“What happened? Did Michael hurt you?” Arthur asked as Phyllis dusted herself down. “We heard your shout, Nova.”
“He just took me by surprise,” Nova said. “Michael clearly wanted to get out in a hurry, so he pushed past me and Phyllis. And in the confusion, I stepped backward and tripped over Craddock.”
“Don’t blame the dog, you were the clumsy one who landed on top of me,” Phyllis said with a tut. “What on earth are you doing here, Arthur?”
“Ash got into the Michael folder. We think we were wrong, it wasn’t Cynthia who hired Graham Pierce. It was Michael.”
“So that’s why he knew it contained photos!” Nova said, looking at Phyllis.
“Well, what were the photos of?” Phyllis demanded. “He seemed very concerned we didn’t see them, so it’s clearly something illegal or depraved.”
Arthur’s heart was still pounding from all the adrenaline, and he took a deep breath before he answered. “They were of you.”
“What?” The woman’s voice shot up an octave. “Why would he want photos of me?”
“I don’t know, but that’s why Ash and I rushed down here. We were worried you were walking into a trap.”
“Ash is here?”
“Yes. He’s outside with his friend, Dan; they’re restraining Michael.”
“Then I think we need to go and have another little chat with our newest book club member,” Phyllis said, and she pushed past Arthur and began to march toward the stairs.
Chapter Thirty
Michael
Michael lay pinned to the ground by two teenage boys, nursing his throbbing head and wondering how everything had gone so horribly wrong.
His throat was parched and he could smell an unpleasant, fishy odor, which he had a horrible suspicion might be coming from his own body. Had he really been here for over a week? It felt like only a few days since he’d fled his mother’s house, three pairs of underpants and a copy ofWhere the Crawdads Singhastily stuffed into his bag. And now apparently nine days had passed, and his mum was dead.
Dead.Another wave of grief crashed over him. He thought back to the last time he’d seen her and the bitter words he’d screamed. At the time, Michael had only wanted to hurt his mother, like she’d hurt him. And now she was gone, and he’d never be able to apologize; never be able to tell her how much he loved her. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a moan of regret.
“Are you all right?”
Michael opened his eyes and squinted up at the teenage boy above his head.
“Not really. Could you please move? I have a bad back and this isn’t helping.”
“No way, you’ll just try and run away again,” the boy said, blowing his long fringe out of his eyes. He looked vaguely familiar, but Michael couldn’t place where he’d seen him before.
“I can’t believe you knocked him over like that,” the taller boy at his feet said. “That was so cool!”
“I don’t know what came over me. I just heard Nova’s shout and the next thing I knew I was down here punching him,” the first boy said. “I’ve never hit anyone in my life.”
“Well, you’re clearly a natural. It’s like when Rey defeated Kylo Ren, even though she’d never used a lightsaber before.”
“I wouldn’t quite compare myself to Rey,” the punching boy said, and when Michael looked up at him, he could see the kid was blushing. My God, were they flirting over the top of him?
“Look, I promise I’m not going to run away. Just let me move before we need to get a chiropractor down here.”
The teenagers discussed it for a moment, and then Michael felt himself being hauled to his feet.
“Ouch! Shit, that hurts,” he winced, as pain shot through his lower back.
“Sit down here,” the taller boy said, and the two of them helped Michael limp to one of the rock seats his father had carved fifty years ago.
Michael lowered himself down and rested his head in his hands. What on earth was Phyllis Hudson doing here? Even back in the very earliest days, before he’d contacted Graham Pierce, it had never occurred to Michael that he might one day have to face her like this. But now not only was she here, but he’d gone and hurt her. Michael had wanted to stop and check she was okay when he saw herfall, but the flight instinct in his body had been so strong that he’d charged out of the room without even looking. My God, this was all such a mess.
