The fire had destroyed all Davie’s research into his latest case.Ourcase. This was no random act of vandalism: this was the targeted eradication of all the evidence we’d collected on the League over the past weeks. It was obvious who was behind it. The only question was… how? How had they found out? I’d told no one. I hadn’t mentioned it to anybody that… The thought crumpled under the impact of the memory. Guilt pinched at my eyelids, closing my eyes. ‘Please, no.’
‘What?’ asked Zoe, bewildered. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Zoe.’ I turned to her with an urgent look. And beseechingly, perhaps, because I really, really wanted her to say no to the next question. I wanted so badly to be wrong. ‘What I told you the other day about Ashton. About the secret society. You didn’t mention it to anybody else, did you?’
Slowly she lowered the hand clutching the scarf. The way her face shuttered itself told me everything. Remorse, coupled with uncertainty and mistrust. ‘Why?’
Davie swore, then a moment later slammed a kick into the filing cabinet. Zoe jumped, and I tried not to cry with frustration and despair.
Crinkling the tip of her nose, she tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘I mean… last time I met up with Ashton he asked me why you and I weren’t hanging out as much these days. I didn’t want to lie. And… they’re just rumours. He deserves a chance to defend himself. And he did. He laughed and said the whole thing’s absurd, that you have a vivid imagination, and that he’s flattered you find him and his friends so mysterious, but…’
Neither Davie nor I were really listening. We just looked at each other, resigned and nervous, because we had both realised what was happening. One, that Ashton and his friends were definitely members of the League of Starlings. And two, that they knew now we were on to them.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, meaning it. This wasn’t Zoe’s fault, it was mine. Davie had cautioned me against telling her the truth, but I did it anyway. I had wanted to be honest with her, because that was what she’d taught me: when you like someone, you tell them the truth. The only problem was that I’d underestimated how much Zoe likedAshton.
Davie rubbed his head. ‘It’s fine.’
Again, Zoe’s baffled eyes flitted between us. She was so trusting that it took her a visible effort to put two and two together. Once she had, she gasped. ‘Wait, are you guys saying Ashton did this?’
Davie gave a hoarse laugh. ‘Zoe, wake up! He isn’t who you think he is.’
Zoe gripped the strap of her bag. ‘You don’t know him!’
I wanted to say something to defuse the situation, but Davie got there first. There were deep cracks in his normally calm and patient façade, and shining through were the strain, disbelief and rage he was feeling.
‘Jesus fucking Christ, Zoe, can you really bethatnaïve? I know more about him than you do. And I could have proven it to you if your psycho boyfriend hadn’t burnt all the evidence!’
I understood why he was so angry. The outburst wasn’t really aimed at Zoe, it was more the fact that months of research had been destroyed with the flick of a lighter. This was his way of coping. Words instead of plates, Zoe’s face instead of walls. Still, I wished he wouldn’t. Zoe would never listen to us if we went about it like that. If she felt like we were attacking someone she cared about, she’d shut down. Her loyalty was unshakeable–nobody knew that better than me.
‘Davie,’ I began, but he cut me short.
‘What, Mabel? If she’d kept her mouth shut, we wouldn’t be back to square one right now!’
‘You know it wasn’t on purpose. Zoe’s just a bit?—’
‘A bit what?Stupid?’
‘Zoe…’ My voice trailed off. Not because I’d been about to say it–I’d never call her or anybody elsestupid–but I couldn’t think of a word she would prefer to hear. The fact was, Zoe’s optimism and her unalterable faith in people did make her a little bit naïve. It wasn’t wrong, wanting to believe in goodness, but it was dangerous to be gullible. I knew, however, that she wouldn’t take that word as a sign of concern and love, but as derogatory.
Zoe smiled bitterly. ‘Fine. I know you both think you’re more intelligent than me. And you probably are, but that doesn’t make it okay to look down your noses at me! I’m not going to let myself be patronised or manipulated, and I certainly won’t be insulted. Even by you.’
‘Zoe, please, you know we don’t—’ I took a step towards her, but she raised her hand and flinched back.
‘Just leave me alone. And Ashton. Okay?’ She turned on her heel and threw the door open, slamming it so hard behind her that a swirl of ash went eddying out of the window.
Davie watched the dust settle with a sigh. ‘What a fucking shitshow.’
I couldn’t disagree. Dumping my bag wearily onto a desk, I walked over to him. ‘Come on, let’s clean up this mess.’
* * *
We spent the rest of the day at a café, mostly in silence, because words seemed futile. I tried to hide it from Davie, but I was feeling as discouraged as he was.
Back in my room, I sat down at my desk and tried to prepare for my supervision the next day. It was nearly two when my phone lit up beside me.
It was absurd: I had only to read the name and my heart began to race.
Heathcliff
