Olivia's Curtain Call (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The curtain had come down triumphantly on the first half and the interval was underway. The auditorium was alive with chatter; the audience alert and excited. They knew they were watching a genuinely amazing piece of theatre, and many people were busy on their phones, tweeting about how good it was and how lucky they were to be among the first to see such a
ground-breaking
production.

Having checked Eel was OK, Jack, Fran and Alicia had gone to get drinks at the bar. The others were talking excitedly about the show, and how proud they were of their friend.

Georgia clasped her hands together. “Livy is just brilliant! And Kasha too. You’d almost think they were really in love, they’re so
convincing.”

Tom coughed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Don’t be daft, Georgie,” he said, trying and failing to not sound a bit annoyed at the suggestion.

Eel suddenly clapped her hands together and her eyes sparkled. “Ooh!” she said excitedly. “I’ve just remembered something Livy said when I was in my coma. She told me that Kasha and Abbie were madly in love with each other, and they have been for ages!”

The others gasped. Tom relaxed in his seat again.

Now Eel was the one looking uncomfortable. “Actually,” she said. “I think it’s supposed to be a secret. I forgot that bit.”

“Well, it doesn’t surprise me,” said Aeysha. “In fact, come to think of it, I saw the two of them slipping off together when we had that party at the Swan.”

“Where is Abbie, by the way?” said Eel. “I haven’t seen her.” Just then she saw Jack, Alicia and Fran walking towards them carrying lots of little tubs of ice cream, and all thoughts of Abbie and Kasha left her head.

The final lines had been spoken. There was an electric pause and then the theatre erupted. The clapping sounded like rolling thunder.

Olivia and the other actors were taking their bows on stage, all smiling delightedly. Olivia’s friends were on their feet, cheering and clapping madly; Eel was making up for the fact that she couldn’t stand by hollering her head off. Only Tom was still sat in his chair, mute with wonder.

Behind him, Jack was staring at his daughter as if he’d never seen her before. And perhaps he hadn’t. He knew now that she’d been right to take the role, that she had a huge talent that couldn’t be allowed to go unfulfilled. He thought of Toni, and swallowed; then he felt someone take his hand and squeeze it. He looked into Fran’s smiling face, and smiled back with all his heart.

Everyone turned to look at Alicia. Olivia’s grandmother said nothing but there were tears pouring down her face. She rose slowly to her feet and began to clap her granddaughter with
such feeling that the others wondered if she would ever stop.

Eel nodded at Tom and the others, and Tom took the handles of Eel’s wheelchair and pushed her out of the auditorium just as the curtain swished down for the final time. Alicia started to protest that Eel had to go straight back to hospital, but she, Jack and Fran were stuck in the middle of a row and couldn’t get out. The children raced round to the stage door.

“Eel,” said Bert, the stage-door keeper. He was an old friend of Eel’s and delighted to see her again.

“Hello, Bert,” said Eel. “Please let us in. We simply must see Livy.”

“Straight on up,” said Bert with a smile.

They all looked at the stairs, and then at the wheelchair.

“We’ll carry you!” they chorused to Eel.

Kasha had rushed straight into Olivia’s dressing room after he came off stage.

“Something’s happened to Abbie!” he cried, distraught. “She’s not here. I checked with front of house. D21 was the only empty
seat in the theatre. When I couldn’t see her during the interval, I assumed she’d just gone to get a drink. And she’s not at home because I’ve just checked with her dad. But there’s no way she’d have stayed away unless something awful had happened. And she hasn’t got her insulin. I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m going to talk to my dad,” said Olivia, picking up her phone. “He’ll know what to do.”

Just then there was a knock on the door and Eel and the others barged into the room.

“Eel!” cried Olivia, thrilled to see her sister. “Shouldn’t you be on your way back to hospital?”

“How could I do that without telling my big sis how completely fantastically amazing she is?” replied Eel. “You were brilliant, Livy, really brilliant. Mum would have been so proud.”

Olivia’s eyes filled with tears, and she kissed her sister on the cheek. “Where’s Dad?” she asked.

“On his way, I think,” said Tom. “You were unbelievable, Liv. Really.” He seemed unable to say anything else.

Olivia looked at his face and smiled. “Well, Kasha made it very easy. Didn’t you, Kasha?”

But Kasha was too agitated to reply.

“Is something wrong?” Eel asked.

“It’s Abbie,” said Kasha. “She wasn’t here tonight and we don’t know where she is. She forgot her phone so I can’t call her, and she doesn’t have her insulin pen either. We’ve got to find her,” he added desperately.

“Think, Kasha, think,” said Olivia. “If she’s not at her dad’s, where might she have gone?”

