Music and Lies (George and Finn Book 1) (18 page)

‘Here?’

‘Yes. They more or less know the way. But you don’t need to, er, hurry. Okay?’

‘Okay.’

This made no sense at all, but going to meet the police was actually quite attractive. I slithered down the slope and had scarcely gone twenty metres before I saw them.

‘Ah, hi,’ I said, feeling stupid. ‘We’re up here.’

There were four or five men and one policewoman. They came to a halt beside me.

‘Where?’

I waved an arm up through the mist and hoped that those few seconds delay were enough. ‘Here. I’ll show you. Oops!’ Another few seconds wasted while I pretended to lose my footing, not actually that difficult on the wet pine needles.

When we got back to the brambles, Finn and Cami were both standing beside the open doorway, waiting.

‘Away from there!’ shouted one of the officers and they stood back obediently.

‘This seems to be their store,’ said Finn to him.

‘Okay, we’ll take it from here.’

Finn nodded and he and Cami came to stand beside me.

‘You arranged for them to come here, didn’t you?’ hissed Cami to his cousin.

Finn sighed. ‘Not exactly.’ Then he raised his voice again. ‘I don’t suppose anyone can untie this for me?’ He lifted his arms to show them the rope and the policewoman rushed forward, all concern now.

‘Let me take care of that. What has been going on? No, no, don’t answer yet, we’ll take your statements in due course …’

I sat down on the damp ground, suddenly exhausted. When they’d released Finn’s hands he sat down beside me, putting an arm around my shoulders. I turned so I could put both my arms around his waist and held him close.

After a while, they led us down to the waiting cars. I didn’t even ask any questions. I was too tired to worry about what would happen next. We were safe, all of us, that was the main thing.

Chapter Thirty-Three

GEORGE

‘Why did you ask me to …?’

‘Ssh, not now.’

We were all three sitting in the back of the police equivalent of a mobile office, a white van parked on the forest track. As far as I could see there was no one around to overhear us but Finn was obviously not taking any chances. Cami looked surly but didn’t repeat his question.

‘At least they got Terry,’ I said brightly. We’d seen him being driven away in one of the police cars, looking disgruntled. I hoped he’d got hurt during his arrest.

‘And hopefully Dex,’ said Finn. ‘Apparently they’ve sent other cars direct to the festival.’

‘And who else?’ Cami was frowning now, examining his cousin warily. ‘Have you set Marcus up? What else have you told them? ’Cos I know you’ve been telling them things. Marcus knows too. Shit, you’re such a bastard.’

‘Marcus isn’t involved in drugs so how could I set him up?’

‘And why would he?’ I said, glaring at Cami in turn.

Cami opened his mouth to say more, but noticed a policeman walking by and just shrugged. We subsided into silence, waiting. We’d been provided with hot drinks and biscuits but hadn’t actually been asked many questions yet. I wondered if they were going to caution us, like you saw on television. Surely not. We weren’t suspects, were we?

‘How long do you think they’ll keep us here?’ I said after a while.

‘I don’t see why we have to stay,’ said Cami belligerently. ‘We haven’t done anything wrong.’

‘I haven’t,’ I said.

‘They haven’t charged us with anything,’ he corrected himself.

‘Might be best if we stay away from the festival site until things are … sorted out,’ said Finn. Which presumably meant Dex being taken into custody. Even if Marcus wasn’t arrested himself he was going to be furious.

So I was gobsmacked when ten minutes later a police car drew up on the road ahead of us and Marcus himself got out of it. He said something to the policeman inside, smiling and raising a hand. He seemed almost friendly. Weird! Then he hurried towards our van.

‘Cameron fucking Campbell! Are you all right?’ He stood on the top step, taking us all in, and then pulled Cami to him and hugged him roughly. ‘I didn’t know what to think when you all disappeared like that …’

‘We’re fine,’ said Cami, wriggling out of reach. He eyed his brother cautiously. ‘We had a bit of a fight with one of Dex’s friends but he came off worse.’

‘Is that right?’ Marcus was looking to Finn for confirmation and seemed to receive it. Marcus didn’t actually hug me or his cousin, but he did ask abruptly, ‘You two okay?’

