Dead Time (31 page)

‘We have the notebooks, Rosie.'

The notebooks that Joshua had stolen from Frank Palmer. They had maps and pictures in them and page after page of coded writing.

‘The one I looked at had Ricky's picture in it. It was as if it was some kind of report on his death.'

‘A notebook about a murder.'

‘Do you think the others are the same?'

Joshua sighed. ‘It's hard to say, not knowing
who
the people are. We might be able to find out. The information might be there if we can just find the code.'

‘Not very likely.'

‘
The Butterfly Project
is out of print but we may be able to find a copy on the web or in a second-hand bookshop.'

‘Is there any point!' Rose said, frustrated.

‘'Course there is. You thought that we wouldn't find anything at all! Look what we've achieved. The B and B. The signatures. The notebooks, the address in
Twickenham, Frank Palmer, the phone number. These are doors which we are going to push open. Skeggsie's going to help.'

The westbound train arrived in the station. At the same time Rose could hear one coming from behind; eastbound heading for Canonbury and Dalston. It trundled into the station under the walkway. She could feel the movement of it slowing down. It was the train she should have got on three weeks before. She'd stood uncertainly waiting for the doors to open. Then she'd looked up to see Ricky on the walkway, in an argument with someone. Finally she'd left the train, run up the stairs and found a dead body. How sudden it had been. To hear him arguing and then find him lifeless.

‘Frank Palmer is free, though. He'll never pay for killing Ricky,' she said.

‘Yes, he will. I told you we would turn him into the police when we've found out more about Dad and Kathy.'

‘We've lost our chance. We'll never see him again.'

‘We will. We have his phone number. When the time is right we can find a way to get to him again. It's not over.'

Rose wondered what it would be like to see Frank Palmer again. The man was a killer and she should hate him for that. At the same time, though, he was connected to her mother and Brendan. Her mother had given him a job to look after her. It had ended in tragedy but still Frank Palmer or Richards, whatever his real name was,
had told them the truth about their parents. In her mind he was somehow responsible for bringing her mother and Joshua's father back to life. And for that she had to be grateful to him.

Rose turned and looked at Joshua. What were his feelings about this man? She wanted to ask him but felt that enough had been said. His eyes were dark and his face had a heaviness to it. He seemed terribly alone and she stepped closer and leant against him, pushing her head on to his chest. He put his arm around her and held her tightly as one of the trains moved off, under the walkway, its wheels creaking on the tracks.

‘The best thing of all is that we know that they are alive,' he whispered.

She felt for his hand and held it tightly, too full with emotion to speak.

Her mum and Brendan were alive.

Copyright © 2012 by Anne Cassidy

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First published in Great Britain in May 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published in the United States of America in May 2012 by
Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
www.bloomsburyteens.com

Electronic edition published in May 2012

For information about permission to reproduce
selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Walker BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cassidy, Anne.
The murder notebooks : dead time / Anne Cassidy.
p. cm.
Summary: Five years after seventeen-year-old Rose's mother and Joshua's
father disappeared, when the step-siblings reconnect in London, Rose
witnesses two murders which she fears are linked to coded notebooks
Joshua has found and his investigation of the disappearance.
ISBN 978-0-80272-837-1 (e-book)
[1. Missing persons—Fiction. 2. Murder—Fiction. 3. Ciphers—Fiction.
4. Books and reading—Fiction. 5. Stepfamilies—Fiction. 6. London (England)—
Fiction. 7. England—Fiction. 8. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title.
PZ7.C26857Mur 2012      [Fic]—dc23      2011024962