Princess Phoebe (12 page)

‘Now,' says Nick, ‘
speed
, Ellie. Just grab her and run. I'll leave the van unlocked. We'll work out what to do next once we have her safe back with us.'

We walk towards the back of Lennie's row of houses. Nick looks around and checks in other directions for signs of Frank's van, but neither of us really expects to see it. We guess he'll be at home trying to look as if he's been there all day. Probably checking on telly programmes that he can claim he's been watching, just in case we've told Mrs Henderson where he lives. It's his bad luck that we turned up immediately after he'd broken into her house. On the other hand, he might assume we'd keep quiet. People round our way don't often tell the police anything, especially
about Frank, for fear of trouble. And I bet he won't worry about Big Lennie. Knowing Frank Skally, he'll be happy if Lennie gets arrested so long as he can save himself.

We reach Lennie's back gate with no trouble. Nick tries the catch and, sure enough, it's locked. He takes a breath and springs, gripping the top of the wall so he can get his left foot up against the brickwork, and then the rest of him over the top. He drops down the other side and slides back the bolt to let me in. I run quickly towards the shed, glad that I've been here before and know which way to go and what to expect. But just as I reach the shed there's a shout from the house, and the back door flies open. Lennie comes charging out – Nick's ready for him. Glancing sideways, I see my brother dive for Lennie's skinny legs and bring him down. Lennie squeals as he hits the ground.

‘Quick!' Nick shouts at me. In a flash, I have the shed door open and Princess by the collar she's still wearing, complete with Mrs Henderson's details and the nametag ‘
Phoebe
'.

‘Come on my precious,' I say to her, as her long tail wags with joy at seeing me again. ‘No time for kisses or hugs. We've got to go!' I don't think to shut the shed door after me, and am vaguely aware of a scramble of furry puppies streaming out in to the yard, and probably, I realise afterwards, out of the open gate.

Outside the gate, I let Princess go and she and I race to the place where Nick left the van. I'm about to climb into it when I change my mind. I don't trust Frank not to be hiding nearby, and then we'll be trapped as we were by Lennie when we ran from Mrs Henderson's house. So I make a decision. Instead of getting back in to the van, I urge Princess on and we run for it. Up towards the park, and in the direction of the allotments. I'm sure Nick will know where we've gone, and I reckon he'll understand.

We clear Lennie's estate in no time. Dodging between the rows of houses, there's hardly any traffic on this Monday evening. The clouds are making it dark earlier than usual and I worry that Jan's gran might have left the allotment for the day.
Should I change direction and go to Jan's house instead
? But I still can't get her on my mobile, and anyway Nick said Margaret's allotment, not Jan's house. I hope desperately that my brother will come quickly and pick me up in his van.

We fly through the park, with one eye on the dark bushes where I've known Frank to lurk before, but everything seems quiet and we reach the far gate safely. I slow down to get my breath. Taking hold of Princess's collar, I look again for Nick's van as I come out on to the road.
And there it is
! Parked just to the left of the gate. I open the back to let Princess in, and then rush round to the passenger door as relief floods through me. Nick must have fought Big Lennie and got away with no bother. With a big smile I pull down the handle and climb in. But it isn't Nick who smiles back at me – It's Frank. This isn't Nick's van at all. In the dusk I've mistaken it, thinking only that my brother would be there for me, I haven't looked properly.
How could I make such a stupid mistake
? I scream and turn to re-open the door.

But Frank's ready for that and leans over to lock it, grabbing my hands as he leans back again so that I can't pull the catch up.

‘Ellie!' he says, ‘I've been expecting you. I knew you'd never go home without trying to get that dog. I told Lennie to look out for the two of you. He sent a text to say you'd been and gone.'

I stare at him, panic strangling my voice in my throat. ‘Where's Nick?'

‘With Lennie, I expect,' smiles Frank.

I struggle against his grip. With just one of his huge hands, he's holding both of mine. I realise how skinny and hopeless my fingers look against his great hairy mitts.