We nodded.

‘Not that okay,’ said Cami, always happy to disagree. He pulled back the cuff of Finn’s camouflage jacket and showed the raw red marks made by the rope. ‘Look at this. And if George and me hadn’t been on hand to help …’

‘I would have sorted him,’ said Finn, shifting his cuff away from the grazed skin. ‘Probably.’

‘But
why
were you up here?’ Marcus asked. ‘Didn’t I tell you to stay on site?’

‘I was keeping George company,’ said Cami with a smirk. ‘She was playing girl detective, going to solve the whole thing and hand Dex over to the police single-handed.’

‘Jesus,’ said Finn, glaring at me. ‘How many times did I say to you …?’

‘You never said anything to me! You just told me to keep out of it. And why should I? You obviously weren’t.’

‘I know how to look after myself.’

‘Oh yeah?’

He had the good grace to look faintly embarrassed at that.
Maybe
he would have managed to deal with Terry himself, but I wouldn’t have bet on it.

‘And why were
you
up here?’ said Marcus to Finn. ‘Surely your part was already over?’

‘It should have been,’ said Finn, meeting his eyes and holding them. ‘I was keeping an eye out, just in case. Then I realised someone had hidden an extra, er, musical something. The police finding that wasn’t part of the plan.’

‘Oh no!’

‘But now it’s fine.’

Marcus might have said more but Finn opened his eyes wide in a warning and he fell silent.

There were still some secrets around, obviously.

Marcus and Cami had begun to talk in low, and then not such low, voices. ‘Time your mother came back from bloody India and started taking an interest,’ said Marcus.

Cami sniffed and said, ‘We don’t need her.’

‘You do. And you do, too, Finn. Time your Aunt Lulu made more of a bloody effort. I’m going to see to it.’

‘Good luck with that,’ said Finn, but somehow I thought he was pleased.

Yet another police car drew up beside us.

‘What next?’ I said with a sigh. And then, ‘Oh no.’

The man climbing out of this car was the last person I expected – or wanted – to see just now. It was someone I knew very well indeed.

My dad.

Oh dear.

Marcus glanced up. ‘Oh, aye, your old man turned up a while ago. He’s been going mental.’

I stood up hurriedly and jumped down the steps from the van onto the rough ground. I’d rather meet him out here. This was a scene I really didn’t want to be witnessed.

‘Dad! Hi!’

He squeezed me to him, holding me for ages. Then he held me at arm’s length and took a long look. Then he started.

‘What the hell have you been doing? Telling me a pack of lies! You could have been anywhere, all sorts of danger, I was getting desperate. At a music festival! As if I would have agreed …’ He went on like that for quite a while.

I managed to chip in a few ‘I’m sorry’s and ‘oh you got hold of Becky’ (so that was how he’d managed to find me) but mostly I just let him carry on until he ran down. It was easier that way. And I did honestly feel bad. He looked ashen. He must have been really worried.

‘I did text you to say I was fine …’

‘Fine! Is this what you call fine? I’ll never trust a text message again!’ And he was off for another five minutes. I began to wish the police would hurry up and come and take our statements, at least that would make him stop. I kept my back to the van so I couldn’t see if Finn and Cami were watching. Even through the glass they could probably hear every word that was being said. Dad certainly wasn’t keeping his voice down.

Eventually, he wound down and said, ‘And now, young lady, you’re coming straight home with me. Janice doesn’t know I’ve found you yet and I hate to think what your mother will say …’

‘You haven’t told Mum have you?’

‘Actually, no.’ He looked embarrassed. ‘I didn’t want to tell her until I knew exactly what was going on.’

‘Thank God,’ I said sincerely.

‘Which doesn’t mean I won’t be telling her the whole truth now!’

‘We can talk about it,’ I said, grateful for the respite. I could usually talk Dad round, although he wasn’t looking all that persuadable at the moment.

‘So, home,’ he said, looking around and seeming to realise we were in the middle of a forest with no obvious means of transport. ‘Ah, I’ll see if that nice policeman will give us a lift …’

‘I think they want me to wait and answer some questions.’

