‘It has an oil leak.’
‘I’ll keep an eye out. Anyway, I best get back to the shop. Here, take my number.’ She grabs a curled up old notebook and pulls a sheet of paper out before noting down her number and passing it to me.
‘Thank you again for helping me.’
‘Are the police involved?’
‘They’re looking into my attack but they don’t know I went to Archie’s nursing home or that I was coming here.’ I realise that I’ve just made myself vulnerable with that statement so I add to my sentence. ‘I told my dad I was coming here, though.’
‘Okay. Give me a day or two.’ She ushers me up and back down the stairs.
‘Thank you. I’ll text you in a short while so that you have my number.’ She nods and opens the door to an angry-looking man with three children and an elderly lady holding his arm.
I shuffle past them and back out onto the pavement. That’s when I see a navy-blue car pulling up. It stops on double yellows with the engine running. I stand behind the wall and peer out. Daisy and Cody have gone but the one remaining girl gets off Jess’s bench and runs over to the car shouting, ‘Mum, unlock the doors.’
I can just about see through the sky reflected in the windscreen. It’s Laura from the shop, smiling. Her daughter jumps in and she reverses out. As soon as they’re gone, I run over to where the car was parked, heart banging away as I check for an oil patch. There’s nothing on the road but then again, she’d only been parked there for a few seconds. There was only one thing to do. She must be going back to her shop in awhile.
I’m going to wait for her at closing time and I’m going to follow her home. She must be popping out to get supplies. I know she lives close by and parking isn’t good in this town and there’s none by her shop. She said so herself. I hope that she takes her car back home after her little trip, then she or her daughter go back to the shop. I will follow either of them home. When I get there, I’ll find her car and I’ll check out her parking space. If there is an oil patch, I will know who’s been following me. That person is probably the same person who tried to kill me in the cave.
In the meantime, I have to get to a chemist. I need a pregnancy test.
THIRTY-SEVEN
KATE
I hurry back to the cottage, after a stop at the chemist, and Dad opens the door before I even reach it. ‘How did it go?’
I scurry through to the kitchen, passing the girls who are colouring. He’s as invested in getting to the truth as I am.
‘Natalie, the woman who owns the ice-cream shop, told me that she heard someone saying that Archie, the man in the nursing home, was standing on Banjo Pier with Jess’s hat on the day that she went missing.’
‘Did they see Jess?’
I shake my head. ‘But he had her hat.’
‘Who said this?’
‘She said she doesn’t know.’
My dad raises his grey eyebrows. ‘Really? She heard someone say all that. She probably knows everyone and she doesn’t recognise a voice.’
I sit at the table. ‘I know, I don’t believe her either. I think there’s a reason she’s holding back on me. She said she’s going to do a bit of digging, see if she can find out more.’
‘I always knew there was more to it.’ My dad hyperventilates a little so I place a hand on his back. Only now do I see how fragile he is and for the first time ever, I know we’re on the same team and that fuels my determination.
‘We’re going to get the full truth, Dad. I won’t stop until we do. It’s clear this town is hiding so much from us.’
My dad fights back his tears and grabs two glasses and a carton of juice. He pours me one. ‘Do you trust this woman? She could’ve been the one sending you the messages.’
‘It wasn’t her.’ I sip the juice but this only aggravates my heartburn.
He plants his palm on his forehead. ‘I hope not.’
‘Archie kept yelling about Jess’s red hat. It all makes sense to me. When I went into Natalie’s shop and up her stairs then into her kitchen, alone, I didn’t feel at all worried. She’s trying to help us.’
‘I thought you were just going to the shop. Be careful what you do. You don’t know these people.’
‘But she didn’t want Cody to see me there talking to her. We had to get away from the window as Cody was sitting on the bench, Jess’s bench.’ My cheeks are burning hot.
