Forget Me Never (21 page)

It was ridiculous, but I couldn’t help being pleased. Perhaps she’d been lying when she said she didn’t fancy me.

‘Maybe.’

‘Nothing happened,’ I said. ‘Know why?’ I paused. ‘She wasn’t anywhere near as interesting as you.’

It was hard to tell, but I was pretty sure she blushed. Crazy hope surged inside me. But all she said was, ‘Can we agree that that’s in the past? Just . . . it seems unimportant now.
I should have talked to you about the party . . . Sorry.’

I was too distracted to reply properly. Her face was really, really close to mine, so close that her hair was actually brushing my cheek. We’d been sitting next to each other so long that
I could feel the heat from her body. It was totally the wrong moment, but I was so tempted to lean a few inches closer and kiss her . . . But then voices came from outside. Patrick and Kyle.

I wasn’t sure exactly where Patrick and Kyle were at first. After a moment I realized they had to be on the other side of the wall, outside the house. Hearing my name, I
froze, shushing Reece when he opened his mouth.

‘. . . said she had a young cousin,’ Patrick was saying. ‘Knew that girl reminded me of someone. Wonder if Danielle told her anything?’

‘No way of knowing for certain.’ Kyle spoke more softly; it was hard to make out every word. ‘She’ll deny everything.’

‘Whatever. It’s not like Danielle was important. Aiden and Cherie shouldn’t have got her involved if she couldn’t be trusted. Odd though. She sent me an email saying she
needed to talk to me, the day before she died . . .’

Kyle murmured something I didn’t catch. Patrick continued, ‘Funny how it was Cherie’s idea to involve Danielle, considering how it backfired on her. Aiden wasn’t meant to
end up actually
liking
Danielle.’

I sat up sharply. Kyle said, ‘And then she died. Funny, that.’

‘Hey!’ Patrick sounded annoyed. ‘I don’t know what happened and I don’t much care. She did her bit.’

Hearing them talking about Dani like this stung. But at least it confirmed what I already suspected – Cherie had to be responsible. I might never know the details but at least I had
someone to blame. And Danielle
had
tried to contact Patrick to tell him that the drug had harmful side effects. It meant a lot to me to have that confirmed.

‘Did you ring São Paulo?’ Kyle was asking.

‘I’m waiting for a call back. Need advice on what to do with those kids.’

‘You’ve not got too many options, the way I see it.’

‘What’s all this “you” stuff? You’re in this too, Kyle.’

‘It’s gone too far. Out of control.’

There was a pause, then Patrick said, ‘If you’re talking about Cherie, she shouldn’t have asked for more money. As for Aiden, he’s lucky he got away – I’m not
convinced he’s covered his tracks properly at V-B. If he’s found out, he’s not going to stay quiet.’

‘So what about the two inside?’ Kyle asked. ‘They’re
kids
, for God’s sake. They probably didn’t realize what they were getting into.’

‘They know too much. You see the choice I have here? At the end of the day you can give me this bleeding-heart trash, but I’ve gotta protect myself. It’s too late to backtrack
– and we’ve got the formula, for God’s sake. We’re almost there. We’re going to make millions!’

Kyle’s response was inaudible; it sounded like the men had moved away. I let out my breath, realizing I’d been holding it. I could feel that I’d started to shake again –
was it only a few minutes ago Reece and I had been talking about Paloma’s party, almost as though everything was normal? I wondered when they would make a decision about what to do with us
– surely it had to be soon . . .

At 11 p.m. Kyle reappeared with another bottle of water, some cushions and a lantern. He asked if we needed another bathroom trip. When we were both back in the pantry, he told
us to sleep.

‘Sleep?’ Reece sounded incredulous. ‘You’re kidding.’

Patrick appeared in the doorway, unsmiling. ‘Do as he says.’

‘Why? You’re holding us here against our will.’ Reece took a step forward. ‘It might surprise you, but I’m not feeling very cooperative! I want you to tell me what
you’re going to do with us.’ He paused. ‘Right now.’

He sounded way more assertive than I knew he felt.

Impressed but afraid for him, I opened my mouth, but Patrick spoke first.

‘No.’

