Olivia's Enchanted Summer (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

The three Swans and Alfie crept through the dark streets of the Old Town. They headed up steep steps and narrow twisting alleys where the ancient buildings on either side leaned together as if too exhausted to stand up straight.

Even though it had gone one o'clock in the morning, there were quite a lot of people around. They passed pubs and bars where they could see people drinking and talking, lit by haloes of light. They passed the open back door of a pub that led directly on to a small stage where a stand-up comic was dying on his feet. His attempts to engage the drunken crowd were being met with jeers and cat-calls. Aeysha thought how horrible that must be, and decided the comic was very brave.

As the children entered a maze of isolated back streets it got quieter and quieter, and it began to feel as if they were all alone in the big city. The night was hot but Olivia shivered. She was grateful that Georgia and Aeysha were with her. If she'd been on her own, she would have felt too frightened to continue, and without Alfie, who seemed to know every close and wynd of Edinburgh, they would have got hopelessly lost even with their map.

Even so, Olivia still wished Tom were here. They had been texting, but she had found it hard to explain everything that had been happening. The good news was that he'd soon be in Edinburgh. She couldn't wait to see him again.

A sudden yowl of a cat made them all jump, and Georgia gave a little scream.

“Sssh,” hissed Olivia sharply, even though she felt as frightened as Georgia.

But Aeysha said calmly: “Livy, I hardly think your gran is going to pop out from behind a dustbin and announce that we're all excluded from the Swan.”

Olivia grinned. “I wouldn't put it past her,” she said, relaxing a bit. She knew that Aeysha
was right. But she didn't want to get her friends into trouble. At first she hadn't wanted them to come with her at all and hadn't told anyone that Evie had told Jack that Mitch was responsible for the house swindle, and also where he could be found. Pablo, Michael and Jack were going to confront him tonight.

When Olivia had asked her dad why he didn't just go to the police, he'd looked sceptical and said that they would prefer to sort it out themselves. If the case went to court, it could be months before he got his money back, and he needed it now.

Evie had given him a good description of Mitch, and said he always left the same pub around the same time in the early hours of a Friday morning. Jack, Pablo and Michael would have surprise on their side. They'd be in a public place and Jack was certain they'd be quite safe. After all, there would be three of them. Besides, Jack said that Evie had become quite agitated when he'd mentioned the police.

I bet she did,
thought Olivia to herself, but she didn't say it out loud in case he got all disapproving again. She just couldn't bring herself to trust Evie. So she said instead: “I want
to come with you.”

But Jack had shaken his head and said it was impossible. “I know you mean well, Liv, but you'd be more of a hindrance than a help, chick. I'd feel I had to look out for you as well as myself.”

“But what if he gets violent?” asked Olivia anxiously.

“We're not going for a fight. It's the last thing we want. It's just to let him know that we know what he's done and where we can find him and that we will involve the police if he doesn't hand back the money. I hope it will be enough. At the very first sign of violence, Pablo and Michael and I will back off, I promise. We won't do anything silly.”

Olivia hadn't been happy about it at all, but there was nothing she could do. Nothing, that is, until she found a torn scrap of paper in his room with the name of a pub, a street name and a time scrawled in his untidy handwriting. As soon as she saw it, Olivia knew what she was going to do: she was going to go to the appointed place, find a lookout spot and be ready to call for help if anything bad happened. Just in case. She decided to ask Alfie if he'd come
with her, because his dad would be there, too, but Georgia and Aeysha soon got wind of the escapade because of the constant whispering and insisted on coming as well.

“Four is much safer than two,” said Aeysha firmly. “One to get hurt, one to scream, one to run in circles like a headless chicken and one to summon help. At least that's what my mum always says.”

“But if Gran finds out, we'll all get excluded. You heard what she said to Evie and Tati about running around Edinburgh in the middle of the night,” said Olivia anxiously. “You'd be mad to risk getting chucked out of the Swan.”

“Well, we'll just have to make sure we don't get caught,” said Georgia. Olivia looked at Georgia and Aeysha's determined faces and thought how lucky she was to have such loyal friends.

In the still, dark night she was even more pleased to have them by her side. They had stuffed pillows in the four-poster bed the three of them were sharing just in case anyone checked up on them, and then they'd gone into Alfie's room, clambered out of the window and down the apple tree. It had felt like a great adventure
at that point, but now Olivia was scared and she knew from the others' tense faces that they were, too.

She realised they hadn't come up with a plan of what they were going to do if things turned nasty. They turned another corner and came to a small unkempt square with a number of dark alleyways leading off it. In the corner of the square was a pub from which came the sound of shouting. The door suddenly opened and two drunken men were thrown out on to the street. One of them had a bloodied nose. The children shrank back into the shadows. The men stood up, swearing and cursing, and stumbled off into the night.

Alfie beckoned the others and they ran across the square to take refuge in the darkness of the stairwell of a tenement block. From there, they had a good view of the door of the pub. A dog barked nearby and they all jumped.

