Sister, Missing (20 page)

‘D’you think she’ll try and stop us seeing each other?’ I said.

‘It doesn’t matter what my mum says,’ he said, leaning closer to me. ‘Nobody will ever be able to stop me from seeing you.’

I closed my eyes and we kissed.

As we drew apart, I cleared my throat. It was scary to speak my feelings out loud, but I knew I had to say this:

‘Thank you for . . . for everything,’ I said. ‘It made all the difference you . . . you being here with me . . .’

Jam tilted his head to one side. His expression was simultaneously exasperated and tender.

‘I know,’ he said.

I grinned.

At that moment, the phone inside Annie’s bag started ringing.

‘D’you think that’s your mum or mine?’ I said, reaching into the bag.

‘Your mum’s on an aeroplane.’ Jam frowned. ‘So I guess it’s mine.’

I took out the mobile. The number was flashing up on the screen. Jam peered at the phone.

‘That’s not Mum’s number,’ he said.

For a second I wondered if it could be Cooper Trent. I shivered.

I glanced towards the door. Annie was still upstairs. It was highly likely she’d fallen asleep next to Madison. I didn’t want to disturb them. ‘It’s probably just one of
Annie’s friends.’ I lifted the phone to my ear. ‘Hello?’

‘Lauren?’ It was Shelby, her voice cracking as she spoke. ‘Listen, you have to get everyone out of the house. Cooper knows you’re alive and he’s on his way to kill
you all now.’

Carter’s of Norbourne

I froze. ‘Shelby?’ I gasped. ‘Where are you? What—?’

‘There’s no time,’ Shelby insisted, her voice rising shrilly. ‘Cooper saw a news report that you and the others were alive. He’s
coming
for you. Keep
Mom’s phone. I’ll call you again in a minute. Just get out of the house.’ She rang off.

I put Annie’s phone down on the kitchen table. My head was spinning. I knew I had to act . . . and act fast, but I couldn’t think straight.

‘What is it, Lauren?’ Jam demanded.

I repeated what Shelby had said. My voice felt somehow disconnected to the rest of me. Despite the need for the police officers stationed outside, I’d assumed the worst was over –
that even if Cooper found out we’d escaped he wouldn’t risk approaching us . . . that Shelby would be found . . .

‘We have to get Annie and Madison,’ I went on, forcing myself to pull it together. ‘We have to go outside to the police car.’

I said the words, but I didn’t move.

Jam rushed out of the room. I could hear him pounding up the stairs, yelling Annie’s name.

The phone rang again. The same number.

‘Shelby?’ I said.

‘Are you out?’ she said.

‘Almost. How did you get away from Cooper?’

‘He drove to Norbourne. Left me locked up in his car. I got out . . . ran up this road . . . broke in here to use the phone. But I’ve hurt my ankle. I can’t walk. Are you out
now?’

‘In a sec.’

‘Hurry!’ She ended the call.

I shoved Annie’s mobile in her bag, slung the bag over my shoulder and rushed into the hallway. Annie was on the bottom step of the stairs, Jam just behind her with Madison, fast asleep,
in his arms.

‘What’s going on, Lauren?’ Annie was trembling, her hands twisting round each other.

The sight of her anxiety somehow calmed me down. Someone had to be strong.

‘Outside.’ I pointed to the front door.

She ran over, her fingers fumbling, flailing at the catch.

I pushed her hand away and opened the door. The night air was cool and smelled of rain. It was still drizzling. Annie stumbled outside. I held the door open for Jam. We raced along the path and
onto the pavement. I pointed at the police car parked opposite. The officers inside would help us.

‘Over there!’ I said.

Annie sped off. As I followed her across the road, her phone – still in her bag over my shoulder – rang again.

‘Lauren?’ Shelby sounded more frightened than before. ‘Are you out of the house now?’

‘Yes.’ I glanced up and down the road. There was no-one about . . . no sign of Cooper Trent. ‘He’s not here yet.’

‘OK, good.’

‘Where are you?’ I asked.

Shelby hesitated. ‘Carter’s of Norbourne. It’s an office building. There’s a map here and I’m seriously like only a couple of minutes away from the holiday home . .
. The stores at the end of our road lead down to the top of this one . . . it should be the first turning on the left. My ankle’s really bad. Er . . . can you send the police to pick me
up?’