‘You won't learn, will you?' he asks. ‘And now, the dog's going to have to go in the river far sooner than she would have, and you're going to have to come and watch. It's time you understood who's boss around here. In fact, little girl, you've really got up my nose lately. I've hardly been able to get my work done. And speaking of my work, I've heard on the grapevine that Charlie needs money too, or the lot of you will be out on the street. Well, well. That
will
be a shame.'

I look round frantically for someone to help as Frank turns his attention to Princess. She is cowering and trembling behind us, pressed up against the doors with her tail clenched tight between her back legs. I wonder whether I could climb over there with her, and somehow jump out.

Frank reads my mind.

‘Yes! Why don't you get in the back with your dog?' He lifts my arms and gives me a sideways shove. ‘Those doors won't open from the inside, so you'll be quite safe.'

I stagger as he drops his hold on me and turns to start-up the engine. As I slide to the back, he drives off at speed. Poor Princess lurches sideways and bangs herself on a pile of scrap metal he has in there. She yelps. I manage to get hold of her and keep her steady, though it's hard to stop us both from rolling around as Frank sets off like he's in some sort of crazy race.

‘It's not far to the river,' he says, swerving off to the left and away from the main road. He's smiling, enjoying himself.

‘I know a good spot where I've taken many a dog that didn't want to earn its keep. And I doubt there'll be any fishermen there at this time, what with this rain starting.'

He's right about the rain. Dark clouds are looming and there's water on the windscreen. I think I hear thunder in the distance. I bang frantically on the dirty glass window as we go, shouting and screaming for help, but we don't pass a single person.

I'm seriously scared.
Is Nick being held prisoner at Lennie's place
? Frank seemed very certain that he'd still be there, so maybe Lennie did find someone else to help after all. As we turn down the track towards the river, I give up hope of being rescued. Princess and I are on our own. I try to calm down and think clearly, though fear clutches at my stomach and I'm shaking all over.

‘The police have been called,' I shout at Frank, ‘and they've got your address. You'll get done and you'll be sent to prison! Kidnapping is really serious, have you thought about that?'

He hesitates for one tiny moment. ‘Nick wouldn't dare,' he says.

‘No, not Nick,' I tell him, ‘that lady you stole the dog from.'

As I speak, I hold tight to Princess, bringing her face round to rest against me to try and give her a reassuring hug. I feel her nametag dig into my neck and I have a thought.

‘You think this is Princess, don't you? Well, it isn't. It's Mrs Henderson's dog and she's called Phoebe. Mrs Henderson went mad when she got home and found you'd broken in and taken her dog. She rang the police straightaway.'

Frank goes quiet. I can't believe that he's even given me time to finish my lie, although luckily the bit about the police
is
true. As someone who hardly ever looks at his dogs, he might well wonder for a moment. All he ever thinks about is money, and even I know there are dozens, hundreds perhaps, of greyhounds with similar markings to Princess.

He hesitates again, but then, glancing back over his shoulder he says, ‘Don't make me laugh.'

‘I'm not,' I say, ‘you should look at her collar. It says
Phoebe Henderson
with a phone number. Why don't you give the number a ring and check? She might look like the dog I used to have, that you took from me, but she's not. We were at Mrs Henderson's house because she knows my granddad, and me and Nick were visiting. So you'd better not drown her dog, or you'll be in even bigger trouble: kidnapping me, breaking into a house, stealing a dog, and then drowning her.'

There's quite a long silence, until Frank says, ‘I don't believe a word you're telling me.' But his voice has lost its sarcasm. Suddenly, there's a flash of lightning and, almost at once, a loud clap of thunder that makes Frank jump. I jump too, and Princess, who hates thunder, presses herself closer to me in terror. The storm has moved quickly overhead, and the rain that comes with it rattles onto the windscreen so that it's getting impossible to see out.

‘You're a good liar,' says Frank, ‘I'll say that for you. But I think you
are
a liar, and therefore the dog has to go. Let's just call it losing the evidence, if you like.' He suddenly stops the van and gets out of the driver's seat, ducking through the rain to the side door, which he opens. I catch a glimpse of the river swirling by a few metres away; the water muddy and the raindrops splashing back high as they land. Frank reaches in to the van and starts dragging Princess towards him.

