New Title 1 (18 page)

Movement upstairs: the squeak of a bedspring. The creak of a floorboard. The sound of someone being sick. The flush of a toilet. Ratty held on to the hope that it would be his granddad that walked down the stairs, but it wasn’t.

“Morning. Did you sleep well?” Chase asked, walking into the kitchen wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Ratty shook his head. “I want to know where my granddad is.”

“So do I.”

“He wouldn’t leave, not without telling us.”

“Have you eaten anything?”

Ratty shook his head.

“Right, first things first. A cup of tea, then breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I don’t function without my morning cuppa.”

Ratty watched her as she brewed the kettle. He was still wary of the strange woman in his granddad’s house. What was she doing here? It didn’t make any sense. How could she win the house in a competition when it belonged to his granddad? His head spun with questions.

“By the way, were you here earlier in the day yesterday, looking through the window?” Chase asked.

“No. Why?”

“Oh, it’s probably nothing. Do you know any of your granddad’s neighbours, like the woman down the lane, Belinda?”

“Yes, I know her. She’s that old lady.”

“And what’s she like?”

“Oh, you know. Old but nice, I suppose. Why?”

“No reason really. Here you are, would you like sugar in your tea?”

Ratty shook his head and gratefully accepted the steaming brew.

“Is there any chance you’re mistaken, you know, about your granddad? Could he have moved out and you perhaps forgot he’d moved somewhere else?”

Ratty glared at Chase. “I would know if my granddad had moved. Do you think I’m stupid or something?”

“No, no, of course not. It’s just... I don’t know, strange.”

“You can say that again.”

“Those men you said were in the fog.”

“Hunters,” Ratty said, sipping his tea.

“Hunters. Did you catch any of their names?”

“No. Why, don’t you believe me?”

“I do.”

“No you don’t. I can tell. But then why should I believe you? Why should I believe that you won my granddad’s house in a competition? Don’t you think that sounds just as stupid to me?”

Chase considered this for a moment. “I suppose when you put it like that, it does.”

“And it’s not just my granddad. Your friend’s gone too.”

“She’s only gone home.”

Ratty shook his head. “You’re stupider than me then if you believe that. Can’t you see there’s something going on? They’re covering something up. They brought you here for a reason.”

Chase laughed. “Now you are being silly. Why would they want to do that? It’s not as if I have anything important. I’ve got no money, nothing they could want. You’ve been watching too many films.”

“And you haven’t been watching enough. These things happen.”

“Not to me they don’t. Now what would you like for breakfast?”

Ratty stared out of the window. “I’m not paranoid, but they’re after me,” he whispered. “Walls have ears. That’s what they say, isn’t it?”

“They also have sausages. And that’s what we’re having for breakfast. Sausage, egg and beans. How does that sound?”

“Like you want to change the subject.”

“I could swear you sound like an old man, worrying.”

Ratty sighed and shook his head.

“Well you’ve got plenty of time to worry about things when you get older. You should learn to relax and not get these silly ideas in your head.”

“If I live that long.”

“Now that’s enough of that. Look, we’ll get this sorted out after breakfast and get you home. Then you’ll see how silly you’ve been.”

Ratty didn’t reply. He watched a crow strutting across the garden before someone knocked at the front door, startling the bird into flight.

Ratty noticed the knock at the door startled Chase as much as it had the crow (she looked like she would fly away too, if she could), and she almost dropped the frying pan she had taken out from below the sink.

Ratty followed her out of the kitchen, noticing that she hesitated before finally opening the door.

“Miss Black,” a man drawled.

“Drake. What are you doing here?”

“Just calling to see if you’ve heard from a young boy who’s gone missing. We thought he might turn up here, as this is where his granddad used to live.”

“What have you done with him,” Ratty vehemently said, stepping from behind Chase so he could see the imposing figure stood in the doorway.

“Peter
Rathbone
. We’ve been
looking
for you.”

Drake’s harelip sneer grew more pronounced.

“Where’s my granddad?”

“Yes, what is going on?” Chase asked.

“Going on, Miss Black, that’s what I was going to ask you. Are you usually in the act of harbouring runaways? Didn’t you stop to think that someone would be looking for him? Worried even? Why didn’t you tell someone he was here?”

“Runaways.” Ratty glared. “Who’s a runaway?”

“Now, now Peter. I’ve come to take you back. Your parents are worried about you.”

“And I’m worried about my granddad,” Ratty replied, putting on a show of bravado he didn’t feel when faced with the behemoth before him.

“Teenagers.” Drake raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “Now you know your granddad left the village to live with you and your parents as he was getting too old to look after himself.”

