Queenie and I go downstairs, and Queenie begins to explain the new, three-person rota to Jack. Mum doesn’t notice I’ve been crying, and as soon as she sees me she begins to pull herself up off the bed. ‘I need the bathroom, Anni,’ she says directly.
Queenie returns to the attic and Jack, who is left on guard, escorts us to the bathroom. He allows us to close the door. There, thrown together in that small space, I look closely at Mum. Her whole face is even more alert and alive than earlier. I haven’t seen her look this way for years. What’s happened?
‘Anni, I have an idea,’ she whispers, her voice overflowing with suppressed excitement. ‘I’ve thought of a way to get Ace and the others to leave the house. Now, before daylight comes.’
It’s a huge effort for me to drag my thoughts away from my conversation with Queenie, Ace and King, and focus on what Mum has just said.
‘What do you mean?’ I ask, confused.
Mum turns on the taps, full blast. Then she takes my wrist and pulls me closer. ‘Upstairs, in the little attic, there’s a secret cupboard,’ she gabbles into my ear under cover of the rushing water. ‘Well, it’s not really a cupboard; it’s a safe, a hidden safe. But it’s big enough for someone small to hide in. My idea is this – if you go and hide in that cupboard, Ace and the others won’t have a clue where you are. They’ll think you’ve escaped and gone to raise the alarm. All right, so they’ll search the house and the gardens, maybe they’ll even go out into the streets, but if they can’t find you . . .!’
I don’t say anything because I’m struggling to take in what she’s telling me.
Mum rolls her eyes in frustration. ‘Don’t you see, Anni? If they can’t find you – and they won’t because they’ll never guess there’s a hidden safe – they’ll panic and leave the house! They’ll want to escape before the police get here!’
‘A hidden safe? A secret cupboard?’ I repeat, still in something of a daze. I wonder if Mum is feeling quite all right. This is real life, not an Enid Blyton story. ‘In the little attic? Are you sure?’
Mum is nodding impatiently before I’ve even finished speaking. ‘It’s hidden behind one of the panels between the wooden beams,’ she explains, the words tumbling out of her in one long stream, without pause. ‘Your dad had it built years ago to store valuables, but I think you’d be able to get inside it. I’ve been racking my brains for ages wondering if there was somewhere in the house where you could hide yourself away, and then I remembered the cupboard!’ She’s flushed with triumph. ‘I haven’t been up there for years, but I can tell you exactly how to find it—’
‘Mum, wait!’ I interrupt, not sure whether I’m coming or going. This so-called secret cupboard is impossible to believe in. Especially as I’m struggling to cope with my mum’s apparent personality transplant at the same time. ‘Mum, let’s think about this logically. Even if there is a hidden safe in the little attic—’
‘There is,’ Mum replies. She’s so confident that, finally, I grudgingly accept it, however unlikely it sounds.
And now I’m caught, well and truly caught, in a trap of my own making. I can’t tell Mum that my feelings about Ace and the others are beginning to change. The only way to convince Mum, by telling her how kind they were to me just minutes earlier, involves having to confess to being a shoplifter, a thief. Not that. Never that.
But on the other hand I know Mum’s right. We should still be trying to escape. Once again I wonder what might happen if the ‘peaceful mission’ turns bad. If things go horribly wrong. And besides, it’s just not me to do what I’m told and sit around waiting until morning, even if I don’t think Ace and the others mean us any harm. I make a lightning decision. I’m going with Mum and her plan.
‘All right, well, we still have several problems, Mum,’ I say, frowning. ‘For one, how am I going to get up to the little attic while we’re being guarded? And even if I did make it up there, don’t forget I’ll be right close to where they’re working – they’re almost sure to hear me. And besides—’
‘I know what you’re going to say,’ Mum interrupts. ‘You don’t want to leave me behind on my own.’
I nod.
Outside, Jack taps on the door. ‘You all right in there?’ he calls.
‘Just coming,’ I reply.
‘I want to keep you safe, Anni,’ Mum whispers fiercely. ‘We have no clue what’s going to happen, and I’m so afraid you might get hurt. Ace and the others – they’re dead set on this mission, whatever it is. None of us knows how all this will end, not even Ace.’
