‘No, why? What’s wrong?’
‘He’s not here.’
‘Of course he’s here. He’s probably hiding somewhere, not wanting to go to school.’
While Rob looked all around the house, I ran back to Bertie’s bedroom, searching under the bed, looking through drawers. ‘Rob! Rob, come here.’
‘What is it?’
‘His backpack’s gone, along with a load of pants and socks.’ I opened the wardrobe and began rifling through. ‘There are two pairs of trousers missing and one of his hoodies.’
‘You think he’s run away?’
‘What other explanation is there? We need to call the police.’
‘Hang on a minute. Let’s ring round his friends first.’
‘Friends?’ I rounded on Rob. ‘What friends? He was beaten up at school yesterday lunchtime. All the kids know about you going bankrupt. He’s miserable. I’d go as far as to say he’s depressed. This is your fault. If you’d stood up to your mother, or not been stupid enough to go bankrupt, he wouldn’t be this miserable. We were happy, Rob. HAPPY. If anything’s happened to Bertie, I’ll never forgive you, or your nasty, cruel, spiteful witch of a mother.’
I thundered downstairs, grabbing my coat.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To Cass’s. He might be on his way there.’
‘I’ll come with you.’
‘No, stay here in case he comes back. And don’t even think about calling your parents. Marion will only add this to her collection of ammunition. In fact, she’ll probably ring round her friends to have a good laugh.’
I slammed the door behind me and screeched out of the driveway, breaking all speed limits until I finally pulled the car to a stop outside Cass’s house.
‘Is he here?’ I asked as soon as Jasper opened the door.
‘Is who here?’
‘Bertie.’
‘Bertie? No, why, should he be?’
I burst into tears, and Jasper put an arm around me, pulling me into the house. Emmy walked into the room, took one look at me, rolled her eyes and walked back through to the kitchen.
‘Jake?’ called Jasper, easing me into an armchair.
Jake walked into the room, a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth.
‘Jake, Aunt Liv’s looking for Bertie. Do you know where he is?’
Jake shook his head. ‘No. Has he run away?’
‘We don’t know.’
‘Well, good on him if he has.’
‘Jake!’ Jasper looked at his son, open-mouthed. ‘That’s a horrible thing to say.’
‘No, it isn’t. She’s the horrible one,’ said my nephew, pointing at me. ‘She’s the one who made him leave his school and all his friends. It’s her fault he’s so unhappy. If I was her son, I’d run away too.’
Jake stormed out of the room and, rather than chasing after him, Jasper ran upstairs, returning with a bleary-eyed Cass following behind. ‘Jasper told me what Jake said,’ said Cass, propping herself on the arm of the chair. ‘I’ll speak to him later.’
