The Citadel and the Wolves (9 page)

I murmured.

When I came out of the deputy directress’s office, feeling drained and exhausted, Wendy was waiting for me.

She looked worried. “What happened?”

“I’ve been gagged.”

“Pardon?”

I elucidated, “I mustn’t talk to anyone about the comet from now on or else.”

“Does that include me?” asked Wendy hopefully. Then she laughed.

I’d got Mrs Sweet and her unreasonable demands out of my system by the end of the school day, and I was excited once more. I was looking forward to my 14
^th
birthday party in the evening, even though I’d been forced to invite Kevin Willis at my sister’s behest. I hadn’t invited Sourpuss to my 14
^th
needless to say. It was for humans only!

When Wendy and I came out of the school gates after class, daddy was waiting for us.

We rode in silence.

I was concerned. Daddy looked pale and drawn. I wondered if he had a bad day in the classroom, but I suspected that it was something more serious, so I didn’t bother him with my own worries. He checked the mirror again.

When I got in, I found more birthday cards waiting for me by the phone, delighting me. I love getting lots of birthday cards on my birthday.

I soaked in a deep, hot bath, emptying my mind of all things important and unimportant. I was glad to be out of my school uniform; however, I had a problem. I had absolutely nothing to wear to my own birthday party this evening. Then someone not one thousand kilometres away rattled the locked bathroom door.

“Jade, how much longer are you gonna be in there?” inquired a demanding voice without.

“Forever,” I uttered in my purple dream.

Someone without groaned.

I was in my dressing gown blow-drying my damp hair when mum walked into my room with some things.

“Jade, haven’t you dressed yet? Your friends will be here soon.”

“I’ve got nothing to wear, Mum,” I complained miserably. “I’ll have to cancel my birthday party, send all the guests away, hand back my beautiful presents and cards.”

She shook her head helplessly and opened my wardrobe.

“Jade, you’ve got lots of nice frocks.” She sorted through some. “Why don’t you wear the blue dress? It looks very pretty on you.”

“But I wore the blue dress on Wendy’s 16
^th
birthday party, Mum.”

“Jade, you are not a film star,” said mum who took out the blue frock and hooked it on the wardrobe door. “Wear the blue dress.”

I sighed, “Yes, Mum.”

When she had gone, I put the blue dress away and took out the little black one instead.

I dressed.

I was wearing make-up, the little black dress and new stockings which I bought myself from the chemists where I work, but I wasn’t quite ready yet. Something else was missing. I hesitated as I carefully opened the door a fraction peering out onto the empty landing. I quietly closed the door again. I turned around staring at my dressing table for a long moment. I’d been keeping them a secret from the others. They wouldn’t understand anyway. I opened the little side cupboard in my dressing table and took out the blue
Spider Girl
brand shoebox which I’d hidden behind my tops. I sat on the bed with it removing the lid to reveal a gleaming pair of new high heels, my first. I caressed them lovingly for a moment or two. The intoxicating smell of new leather filled my nostrils. As I removed them from the shoebox, the little card fell out. I read it again amused.

For

Jade

My favourite Pupil

Simon

Simon had given me the surprise birthday present (and I do so love surprise presents) when I was in his office this morning. I hid them in my locker at school. Wendy simply wouldn’t have understood, and as always, she would have drawn the wrong conclusion. Simon-Mr Whitehouse and I are just good friends.

I slipped them on. They were a perfect fit, even though they did pinch my toes a little. The mild irritation was worth it though. I walked around my room getting used to the idea of wearing high heels for the first time. I felt very grown up and taller too!

Then, I checked myself in the mirror as I always do whenever I dress up for a party, especially my own birthday party. I began to worry a little as I always do whenever I check myself in the mirror for longer than a moment or two. My eyebrows knitted into a frown. Was my lipstick smudged? Did I look like a clown with all this make-up on? Was my party dress showing too much leg? Did my knees look knobbly in this dress? Should I kill myself now or wait until all my guests have gone home? No, I looked almost perfect. I smiled suddenly. I blew my own reflection a kiss. I’m so wonderful, I sighed.

