Sister, Missing (7 page)

Jam laughed. ‘That’s crazy.’

‘Yeah.’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘Jeez, Shelby’s really acting out this time.’

The young policeman fixed his eyes on my face. ‘You’re saying she’s making her story up?’

I gripped the phone in my hand, my stomach tightening into knots.

‘Of course,’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘It’s ridiculous. Madison’s at home with our mum.’

I held my breath. Would the officers believe me? The phone in my sweating palm felt sticky.

The policewoman coughed. ‘The officer on duty asked Shelby to come to the station to make a formal statement. She refused and hung up, but about ten minutes ago she called again and
described where you were.’ She paused. ‘We were driving through the area so we came to take a look.’

I nodded, working it through in my head. When Rick couldn’t get over the iron fence, he must have rung Annie who must have told Shelby what was happening . . .

‘We haven’t been able to get hold of Shelby’s mother on the number Shelby gave us, but Shelby herself seemed convinced that when we found you, you’d be in possession of a
bag containing two million pounds.’ The policewoman pursed her lips. She sounded sceptical.

I shrugged, hoping she didn’t notice the backpack hidden behind the large piece of scrap metal.

‘As you can see, we don’t have any money on us,’ Jam said, holding out his empty hands to emphasise the point.

‘And obviously my little sister isn’t here either,’ I added. The sun beat down on the back of my neck. Beads of sweat were gathering on my forehead.

‘There’s
no-one
else here,’ Jam said. ‘That’s why we came.’

‘Shelby makes stuff up,’ I added. ‘She does it all the time.’

The police officers looked at each other.

‘OK,’ the policewoman said. ‘Well, tell your sister wasting police time is a serious issue.’

‘I will,’ I said.

As the police officers walked back to their car, I let out a long, shaky breath.

Beside me, Jam shook his head. ‘Man, that was close,’ he muttered.

I lifted my mobile to my ear again.

‘Did you hear all that?’ I said.

‘Yes.’ The filtered voice sounded calmer than before. ‘Wait there. I’ll call in ten minutes with instructions for the next exchange.’

She ended the call. Almost immediately my phone rang again.

‘Lauren?’ It was Rick. ‘What the hell happened? Are you OK?’

I explained how Shelby’s call to the police had resulted in the kidnap exchange going wrong.

‘Where are you?’ I asked.

‘Trying to get round that fence with the gate you went through.’ Rick swore. ‘It’s impossible. If you’re sure you’re OK, I’m going back to the bridge
where I last saw you. I need to call your mum too, let her know you’re all right.’ He paused. ‘I was thinking . . . did you notice the licence number on the van? Because if you
did I could get one of my police friends to check it out. They’d do it for me as a favour, I’m sure.’

I made a face, feeling useless. I’d been so fixated on Madison it hadn’t even occurred to me to check out the van’s licence plate.

‘I didn’t look at the number,’ I said. ‘Did you, Jam?’

He shook his head.

‘No, but the kidnapper’s going to call again in a minute,’ I said. ‘She wants to set up another exchange.’

‘Well, that’s something,’ Rick said. ‘Where?’

‘I don’t know yet,’ I said.

‘OK.’ Rick cleared his throat. ‘Well, call me as soon as you know. I’ll get my car and try and work out how to drive round . . . pick you guys up.’

‘Thanks, Rick.’ I rang off and leaned against Jam’s shoulder.

‘You OK, Lazerbrain?’ he said softly.

I turned my head so we were facing each other. ‘Not really,’ I whispered.

Our lips were centimetres apart. I closed my eyes, wanting to feel the soft brush of Jam’s healing kiss. But instead I felt him shifting away from me. I opened my eyes, my face reddening.
Jam was walking away from me, reaching for the backpack still half hidden behind the scrap metal.

I frowned, confused. Why did he not want to kiss me? With a terrible jolt it occurred to me that maybe Jam was only here, helping, because he felt he ought to. That if Madison hadn’t been
kidnapped he would have dumped me yesterday. I’d suspected he might be losing interest, and Shelby had said as much last night. Maybe she was right. That would explain why Jam had been
distant recently.
And
why he had shied away from that kiss just now.

Jam had always wanted to kiss me before. There had to be a reason if he didn’t any more.

And that was the only reason that made sense.

I closed my eyes. I couldn’t think about Jam and me now. I had to keep my focus on Madison.