“What are you on about? You’re lying. Chase, he’s lying. This is my granddad’s house. He lives here.”

Drake shook his head and gave a derisory nasal snort. “I’ll bet he’s been telling you all sorts of nonsense, hasn’t he. It’s a good job you’re old enough to know better, Miss Black.”

Ratty couldn’t believe what was happening. He could see from the expression on Chase’s face that she would rather believe Drake. His story was more acceptable.

“There you go Ratty, I told you there was nothing to worry about,” Chase said, smiling benignly at him.

“Nothing to worry about. You really are stupid.”

“That’s enough of that,” Drake barked, clipping Ratty round the ear and grabbing him by the arm.

“Hold on a minute.” Chase stepped forward to intervene.

“No,
you
hold on,” Drake spat menacingly, making Chase recoil. “Don’t you know it’s a crime to harbour a runaway minor? Do you really want to press the matter, Miss Black? Do you really want to be prosecuted for what you’ve done? Well,
do you?
”

“I ... I didn’t realise. I’m sorry.”

“Well, I just hope his parents don’t want to take the matter further.”

“But I’m
not
a runaway,” Ratty protested.

“So what are you doing here, Peter? Why aren’t you at home, where you should be?”

Ratty wanted to flee, but Drake still had a grip on his arm. “Let go of me,” he shouted.

“We don’t want to lose him again, do we? I’ll take him with me and let his parents deal with it.”

Ratty looked at Chase, imploring her to believe him, but he could see that it was too late. The illusion that is the wisdom of age had defeated him.

“Go with Mr Drake, Peter. Everything will be okay, I promise.”

Ratty noticed that Chase called him Peter, and he knew he was lost. She had succumbed to Drake’s brute threats. He screamed, struggling to break free, but Drake gripped him too tightly.

“Don’t worry, Peter. I’m sure Mr Drake will let me come with you, just to make sure everything’s all right.”

“No, Miss Black, Peter’s parents are eager to have him home. We don’t want to complicate the matter any further and I think you’ve done enough damage already.”

“I see.” Chase shrugged her shoulders in resignation. “I’m sorry, Peter, but I’m sure when this is all over, they’ll let you come and visit your granddad’s old house? And me, I hope, just to let me know everything’s okay.”

“Say thank you, Peter,” Drake said, shaking Ratty.

“Fuck you.” Ratty spat in his face.

“Now do you see what his parents have to cope with?” Drake said, wiping his face and pulling Ratty outside.

“Do you have to be so rough with him?”

“It’s the only thing they understand. Have a nice day, Miss Black.”

Ratty didn’t know what the hell was going on, and from all accounts, neither did Chase.

He looked back at the house, hoping to persuade Chase not to let Drake take him, but she had already shut the door.

***

Tears rolled down Chase’s cheeks. She didn’t know why she was so upset. She hardly knew the boy. It was just something about the way he was hauled away that worried her. She leaned against the door, half slumped, ashamed at the weakness she had shown in front of Drake. She should have spoken out more. Demanded to accompany them. Demanded to leave
Paradise
herself. But that wasn’t how she was. She was too weak, too used to skirting conflict to take a head-on stand, especially against someone as menacing as Drake. That was why she needed Jane.

She hugged her stomach and waited for the tears to stop before going into the kitchen and starting the breakfast she had intended to make for Ratty. Why would Ratty have lied about his granddad? Why would he say his granddad was still living in
Paradise
when he wasn’t? It didn’t make any sense. The thoughts turned over in her head as the overcooked sausages split like cauterised fingers in the frying pan.

Turning off the heat, she slopped the sausages onto a plate with half the fat from the frying pan, quickly put her trainers on and ran out of the house. She couldn’t let Ratty go on his own, not with Drake. Whether or not he was lying was irrelevant. He had been visibly scared, and she knew only too well how that felt.

Running down the lane, she threw a cursory glance at Belinda’s house. The curtains were drawn and smoke curled from the chimney but there was no sign of Belinda.

At the intersection at the bottom of the lane, she looked both ways, but there was no sign of Drake or Ratty. She glanced at the fog in the field beyond, at the church in the distance, toward the surgery, but there was no one around. Where could they be? she wondered, biting her bottom lip. It was like a ghost town.

Movement in the hedge to her left drew her attention. Leaves rustled as something disturbed them. Frowning, Chase approached the hedge, expecting a bird to fly out when she suddenly caught sight of a dirty face, masked by the foliage. The eyes were hollow pits, the cheeks drawn and thin; there was something about the face that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“Hello, are you coming to see me?”