Kasha shook his head hopelessly. “I don’t know. She could be anywhere. She could be…” He suddenly paused and his face lit up. “It’s an outside chance but she could be at her dad’s office!”

“It’s worth a try,” said Olivia.

“Come on,” said Eel. “I’ve got a taxi waiting outside.”

“We’ll be with you in one second,” said Olivia. “Wardrobe will go insane if we run around London in our costumes. I’ve got to change. Find Dad and tell him what’s happening.”

Abbie was sat in a chair, her wrists and ankles bound and tied, watching Tyler. Her cousin had been bustling about the office for what felt like
hours, sorting papers and packing cardboard boxes, which he then took downstairs. The twine around her limbs was digging in painfully.

Tyler finished his last trip and came to stand in front of Abbie. He smiled tenderly down at her. Abbie had no doubt now that he was completely insane. He almost seemed to be enjoying himself.

“I’m so sorry about this, Abbie,” he said. “It wouldn’t have been necessary, either, if you hadn’t come poking your nose in where it wasn’t wanted. Another few hours and I would have been gone. True, your dad would have lost all his money, but at least he’d have had you to comfort him. This way, he’s going to be left a sad, penniless old man.”

“Tyler,” said Abbie desperately. “Let me go. Please, Tyler. Please.”

“Sorry, Abbie. It’s just not possible. I’m afraid you’re going up with the evidence.”

Abbie began screaming, and he gagged her with a scarf. He smiled again. “Think of it this way – you just get to play Joan of Arc a little earlier than expected.”

Tyler lit a match and dropped it into a pile of paper. He watched it flare up, and then put
Abbie’s dressing gown on top. It quickly caught and began to burn steadily.

“Goodbye, Abbie,” said Tyler pleasantly, then he walked to the door and opened it. He stepped through, and Abbie heard the key turn in the lock. For a second she sat in shock and then she started desperately trying to work the gag from her mouth and loosen the ties on her hands.

Chapter Thirty

The hospital taxi was speeding towards the address Kasha had given the driver. Olivia and her friends had explained to the grown-ups about Kasha and Abbie, and how worried Kasha was about her disappearance. His desperate face, and Olivia’s grave one, had made everyone realise that they needed to act quickly.

Alicia had wanted to take Eel back to the hospital first, but Eel had insisted that she was perfectly fine. Fran had agreed with her, and said that they ought to find Abbie as soon as possible if she didn’t have her insulin pen with her.

“Do you think we should call the police?” asked Jack.

Fran shook her head. “Not yet. I don’t think they’d do much anyway. She’s seventeen,
after all. They would probably say we should wait and see. Of course, the insulin issue does complicate things, but I think we should follow Kasha’s hunch first.”

“What if she’s not there?” said Kasha.

“We’ll look somewhere else,” said Olivia, and she took his hand. “I promise you we won’t stop looking until we find her.”

The taxi turned a corner and came to a stop outside the office building. Kasha raced out of the taxi and up the metal staircase to the door of the office. Olivia followed, with Alicia moving more slowly behind her. Olivia sniffed the night air. She thought she could smell burning.

Kasha was banging on the door. “Abbie! Abbie! Are you there? Abbie, open up!” He turned back. “It’s no good. I don’t think she’s in there.”

“Try again,” said Olivia. “I’m going to walk round the building,” and she turned and started down the stairs. As she did so she saw a glow of red in the window of the building next door. For a moment she thought it was a light in the building, but then she realised what it was: it was a reflection of flames burning inside the office.

“Fire!” she cried. “Someone call 999!”

Jack was out of the taxi and on his phone immediately. He talked quickly into it.

Everybody else clambered out of the taxi and stared up at the building in horror while Olivia and Jack ran round the back, trying to find a way up into the office. There was a fire escape at the back, but the door was padlocked.

Back up the steps at the front, Olivia put her ear to the door. “Abbie!” she shouted. “Abbie, are you there?”

Inside, Abbie had just managed to release her gag. “Help!” she screamed. “Somebody help me!”

Olivia and Jack looked at each other. They had to get inside and quickly. Tom ran up the steps behind them. He pointed to the building alongside. “If we could get on to the roof over there and climb down to that window, we might be able to get across to the office that way.”

“Good thinking,” said Jack. “I take it you’ve a wire with you?” Tom nodded. Jack eyed the roof. It wouldn’t be easy and it would be dangerous too. But they couldn’t wait. Smoke was beginning to come out of the roof of the Cardew office.

“Come on,” he said. “I’m going to need both your help.” They raced over to the other building and up the outside staircase. Jack slipped a stone from the plant pot outside the front door into his pocket and then climbed up the drainpipe and on to the edge of the sloping roof. He looked down at the others.