I tipped my face to the sun. It was still blisteringly hot. Holiday weather. Back on the beach, families were no doubt playing on the sand, just like they had yesterday.

It seemed impossible that the rest of the world was carrying on as normal, while Madison was tied up, dirty and frightened, inside Sonia Holtwood’s van.

My phone rang again.

Holtwood
, I mouthed at Jam as I answered.

‘Lauren?’ The sneering voice through the same robot-filter as before. ‘Are you ready for your next instructions?’

‘Where do you want to do the exchange?’ I said.

‘First things first,’ Holtwood said smoothly. ‘I told you already we are going to do another deal.’

‘What do you mean?’ I said, a chill creeping down my back, despite the fierce sun. ‘There’s only one deal. Madison for the money. Two million buys her freedom.’

‘That’s correct,’ Holtwood went on. ‘Except for just one thing. The price of Madison’s release has just gone up.’

A New Deal

I stood quite still. Jam shuffled closer, trying to hear the call too.

‘Lauren?’ Holtwood’s filtered voice on the other end of the line pierced through me. ‘Are you listening?’

‘Yes.’ I hesitated. ‘I don’t understand. There isn’t any more money. The insurance payment is two million pounds. Unless you want Annie to sell her house,
then—’

‘I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about something else, immensely valuable, hidden in Annie and Sam’s London apartment.’

‘
What?
’ I said. My head was spinning, a million thoughts charging through me. ‘There’s nothing valuable at the London flat.’

‘Yes, there is.’ Holtwood paused. ‘Your father – Sam –
said
there was.’

‘
Sam
said there was?’ I echoed.

What on earth was she talking about?

Jam touched my arm.
You OK?
he mouthed.

I nodded, though I wasn’t in the slightest OK.

‘Sam’s exact words on what he’d hidden were: “
there is something of huge value
”,’ Holtwood said. ‘D’you hear that?
Something of huge
value
. That’s got to mean big money.’

‘I don’t understand,’ I went on. ‘Why would Sam have hidden something valuable in a flat he hardly ever used, in a city he hardly ever visited?’

‘Because the valuable thing is for you, Lauren . . . and you
do
live in that city.’

My chest constricted. ‘For me?’

‘Yes, I don’t know what it is, but he was planning to give it to you next time he saw you.’

‘How do you know all this?’ I said. ‘How do you know what Sam’s “exact words” were?’

‘Never mind that,’ Holtwood said sharply. ‘You need to go to the apartment immediately. It’s almost midday now. If you walk along the track where the van drove earlier
you’ll come to a town called Ringbourne. The next train for London leaves in twenty minutes. I’ll give you two hours from now to get to the apartment. Then another two to find whatever
is hidden there.’

‘No,’ I gasped. ‘Wait. That isn’t enough time. I don’t even know what I’m looking for.’

‘Then you better get started,’ Holtwood snapped. ‘One more thing. Under no circumstances are you to tell anyone else where you’re going. Especially Annie and that man
she’s with.’

‘Why not?’ I said. ‘Why not tell Annie?’

‘Surely you can work that out, can’t you, Lauren?’ Holtwood sneered. ‘I’ll call again at four.’ She rang off.

I gulped.

‘What’s going on, Lauren?’ Jam asked. ‘I could only hear bits of that.’

I told him what Holtwood had said.

Jam frowned. ‘How could Sonia Holtwood possibly know about Sam hiding something valuable for you in the London flat?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘The point is she’s not letting Madison go unless we find whatever it is.’

Jam shook his head. ‘Maybe we should call Rick?’ he said. ‘I’m sure when he understands how important it is, he’ll drive us to London.’

‘No.’ I stared past Jam towards the rubbish heap full of broken stones. I had a sudden flashback to the beach and how I’d watched the ice cream vendor leaning forward to hear
Madison’s order. Though I hadn’t been able to see her face I was sure she would have smiled up at him, just as she had smiled at me, moments before. And now she was in the back of a
van, separated from everyone she loved and who loved her.

I couldn’t bear it. I had to get her back – and as fast as possible. Whatever it took.

‘Sonia Holtwood said not to tell Annie or Rick.’ I hesitated. ‘Maybe . . . maybe she thinks Annie doesn’t want me to have whatever it is . . . maybe Annie’s been
deliberately keeping this valuable thing away from me.’