‘Questions? What? Why? I thought you said you weren’t involved in anything. Georgina …’

I hurried on, I really didn’t want to hear another rant. ‘I haven’t done anything wrong, Dad. But they’ll want to know what I saw, won’t they? Apparently they have broken up a drug-dealing gang and we – Finn and Cami and I – were, er, the last to see one of the members.’

Dad rubbed his hand nervously over his bald head. I knew he’d never go against the wishes of the police. ‘Are you sure they need to question you right now? I’d prefer to get you home …’

‘Why don’t we ask them?’ I said. The officer who seemed to be in charge, the one who had exchanged a few sentences with Finn earlier on, had now returned.

Chapter Thirty-Four

FINN

I couldn’t help feeling sorry for George, the way her dad was going on. Cami was nearly crapping himself, sniggering at someone else getting in trouble, now that Marcus had let him alone. But I could see she was embarrassed and sorry and really pissed off all at once. She’d managed to stay at the festival until now, the afternoon of the very last day. And, just when all (well, most) of the problems had been solved she was going to have to leave.

I could certainly understand why she was upset.

I couldn’t help interfering. It’s just the way I am. She introduced me and Cami to her dad and he ended up sitting with us while she was taken to another van for her interview. Cami took out his iPod and stuck earphones in his ears, just in case this old guy hadn’t realised he had no intention of chatting.

Which was fine. I’d been interested to talk to George’s dad since she said he lectured in land science, and now was as good a time as ever. I mentioned what George had said and how I was still wondering what course to do at uni – and he was off. He reminded me a bit of Mr Xavier, all that enthusiasm and no real idea of whether the other person could give a damn or not. Actually, the course he taught sounded quite interesting, although there was no way I would be able to afford to go to uni in England.

And while we chatted about that I managed to drop into the conversation how much revising George and I had been doing and how the festival wasn’t all about drink and drugs and how it seemed like such a shame if George couldn’t stay to hear Murdo Mensah perform.

‘Who’s Murdo Mensah?’ he asked, sounding confused.

‘He’s the headline act tonight,’ I said. ‘The biggest act, on the main stage, you know.’ I didn’t think there was any point describing what sort of music Mensah played. ‘And now the police have sorted out everything here it’s probably the safest time for her to be around.’ I hoped.

I’d been trying to get George away from here for days, now I really wanted her to stay.

So when George returned, escorted by the policewoman, I said quickly, before she could put her foot in it, ‘You wouldn’t really mind if George stayed one more night, then? It makes sense. The whole festival ends tomorrow, and it’d be a pity for her to miss the final evening. It must have been awful for you not knowing where she was, but now you can see she’s fine …’

I wasn’t sure if her dad would fall for it, but it was worth a try. I’d put on my best, oh-so-sensible voice which made Cami, who’d just unplugged his earbuds, stare at me with his mouth open.

It seemed like Mr Wray did just want to whisk her away. He frowned and looked at me doubtfully and was starting to shake his head when George leapt in.

‘Please,’ she said. ‘My absolute favourite band is on. I’ll be grateful for ever.’

‘I don’t know …’

‘It’s just one more night. I’ll have everything packed up in the morning and be ready to leave whenever you want. And I’ll work a million times harder than I have been for my exams. Pleeease.’

‘Well I suppose, perhaps,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I must be mad.’

She jumped up and kissed him. ‘Thanks Dad. I love you.’ He looked pleased and embarrassed, and like he couldn’t quite understand how he’d agreed to this.

GEORGE

I couldn’t believe it! Dad was the most amazing, wonderful, brilliant parent. And it was all Finn’s doing. He was pretty amazing, too.

Dad was saying to him, ‘You will keep an eye on her, won’t you?’ He’d obviously totally fallen for all that self-assurance. It was annoying. Finn wasn’t that much older than me, but I wasn’t going to make a fuss at that stage.

Dad insisted on seeing where I was camping, checked with the police that they weren’t expecting any more trouble, and said he’d be back in the morning to collect me. Then he left.

Awesome!