I panic. He's
not
going to take my dog. I lean forward and bite his hand until I draw blood. He pulls it back with a shout and swears at me.

‘Little bitch! I've a good mind to put you in the river too.'

He tries to get hold of me but I back away, out of his reach. He turns again to Princess.

‘Leave her alone!' I scream at him, but he takes a firmer hold of her collar and drags her out in to the rain.'

‘Look at her collar!' I yell, against the sound of a deafening clap of thunder.

He does look, and then he looks up at me, standing above him inside the van. I'm sure he must be able to see my knees shaking.

‘It says she's called Phoebe, doesn't it?'

Frank looks again and swears. His face lights up as a fork of lightning tears through the sky and disappears into the far bank of the river. By its light, I can see his confusion. He lets go of my dog.

I jump out of the van, but Princess has already disappeared into the bushes.

As both of us stare after her, I'm not quick enough, and Frank turns to take hold of me. I duck and back away again, coming to a stop against the wide trunk of a tree.

‘So, there's just us two,' he snarls, coming towards me, ‘and at least that gives me a chance to teach you a lesson.'

‘What are you going to do?' I press myself against the tree, my voice just a whisper when what I want is to scream. I have to run but I can't move.
Which way to go
? Left or right means moving dangerously close to the deep, fast-moving water; ahead means Frank. My whole body shakes and I sink to my knees.

At the same moment, I hear a crash coming from somewhere behind Frank and, as he stretches out his hand to get hold of me, my eyes catch a movement to the side of him. Two fishermen, dripping with rain and with hats pulled down tight over most of their faces, come forward out of the bushes towards us.

‘Ellie? Is that you?'

It's my wonderful twin brothers! And Princess is with them, leaning close to Sam's leg, and growling now at
Frank. She must feel more confident with the boys, as her teeth are bared and she stares at Frank, crouching low as if to spring. Sam and David stare too, trying to take in the scene: Frank, purple with rage, water pouring off his head and down his neck, blood dripping from a wound on his left hand; and their terrified little sister, who for once in her life looks so pleased to see them that she seems likely to burst into tears with relief.

Things change quickly. Frank turns and jumps in to his van. He reverses furiously and then accelerates as we all leap out of his way, Princess with us.

‘Let him go!' I call to my brothers, who look for a moment as if they might try and give chase. But Frank can't go. As he begins to move forwards, he hits a patch of mud and his van skids. He's now dangerously near the river, but seems unaware of it, reversing again and making his engine roar. As the tyres finally catch on a patch of long grass, the van lurches sideways, sliding down the bank and towards the water.

‘Run!' I shout.

Sam and David pick up their fishing stuff and grab their bikes from the wet grass where they had thrown them. We have to get away. Sam tells me to sit on his bike saddle while he pedals. We leave Frank to his fate and, with me hanging onto Sam's dripping back, we bike off up the track towards the main road, Princess running beside us. I glance behind me as we go, just catching sight of Frank standing up to his waist in water, his van tipped over at an angle on the muddy edge of the river.

As we come out on to the main road, the boys stop and look at the state of me.

‘Are you all right?' Sam asks.

I throw my arms round him and hug him, and then do the same to David. They've never looked so wonderful, safe and familiar, although with the rain still falling we can hardly see each other for drips and mud. Princess is soaked through too, and beginning to shiver under her thin greyhound coat.

‘Yes, I'm all right,' I say. ‘Thank you for rescuing me!'

‘What on earth's going on?' David asks.

‘It's too complicated to tell,' I say. ‘But we have to phone and find out if Nick's OK. He was supposed to pick me up but Frank got me instead. He'll be worried sick. And we have to phone the police. They're after Frank and we can tell them where to find him.' It comes out all in a rush.

‘Are you nuts?' David looks shocked. ‘Call the police on Frank Skally? Ellie, we're too young to die!'