘I have to get my phone from Gez's.'

Dave shook his head. ‘Home. Now.'

Ali could make out the thick stubble along his jaw, the darkness around his eyes. His bomber jacket made him look twice the size of a normal person.

‘Ali,' Dave's voice held a warning.

‘OK, OK. I'm going.' Ali held up his hands.

He stepped away from Dave, then turned and ran back the way he had come. As his feet pounded along the ground, he had the same thought, over and over:
What was Dave doing there?

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Chapter 17

Ali was woken early the next morning. Someone was ringing the doorbell. Again and again. He pushed back his duvet and stumbled towards the front door.

‘Who is it?' he said.

‘Me, Caitlin. Are you ready to go?'

Ali opened the door and rubbed his eyes. Caitlin looked him up and down, her lips pressed together. ‘You've got two minutes to get dressed and eat breakfast,' she said. ‘Hurry!'

Ali did as he was told. In record time, they were on their bikes, headed for Gez's. He was harder to wake than Ali, but eventually they were all three cycling towards the pet shop.

Caitlin sped out in front, with Falcon running alongside her. Ali did his best to keep up, but he and Gez lagged a little way behind.

‘I've never seen her so cross,' Gez panted. ‘Not even when I spilt orange juice on her maths book. Or the time I got glue in her hair in Art. Or that time when I lost her shoes.'

‘You lost her shoes?'

‘Yup. On a school trip. She was furious. Livid. Raging.'

‘Like this?'

‘No. This is much worse.'

The pet shop was part of a small parade of shops at the edge of the estate. There was a newsagent on one side of the pet shop and a row of terraced houses on the other. By the time that Ali and Gez arrived, Caitlin had got off her bike and leaned it against a lamp post.

Ali and Gez propped their bikes against a board advertising the local paper.
Big Cat Sighting: Hoax or Horror?
read the headline.

‘Caitlin! Wait for us!'

Caitlin gripped Falcon's lead. She looked grim and determined.

Ali turned towards the pet shop. The window display was such a higgledy-piggledy mass of wire cages, dusty toys and battered bags of food, it was impossible to see inside. Caitlin walked straight to the door and pushed.

It was locked.

She rattled at the handle, but the door didn't budge. ‘But it's the daytime and it's Tuesday. Shops are always open on a Tuesday. I don't get it,' She said.

Ali pushed and then pulled at the handle. It was no good. ‘It's not open.'

‘Perhaps the door's round the back,' Gez said hopefully.

‘Gez . . .' Caitlin spluttered, gesturing, ‘the door is right here.'

Gez shrugged. ‘I know. But I meant there might be
another
door, one we could spy at. This door is so covered in tatty adverts that we can't see anything.'

Ali nodded. ‘Let's try and get round the back. There's probably an alley or something behind these houses.' There was no obvious way through, but deliveries and things had to go somewhere.

They walked past the first house. Suddenly, Falcon darted towards the door. Caitlin tugged her back sharply, but Falcon still struggled, panting and pulling.

‘Falcon! Stop it,' Caitlin said.

‘She wants to go to that house,' Gez said.

Caitlin looked up at the red-brick terrace. It looked just like the others in the row – net curtains, china trinkets on the windowsill. It was nothing special.

Caitlin gasped.

‘What?'

‘I know this house,' she whispered. ‘It's Miss Osborne's house! That's where Falcon's real owner lives!'

‘No!' Ali looked at the house. There was something about it that made the hairs on the back of his neck tingle. It was too still, too quiet, as though it were waiting. Had Miss Osborne been kidnapped from here? Was she being held somewhere, on a boat out at sea, or in the pet shop just next door, against her will?

‘Come on.' Gez gave Ali a small prod. ‘Let's find the back door.'

A few doors down, there was a left turn that led to an alley. It was bumpy with potholes and weeds. They followed it round to the back of the houses, past a couple of squat garages on the right.

‘Which is Miss Osborne's house?' Gez asked.

‘The one next to the pet shop,' Caitlin said.

‘And which one is the pet shop, smarty-pants?'

‘I'm sure we'll recognise it,' Ali said.

