Finn dived for his phone, pulling up the number for the hospital with hands that were way steadier than I’d have been. Breathlessly, I watched.
‘The line’s busy.’
‘They must have more than one line! They—’
His frown silenced me. The click of his phone locking echoed in the silent room. ‘I can’t wait. I have to go.’ He smacked a kiss on my mouth and squeezed me tight. ‘Mace? I’m really sorry but I have to . . .’
I squeezed back. ‘I know. Oh God, I hope Nick’s okay. But I have to stay – you know that, right?’
He nodded. ‘You’ll find your sister, I know you will. Hang in there, okay? And keep in touch!’
‘You too!’ I called as he bounded for the door. ‘Hey, Finn?’ I continued, my voice breaking, ‘Tell him for me that it’s not his time, okay? That he’s not allowed to dip out . . .’
His solemn wink was the last thing I saw as he disappeared outside. I was left to try and decipher Zorda’s advice and this new message.
She said to trust my instincts and they were screaming at me that the two things were connected, even if the police didn’t believe me.
My father’s face was white when he walked back into the room a few minutes later. I hadn’t even heard his phone. ‘That was the police – she’s not in that fire escape stairwell.’
My heart plummeted. I’d been so sure . . .
Beside me, Zorda squeezed my hand. It seemed she wasn’t going anywhere. ‘It’s Wednesday, you’re going to miss the markets,’ I eventually muttered.
‘I go vhere I am needed, little one. I am needed here.’
Dad grabbed his keys. ‘I’m going out to look. I don’t care what the police say – this is my daughter!’
I was midway to standing when Adrienne pushed me back. ‘You can’t go, Macey – it’s dangerous and you’ve got to rest.’
‘Someone has to be with Dad,’ I pleaded. ‘Someone has to be the lookout.’
‘But—’ Her face crumpled and I worried that if she kept wringing her hands like that she’d strip all the skin right off. But I saw something else in that moment. I saw someone torn. She needed to be out looking for Felicity, but she also wanted to be there for me. It was very humbling.
Zorda saved the day. ‘Go and search for your daughter; I vill stay vith zis one.’
‘But . . .’
Zorda shook her head. ‘Go!’
I couldn’t sit still and the moment the door closed I grabbed my phone. Injured or not, I could call the people who’d come to see me today – at least all those I had numbers for – and ask if they remembered who’d brought the hot-pink roses. Even as I started dialling though, a memory filtered in. The roses, a bear . . . Mia’s words echoing down to me through all the gushing and chatter: ‘This message is perfect for you. Really significant. Even if I’d got to choose myself I would have picked this one!’
The bear’s paws clasping the satin cushion message: Always look for the silver lining. OMG, the diamonds were the silver lining!
Had Mia been giving me a message? Making sure I checked out the flowers? But wasn’t that risky? And what did she mean by saying even if she’d picked it? That she hadn’t? Then who had chosen it and how did she get it?
Or was this just another scam so I’d think it wasn’t her?
Ignoring Zorda, who kept telling me to calm down, I paced. Finally, I knew I just had to do it. I had to call Mia and ask – and if she was the stalker, pray I wasn’t making the biggest mistake of my life.
Or of my sister’s life . . .
When she answered, I shot the question straight at her.
‘Oohh,’ she squealed, ‘wasn’t it just adorable? The most gor-jus thing you’ve ever seen?’
‘Absolutely,’ I lied, impatient to get to the main event. ‘Mia, what did you mean by saying you didn’t pick it yourself?’
I heard the hurt in her in-drawn breath. ‘Does that matter, Macey? I thought what mattered is that someone cared, not whether they chose the gift themselves!’
‘I totally agree, but . . .’ Thoughts whirled in my head. ‘But, I wanted to get one for my sister, and I wondered if you knew where it came from.’