‘We’re with the police right n—’

Annie’s scream filled the air, stopping me mid-word. I spun round. I couldn’t see what had happened at first. Annie was in the way. She staggered backwards, her hand over her
mouth.

‘Is that Mom?’ Shelby shrieked into my ear.

‘Oh, no!’ Jam said beside me.

I looked across the road and into the police car opposite.

Everything inside me seemed to shrink and crumple.

Both officers were unconscious, their heads lolling on their chests.

‘He’s here,’ Annie screamed. ‘Oh my God, Cooper’s already
here
!’

I met Jam’s eyes for a second, then looked up and down the street again. There was no-one around.

‘Call the police,’ Annie was still shrieking.

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Where’s
your
car, Annie?’

Annie looked wildly up and down the road. ‘There.’ She pointed at the hire car. ‘But I don’t think I can drive.’

‘You have to,’ I said, fishing for the keys in Annie’s bag which was still over my shoulder. ‘Cooper’s obviously already here . . . he must have gone round the back
of the house to break in. We have to get away before he realises we’re not inside.’

‘Oh God, oh God, oh God.’ Annie ran over to her car.

I followed, holding Annie’s phone while searching for the car keys in her bag. Shelby was still on the other end of the line. She could presumably hear what was happening, but there was no
time to talk to her. I
had
to find those car keys.

There
. I yanked them out of the bag and unlocked the car.

Annie’s fingers shook as she opened the driver seat door. ‘I can’t do this,’ she muttered. ‘It’s too much.’

‘Yes, you
can
,’ I urged.

Jam got in the back with Madison. I sat by Annie at the front.

She fitted the key into the ignition. The engine revved.

‘Let me speak to Shelby,’ she said.

‘There’s no time,’ I protested.

‘I want to talk to her.’

I handed Annie the phone, then glanced anxiously round. There was still no sign of anyone on the street – but I knew how fast Cooper could move. He could be here already, in the shadows,
just seconds away.

‘Hello, Shelby?’ Annie turned to me. ‘She’s not there.’

I put the phone to my ear. It was true. The line was still open, but Shelby was no longer on the other end.

‘Dial 999,’ Jam said.

I tried to end the call, but the phone wouldn’t let me. ‘Something’s stopping me from making a new call,’ I said.

‘But it’s the only phone we’ve got with us,’ Jam said desperately.

A dark figure appeared at the end of the street. A man. He was walking briskly towards the car.

‘Drive!’ I shouted.

Annie screeched onto the road.

‘Where’s Shelby?’ she sobbed, the car veering wildly across the central line. ‘What’s happened to her?’

‘She’s in Norbourne,’ I said. ‘She said she’d hurt her ankle so she couldn’t walk.’

‘Oh God,’ Annie moaned.

The car reached the top of the road. The shops Shelby had mentioned appeared on the right. I pointed to them. ‘She said she was in a building just past these shops . . . first turning on
the left.’

‘OK.’ Annie clutched the steering wheel tighter. Without signalling, she swung the car onto the road with the shops, cutting in front of an estate car. It honked its horn angrily,
but Annie didn’t seem to notice.

‘Down there.’ I pointed to the road coming up on the left.

‘Wait,’ Jam said. ‘We should drive to the police station. Or stop and ask someone to use their phone.’

‘Shelby first,’ Annie insisted.

‘She’s hurt, Jam,’ I said. ‘She can’t walk.’

The office building Shelby had described was already visible. A sign reading
Carter’s of Norbourne
stood at the front.

‘Where is she?’ Annie pulled over, leaving half the car sticking out into the road.

She opened her door and got out. ‘Shelby?’ she yelled.

‘Mom!’ Shelby’s answer came from inside the building, her voice a mix of terror and relief. ‘Mom, is that you?’

I looked up. Shelby was silhouetted in a first-floor window. It was the only room in the building with the light on. Annie ran over.

I held the mobile up to my ear again, but there was still no sound from the other end. Why hadn’t Shelby hung the phone up properly?

‘I hurt myself, Mom,’ Shelby was sobbing as she called out from the window. ‘I can’t walk.’

‘I’m coming,’ Annie yelled back.

‘Annie’s going to need help if Shelby can’t walk,’ I said to Jam. ‘Stay here with Madison.’

‘No way,’ Jam said, laying Madison gently down on the back seat. ‘I’ll come with you. We can call the police from inside the building.’

Jam and I got out of the car and joined Annie at the front door. I glanced over my shoulder at Madison. I didn’t like leaving her, not after everything that had happened, not even while
she was within eyesight.