So that was the end of that, the normal-family-life interlude. It was good to see Dad, of course, but, to be frank, it really spoilt the atmosphere of the festival. It wasn’t easy to feel cool and laid-back with a tweed-jacketed, balding, concerned parent looking on.

‘He seems like a nice guy,’ said Finn.

‘He is,’ I said. It was true. ‘Now if I can only persuade him it’ll be in both our best interests to say nothing about this to Mum, I’ll be sorted.’

Finn smiled faintly, as though it was funny to be worried about that kind of stuff. ‘You have such an ordinary family,’ he said.

Didn’t I know it? So much for my dream of being cool and fascinating. Being ordinary was completely rubbish when you were trying to impress someone.

Then Marcus appeared. He’d kept a low profile while Dad was around, which was a good thing from my point of view. He wasn’t Dad’s idea of a responsible adult.

Now he loomed over us. ‘You two! Over to the bothy! Now.’

Finn raised an eyebrow at his tone but said peaceably, ‘Actually, we were just on our way.’

That was news to me, but I was willing to fall into step beside him. Marcus might think he was going to get some answers out of us. I was more interested in getting them out of him. In fact, I was quite pleased I wasn’t being left out for once.

A few people glanced at us and then looked away as we walked the couple of hundred metres to Marcus’s office. The police had gone by now but they had apparently caused a fair amount of disturbance. I’d have quite liked to see them get hold of Dex! Apparently he’d tried to run, but not fast enough. Another of Marcus’s helpers had been arrested too, one I thought was a friend of Marcus and not Dex, and another hanger-on I wasn’t that surprised about. Unfortunately they hadn’t taken Chester, the fat guy with the pony tail. I’d thought he was completely in on things with Dex, but maybe that was just because he gave me the creeps.

There were only three less people on the site but it seemed to make a difference. Or maybe it was the lack of the drugs they would have supplied. People were quieter, more wary, and a lot less stoned.

The bothy looked, even to my ignorant eye, as though it had been searched.

Marcus gestured around abruptly. ‘They didn’t take my word, or yours, that I wasn’t involved. Had to bloody check for themselves.’

‘Just think yourself lucky Dex didn’t plant anything here,’ said Finn, gazing around with narrowed eyes. ‘That would have been really marvellous.’

It was warm in here. Finn took off his camouflage jacket and threw it over the back of a chair, then sat down. He was wearing a grey tee-shirt and black cargo trousers and looked, despite everything, completely stunning. Only the red grazes around his wrists showed that anything untoward had happened. I took a seat beside him, pushing my hair behind my ears, wishing I wasn’t sure I looked a total mess. I probably had leaves in my hair and mud on my face.

Marcus leaned against his desk, arms folded. ‘So, where’s the guitar?’

Er … where had that come from? He wasn’t ranting about who brought the police here or what this meant for the festival, he wanted to know about Finn’s guitar?

‘I’m not exactly sure,’ said Finn. ‘You need to ask Cami.’

‘I asked him. He said ask you.’ Marcus looked grim, dark hair hanging menacingly down the sides of his long face.

Finn seemed surprised. ‘He’s the one who knows where he put it. Anyway, we can’t go and look for it until the police have cleared out of that area. I hope they don’t take it into their heads to do a wider search or you’ve had it.’

‘Shit,’ said Marcus, looking horrified. ‘You mean it’s still up there?’

‘Aye. We didn’t have much bloody time to move it, did we? If Cami hadn’t acted quickly we wouldn’t even have been able to do that.’

I seemed to remember it was Finn’s quick actions, not Cami’s, that had made things happen, but I didn’t say anything. I was still trying to work out what was so important about the guitar.

Marcus looked at his cousin with his more habitual irritation. ‘Seems like Cami thinks you’re not such a bastard after all. Thanks for moving it.’

‘No problem,’ said Finn in his calm way.

I could see his tone was really winding Marcus up so I said, ‘Where’s Cami now?’

Marcus grunted. ‘Checking the volunteer rosters for me, believe it or not. Someone’s got to keep an eye on security now Dex is away.’

‘And that someone is Cami?’ said Finn. ‘Nice one.’

‘I didn’t have much choice. Davy’s trying to calm down that indie band who didn’t take kindly to the police presence.’