Olivia looked at her watch. Still at least fifteen minutes to go. Time passed slowly as the children huddled together, then Olivia thought she heard a noise and peered out. Was that somebody running soundlessly towards the flats that edged the alley opposite or was it only
a shadow? She thought she caught movement on one of the walkways outside the flats, but maybe it was just a cat or a fox. Suddenly she heard a tiny noise on the other side of the square and Jack and Pablo appeared, padding as quietly and nimbly as cats. Michael brought up the rear, more flat-footed without their years of circus training.

For a terrible moment, Olivia thought that they were going to try to hide in the same place, but then, hugging the shadows, the men made their way around the square and disappeared into the darkness of another stairwell.

They all waited. Olivia squinted at her watch in the dark. It was almost 1.45 a.m. Maybe the man wasn't going to come. Maybe Evie had fed Jack misinformation. Another few minutes passed, and then the door of the pub swung open and someone came out. Olivia recognised him at once. It was the man who had been on the Mound on the first day she had seen Evie and Tati. The same man who had been in Greyfriars Kirkyard and lurking in the shadows on the Royal Mile. What was Evie and Tati's uncle doing here?

He started to walk away from the pub, his
phone in his hand. Jack and Pablo followed him, making almost no noise. They moved quickly behind him into the alley that ran between the walkways of two blocks of flats. Michael waited and then followed.

Olivia gasped when she heard her father speak. “Oi, Mitch,” he said. “We haven't met, but you'll know me, and we need a little chat. It's about the money you owe me.”

The man stopped. He swung round and smiled lazily. Olivia was horrified. Her dad had got completely the wrong man! This wasn't Mitch, this was Evie and Tati's uncle. Olivia was about to warn her dad, but just then, the man spoke.

“Oh yes,” he said, with a nasty smile. “The great Jack Marvell, isn't it? It was like taking sweets from a kiddie.”

Olivia felt shivery. She realised that she was the one who'd got it completely wrong. She felt such an idiot and she could see from Georgia's appalled face that her friend felt exactly the same. Ayesha had said that you shouldn't believe everything people told you and she'd been right. Olivia had been angry with Jack because he had been innocent enough
to let himself be scammed, but Mitch had been taking her and Georgia for a couple of suckers, too.

“Look,” said Jack. “I don't want any trouble, I just want my money back.”

Mitch sneered. “And you thought if you asked me nicely, I'd just hand it over. You're all the same, you circus people. Think you're one big family. Hear you've even taken little Evie in.” He saw Jack's surprised face. “Oh, I have my spies. It suited me to have her out the way. That kid's nothing but trouble. I suppose it was her who told you where to find me? Well, I wouldn't trust that one, if I were you. She'd sell her own grandmother. Double-cross her own sister if she felt like it.” He paused. “Could be she's even led you into a trap.”

He pressed a button on his phone, and from out of the shadows, six men appeared. Three stood behind him while three came up directly behind Jack, Pablo and Michael. Olivia recognised two as the men she and Georgia had seen coming out of St Giles' Cathedral.

Jack and Pablo looked behind them and realised that they were kettled in the narrow alleyway. Michael grimaced and looked wildly
around. The men began to close in on them very slowly from either end of the alleyway.

“This is bad. We should call the police,” whispered Aeysha, looking scared. Olivia didn't answer. The police would never get here in time. Jack and the others were going to get beaten to a pulp. She made a gesture that meant
stay there,
and ran out of the stairwell and across to the side of the alley without making the slightest sound.

She ran up some stairs directly in front of her. As she had supposed, they took her up on to the walkways that overhung either side of the alleyway. Bent double so she couldn't be seen, she crawled quietly along the walkway until she was almost directly above her dad, uncle and Pablo. Cautiously, she peered up over the wall and as she did so she thought she sensed somebody on the opposite walkway, but she didn't have time to worry about that now.

Down below, the scene was tense. The six men were still advancing. Mitch had stepped to one side. Pablo whispered something to Jack, who muttered something to Michael. Olivia's heart was beating very fast. Mitch must have known that the three of them were coming. They had been led into a trap by Evie!

Olivia was furious, and her anger made her bold. She took a deep breath and felt a bit sick. If she got this wrong, she could break both her legs. In one silent, seamless movement, Olivia hoisted herself on to the edge of the balcony and crouched there on the tiny ledge. The men below were so intent on each other that they didn't notice anything.

Three of the men had stopped a few metres from Jack and Pablo. Mitch nodded. One of them stepped forward, and took a swing at Jack, who jumped nimbly to one side. He took another swing and, as he did so, Olivia launched herself off the side of the ledge and right on top of the other two, who helpfully broke her fall by collapsing into a heap below her.

As she'd leapt, she'd been vaguely aware of a black-clad figure wearing a balaclava jumping from the balcony opposite. That figure took out two of the men approaching from the other end of the alley. They were now also lying on the ground, winded but not badly hurt. Some punches were being thrown by those men left standing but Mitch and his cronies no longer outnumbered the others, and Jack and Pablo were masters at avoiding their blows and much
fitter and stronger.