“Slippery,” he said grimly, “but not impossible.” He began to edge up over the roof. He reached the top and started to make his way down the other side. There was a moment when he slipped and everyone held their breath, but he moved slowly and carefully with complete and utter concentration. He dropped down on the window sill, took the stone out of his pocket and smashed the window. Then he reached inside, opened the catch and swung down into the building.

Within seconds he had opened the front door to let Olivia and Tom in. They ran to the window that faced the office and looked around for a suitable place to secure the tightrope. Then Jack threw the wire across to Abbie’s building and it hooked itself over the edge of the balustrade. Jack pulled it to test it was taut and safe.

“OK, I’m going over,” he said.

“Take care, Dad,” whispered Olivia.

Jack climbed up on to the wire, tested it with his foot and walked nimbly across. He got to the other side, used the stone to smash the office window, opened it and clambered in. For a moment he could see nothing. The fire was still mainly at one end of the room but there was lots of smoke. He peered into the gloom and could just make out Abbie tied to the chair. Her head was flopped on to her chest and he fervently hoped she was just unconscious, and still alive.

He knew the front door was locked so he tried the door at the back, but it wouldn’t budge either. He dragged Abbie and the chair closer to the window where there was less smoke and breathed in the fresh air with relief.

“I need you two to come across,” he said urgently, “and see if you can find some scissors or something sharp.”

Olivia picked up a pair of scissors from the desk under the window. Then she stepped on to the wire with Tom following behind her. Down below, Aeysha and the others had their hands over their mouths and Alicia averted her eyes. Fran had dialled 999 again, asking where
the fire engine was and suggesting they bring an ambulance too.

It felt like minutes, but only a second or two had passed by the time Tom and Olivia made it to the other side. Jack was coughing and spluttering from the smoke and Abbie was drifting in and out of consciousness.

Jack took the scissors from Olivia and cut Abbie free from the chair. He left her hands and feet bound.

“Right,” he said. “We’re going to have to take her across the wire.”

Olivia and Tom stared at him. They were going to attempt the impossible. Abbie was light as a feather, but nonetheless she was going to feel like a dead weight. If she woke up when they were halfway across the wire and started struggling it could spell catastrophe for all of them.

Jack saw their faces. “I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t think we could do it,” he said. “Or that we had a choice. We’re a trio. We can do this.”

Olivia and Tom nodded, and on cue the flames roared and began to spread towards them. They couldn’t stay where they were any longer and there was still no sign of the fire
engine. Very calmly and carefully they prepared themselves, and then they pulled Abbie up to join them on the window sill. It was awkward because there was so little room. They hoisted Abbie on to their shoulders and then Jack counted to three and they stepped out on to the wire. Down below, the others watched in horrified silence as the three figures walked across the wire. From where they were standing it looked as if they were walking on thin air.

Tom came first, holding Abbie high up over his shoulders, Jack was supporting her middle and Olivia was carrying her feet. They walked in single file, entirely focused on nothing but the next step. With the smoke billowing out of the window behind them, they looked strange, ancient and almost as if they were not of this world at all.

It was almost one o’clock in the morning and Eel’s hospital room was still full of people, although Kasha remained at Abbie’s bedside on the floor below. She had inhaled a lot of smoke but she was going to be fine, although the doctors said that it might have been another story if she hadn’t been rescued when she had.
She’d been able to whisper enough of what had happened to alert the police, and Tyler had been picked up at Heathrow trying to buy a ticket out of the country.

“Right,” said Jack. “I think it’s time everyone went home. Aeysha, Katie, Georgie and Tom, I’m going to call a taxi and take you all home.” They groaned but they were all exhausted too. He shepherded them out towards the lift.

While they were waiting for it to arrive, Jack said goodnight to Fran. “I’m sorry,” he said ruefully. “It didn’t turn out to be much of a date.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Fran. “I think it was perhaps the most exciting one I’ve ever been on.” She smiled at him. “It just means that our next date has a lot to live up to.”

Jack’s heart soared.

“Mind you, I now understand why the Marvell family end up in hospital so often,” Fran added. She looked at him from under her eyelashes. “But I guess I’m just going to have to get used to that.”

Alicia had gone to get some coffee, leaving Olivia and Eel alone together.

“I’m pooped,” said Eel.

“Me too,” said Olivia.

“Not surprised,” said Eel. “After all, you’ve done quite a lot today: fallen in love, died and rescued somebody from a raging inferno. You were fantastic, Livy.”

“In which bit of the day?” enquired Olivia.

“In the play
and
on the wire,” said Eel.

Olivia smiled at her, and then said, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, Eel. How much do you remember of what I told you when you were in a coma?”

“Ooh, everything, I think,” said Eel.

Olivia blushed furiously.

“It’s all right, sis,” said Eel, grinning. “All your secrets are safe with me.”