Neither of them said anything for a moment so I decided to ask a few questions of my own.

‘So, Dex was part of some drugs ring? And that’s why the police have arrested him and the others?’

‘Aye,’ said Marcus, looking at me as though I was stupid (again).

‘And why now?’

‘I don’t know, do I? It’s nothing to do with me.’

‘It was a big operation,’ said Finn, for once supplying information. ‘Dex was only a small part of it. That’s why they’ve been waiting to make the arrests, to tie it in with whatever else they were doing.’

‘Pity they couldn’t have waited another day, till all the punters had cleared off.’ Marcus frowned.

I decided to continue with my questions while I was still getting a response. ‘And you, Finn, were involved, finding things out for the police?’

‘Our very own little informer,’ said Marcus, lip curling.

‘I knew a few things, or could find out things they couldn’t. It wasn’t any big deal.’

‘I can’t believe they actually trusted a kid like you,’ said Marcus. ‘Let you do some spying for them.’

‘They had to, after Kevin was taken out of the picture.’

‘Kevin worked for the police?’ It was all starting to make sense to me. Then, ‘But he was badly hurt! You were putting yourself at risk …’

Finn shrugged. ‘Not much. I kept a low profile.’

I thought again of Kevin’s motionless body being taken away in the ambulance, and shivered.

‘Not low enough, obviously,’ said Marcus, looking down at Finn’s injured wrists.

Finn sighed. ‘That was different. I knew the police were coming, I could have just let that guy – Terry? – keep hold of me for an hour or so. The problem was my mum’s guitar.’

‘Ah yes, the guitar.’ Marcus looked interested again. This was where the conversation had started.

‘My mum’s old guitar. Now my guitar.’ Finn leaned forward, his tone not so conversational now. ‘Why did you have to mess with it?’

‘I didn’t mess with it,’ snapped Marcus, raising his own voice.

‘But you used it, didn’t you? You hid something in it. In the case.’

Of course, I should have guessed. This wasn’t about the guitar at all. It might be important to Finn but Marcus didn’t care about that. He had other interests. But what? If it was more drugs why would Finn be helping him hide them?

‘What I’d like to know,’ Finn continued, his voice harder than ever, ‘Why you used the guitar case. I don’t know how you dare.’

Marcus shrugged. ‘I was in a hurry. I knew you never actually played the thing, and seeing as you were so pally with the cops your tent was the last place they were likely to search.’

‘But the risk …’ said Finn.

‘The Picasso,’ I said suddenly. It had to be! That was the other thing everyone was looking for.

Finn nodded so I suppose he’d also worked it out for himself. He carried on glaring at his cousin.

I stared at Marcus, too. I’d started to trust him, even if I didn’t like him. I’d started to think he wasn’t a crook like Dex. Now I realised he wasn’t like Dex at all – he was a big time criminal!

‘You stole the Picasso,’ I said slowly, when he didn’t speak. ‘It’s been here on the festival site the whole time.’

‘I didn’t steal it,’ he said.

‘But you did hide it,’ said Finn. ‘Jesus, how stupid can you get?’

Er, excuse me, I was lost again. Marcus was involved in a multi-million pound art theft and his cousin was worried about him being
stupid
?

All Marcus said was, ‘How did you know where to find the guitar?’

Finn shrugged. ‘I didn’t know until that guy Terry mentioned it. I was pretty sure Dex or one of his thugs had taken it, seeing the mess they made going through the tent. But I hadn’t actually thought they were stupid enough to put it with the drugs.’

I wondered what they planned to do with the Picasso. They probably didn’t even know themselves.

‘And you got it out of there before the police saw it?’

Finn nodded.

‘Quick thinking,’ said Marcus, rubbing his chin. ‘Thank Christ you did.’

‘And how did Dex know you had the painting? And where you’d hidden it?’

‘Who knows? He had more contacts than I realised.’

‘He was really, er, friendly with Chester,’ I said tentatively.

‘Chester’s fine,’ said Marcus.

‘I’m not so sure,’ said Finn. ‘I think you need to keep an eye on him …’

We all jumped as the door of the bothy banged open.