‘We’re working on it and I normally keep this room locked,’ Ethan replies.
‘But it wasn’t locked because there was a dog in here,’ I reply.
Ethan looks puzzled. ‘You’re right. The room wasn’t locked.’ He runs to the door and checks the other side of it. ‘The key isn’t in the door.’ He pulls a bunch of keys from his pocket. ‘It’s here.’ He frowns. ‘I must have left it unlocked earlier in the day but I don’t remember doing that.’ He runs downstairs leaving me and the officer waiting. Then he comes back up. ‘The main door was locked although I did have it on the catch earlier when I unloaded the pickup, but I was sure I dropped the catch.’ He scrunches his nose. ‘I don’t know now.’
The police officer raises his brows and radios to his colleagues that everything is okay. ‘It looks like the door might have blown open a little and maybe the dog wandered in.’
‘I heard a person, not a dog,’ I say.
‘Are you absolutely sure?’
I don’t know now. However much I try to recall what I heard, it’s a distant memory even though it was barely an hour ago. ‘Yes, and the people around here have it in for us. Someone sent us a hamper full of veg and there were some worms in it and a note saying that they hope we fall for the place, like a welcome note, though it didn’t feel very welcoming because my aunt fell to her death from the balcony.’ I’m not sure if I should implicate Tessa and her nephew yet, not without speaking to her first. I also have no evidence against Ray. A few mean looks won’t cut it. ‘The other neighbours received horrible letters, like poison pen letters, and they blamed us. They think we sent them. We didn’t. We had the box of veg with the worms.’ It sounds absurd as I’m saying it but Ray’s specifically mentioned parking and we are the only ones to have a go at Ray over the way he leaves his car in the lane.
‘Weren’t you interviewed for assaulting a neighbour the other night that turned out to be a misunderstanding in the end?’
Ethan nods. We are well and truly being labelled as the local troublemakers now. Did the police believe Ray or Zoe?
The police officer steps out onto the balcony and gazes down. Is he actually going to take our complaint seriously?
I can’t hold back any longer. Maybe I won’t speak to Tessa. The police can. ‘There’s a woman down the road. Her nephew bullies kids and he put worms in another kid’s boot. He could be behind it all because we had worms in the veg hamper. And the neighbour, Ray, he keeps staring out of his windows at us like he hates us.’
The police officer lets out a long, slow breath. ‘It’s probably the kids, pranking.’ He pauses and frowns. ‘What’s this? This is something to be concerned about.’ He puts a pair of nitrile gloves on and picks up the knife I left on the chair.
‘I… it was me. When my husband went out to investigate the noise, I brought a knife with me.’
He hands it back to me. ‘Never bring knives into a situation. It’s not worth it. They can be turned on you. Any more problems, call us to handle them.’
‘You don’t believe us, do you?’ I ask.
‘Of course I do. There is no evidence that there was an actual break-in though. All I have is a dog that has somehow wandered into your house. There is no sign of forced entry. I’ll log the incident, and if anything else happens, please call us again.’
‘Speak to the neighbours about the letters. Speak to Tessa, Ray and Quinn.’
‘Do you still have the hamper and note?’
I shake my head. ‘They were in the bin and the bin lorry came this morning.’ Great. We have nothing. I didn’t even think to take a photo of it. If the police officer gets the notes from the neighbours, it might still look like we sent them, especially if Ray decides to mention parking, so I drop it.
I clench my hands into fists. I’m going to get to the bottom of all this if it kills me. The police officer checks the time. He wants to go and he thinks we’re creating drama where there isn’t any. It’s sad to realise that we’re on our own. I’ve never felt so cut off and alone.
As Ethan turns to show the police officer out, I pull the necklace from my pocket. In a panic, I didn’t even get a chance to look at it earlier. It has a small pendant in the shape of a pair of red lips hanging on the end. I struggle to catch my breath. I know who this belongs to and I haven’t seen it since I was fourteen. Seeing this feels like a threat, like the past has come back to remind me of that summer. I’m alone but the ghosts that haunt me have never gone anywhere. They’re here right now and I can’t escape. The necklace is mine. After a huge argument, Jasmine snatched it from my neck and I haven’t seen it since.
Twenty-Four
Morgan
I hate that I had to get the bus to school and I hate keeping big secrets from Mum. With what happened, I think my parents should have kept me off school for at least another day. I’m glad Diggerty is okay and that he didn’t fall from our balcony.
It’s chilly so I wrap my scarf around my head again. I do feel guilty for taking that note, and I can’t stop thinking about what was in it. As soon as Mum turned her back, I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. After reading it, I have to conclude that Dad probably had sex with Harry’s mum. Should I be angry at Dad or Quinn, or both of them? Thinking about Quinn sets me on edge. Mum brought that letter in with her. It was meant for Quinn so I reckon she stole it, which isn’t cool. Then again, I stole it from her and I read it. That wasn’t cool either, but so what? I glance around the playground for Harry. I can’t see him. The letter is still under my pillow. I have to show it to Harry because it’s the right thing to do. It has to be malicious, nothing more. My dad wouldn’t cheat on Mum. Never. He loves her. He loves us. I don’t think Mum opened it so I’m going to protect her from its contents, then again, maybe I need to protect Harry from the nasty things the writer said about him. I don’t know what to do.
I spot him. ‘Harry,’ I call across the playground. I didn’t have the nerve to go to Quinn’s for a lift after Dad upset her. It has been two days since my first failure of a day at school but it is Wi-Fi day – that’s one positive.
I need to make things right with my only friend around here before I have to swallow all my anger down and apologise to James. Harry ignores me. ‘Harry.’ I catch up with him and grab his hood. He turns to face me.
‘What, Morgan?’
It hurts that he’s being so blunt.
‘I’m sorry about the other day in the dinner hall. It wasn’t about you, I swear.’
