The computer clicked and hummed as the little red light blinked. I began to count the flashes, then stopped when I got to ten and looked away. Not because I was worried about getting to the bad number, but because I just didn’t want to count. The little black beetle was back, gnawing away at my insides. Punishing me for what happened to Callum.
The Harrington’s Household Solutions catalog was behind the monitor where I’d pushed it after finding Mum’s angry scrawls over the cleaning products. I’d move it later.
I sat and waited for the computer to get to the home screen, and then I logged into my email.
To: Matthew Corbin
From: Melody Bird
Subject: What Shall We Do Now?
So Old Nina is off the suspect list. What now?
Melody
I didn’t have an answer.
A car drove into the cul-de-sac, and I stretched up to take a look. There were no police around tonight. Penny was just getting out of their blue Fiat on the driveway of number one, which was odd. Gordon usually did all the driving. I sat back. Now that I came to think of it, I hadn’t seen Penny and Gordon together for a while. They were usually inseparable. How long had it been exactly? I got up and went to the landing and grabbed my notebook from my bedside table, flicking through it as I returned to the office. I sat back down and read through some of the entries.
… it looks like they are organizing a search party. Gordon, Sue, and Claudia are all taking part …
… Gordon got in his car at 11:27 a.m. and drove off …
… Penny Sullivan is next door. She’s talking to Mr. Charles and every now and then she pats him on the arm …
… Gordon dropped a large box off at our house. It looks like Mum and Dad have been ordering from Penny’s stupid catalog again …
I looked back further, to the night after Teddy went missing, and I stopped. My heart was pounding in my ears.
… I can’t believe Mum has agreed to let that creepy kid, Casey, stay at our house tonight. I got up at 2:18 a.m. and she was stirring in her sleep. “The old lady’s got him, Goldfish Boy,” she said. Could Old Nina have Teddy?
But Old Nina wasn’t the only old lady in the street.
I reached for the Harrington’s catalog and quickly found the pages covered with pen scratchings. The lines stretched from one side to the other, crazy haphazard scrawls that cut across the descriptions of the products and the photographs. But now, as I looked at it again, it didn’t look so angry. Some of the lines were swirls and loops, some curled around and around, and although it was messy, it certainly wasn’t menacing. And it didn’t look like something my mum would have done. In fact, it didn’t look like anything an adult would have done. It looked like a child’s innocent scribble.
I stood up. The curtains of number one were being drawn and I saw the hall light switch on. My breaths were coming in quick pants and I took a moment to take a slow, deep breath.
To: Melody Bird
From: Matthew Corbin
Subject: Number One
Penny and Gordon have been acting peculiar …
I stopped and deleted the message. This time I wasn’t going to say anything. Not until I was sure.
I went out onto the landing. Dad was still in my room. I could hear his paintbrush scratching against the wall.
I went downstairs. Mum was doing some ironing in the conservatory. She looked up and her eyes had dark rings circling them.
“You okay, Matthew?”
I stopped at the doorway.
“Mum. Have you spoken to Penny lately?”
“Penny? No, not today. I know all this Teddy business has been really distressing for Gordon. She said his blood pressure has rocketed up what with all the searches. He’s got to be careful because of his heart, so they’re going to try and go away for a bit.”
Mum put the iron down.
“What’s the matter, Matthew? You’ve gone white.”
“When? When are they going?”
Mum shrugged.
“I don’t know. She hasn’t said. Soon, I think. She said they’re hoping to be away for a few weeks at least.”
She walked to the sink to fill the iron with more water. I went to the front door and took some slow, deep breaths. If I thought about it too much I wouldn’t go, so I had to be quick before the anxiety took hold of me. I bent down and put my shoes on, my head pounding.
“I just need to go out for a bit. I’ll be back soon,” I said to Mum and I shut the door behind me before she could ask any questions.
Looking across at number one, I took the Wallpaper Lion’s eye out of my pocket and tucked it into my palm for safety. For my safety. Trying not to hold my breath, I crossed the road toward Penny and Gordon’s.
The television was on, blaring loudly, and I could see the screen flickering behind the curtains.
I checked their car, looking for any signs of Teddy. The seats were immaculately clean. A green air freshener in the shape of a palm tree dangled from the rearview mirror, and there was a local road map in the compartment of the passenger door. In front of the gear stick there was a tub of mints and a blue cloth that Gordon probably used to wipe the windshield. I checked the backseat. Nothing was out of place apart from a box of tissues lying on the floor. I walked around to the passenger side so that I could see the storage pocket on the driver’s door. The plastic handle of something poked out of the top, probably an ice scraper, and an old newspaper. Something bright orange caught my eye underneath the passenger’s seat. I couldn’t quite see what it was, so I moved around to the hood and leaned across the windshield, cupping my hands around my eyes.
Beneath the passenger seat was a small, orange bulldozer. The plastic bulldozer that Penny had picked up from the pile of toys in Mr. Charles’s garden.
Pushing myself upright from the car, I heard a brief double click.
“Oh no!”
The headlights began to flash on and off and the horn beeped repeatedly. I’d set off the car alarm. I froze for a moment, then ran toward the pavement just as the door of number one opened.
“Matthew? Is that you? What are you doing?”
Penny fumbled with her car keys, then pressed the fob, and the alarm stopped.
“Sorry, I-I just … I accidentally knocked the car and …”
I turned as if to go.
“But what did you want? You didn’t come over here just to set off our car alarm, surely?”
I took a couple of steps toward her, taking a second to study her appearance. She pulled the front door behind her a little and folded her arms, guarding the entrance, just like I do when I don’t want anyone in my room. Her hair was pinned back neatly in the usual style. Her clothes, a pale pink blouse and a sky blue skirt, were as smart as always. She looked calm, and there was no sign of stress or strain on her face—apart from the annoyance at having me standing on her driveway.
“Well, what is it? What do you want, Matthew?”
“I, erm. Mum said you’re going away.”
She blinked at me.
“And I wondered if you needed anything done while you’re gone. Watering your plants? Drawing your curtains? Delivering your catalogs? That kind of thing.”
I felt myself flushing. I wouldn’t believe me either.
Half of Gordon’s face appeared at the door, and the one eye that I could see widened when he saw me.
“What’s going on?” he whispered.
She practically pushed him back inside, and I could hear her muffled words behind the door.
“It’s fine, Gordon. Matthew was just leaving.”
She reappeared, patting the front of her hair.
“Thank you, Matthew. That’s very kind of you to offer, but there’s no need. Everything is in order.” And with that she stepped inside and closed the door.
When I got back home I went straight to the kitchen and found Detective Bradley’s business card stuck to our fridge beneath a magnet in the shape of a deck chair. I could hear Mum upstairs running a bath. Dad was putting his decorating things back into the shed.
I stared at the policeman’s number and then at the phone, which was lying on its side, thinking about what I could say to him.
Penny and Gordon have got him because she took a toy bulldozer?
I haven’t seen them together since he went missing?
Gordon is looking a bit stressed?
They’re planning a long vacation?
It was like Old Nina all over again. I had no solid proof.
And anyway, the phone’s earpiece was a tiny square of mesh that looked dirty and infected. The phone looked like something that could easily kill you. So I left it where it was.