The following morning the atmosphere felt very tense. I had to be careful not to make Dad suspicious by seeming too desperate to leave the house, but finally I was on my way to the village garage, planning what I was going to say to Sam. I had the letter from Bella in my pocket but I wanted to add my own plea for him to get in touch with her soon.
I reached the garage and saw Bill working on a car out front. As I walked towards him I looked around for Sam but couldn’t spot him. ‘Hello,’ I said shyly. ‘Where’s Sam?’
Bill looked up, wiping his hands on a rag. ‘His last day was yesterday.’
‘Oh.’ I hadn’t expected that.
‘Have you tried his phone?’
‘My sister has but it’s going to voicemail.’
‘Ah …’ Bill nodded. ‘Can’t help you then. Sorry.’
As I walked along the road I tried Sam’s phone again and left a message asking him to call me back. Either he’d gone home – which I guess he might have done if he thought he and Bella were finished – or he was still staying at Rat Cottage.
I went back to our house to collect my bicycle and helmet from the shed, and managed to do it without alerting Dad.
Soon I was cycling along the country road that led to the cottage. Thankfully it wasn’t busy, except for a motorbike whizzing past me. I thought about how Dad always grunts his disapproval whenever a motorbike passes him at high speed. ‘He’s going to get himself killed,’ he always says angrily. One time he really embarrassed Bella and me by winding down his window at the traffic lights to speak to a handsome young biker who’d just overtaken us. ‘Hey, you! Watch your speed! You’re not invincible, you know!’
Dad’s dislike of motorbikes made total sense now that I knew about Murray. I wanted to ask him more about it but I knew I’d have to wait for the right time. I could still hardly imagine him, even as a teenager, riding on the back of Murray’s bike, urging him to go faster.
I eventually came to the road the cottage was on. Halfway along it was the track we’d followed before – the one that led to the abandoned den. I decided to go and see if Sam’s bike was there. If it wasn’t, it meant that he was out for the day or gone for good, and either way there was no point in me going to look for him at the cottage.
It felt a bit spooky walking into the woods on my own. I left my bike leaning against a tree and soon found the den, feeling relieved when I saw Sam’s motorbike there.
Five minutes later I arrived at Rat Cottage, glad to see no cars parked there, no dogs and no sign of anyone about. Since I didn’t want to attract the attention of any passers-by I rested my bike against the wall and hurried round the back.
The back room had old sash windows that were easily opened from the outside if the frames were jiggled a bit. Mum had demonstrated it to Dad when she’d been fretting about how easily a burglar could get in – if Dad happened to be wrong about the non-existence of crime in the countryside. But today I couldn’t seem to get the frames to budge. Maybe the wood had swollen in the rain, or the frames had been nailed shut after we’d left.
I rapped on the glass as loudly as I dared, then went to knock on the back door. ‘SAM? ARE YOU IN THERE? IT’S LIBBY!’
When that didn’t meet with any response I stepped back and looked at the upstairs windows for any sign of him. All the curtains were closed. I took out my phone to call him and saw that, as usual, I had no signal. I hadn’t forgotten how intermittent the phone reception was here, and I knew it might be the reason Sam wasn’t answering Bella’s calls, though it didn’t explain why he wasn’t picking up her messages whenever he left the cottage.
I decided to try the front of the house instead. I was approaching the front door when I heard a sound I’d become a lot more familiar with since we’d moved to the country. First I heard the clip-clop of hooves on the road, and then I turned to see three horses walking around the bend. And even in their riding hats I recognised Katie and the two girls I’d met at the park.
I instantly had butterflies in my tummy. What were they doing here?
‘Look who’s here!’ the one called Fran exclaimed.
Katie dismounted, handing the reins to Fran, who thankfully seemed to be staying on her horse. Katie was looking at me curiously. She sounded quite friendly as she asked in a teasing voice, ‘You’re not still looking for your Frisbee, are you?’
I shrugged. ‘Nothing else to do here.’ Goodness knows why I said that!
Katie’s horse suddenly did a massive poo on the road. I’m sure I didn’t react with anything except slight surprise but Fran instantly decided that I was disgusted by it.
‘There’s no need to turn your nose up,’ she mocked. ‘It’s only digested grass. It’s not nearly as gross as your poo.’
The other girl – Lara – giggled. Since I didn’t quite know how to respond I decided to ignore them.
‘When are your aunt and uncle back?’ I asked Katie in as casual a voice as I could manage.
‘Next week.’ She was unlocking her aunt’s front door by this time. ‘I’ve got to water the plants. I’ll be out in a minute.’
I was going to leave, but I couldn’t help giving her horse a quick pat. I love horses. I’d asked Mum if I could have riding lessons now that there were stables just along the road, but she’d said we didn’t have the budget for them at the moment. ‘Wait until your birthday,’ she said. ‘Then we’ll see.’
I forgot about everything for a moment as I reached up and stroked the neck of Katie’s horse, rubbing the rough but glossy coat and breathing in the distinctive horsey smell. ‘She’s really beautiful,’ I said admiringly as I stroked the animal’s long black nose.
‘He,’ Fran corrected me with a bit of a sneer. She pointed at the horse’s undercarriage and added, ‘Or don’t they teach you about the difference between girls and boys at those posh schools?’
The two of them burst out laughing and I blushed bright red, which made me feel even more stupid. Of course my old school (which wasn’t posh in any case) had done the whole sex education syllabus. I just wasn’t in the habit of bothering to correctly identify the gender of horses before I patted them, that’s all.
‘They don’t have any boys at St Clara’s, remember,’ Lara pointed out. ‘Maybe she really doesn’t know the difference!’
As Fran sniggered all I could think about was getting away from them as fast as I could. I rushed to get on my bike, hoping that Sam would keep quiet and stay inside until they left – presuming he actually was inside. If he’d gone out for a walk I just hoped he stayed away until the coast was clear.
As I cycled back down the lane I knew Bella would be waiting anxiously at home for news, and I wished I had something more to tell her. I suddenly remembered that I still had her letter for Sam. I should have put it through the letterbox at the cottage, but I couldn’t go back and do it while Katie and her pals were there.
I decided I’d just have to return to the cottage later. Hopefully by then Sam would be back. After all, he couldn’t be far away – not while his bike was still here.