From somewhere in the distance came the sound of a police siren. A dog began barking. Mitch and his bully boys looked at each other and scarpered. The shadowy figure melted into the darkness. Jack turned to his daughter in astonishment. “I don't know what you're doing here, and believe you me, I will expect a full explanation, but right now we have to get out of here.” Jack grabbed Olivia's hand.

“Wait!” she said. “I've got to get the others.”

“Others?” enquired Jack. “Don't tell me you brought the entire circus!”

“Not quite,” said Olivia with a grin. “Just a few I can always rely on in a tight corner.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jack was lying on the sofa in Michael's living room. He was holding a packet of frozen peas on his eye, trying to keep the swelling down. Michael had a cut on his forehead, while Pablo had some bruising on his arms.

“I reckon we'd have taken quite a beating if you hadn't turned up, Liv,” said Jack.

“Yes,” said Pablo mournfully. “Three grown men saved by a slip of a girl. I'll never live down the shame.”

“It wasn't just me,” said Olivia. “I couldn't have done it without Georgia, Aeysha and Alfie.”

“I wasn't sure whether to call the police or not,” said Aeysha awkwardly. “But I was so worried that the three of you were going to get
really hurt.”

“It was absolutely the right thing to do,” said Jack reassuringly. “You weren't to know that Liv was going to do her crazy flying squirrel impression. It was brilliant thinking, Liv, brilliant and extremely dangerous. You'd better not do anything so reckless ever again. If you'd been just a few centimetres out, it could have been the end of your high-wire career, maybe even the end of you.”

“I know, Dad,” said Olivia. “But I didn't know what else to do. I thought those men were going to kill you.”

“And I'm grateful, chick, but please don't ever leap off a balcony again,” said Jack. “I'd hate to think what your grandmother's going to say about all this.”

“Maybe she need never know?” said Michael innocently.

“The thing I want to know,” said Alfie thoughtfully, “is who was the other jumper?”

“It all happened so fast, and it was all so chaotic and dark that I wasn't sure I could believe my eyes,” said Georgia. “Whoever it was didn't stick about to leave a name.”

“It's so weird that they had exactly the
same idea as me,” said Olivia.

“The question is,” said Aeysha, “was whoever it was there because they knew what was going to happen, or did they just happen to see what was going on and decide to pitch in?”

“OK, Aeysha, which do you think is more likely?” asked Georgia, sounding slightly scornful.

“Well, one thing is clear,” said Jack.“Mitch knew we were coming and was completely prepared. He must've been tipped off.”

“Who else knew you were going?” asked Aeysha.

“Clearly rather more people than I realised,” said Jack drily. “Me, Pablo, Michael. You lot. Did any of you tell anybody else?” Everyone shook their heads solemnly.

“It can only have been Evie,” said Olivia fiercely. “She must've betrayed you. I knew she couldn't be trusted. You should have listened to me, Dad.”

Jack sighed. “It does look that way,” he said. “But I trusted her…”

The door to the living room flew open and Tati stood there, white-faced. She had obviously been listening outside. “You're wrong,” she
cried. “It wasn't my sister. Evie would never do such a thing. It was me. It was me who told Mitch that you planned to surprise him.”

“But why, why would you do that?” demanded Olivia angrily.

Tati's eyes flashed. “It's all right for you lot. It's easy for you. You're all so privileged, and you don't even know it.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Olivia hotly. “None of us are privileged. We're just ordinary. My dad and Eel and I don't have any money. You know that.”

“I'm not talking about money,” said Tati scornfully. “Although it helps, money always helps. I'm talking about safety nets. Nobody is going to let you starve. You always know where your next meal is coming from and if you don't, somebody in your family will help you out and give you a roof over your heads. Like your gran did. You're all so rich and you don't even realise it. You're rich in family and friends.

“Evie and I have nobody. We walk the wire of life on our own. There is nobody and no safety nets to catch us if we fall. Evie and I have nobody, nobody except each other, and…and…” She burst into tears. “Soon we won't even have
each other. Not if Mitch has his way. Evie will be put in a children's home or maybe even prison, and we'll be split up…”

Tati was sobbing so hard that she couldn't continue to speak. It was the longest speech that any of them had heard her make and they were all shocked and chastened by her obvious desperation. Olivia ran over and put an arm around her. Jack put his arm around Tati's other shoulder. Her body heaved but the sobs gradually subsided.

“Tati,” said Jack gently. “Nobody's going to be angry with you, but I really think you need to explain what's going on.”

Georgia handed Tati a box of tissues and the girl wiped her eyes. She looked round at all the expectant faces and took a deep breath. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, there was a furious barking and whining from the street outside.

“Harry!” said Tati, looking frightened. She bolted into the hall and opened the heavy front door. Harry leapt at her, barking wildly. He held her sleeve between his teeth and tugged at it as if trying to make him follow her.

“Harry! Where's Evie?” asked Tati
anxiously. “Why isn't she with you?” Harry whined again, and tugged urgently at her sleeve.

“Evie's in trouble,” cried Tati. “We've got to find her!”