Kensy and Max were upstairs when they heard Fitz arrive home. After their chat to Autumn, Kensy had gone to her room to finish off some urgent Maths homework while Max lay on his bed, reading. Although neither of them were thinking much about what they were doing – their minds, instead, were fixated on the fact that a reunion with their parents was imminent.
Fitz headed straight upstairs and was confronted by the twins at the top of the landing. The looks on their faces said it all.
‘We were right that Mum and Dad are in New Zealand, and they’ve asked for you to go. You need to be there on Friday,’ Kensy blurted.
Max passed him the decoded message. Fitz looked at it, then nodded his head, giving nothing away.
‘But we’re coming with you and we should go tomorrow,’ Kensy said. ‘They don’t know how close we are.’
‘And they’re not going to,’ Fitz said without a shred of emotion. He’d just come from the longest staff meeting in history and was quite literally itching to have a shower and relax after what had been a very tough day.
Kensy frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m not going against their instructions,’ Fitz said.
Max’s stomach twisted. He knew Fitz was right, but it didn’t stop him from feeling a pang of disappointment.
‘But we’re still coming, right?’ Kensy said. She looked from Fitz to Max, then back to Fitz.
The man shook his head. ‘You’ll stay here with Song. I’m not putting the two of you in harm’s way. We have no idea what to expect and this is best left to the professionals.’
‘What!’ Kensy exploded. ‘That’s stupid! We saved the Prime Minister’s son in Italy and brought down the Diavolo – we’re professional too, you know!’
Max put a hand on his sister’s arm, but she shook it off.
‘Don’t touch me!’ Kensy yelled. ‘Why are you on his side, anyway? What’s wrong with you, Max? Don’t you want to be with Mum and Dad?’
‘Of course I do, but think about it, Kens – they’ve made plans for a reason and they didn’t ask for us to be involved. I want them back as much as you do,’ Max said. He couldn’t help but be hurt by such an accusation.
‘No, you don’t!’ Kensy spat. Before anyone could stop her, she flew downstairs and out the front door.
Max started to chase after her, but Fitz placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. ‘Leave her be,’ he said. ‘She’ll only be able to listen once she’s calmed down.’
Max knew that was true. There was no point trying to talk to Kensy when she was this worked-up. A run around the block would do her the world of good. Maybe then they could have a rational discussion. Or maybe they wouldn’t talk about it at all.
‘She’s wrong,’ Max said. He could feel his eyes prickling. ‘I miss them every bit as much as she does. I hate it when she says things like that because it’s just not true.’
‘I know you do, mate,’ Fitz said, and wrapped his muscly arms around the lad. Max leaned against the man’s chest, completely overcome. This time he allowed himself to cry until there were simply no tears left.
‘Should we go and look for her?’ Max said, glancing at the kitchen clock for the hundredth time. The ticking was beginning to drive him crazy. It was just after seven and Kensy still wasn’t home. ‘She might’ve got lost.’ He didn’t like to think that anything else could have happened to her.
‘That is a very good point, Master Maxim,’ Song said. ‘Your sister has not been blessed with your navigational skills.’ The butler had already wiped a dozen imaginary spots off the bench and cleaned the sink twice.
Fitz looked up from where he was sitting on the couch, reading the day’s issue of the Beacon. Although Max noticed he hadn’t turned a page in over twenty minutes. ‘I’m sure she’ll be back soon, especially when she remembers she’ll be missing one of Song’s famous baked dinners.’
But the tone in the man’s voice betrayed his concerns too. Song started serving up as Max hopped down from the island bench and the front door flew open.
‘I saw him!’ Kensy exclaimed as she tore upstairs to the kitchen. ‘In the window of an apartment in that high-rise block just down from the Chalmers’ place. He has a telescope and it was trained on their house. And I’m pretty sure the woman who was at the house the night Mrs Chalmers disappeared was there too – Lucy, Dash’s assistant. What’s that about?’
Max frowned. ‘I wonder if Autumn has managed to run those plates yet or find out about the land.’
Fitz and Song cast the children quizzical looks. ‘What are you talking about?’ Fitz asked. ‘You haven’t told Autumn where we are, have you?’
