‘Ani, I know your default setting is “speed-walk” –’ Riri stomps on the floorboards as she tries to keep up with me. She could make a hole – ‘but please stop and tell me what you’re thinking.’
I stop. Turn quickly and waggle my eyebrows at her, mainly to taunt her. As a SIT, she shouldn’t have been the one to find a lot of clues. Especially not this early – nine days since the murder and one day since the TUSC investigation launched. ‘Basically, if Mrs Kostas/Dimas was an art thief, then she had enemies. Which is –’ I shudder, still baffled by the truth – ‘so hard to believe. Why else would she be on the run most of her life? Someone must’ve been after her and the only way to understand that is by looking at the timeline.’
‘OK, but why?’
‘It’s a tactic as old as time! Someone pretended to be a regular at Cafe Vivlio to a) be a familiar face so as to not arouse suspicion and b) get her to trust them. Only six Castlewick locals know of The Secret Garden. One is dead. Oh, and me and Dad have to be eliminated for obvious reasons. And –’
‘You’re really gonna accuse the cafe regulars then?’
‘No,’ I say, irked. ‘I’m gonna blame the new American girl.’ I take a step closer to her. ‘Isn’t it a coincidence that on the day you arrive in Castlewick, someone dies? No one dies here, Riri. No one.’ I stare her down. She stares back. Who’s going to back down?
Barely three seconds in Riri does a weird half-blink. ‘I win,’ I say, a smirk on my lips. I walk to the living room and hear her behind me.
Mom’s sigh erases my smirk. ‘Can we try to be nice to each other please? I heard you both arguing.’
‘When’s food coming?’ I ask.
‘Ani, can you try to be more polite to your mother?’ Mom’s bossy like a teacher, talking about herself in third person.
‘Why?’
‘Because I’m a superhero.’ A smile pinches Mom’s lips.
I glance at Riri. Glance back at Mom. It’s uncanny, our resemblance. ‘How?’ I ask. Superheroes are in manga. In comics too. Not in real life though.
‘I help make the medication for people to feel better. Your ADHD medication is manufactured by the company I work for, you know. Novastarr Labs.’
Oh, the funny star logo on the box. ‘Cool.’
Mom smiles. Looks pleased at our ‘progress’. Right now, progress with her isn’t on my mind. I have a murder to solve. A mysterious woman to avenge. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the truth – was she a bad person? If so, then she was an exceptional actress, behaving like a good person all the time. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about her. ‘Food’s ready, by the way.’
Dad comes over to say the same thing. He stands near Mom and even though he isn’t close to her she still stiffens. Her smile falls. Dad clears his throat and goes away first.
‘Great,’ me and Riri simultaneously say. We both smirk.
‘Dad?’ I walk into the living room. ‘What time is it?’ I know exactly what time it is, as confirmed on my smartphone and wristwatch. Time is flying.
‘6.30 p.m.’
‘Because we’re eating late and it’s the summer holidays, do you think I could not sleep tonight?’ I need to pull an all-nighter to solve this. Another rule I need to teach Riri is that investigations – especially murders – should be given everything we’ve got. Even if that means we sacrifice sleep.
‘Absolutely not,’ Mom and Dad say in unison. They’re both too cross at my question to act awkwardly about jinxing.
‘OK.’ I open my box of fries and begin to devour my burger. Of course, I’m not going to listen to my parents about sleep – I can’t. Not for the sake of justice.
The food is delicious. I burp. Out loud.
‘Excuse yourself, Imani,’ Dad says. So, I do, in Arabic.
‘Ani –’ Mom bites into her veggie burger – ‘your dad said you enjoy laser tag. So does Riri.’
‘Not that much,’ I hear Riri whisper. I chuckle at that.
We continue eating in silence until Mom talks.
‘I was researching this place in Leeds that looks great. Maybe we could all go there as a family. Take a train.’ Mom smiles.
While I pick at my fries, I try to figure out Mom’s ulterior motive. She’s not the most discreet human being. My silence makes the room tense. Or tenser than it was before. ‘I suppose we could,’ I mumble.
Mom squeals. ‘Wonderful! I’ll arrange it.’ She motions at Dad.
‘Oh yes.’ He clears his throat. ‘Noori, I was wondering if you wanted to go to Waterstones Piccadilly in London. It’s the biggest bookshop in Europe and so beautiful. Me and Imani went there, you know, and she loved it.’
‘I did,’ I admit.
‘We could play Two Facts and a Fib on the journey.’
‘Wow, really?’ Riri exclaims.
‘Really. We can have our first game now.’
‘Oh!’ Mom squeals. ‘What a great idea, Abderrazzak.’ I’m finally understanding Mom’s ulterior motive. And Dad’s. They want to get to know me and Riri better. They want us all to bond. How hypocritical when they have some unaddressed tension between them. I don’t want to waste time while the murderer is evading the law.
Suddenly my stomach turns. I don’t want to eat anymore. I barely glance at my half-eaten burger as I set it down on the table.
‘Imani?’ Dad asks. ‘Done already? It’s not like you.’
‘Are you OK?’ Mom asks.
I shrug. ‘Yep. Can I go back to my room now?’
‘Would you like to take your food to your room?’
‘Natasha, I don’t allow that –’
‘Abderrazzak, I’m sure we can make an exception. Our girls have been through a lot. Go on, Ani. Riri, you can go too.’
Me and Riri are back in my room. ‘Eat up . . . but not too much,’ I say.
I know she’s wondering why. I walk over to my desk. Inside is where I hide my key to Mrs Kostas’s flat.
But right now, I focus on my desk.
I get my 500g ball of Play-Doh that’s a weird brown colour as a result of mixing all the colours together. ‘So, now that we’ve established Mrs Kostas/Dimas’s backstory, we’re going to learn her time of death. How? Well, look what I’ve got!’ I tear apart the Play-Doh ball and safely inside is Mrs Kostas’s Apple Watch.
‘Is that what I think it is? How on earth do you have that?!’
I chuckle at Riri, who looks to be wearing a sweatband made of actual sweat. ‘I took it off Mrs Kostas when we found her.’
‘Oh my gosh, that’s why you were holding her wrist! I thought you were being sentimental, Ani! But why do you still have it?’
‘I can’t give it to Sergeant Chloe without using it for my TUSC investigation, can I?’
‘You’re gonna get us both sent to jail forever.’
‘Can you stop being so dramatic? It’s like when you forget to pay for something at the store and head back after.’
‘Ani, stop talking! This is wrong on so many levels –’
‘But they all trump the fact that we’ll get Mrs Kostas’s time of death from it. Now take some deep breaths. Maybe drink some water so you don’t vomit up your dinner. And mentally prepare. We’re about to make a breakthrough.’