I moved the curtains to see if any of the guests were arriving, praying and hoping that Kevin Willis had lost his way or broken his leg or something. I spotted it because it seemed out of place. Two men sat in a green car that was parked opposite our house. They were watching our place.

When I entered the kitchen a little later with something else on my mind that continued to bother me, mum was preparing the buffet. She had made a bowl of cider punch; however, I suspected that she had added water and sugar to it. I noticed the wry look on her face when she saw me in the little black party dress instead. She frowned briefly when she also noticed that I was wearing high heels for the first time. I slipped my arm around her affectionately and kissed her cheek.

“What was that for, darling?” she asked.

“For everything,” I answered precisely.

She smiled. “Jade, take your cake in.”

I obeyed.

I took my beautiful birthday cake, which mum had baked and decorated herself, out to the dining room.

Wendy, who also wore a little black dress showing metres of leg, was peering through the drawn curtains anxiously. “They’re late.”

“It’s still early,” I said as I put the cake down on the table.

She murmured.

“Perhaps he’s fallen under a bus or something,” I remarked unhelpfully.

“Oh, funny.”

I laughed, for it was.

Then she noticed me for the first time, looking away from the window.

She smiled warmly. “Jade, you look almost grown up.”

Almost?

She kissed my cheek. She whispered in my ear, “Love the heels, Sis. Simon has got good taste.”

She knew! Blood filled my cheeks.

Kevin Willis was the first to arrive…unfortunately.

As we played the vid pop disks loudly, throwing open all of the windows, mum, who had done so much for me, vanished upstairs. A little later, I showed my friends from school my cool birthday present, the Electro Scoot MK2, making them envious of me. The evening drifted. As Wendy snogged Kevin Willis disgustedly during the slow ones, I disappeared into the kitchen with a cup of cider punch. I sipped it, grimacing. I’d been right.

I wanted to be alone for some moments. I started thinking again, which is always a mistake with me. I should have been enjoying myself with the others, for it was my birthday party; however, I wasn’t. Seeing that green car parked opposite our house had upset me. Was I simply becoming paranoid? It was probably just another one of those coincidences that happen from time to time. There must be thousands of green cars in London. After all, green is a fairly common colour. I should forget green cars and enjoy my 14
^th
birthday party.

I brought a cup of cider punch up to dad. I hadn’t forgotten him in all the excitement. He had paid for my birthday party. I found him in his attic observatory. He was gazing out of the window, sucking on his favourite pipe. Something held his attention. Although he broke into a smile when he saw me there with a cup of mum’s cider punch for him, he looked strained. I’d never seen him like this before, and it worried me.

I glanced briefly at daddy’s computer screen nearby. Something immediately puzzled me. He was wiping his hard drive clean. Why?

“How’s the party going, Jade?” asked daddy who seemed distracted.

“Great,” I replied. “Why don’t you come down, Dad?”

“I’m a bit long in the tooth for that sort of thing now, Jade, twenty years ago, maybe. The party is for you kids, enjoy it.”

“You’re as young as you feel, Dad.”

He chuckled.

“Dad, I-”

We heard the doorbell downstairs.

He removed the micro, wafer-thin memory stick from the computer. He gave it to me.

“Dad?”

“I want you to do something special for me, Jade. Don’t let them get hold of it,” he instructed. “It’s important. Would you do that for me, darling?”

I nodded, gripping the memory stick tightly in my hand.

“I’m depending on you, Jade. I trust you.”

I was suddenly scared.

I stood on the landing alone staring at daddy’s memory stick that burned a hole in my hand. I heard them downstairs. Mum had let them in. She had little choice in the matter. I had to do something and fast. I smiled suddenly. I wanted to laugh out loud.

As I turned down the stairs, I saw them in the hall for the first time. They were two, burly-looking and granite-faced men in long raincoats. I glanced at their black, polished shoes curiously. I paused on the stairs.

I turned to mum, who looked scared too, standing at the foot of the stairs, for an explanation.

“These men are policemen, Jade. They would like to speak with your father. Do you know where he is, darling?”

I shrugged my shoulders indifferently.

The taller one with cropped hair had almost evil, hooded eyes. He made me shiver when he stared at me.

