‘What will we do with them, Milo?’ Shane asked.
‘We’ll hold on to them,’ I said.
‘Not me!’ Shane backed away. ‘Fingerprints, Milo. We’d be interrogated and jailed for theft.’
‘How did they get here?’ I whispered. ‘Surely Miss Lee didn’t come all the way here on her own and lose her shoes?’
‘That’s it!’ yelled Shane. ‘She’s been kidnapped or, maybe …’ He put his hands around his throat and gurgled loudly.
‘That’s ultra gross,’ I said.
‘Or,’ Shane’s imagination was working overtime, ‘she might have been looking for rare rocks, or flowers, or something, and fell and banged her head and is wandering around with concussion.’
‘And left her shoes here, all neat and tidy?’ I scoffed. ‘I’m going to search for her,’ I went on, putting the shoes inside my jacket and zipping up.
‘Me too,’ Shane said.
We wandered around, tripping over more and more broken stones and carvings buried in the grass. But no Miss Lee. We even went as far away as a small stone building with iron bars on the windows. The entrance was covered with crude wooden planks and had a huge ancient bolt that was too stiff to move. I climbed on to Shane’s shoulders to peer through the bars on the high window.
‘What can you see?’ Shane grunted.
‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘Pitch black. But there’s a strange smell.’
‘Cow dung,’ suggested Shane.
‘No,’ I sniffed again. ‘A smell that’s kinda like a mixture of rotten stuff and sort of sweet lemons.’
‘How can you tell the difference?’ Shane laughed as he dumped me from his shoulders. ‘Did the lemon smell go into one nostril and the rotten smell go up the other nostril? Nice one, Milo. You could join a circus as the Great Smelly Master. People would be invited to hold stuff under your nose and you’d identify the smells. And I’d be your assistant, of course …’
‘Yeah, well speaking of mad, we’d best get back,’ Shane said. ‘Gran will hold back my ice-cream dessert if I’m late. What will you do with the shoes?’
‘I’ll bring them with me,’ I said, not really thinking ahead.
‘Bring where?’ Shane asked.
‘I don’t know yet,’ I replied.
‘You should give those shoes to your dad,’ Shane said. ‘That’s evidence, that is.’
‘Maybe,’ I sighed. ‘But if I show them to him he’ll want to know where I found them.’
‘So?’ Shane shrugged his shoulders.
‘Well, I’ve come much farther than the two-mile distance I’m allowed on my bike, so I’d be in worse trouble. I’ll think of something. Unless,’ I went on, ‘unless maybe you’d hide them?’
‘No way,’ said Shane, holding up his two hands.
However, the matter was taken out of our hands when we saw two familiar figures walking towards us.
‘Oh no,’ said Shane. ‘Look who’s here.’
‘Ha, if it isn’t our two friends Porky and Worm,’ laughed Wedge. ‘What are you guys doing on our patch?’
‘It isn’t your patch,’ Shane said, with a poor attempt at a snarl.
‘I hope you two haven’t nicked the tin that we sell for good money,’ said Crunch. ‘See, me and Wedge here have a nice little number in selling old tin things for melting down.’
‘Yeah, and we don’t want anyone butting in on our turf,’ added Wedge. ‘This place,’ he went on, waving around the whole wasteland, ‘is ours – mine and Crunch’s.’
‘Well. You can have it,’ I said, trying to keep cool.
‘Especially that smelly stone house,’ put in Shane, pointing to it. ‘Just your sort of mucky place.’
I closed my eyes and waited for the battle to begin. Nothing happened.
Wedge and Crunch were looking at one another with dismay.
‘You went there?’ said Crunch, his face actually scared.
Wedge grabbed my jacket and pulled me closer to his mean face. ‘What did you see?’ he snarled.
‘N-nothing,’ I tried to snarl back. ‘It’s just a smelly—’
That’s when one of Miss Lee’s red shoes fell from my jacket.
Wedge and Crunch stared at the red shoe.
‘That’s Miss—’ began Crunch before Wedge stamped on his toe.
‘Shut up,’ he snarled.
For a big chap, Shane can make a good move when he wants to. Quick as a flash, he scooped up the shoe and pedalled away, with me after him.
‘Hey! You get back here!’ Wedge yelled. ‘We’re not finished.’
‘As if!’ Shane yelled back.
We rode away like bats in a gale.
When we got to my house, I took the shoe from Shane, wrapped it with the other one in my jacket and put them on the carrier.
‘Aren’t you going to show them to your dad?’ Shane asked.
‘Later on maybe,’ I said.
‘So,’ he went on. ‘Where are you going tonight? Are your mum and dad going too? And why’s it a problem?’
‘Oh, stop asking me questions!’ I groaned, and then felt awful for talking to my best friend like that. ‘Sorry, Shane,’ I went on. ‘It’s just something I have to do on my own.’
‘Yeah, right,’ Shane muttered. ‘Well I hope you’ll enjoy – whatever.’
I bit my lip while I watched him cycle away, and I so wished I could tell him what I had to do. I’d never felt so alone in all my life. And scared. Very scared. Too scared.
‘Wait!’ I shouted, running after him. ‘I’ll tell you …’
But he didn’t hear me.
I stashed Miss Lee’s shoes away in my bike carrier and trudged into the house like a condemned man.