I didn’t dare breathe as I waited for her reply. ‘Well, I have to admit that it was a bit weird. I thought my mother had organised them while I was at my early gym session, because they were there when I got back. She’d left for the salons and when I thanked her later, she said she hadn’t ordered them. Can you believe that?! She thought I had. She said a guy delivered them. The card said Macey, so Mum thought I’d done it and just left them there for me. Spooky, huh? Like the spirits were all working together to make sure you had a great day, Macey. So it was, like, a gift from the universe. Just like the bear said – always look for the silver lining!’
I didn’t even remember saying goodbye, I just hung up and stared out at the black ocean, mesmerised by the ghostly white froth, that over and over clawed its way to the beach, only to be dragged back out to sea. I knew how it felt; my thoughts were just as hopeless.
The faces of everyone who’d come by today danced before me on those waves. Did Mia’s explanation mean that my stalker wasn’t one of them? Or that this was a double scam: he was here but didn’t deliver them himself? It was possible.
The plan could just have been to taunt me; torture me with the knowledge that he was here and I didn’t recognise him. Why? Because he freaking could? Was it as simple as that? To prove how clever he was and how thick I am?
Or was Mia lying?
Wrapping both arms over my head to stop it exploding, I flopped onto a cane lounge facing out to the beach. Zorda had given up trying to make me rest. She busied herself making herbal tea and closing out the chilly ocean breeze. Nothing made sense. Absently I fumbled for the remote and flicked the gas fire to life, for a moment losing myself in the dancing flames.
But when my phone beeped a message moments later, I was immediately back in the moment.
I recognised the number. It was one I’d memorised and could recite with my eyes closed.
My stalker . . .
In my frenzy, I didn’t at first realise it was a vid clip, and my fingers suddenly felt too fat for the touch-screen’s keypad as they stumbled to play it.
Zorda pressed in so close. Her old hand grabbed my wrist and held. ‘Be calm. You must use your head, yes? Do not let your emotions confuse you!’
The advice was impossible to follow.
It was my sister. Her hair was mussed, her face pale and dirt-smeared. She’d fought him. Her eyes were wide and frightened – but I knew instinctively she hadn’t given up. Her hands moved restlessly, making fists – oh yeah, she hadn’t given up.
But would that make things worse for her?
My chest swelled and moved up to jam in my throat. Oh God, how could I ever have not wanted her in my life? We were so much alike! How had I not seen that? Yesterday I’d thought her spoiled and stubborn; today I saw strength and determination.
What had I done to her? What had I dragged her into? Whatever else I blamed her for, she hadn’t deserved this.
In seconds the screen went black. It was over. ‘No! No! No! What was that even about? She didn’t say anything! So, what? This was just to taunt me? Is that his game?’
‘Macey!’ Zorda’s voice cut through my tirade. ‘Stop zis nonsense. You must use your head! I said you get a message. Zis could be it. Please, little one – please just concentrate.’
‘Dad! First I have to ring Dad.’ I pulled up his number, hopping from foot to foot. But when a ringing echoed near the door, my heart plummeted. ‘He’s left the freaking thing at home!’ I screeched.
‘Your mother? Can you reach her?’
For a moment I was confused. ‘Oh, Adrienne? I . . . I don’t know her number. Oh, wait!’ It’s funny how adrenaline can trump pain, and I barely felt my sore hip and thigh as I raced to the table in the foyer. But any hope was short-lived and frustration burned like acid being poured though my gut. ‘He hasn’t got it in here!’ My fist tightened around the phone, fighting the urge to toss it as hard and far as I could. Turning back to Zorda, I tried to explain. ‘My father’s company develops mobile-phone technology. He’s always trying new models. This must be one of them – it hasn’t got a single number stored and he’s only made one call and that was to here.’
‘The police? Ve should tell them!’
The station put me straight through to Constable Freeman. He sounded a bit wary, but I heard him take more notice when I explained about the video. He said to ‘stay put’ and they’d be over ASAP. I wasn’t happy about having to see Sergeant Grumpy. But as long as they pulled the town apart to find my sister, he could be as crabby as he wanted to be.