‘Why not?’ Reece demanded. ‘Haven’t decided? Or d’you just enjoy being cruel? If it’s the first, then that’s just pathetic—’

Patrick’s hand shot out. I flinched even before I heard the smacking noise; when I looked up again Reece was staggering back, blood trickling from his nose. I rushed over and put my arm
around him. ‘Is any drug worth killing us for?’ I cried. ‘It’s not even the real deal! Did Aiden tell you about the side effects? It failed the trial! It’s gone back
for redevelopment.’

Kyle and Patrick froze. Then Patrick grabbed my collar, pulling me forward.

‘What?’ he demanded. ‘You mean to say they’ve given us a phoney formula? They’ve double-crossed us?’

Taken aback by the impact my words had had, I stared into his eyes. ‘I don’t know the details, but I know it’s not ready. You’re not going to be able to sell it as it
is.’

Unless you don’t care about the side effects, I thought. If Cherie and Aiden had been ruthless enough to sell a bad formula, then maybe Patrick and his associates would produce the drug
anyway. The thought of people taking the drug, full of hope and unaware of what it might do to them, made me feel sick.

Patrick made a growling noise and let go of me. Kyle followed him out, and I heard what sounded like the beginnings of an argument as the door slammed shut.

I looked at Reece. He was mopping up his nose with the end of his sleeve. ‘You all right?’

‘Yeah. It’s not broken or anything. Crikey. What a psycho! You really got to him!’

Whether mentioning the failed trial had been a smart move or not was something we’d have to wait to find out. I wished I knew what the side effects were, so I could’ve been more
specific.

Not knowing what else to do, we arranged the blankets and cushions into a makeshift bed. It felt like we were just waiting to be killed. What had just happened showed that Patrick had no
reservations about hurting us and I wasn’t confident Kyle would stop him if he decided he wanted us dead. If the worst was going to happen, I almost wished they’d just get on with it. I
couldn’t take not knowing much longer.

I shifted on to my side, facing Reece, trying to ignore the edge of one of the stones on the floor sticking into my arm through the blanket.

‘Why are they being so indecisive?’ I whispered.

‘Because we’re sweet and innocent and they don’t want to have to kill us?’ Reece’s nose had stopped bleeding by now, but he looked pale. Up close, I could see that
his brown eyes had flecks of green in them. How had I never noticed that before? ‘Something’s gotta shift. Even if McIntyre hasn’t called the police, Mum will soon
enough.’

I closed my eyes, thinking of all the things in my life that I hadn’t done and probably now never would. Sixteen – it was far too young to die.

Despite everything, I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I knew I was opening my eyes, feeling like my body was bruised all over. Reece was sitting up, eating from a can
with his fingers. I groaned and rolled over.

‘What time is it?’

‘About half four. Can’t sleep. Whatever this is, it tastes mega-gross.’

He got to his feet and began shuffling through the cans on the shelves. After half a minute of listening to the clanking of tins, I groaned. ‘How can you think of eating at a time like
this?’

‘Easily! How can you think of
sleeping
? I’m going mad. Reece rattled at one of the shelves. It didn’t shift. He swore and threw the can on the ground. It bounced and rolled uselessly.
Reece stepped over it and stood surveying the door. ‘Think there’s any chance of us breaking this down?’

I sat up and pushed my hair back from my face. ‘There are locks top, middle and bottom. Looks pretty sturdy.’

‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ Reece squared his shoulders, stepping back as far as he could.

‘Hang on, they’ll hear—’ As I was getting to my feet Reece flung himself against the door. It flew open and with a startled cry he disappeared. I rushed over. Reece was
picking himself up from the kitchen floor, rubbing at his elbow. I helped him find his feet.

‘What the hell?’ I cried.

‘It wasn’t locked!’ Reece said. We both looked back at the room we’d been in for the last twelve hours, unable to believe our eyes.

Reece came back to reality first. ‘Run,’ he hissed. As I fumbled with the front door, Reece started opening drawers. The scraping of metal sounded very loud in the still of the
night. Terrified that Kyle or Patrick would appear any moment I opened the door – it too had not been locked.

‘Reece! Come on. What are you doing?’

‘Seeing if there are any knives worth taking. I’d feel a lot safer if I had some kind of weapon. But there’s nothing.’

Outside I looked around, trying to get my bearings. The cold air tasted delicious after the stale pantry. It crossed my mind that the lantern might be useful, but that would mean going back
inside. I heard a sharp intake of breath from Reece. I followed his gaze to where the car was – or rather, where the car had been.