Jam frowned. ‘I don’t believe Annie would do that,’ he said. ‘Especially now, with Madison’s life at stake.’

‘Yeah?’ My heart felt like ice.

‘Yes, and I also think Annie has a right to know what’s going on,’ he said stubbornly. ‘You’d want to know if the situation was reversed.’

‘But Annie’s crazy,’ I said. ‘Maybe she’s better off not knowing all the details. She can’t handle stuff like I can. In fact, she and I don’t do
anything
the same.’

‘You both love Madison,’ Jam persisted.

We stared at each other.

‘I’m right about this,’ I said. ‘I
know
I am. We have to go to London and find out what Sam hid there. And we have to keep quiet about it to Annie and
Rick.’

Jam shook his head. ‘Man, you always think you’re right, don’t you?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘But I’m right about this.’

Jam checked his watch. ‘So how are we going to get to London?’ he said.

I indicated the track ahead of us. ‘According to Holtwood, that leads to a town where we can get a train.’

Jam stared at me. ‘I don’t have enough money for a train ticket.’

‘Me neither, but it’s fine.’ I pointed to the backpack. ‘There’s two million in there. We’ll use a bit of that. If there’s really something amazingly
valuable hidden in the London house, a few quid out of this won’t make any difference.’

Jam’s face split into a smile. ‘Not only always right, but also insane,’ he said.

I grinned back, my stomach cartwheeling in spite of my fears for Madison and for what we were about to do. Even after all the time I’d known him, Jam’s smile still made me melt. Then
I thought back to how he’d pulled away from my kiss.

The smile fell from my face. Again, I wondered . . . was he just helping me because he thought he ought to?

‘What?’ Jam’s eyes filled with confusion. ‘What’s up now?’

His phone beeped before I could say anything. He glanced at the text, then shoved the mobile away.

‘Who was that?’ I could hear the sharp edge in my voice and hated myself for letting my vulnerability show.

What did it matter what Jam thought or did? I was strong. If it came down to it I could survive without him.

‘It was Mum asking when I’ll be home.’ Jam rolled his eyes. ‘The usual.’

‘Right.’ We headed along the track but, as we walked, doubt crept through me. Was that really Jam’s mum? Or was it some other girl he didn’t want me to know about?

We walked into Annie and Sam’s London flat in Notting Hill at 1.40 pm. Though Annie had given me a key that I always kept on my key ring, I hadn’t been inside since
Sam died, and the memories of him were overwhelming.

The main room was large and open-plan, with a kitchen area at one end. There was the soft, cream sofa Sam used to lie on, laptop in front of him, his forehead creased in a frown of
concentration, working until Annie nagged him to stop. He used to wink at me sometimes when she got upset, as if to say:
I know she’s emotional, but we can handle her
. For a moment, I
felt a surge of anger with Sam for not being here. He would never have gone to pieces, like Annie. If he were around he’d know exactly how to handle the kidnappers.

‘Where on earth do we start?’ Jam said, glancing around.

I gulped. The flat was neat and tidy – and it wasn’t large – but we were still facing an uphill struggle. I checked the time again. Sonia Holtwood had given us until 4 pm to
search the entire apartment for anything valuable. That deadline was only just over two hours away. For the first time since Madison disappeared I felt totally isolated. I’d texted Annie from
our train, reassuring her that Jam and I were fine and explaining in vague terms that we were following the kidnapper’s instructions for the next attempt at a handover. But Annie didn’t
know about our two-hour deadline. Neither did Rick.

‘I don’t know where to start looking,’ I said, sinking into one of the sofas.

‘Well, I’m gonna try here.’ Jam opened the cupboard under the TV.

I glanced through the window to the small balcony which was the only outside space in the flat. Sam and Annie had bought the flat partly as an investment for me . . . somewhere for me to one day
inherit. I had a sudden flashback to being here with Madison last year. We’d chatted on that very balcony about how one day we would live here together – with me working and Madison
maybe at college in London.

My insides seemed to shrivel up. Up until Madison’s disappearance I had been so sure she’d be in my life forever. And now, here I was, facing a possible future without her.

‘This is hopeless,’ I said.

Across the room, Jam stood up. ‘Giving up so soon?’ He raised an eyebrow.

Was he sneering at me?

‘No, I’m not,’ I snapped. ‘You stay here. I’ll check out the bedrooms.’