‘It was an accident and, besides, she’s not going to tell anyone. Song’s computer was busy – we had to get on it,’ Kensy said, then regaled Fitz and Song with the story of the man from the ferry and what they’d realised about the photos Kensy had stolen from him. It seemed she’d forgotten all about her earlier outburst and, while Fitz was not impressed about her speaking to her friend, there was nothing he could do about it now except to ensure Cordelia didn’t find out.
‘Don’t you think it’s weird that we’re supposed to be protecting the children from Mrs Chalmers and yet there’s this man who’s watching them and taking pictures and he’s been at the farm too?’ Kensy said.
‘Maybe he works for Dash,’ Max said.
‘There’s something fishy about him, that’s for sure.’ Kensy yawned and stretched. ‘I’m starving. I’ve been watching the unit for ages.’ She grabbed two of the dinner plates from the island and placed them on the table. Song brought over the other two.
‘Are you okay, Kensy?’ Fitz asked as he took his seat.
‘Well, if you mean am I happy about you going to New Zealand without us, the answer is no. But I remembered something Mr Reffell said in one of our strategy lessons the other week, so if you have to go alone then fine. Just make sure you come back and bring Mum and Dad with you,’ the girl said, stabbing her fork into a crispy baked potato.
Max took a bite of lamb and smiled at his sister.
‘Anyway, we’re going to be busy on the weekend winning the Choral Competition at the Opera House. Sorry, Song, you have to come and watch now that Fitz has better things to do,’ Kensy said.
‘It would be my pleasure, Miss Kensington and Master Maxim. I do hope there are some country tunes in the repertoire,’ Song said.
Max grinned. ‘Not this time, but hopefully you’ll still enjoy it. Our choir sounds pretty good considering we’ve only had a couple of weeks to learn the song.’
‘Yes, but we’ve been rehearsing about four hours each day,’ Kensy grumbled. A worrying thought entered her mind. ‘Are you going to tell Granny about Autumn?’ she asked timidly.
Fitz shook his head. ‘Not this time. There’s no point upsetting her, but please don’t make a habit of divulging information when you’ve specifically been told not to.’
‘Oh dear,’ Song said, flushing, ‘I had meant to tell you all that Dame Spencer called earlier to see how everyone was. I told her you’d had a good weekend in the countryside, and she said that the house is already starting to take shape and she may finally have a lead.’
The twins looked at each other.
‘I wonder what it is,’ Max said, cutting a tender piece of lamb and loading it onto his fork with some gravy and beans.
‘She did not say,’ Song said apologetically.
Dinner was a far happier affair than anyone had anticipated. By the time the children polished off Song’s chocolate pudding and ice-cream, no one would ever have guessed about the earlier blow-up. The twins bid Fitz and Song goodnight, then hurried upstairs to Max’s room to check in with Autumn and found they’d already missed a call from her. Max quickly tried to connect.
‘Hi there,’ Autumn said. The twins were both in frame and gave her a wave.
‘Where are you?’ Max asked, trying to make out what was in the background.
‘Downstairs in the secure room. I was just about to give up – I’ve got English and Witherbee is on the warpath about students being late to class.’
‘Sorry, we won’t keep you,’ the boy said.
‘What have you found out?’ Kensy asked.
Autumn looked down at some notes she had made and read out her findings. ‘The car is registered to a George Kapalos. The property is owned by a company called Dalefield and the trustee is The Chalmers Corporation. The Davidson family sold it two years ago,’ Autumn said, looking chuffed with herself. She glanced at her watch and grimaced. ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go, but call me tomorrow, okay?’
‘Thanks, Autumn,’ Max said, flashing her a grin. ‘I could kiss you right now.’
Autumn’s eyes bulged. With her cheeks burning, the girl fumbled around to end the call.
‘Yeah, thanks,’ Kensy said as the screen went black. She stared at it, her mind racing a million miles per second, until Max voiced what was on both of their minds.
‘Why would Dash Chalmers have lied to his wife about owning that land?’ he said.
‘Exactly.’ Kensy slumped back onto the boy’s bed. She lay there for a moment then sat bolt upright. ‘Dalefield – that’s the name in Mum and Dad’s message. You don’t think it’s connected, do you?’
‘I mean, it’s a stretch. There are probably a million things called Dalefield.’ Max typed the word into the computer, bringing up over 88,000 results.
‘Well, we know Dash Chalmers is hiding something,’ Kensy said. ‘And George Kapalos might just hold the key to his secrets. Come on, let’s see what we can find out about him.’