‘They’ve upped and left! Was
that
the plan?’

A light came on in one of the windows on the upper floor of the cottage. There was no time to think and we took off down the dirt track that led to the road. As we ran I heard a smash and an
angry shout – from whom, I couldn’t tell. At the end of the track we hesitated for a second, then turned right and carried on running. Several times I stumbled. Were we being followed?
I glanced back, but it was still too dark to tell.

‘Soph!’ Reece was several metres ahead, waiting so I could catch up; he was a faster runner. ‘Up here!’

It was a footpath leading into a wooded area, hedgerow on one side. Realizing that Reece’s intention was to find a hiding place, I jumped over the ditch and followed, ducking to avoid
overhanging branches. Heading into the darkness I thought I heard someone yelling, but if there were any words, they were lost to the breeze.

We crashed through the wood, twigs snapping under our feet. After a few minutes I couldn’t take any more and slowed. I took cover behind a pile of logs, bending double and gasping for
breath. Reece joined me, craning his neck to see over the top.

‘Don’t think we’re being followed,’ he said. ‘You OK?’

I nodded. When I’d got enough breath back to speak, I said, ‘Let’s wait here a moment. It’s less exposed than the road.’

Reece sat down on the log pile, wiping his hands on his trousers. ‘How long was that door unlocked, d’you think? Come to that, did you even notice Kyle locking it when he
went?’

I couldn’t remember – but surely we’d have noticed if he or Patrick had come and unlocked it. Maybe Kyle had wanted us to escape. Why? Then I remembered the conversation
we’d overheard and everything began to make sense – Kyle had sounded deeply unhappy about what might happen to us. At some point he must have decided the best thing would be to take the
car and get out – and while he hadn’t freed us directly, he’d given us the biggest chance he could. Wherever you are now, Kyle, I thought, thank you.

Patrick was probably still at large though – and he was the one with the gun. For thirty horrible minutes we stayed put, ready to bolt if there was even a hint that he was nearby. But
apart from the occasional hooting of owls, the wood was quiet.

‘Let’s scoot,’ Reece whispered. ‘It’s going to start to get light very soon.’

Moving as silently as we could, we crept on through the wood. At one point something swooped close to our heads and we both yelped and then ducked, sure the noise must have given us away. But
there was silence. After that we moved more freely, though neither of us let our guard down.

The wood was a lot bigger than we had first thought. I started to worry that we were walking in circles, or heading back the way we had come. But then the faint hum of traffic reached our ears
and, sure enough, ten minutes later we were on a minor road. The traffic was coming from our left – a little way up we found a junction leading on to a larger road. And there were cars
travelling along it. We were back in the real world!

We chose the direction we thought led away from the cottage and walked facing the oncoming traffic, hailing each car that approached. We’d always been warned against hitching lifts, but
today it was a risk we were prepared to take. It certainly beat being stuck in a pantry scared out of our wits.

After ten minutes had passed without a single vehicle even slowing though, my optimism faded. Perhaps we weren’t going to get lucky – anyone driving along this early in the morning
might not think picking up passengers was safe – especially ones that looked like us. Reece’s cricket whites weren’t white any longer, his trousers splashed with liquid from at
least one of cans, and I could see dust and twigs in his hair. I probably looked just as bad.

‘So much for human kindness!’ Reece shouted as another car zipped past. ‘We’re going to have to walk to the next town at this rate, wherever that might be.’

‘I’m really not liking this,’ I said. ‘What if—’

‘Look!’ A truck was pulling into a lay-by just ahead of us. We ran towards it, shouting and waving our arms. The driver stuck his head out of his window.

‘Where’re you heading?’ he shouted.

‘Anywhere!’ I said. Reece and I clambered inside before he could reconsider. The driver looked at us with a puzzled expression. He was a thickset scary-looking guy with a shaven
head, but right now I could’ve hugged him – in fact I might have done if it wasn’t for the Staffordshire bull terrier sitting next to him. It leaned forward and sniffed us with
great interest.

‘Blimey,’ the driver said. ‘What you been doing – running away from home?’

‘You don’t wanna know,’ Reece said expressively. ‘D’you have a phone we can use? We need to speak to the police.’