Four more times I replayed it, looking for clues. Nothing. Zilch. Nothing in the background made any sense. Some seriously ugly curtains. Something about them rang a bell . . . Or did they? I was desperate; was I just clutching at straws? I stared at the table behind Felicity. Anything? My heart sank. Nothing. Just a table.
‘Ze picture is so small,’ Zorda complained.
Of course, I should have thought to move it over to a laptop. Grabbing one from the downstairs study, I fired it up and uploaded the file from my phone.
‘She – how you say – fidgets? So much! Is zis nerves?’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. I’ve never seen her like that, but then it’s not like I know her very well. It looks kind of weird, though.’ I played it over again. ‘Look,’ I said, pointing, ‘see how she stops? She looks at whoever has the camera. It’s like they tell her to stop.’
‘But zen her fingers wriggle. See? Zey cannot keep still.’
I did see! My breath caught. Focussing on the fingers, I expanded the view. There it was! An ‘s’! I hit replay. Three times. ‘She’s not fidgeting – she’s sending me a message! Oh my God, Zorda – you’re a freaking goddess!’ I grabbed her and kissed her hard on the cheek.
And hit replay again for the twenty zillionth time. This time I knew exactly what I was looking for.
When the cop’s face appeared on the intercom pad, I’d never been so happy to see anybody. It wasn’t either of the cops I’d already met, but I didn’t care. After buzzing him in, I almost kissed him. ‘OMG, I know where she is! We have to go there now!’
I was ready. Biviano-ankle-boot ready. But as I started to charge out the door, the cop shot out an arm and stopped me. ‘Sorry, Macey. I’m just here for the phone. We’ve had an incident up on the highway and the sarge is busy with that. He said to tell you that we’ll take it from here.’
‘But I KNOW where she is – she sent me a message! We have to go.’
‘Where is she?’
‘At school.’ Even as I said the words, I knew he’d been briefed and I was losing him. As far as they were concerned, the school was cleared. ‘It’s true! She’s there!’
His gaze was steady. ‘Exactly where at the school?’
Desperation flooded me; I felt like someone fighting for her life. Or someone else’s life! ‘I don’t know exactly where but—’
‘So, how do you know?’
‘She sent me a message – in Auslan! It’s all there!’ Frantically I opened the message, showing it to him, pulling back slightly when he reached for the phone. I watched him take it in, saw him nibble on his lower lip. When it was done, his eyes were all over the place. On me, off me, on the phone, back at me. His free hand rubbed the back of his neck.
Indecision.
He was wavering.
‘Please . . .’
Shaking his head in defeat, he lifted his radio, and I saw the wince cross his face as the sergeant’s voice snapped at him down the line. I clearly heard that voice tell him to pass on to me that they’d wasted enough time tonight on wild goose chases and to leave it to them. As Moylan signed off, he was muttering about spoilt kids and time-wasting pranks. My breathing stalled, and the constable’s shoulders dropped as he turned back to face me. ‘Sorry, Macey, I know you want to help. Look, just give me the phone now and I’ll have him call you on the landline, okay?’
Sergeant Moylan still believed this was a prank. The thought wouldn’t shift from my head. My fingers closed more tightly around the phone. If it left without me, they’d cut me out of the loop. And what if another message came through? Would they take it seriously? I needed to go with them! They weren’t going to accept the urgency if I wasn’t there.
The constable was watching me. ‘You’re sure this is at the school?’ When I nodded, he mirrored my action. ‘Okay, we’ll get the principal to look at this clip. She’s offered to help, and if this was taken at the school, she’ll know where. How does that sound?’
‘But if I give you my phone I lose contact—’
‘But we’ll have it,’ he said softly, ‘and that’s better, right?’
‘He’ll call me straight away?’ I pushed.
‘ASAP.’
He held out his hand, and I knew all I had to do was give it over, but something still held me back. I looked across at Zorda, who was standing just a few steps away. Heck, maybe she was a mind-reader as well as a psychic, because suddenly she flung a hand up to her head, her eyelids fluttered and she moaned.