Ali was right. It was easy to tell where the row of shops started. There were no fences, and their back yards were all open concrete, like a small car park. There were big bins the size of skips. Piles of stacked cardboard tied up with string leaned against them.

‘That's the pet shop. And that one's Miss Osborne's.' Ali pointed.

‘What should we do now?'

‘Take a peek. See if we can see her, or the gang. But be careful – we don't want anyone to spot us.'

They stepped slowly up to the back of the shop. A thick door was set into the wall, with a barred window next to it. Ali gripped the door handle and turned it slowly. Nothing happened; the door was locked.

‘The window,' he whispered. He and Caitlin raised themselves on tiptoe, using the metal bars to steady themselves. Ali pressed his face as near to the glass as he could. The window was dirty, but he could just about make out the room inside. There were piles of boxes against the walls: dog food. There was an open doorway in the far wall. This was just a storeroom. He felt disappointment well up inside. They wouldn't learn anything here. Was there really no clue? He gripped the bars tighter and lifted himself up, wedging his trainers against the brick wall to get a few centimetres higher.

‘Look there!' he said.

‘What?' Gez, shorter, struggled to see in too.

‘There. That door!' Ali jerked his head towards the left side of the room. A wooden door was set into the wall. It was white with an old-fashioned round handle.

Caitlin gripped the bars tightly and leaned into Ali, pushing him to one side. There wasn't enough room for the three of them
and
Falcon all staring in. ‘What about it?' she asked.

‘Where do you think it leads?'

‘Just into the shop, probably,' Gez said.

‘No. The doorway straight on goes to the shop. So where can the white door lead?'

‘Oh,' Caitlin said slowly. ‘I see. It's in the wrong wall, isn't it? It must lead into the house next door!'

‘Miss Osborne's house!' Ali let himself drop back to the ground. Caitlin landed beside him.

‘Do you think it means something?'

‘I don't know. I need to think.'

Just then, Ali heard the sound of an engine and wheels crunching over stones and gravel. ‘There's a car coming!' he whispered urgently.

‘Hide!' Caitlin tugged his sleeve and pulled him towards the huge bins at the side of the yard. He grabbed Gez on the way past.

‘I'm not getting in there!' Gez said.

‘Shh. We don't have to get in the bin, just under the cardboard. Come on. Quick!'

Ali dropped down to the ground and shoved a few flat boxes aside. Caitlin and Gez slipped in next to him. He pulled the cardboard back over them all. Falcon growled, but Caitlin's hand on her neck soothed her. The boxes smelled dry, like autumn leaves. Weak sunlight filtered through the cardboard, the colour of tea. It was a tight fit.

‘Stop wriggling!' Caitlin said.

Ali froze. His breathing sounded loud; his heartbeat sounded louder! And when Gez spoke it sounded like he was yelling.

‘Can you see who it is?'

‘Shh! They'll hear us!'

‘Yes, but
who
will hear us? Can you see?'

Ali gently leaned to the left, so that he could peek out. A white van had pulled into the yard! He could see the profile of the driver, a man with stubble on his face and head.

‘Man and van,' Ali whispered.

‘Them?'

‘Dunno. I dunno what they look like.' The side of the van was hidden by the cardboard. Gez tried to look too, but the biggest box was balanced right in the way.

Falcon whined.

‘Shh!' Ali said. Falcon cocked her head and was quiet.

The van door opened. The man moved out quickly. Across the car park, to the shop door and then inside. He was gone.

Ali's mind was racing now, as well as his heart.

A pet shop, an attempted dognap, an orange top and a connecting door. And, of course, Dave's strange night-time activities. What did it all mean?

He pushed the cardboard aside slowly and stood up. Caitlin, Gez and Falcon crawled out too.

‘Hey,' Caitlin said.

Ali looked over. She had pushed the cardboard back into place and now she was holding a piece of paper. One half of a torn envelope.

‘It's a note,' Caitlin said. She passed it to Ali.

‘
Monkey Adams. Sunday
,' he read. The words were scrawled in blue pen. It might be useful. ‘We should get away from here. The driver might come back. He tucked the note in the back pocket of his jeans and led them back to their bikes.