“I-I don’t know where my father is,” I muttered, averting my eyes from the other.

Daddy appeared on my shoulder on the stairs, spoiling things.

“It’s all right, Jade. I know what this is all about,” he said in a calm, assured voice.

Daddy went with the other. Cropped hair remained, puzzling me.

“Jade, the sergeant would like to look in the rooms upstairs,” said mum in a strained voice.

“Do you have a search warrant, Sergeant?” I demanded without thinking. The words just slipped out of my mouth. I remained strangely calm inside yet angry too.

Mum, whose eyes glistened, shook her head. “Jade.”

Cropped hair brushed by me as he thundered upstairs in his size twelve shoes. I was wrong. They were two slits carved into his forehead.

Wendy, who looked confused, came out of the dining room. “Jade, I just saw daddy being driven away in a car. What’s going on?”

“He’s been arrested,” I answered bitterly.

Wendy and I watched sullenly as the other put his size twelve shoes through the rooms upstairs after he’d searched the attic; however, he had failed to find anything. I kept that secret locked in my head. When he looked through my dresser drawers, I felt violated. I’d never forgive cropped hair for that. He still hadn’t found what he was looking for. In fact, he wasn’t even warm. He was cold. Wendy and I were both more than a little horrified when he also searched the nursery, Tommy’s room. Tommy woke. He started crying. He was frightened. I picked him up. I kissed and cuddled him, reassuring him, as the other, who had a heart of stone, went through his things. Size twelve shoes looked in the bathroom last. He didn’t find anything there either. He was as cold as ice.

“Satisfied?” I asked angrily, for I was no longer afraid of him.

He grunted and went downstairs. I poked my tongue out at the back of his head. He had left empty-handed. It was a small victory.

“Jade, what was PC Plod looking for?” inquired Wendy who was still confused.

“Daddy’s computer memory stick,” I replied with a sly smirk on my face, “but I hid it.”

“Where?”

Wendy’s eyes widened with astonishment and surprise when I lifted up my hem, revealing the computer stick that I’d tucked in my stocking top.

My birthday party had ended early, my beautiful birthday cake left untouched. They had ruined my special day. I hated them. It was a birthday that I wouldn’t forget in a hurry for all the wrong reasons.

Wendy and I comforted mum who was tearful and anxious. We remained strong for her, but we didn’t know what to do. Daddy had been arrested. He’d been arrested like a common criminal.

Something both extraordinary and mysterious happened a little later. As Wendy and I were making tea for mum, someone rang the front doorbell. Thinking that it was daddy returned, we dashed excitedly to answer the front door. When we did, a youngish man, clean shaven, with long hair, leather jacket and jeans, stood on the doorstep. Who was he? What did he want?

“Nick Lighthouse, girls, South London Herald,” he announced cockily. He was a reporter on the local rag. “It’s about your father. May I come in?”

Mum appeared at the door. “Yes, please do.”

I made Nick Lighthouse, who turned out to be a crime reporter on the South London, some tea. He seemed to know an awful lot about dad’s arrest. We discovered from him that he was being held at the South London Streatham Police Station where he was being questioned on certain matters. The authorities were starting to take him seriously. They didn’t like what they were hearing. They didn’t like what they were reading.

As Nick, our friendly reporter from the South London Herald, continued to ask us lots of probing questions, I noticed something odd about him, which baffled me.

Nick glanced at the cake. “Birthday party?”

“Mine,” I said tersely.

“May I see the observatory now?” requested Nick.

Mum nodded.

Wendy, who already had her eyes on him, and I showed him up to the attic. But the unanswered question on my lips remained.

Nick looked around curiously. “Do you believe in this comet stuff?”

“It’s true,” I insisted assertively.

He idly looked through the telescope. “It’s pretty heavy stuff, though, isn’t it, a comet the size of a small planet colliding with the earth?”

“Comets collide with the earth every day. Most of them are quite small, so they burn up in the atmosphere,” I explained for his benefit.

“But according to your father, this one isn’t?”

“No.”

“What were the police looking for, do you suppose?”

“A computer disk or something, I think, though I don’t really know,” I answered cautiously.