The policeman, looking alarmed, frowned and took a few steps towards her. ‘Are you okay, ma’am?’
‘I don’t know. It is ze stress . . . Such horrid happeningks, yes?’
‘Maybe you should sit down,’ he suggested, directing her to a chair in the lounge.
It was barely a minute, and my fingers fumbled badly, but I had to take every chance I got.
It was done.
I’d sent my text. Maybe they’d have let me if I’d asked, but I couldn’t take that chance, and when I finally handed over the phone I felt at least a bit calmer. This was my link to Felicity and if they weren’t going to take this seriously, I was. All I could do was hope they did.
As he was about to leave, I grabbed his arm. ‘I need to contact my father. His— Adrienne’s number will be in Felicity’s phone. Please, can you call them and tell them I know where she is?’
The hesitation was slight, but it was there. ‘The phone’s at the station, Macey, and I’ve got to get back to Sergeant Moylan. I’ll ring through and see if someone’s got time to do that, okay?’
‘You’ll see if someone has time? I don’t get it! You’re treating this like it’s a prank, but you still have her things at the station. It doesn’t make sense!’
‘It’s just procedure to keep the belongings.’ His eyes softened. ‘Look, I know you’re worried, but it’ll help everyone if you try to relax a bit. We have a lot of experience with this kind of thing.’
Relax? A psycho has my sister and I’m supposed to relax? I swallowed back my panic and tried for calm – even if was only just for show. Following my instincts to jump on him, beat his chest and beg probably wouldn’t get me a favourable response.
Besides, there was nothing more I could say. When he’d left, I hugged Zorda, drawing strength from her, feeling myself wind down a bit. ‘Thank you for before.’
‘You accomplished vat you needed to do, yes?’
I nodded. ‘Now I just have to hope that Sergeant Moylan gets back to me. Or Dad and Adrienne. And quickly!’
But every second was like an hour. Finally I could wait no longer. ‘I can’t do this, Zorda! I have to go and try to find her!’
She didn’t argue. ‘Zen I vill come vith you.’
‘No! I need someone here to tell Dad where I’ve gone.’ Scribbling a note, I grabbed the keys to the BMW, glad that Dad hadn’t had time to send it off to get the seats fixed.
Her arguments followed me to the garage, but I shut them out. I had to get to my sister. I was the only one who knew where she was being held.
What I still didn’t know was by whom.
Or why . . .
Actually, the truth was, I didn’t know exactly where Felicity was, but I had a rough location. I’d been right, she was being held at the school – and what I had to do now was follow her directions.
If RTHS was weird on a Sunday in broad daylight, it was even creepier at night. Spotlights and sensor lights left most of the grounds in shadows. Heading towards the back, down to the water, was even scarier. Memories of Sunday released a trickle of sweat down my back and over my palms, but this was all my fault and there was no way I was backing out now.
My eyes were everywhere, but I knew I was going to have to ditch the BMW and make it on foot the rest of the way. The car was too risky. Maybe he was watching, waiting . . . I couldn’t risk scaring him into doing something stupid. Or was that more stupid?
Leaving the safety of the car was possibly the scariest thing I’d ever done in my life. Other than the pounding in my ears, there was no sound as I darted between the cover of the trees. No snapping twigs, no birds or animals. Nothing.
Swallowing deeply, I paused to get my bearings, my eyes scoping out every shape, searching for anything out of place. Like a car.
Or a light where none should be.
And there it was.
Almost hidden by overgrown shrubs that covered one whole side. In fact, if there hadn’t been that little sliver of light peeking between the branches of a hibiscus, I never would have picked it.
Ducking between more shrubs and trees, I climbed through the bushes, stifling a cry only once when a sharp branch poked me just above my eye as I felt my way blindly along the wall, aiming for the window.
I was almost there when I heard it. The snap.
I froze.
But I was too late.
He’d found me.