‘I can’t see a way in.’ Annie was breathless with agitation, almost hopping up and down on the spot.

Jam pointed to the broken window to the right of the door. ‘That must be how Shelby got in.’

Annie nodded. She glanced back at the car, wringing her hands. ‘Is Madison still asleep?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘I don’t want her to wake up and us not be there.’ Annie clutched at her hair. She looked over at the broken window, desperation in her eyes. I could see she was torn between
going after one daughter and protecting another.

‘You’re right, you shouldn’t leave Mo,’ I said firmly. ‘Jam and I will go in and get Shelby. You wait here with your phone . . . see if it starts working again. You
can keep an eye on Madison
and
call the police.’

‘OK,’ Annie gulped. ‘Be careful.’

Jam was already half through the window.

I scrambled after him, feeling the uneven crunch of the glass on the carpet at my feet. We were in some kind of storage room. We raced out into a hallway. The stairs up to the first floor were
straight ahead of us.

Jam sped up them, two steps at a time.

‘Shelby?’ I yelled. ‘We’re coming.’

We reached the landing. The room at the front with the light on was on the left. That was, surely, where Shelby had called out to us.

‘Shelby?’ Jam said, walking in through the door.

I joined him in the office room. A row of desks, complete with computers and phones, met my eyes. Piles of paper littered the floor. Blinds hung at the window. Two filing cabinets stood at
either end of the far wall, a shelf groaning with box files running between them.

‘Shelby?’ My voice echoed Jam’s.

But Shelby was not in the room.

The Accident

‘Where’s Shelby gone?’ I said. ‘She said she couldn’t walk.’

Jam pointed across the office to the desk by the window. A phone receiver lay off the hook, on its side beside the landline phone base.

‘D’you think that’s the phone she used?’ he whispered.

I scuttled over and picked up the receiver. The office building suddenly felt creepily quiet.

‘Annie?’ I said quietly.

No reply.

‘If that was the phone Shelby used then Annie should still be on the other end of the line, shouldn’t she?’ Jam said.

I tiptoed to the window and peered outside. Annie’s car was still parked in the road. I couldn’t see inside to check if Madison was still lying across the back seat, but there was
definitely no sign of Annie herself either near the car or by the front door where we had left her.

‘I can’t see her,’ I said.

‘Man, this is all really weird,’ Jam whispered, looking around the room. ‘Even if Shelby somehow managed to drag herself out of here why would she go?
Where
would she
go? This is the only room with a light on.’

I gulped. ‘Let’s just dial 999,’ I said. ‘This place is totally freaking me out.’ I replaced the handset.

‘Help!’ Shelby’s shriek made me jump. Her voice came from the floor above us.

Jam gripped my arm. ‘She’s upstairs,’ he breathed.

‘Lauren?’ Shelby shouted. ‘Is that you?’

I rushed out of the office, Jam at my side. We raced up the stairs to the second floor. Several doors led off from a small landing.

‘Shelby?’ Jam shouted.

‘In here!’ Her voice came from one of the rooms on the right.

We darted inside.

The room was lit only by the moonlight that shone through a tiny dormer window. A storage space, far messier than the one on the ground floor, with filing cabinets lining the walls and a long
chest of drawers under the window.

It took me a moment to spot Shelby. She was lying on the ground, hunched over beside one of the filing cabinets. She gazed up at us. Her face was white and tear-streaked. ‘I’m
sorry,’ she said.

‘Why are you—?’ As I spoke, the door to the room slammed shut. A key twisted in the lock. ‘Hey!’ I spun round and yanked at the handle. The door wouldn’t
open. ‘Hey! Let us out!’

There was silence outside in the small hallway. Then the sound of footsteps, pattering down the stairs.

I turned back to Shelby. ‘Who’s out there?’ I said, feeling desperate. ‘What’s going on?’

Beside me, Jam hurled himself at the door. It shuddered, but the lock didn’t break. ‘Oy!’ he yelled.

‘Shelby?’ I marched over to her.

She was staring at the thin grey carpet beneath her.

Wham
. Jam barged the door again. It held.

‘Shelby, what the hell is happening here?’ My voice shook with emotion. My head was spinning. Fury filled me and I opened my mouth to yell.

But at that moment, Shelby looked up and I saw the red mark on her cheek and the thin metal chain that ran from her wrist to the filing cabinet she was leaning against.