‘I don’t think they’ll hurt us, though,’ I say confidently. ‘I think Ace was telling us the truth.’
‘So do I,’ Mum agrees. ‘I’m guessing they’re just four ordinary people who’ve got themselves mixed up in a situation they can’t get out of. But they’ll only get more exhausted, edgy and nervous as the clock keeps ticking towards ten a.m.,’ she adds softly. ‘Their behaviour could change. They might become threatening as they get more and more stressed.’
I am silent. Mum sounds so convincing, as if she really knows what she’s talking about, and I can’t argue with her reasoning. These are all thoughts I’ve already had myself, and I know she could be right. Everyone has their breaking point. I’m becoming certain now that her plan is still our only sensible option, despite what just happened upstairs.
‘Anni, I want you to do this,’ Mum says resolutely. I can’t remember ever seeing her this way before, so focused and determined. She’s like another person. It’s exhilarating but, strangely, it’s also kind of scary. ‘It’s our last chance. And now that only one of them is guarding us, we have to go for it. And if their “mission” backfires, I don’t want you anywhere near it. I have to protect you, my darling. And this is the only way. Will you try? Will you go and find the secret safe?’
‘Yes,’ I whisper as Jack knocks on the door again.
‘Brave girl!’ Mum gives me a brief, loving squeeze. ‘Listen to me carefully, Anni. When you get to the little attic, look for the third panel on the left and push it hard on the right-hand side. The panel swings out and there’s a space behind it. That’s the hidden safe.’ Slowly she reaches for the bolt. ‘We’re coming,’ she calls to Jack.
‘But how am I going to get upstairs without being seen?’ I ask urgently.
It appears impossible, but Mum already has some kind of a plan. ‘Wait until I lie down to sleep and then say you need the bathroom,’ she murmurs, and there’s no time for more because she’s opening the door and there’s Jack, probably wondering why we’ve been so long.
Silently I follow Mum out into the corridor. She seems to have a plan for everything at the moment. I’m not used to her taking charge. It unnerves me slightly.
I wonder if Jack will notice this change in Mum; her new-found confidence and determination. It seems so glaringly obvious to me. But Mum puts on the acting performance of her life as she trudges along the corridor, leaning on her sticks, head down, radiating weakness and defeat. She even pretends to trip at one point and I grab her arm.
‘Thanks, sweetheart,’ Mum says. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ She sounds ill and feeble and nothing like the cool, level-headed woman issuing instructions in the bathroom just moments before. I’m filled with admiration and respect.
Back in our prison cell Mum settles down on the bed and I sit next to her, as usual. Jack flips through the TV channels and finds an old black-and-white movie about the Second World War. I pretend to watch, but Mum’s instructions run through my head on a never-ending loop: Wait until I lie down to sleep and then say you need the bathroom.
Tensed like a cobra about to strike, I’m on full alert. Meanwhile, Mum calmly gathers a book from her bedside table and begins to read. I’m surprised, but then I understand and silently call myself every kind of an idiot. We can’t put Mum’s plan into operation yet. It would look too suspicious. We only just got back from the bathroom! Wait, Anni. Wait.
I pick up my own book. It’s about a girl who’s trying to find her missing sister, but I can only pretend to concentrate. I can’t take in a single word.
Half an hour later I feel Mum moving restlessly beside me.
‘Anni, I don’t feel so good,’ she murmurs, laying down her book. ‘I’m tired. Really tired. I don’t think I can stay awake any longer.’
I’m quivering with anticipation, but I manage to stay downbeat, keep my voice normal. ‘Well, we don’t usually stay up so late,’ I say pointedly, so that Jack can hear. ‘Why don’t you try and sleep for a bit now?’ I suggest.
Jack doesn’t even glance away from the TV as Mum lies down and closes her eyes. I tuck the blanket around her and can’t help but admire her acting talent once more. Mum doesn’t rush it, doesn’t overdo it. She tosses and fidgets for a good ten minutes before finally relaxing and seemingly falling into an utterly realistic doze. Her breathing is deep and even. She deserves an Oscar for this performance.
If Mum can do this, then so can I.
I don’t rush, either. I turn the pages of my book while I count up to five hundred inside my head.