2: MEXA

I tucked my feet underneath me and stared numbly into the fire. Uncle Robert, standing behind me, gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Will that be all for now, Inspector?” he asked.

The policeman nodded and put his notebook away. “Once Scene of Crime have cleared up, we’ll leave you alone. We’ll be keeping a close eye, although I doubt they’ll be back.”

“So do you think it was scavvers then?” Robert asked. His voice was edgy. I reached up and touched his hand. None of this felt real.

The inspector shrugged. “Scavengers? I guess so. They don’t usually come this far from the cities, but as the waters keep rising they’re going to come further. There are a few things that puzzle me, though.”

“Like the fact that scavvers don’t usually shoot people,” I suggested. I hoped I wasn’t speaking out of turn.

The inspector tried to give me a reassuring smile but it wasn’t very convincing. He had plump cheeks that should have been full of laughter beneath serious eyes. Maybe things were worse in the cities than I realised.

“It’s fairly common for scavengers to carry guns these days,” he said. “It’s pretty chaotic in some of the flooded areas.”

“But this was more like a sniper,” I insisted. My eyes stung with tears.

The inspector shook his head. “It’s worrying, I’ll agree.”

A log spat a shower of sparks into the chimney and the fire flared for a moment. A shadow moved in the doorway.

“Inspector.”

I looked round. A large figure loomed: a man in a suit who had greased-back hair and shoes so highly polished that the firelight reflected off them.

He marched up to the inspector and flashed an ID card.

“Morgan Pew,” he said and snapped the card shut.

“The Mars Exploration Agency?” said the inspector scowling at the patch of empty air where the card had been. “What interest does MEXA have here?”

Pew didn’t reply at once. He turned, surveying the room, his grey eyes lingering first on Robert and then on me. I curled myself up as small as I could.

“Kris Quinton was an employee of ours,” he said. “And now I would like to ask these people a couple of questions.” He smiled at me, but there was darkness in his eyes.

The inspector squared his shoulders.

“Well, really, this is not…”

“Thank you,” said Pew, curtly. “But I would like to like speak to them alone.”

“As the inspector in charge of this case…”

Pew turned round to face him, an edge of steel in his tone. “Please leave us.”

The inspector stared at him. The corner of his mouth twitched and I could see the fight in him shrivel under Pew’s glare.

Pew smiled. “Thank you, Inspector.”

The inspector gave an indignant snort and marched from the room, muttering under his breath. Pew turned back to me and Robert, his lips drawn back from his teeth. It was more of a snarl than a smile.

The fire had started to die down and a chill was creeping into my skin. Robert added another log, then sat down opposite me. Pew took up the inspector’s position in front of the hearth, holding his hands out behind him towards the flames, blocking the heat from the rest of us.

“How can we help?” Robert asked. He looked tired, black circles under his eyes. The light of the dying fire flickered across his face.

“First, I am so very sorry about what has happened to Kris,” Pew began. “She was a wonderful person and we’re all going to miss her terribly.” I bristled at his words. They sounded almost too sincere, rehearsed. I thrust my hands deep into the pockets of my fleece, and my fingers touched on the object that Kris had given to me as she died. Tell no one. I still hadn’t had a chance to look at it.

Pew pulled a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. “Do you mind?”

“Well, actually...” Robert began, but Pew was lighting one without waiting for an answer. Robert and I exchanged glances.

“Can you tell me if she said anything to either of you before she died?” Pew asked. He was still smiling, but something in the tone of his voice had hardened.

I tightened my fingers around the sharp, jagged object in my pocket.

“No,” I said, struggling to keep my voice even. “She never had the chance.”

“I heard her say ‘Danni’,” said Robert. I froze, trying not to show any reaction, but my heart was pounding.

“And you’re quite sure she didn’t say anything else?” Pew pressed, giving me a hard stare. Smoke trickled out between his teeth and drifted in thin tendrils across the room.

“Quite sure,” said Robert. I nodded in agreement.

“Hmm.” Pew rubbed his chin and looked around at the pictures on the walls, the photographs and Robert’s archaeology finds on the mantelpiece.

He picked up one of Robert’s rock specimens and turned it over in his hand.

“And did either of you remove any objects or personal effects from Kris or her car?”

“No, of course not,” said Robert. I could tell by the way he was sitting forwards that the questions were starting to irritate him.

“Your rock collection?” Pew asked, holding Robert’s rock up in front of him and squinting at it.

“Yes.”

“An interesting specimen.” He weighed it in his hand. “Strangely light.”

Robert didn’t answer.

“Interesting markings. Almost like writing. Where did it come from?”

“Greenland.” Robert reached out towards Pew for the rock, but Pew pulled it away.

“Ah yes, you’re the archaeologist, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question. His eyes narrowed and he slipped the rock into his pocket. “I might just keep this, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s just a lump of rock.” Robert sat forward, rigid.

“So, are there any more interesting specimens around here?” He gave Robert a probing stare.

“No.”

“No?” Pew raised one eyebrow. “Well, perhaps I should take a little look around, since I’m here.”

“I don’t think so.”

Pew cracked his knuckles, one at a time. “It won’t take me long.”

“Not without a warrant.” Robert’s jaw was set firm as he spoke. The atmosphere prickled with tension.

“I can have this place turned over, you know. My men are outside. I just need to snap my fingers.” Pew raised his hand, miming the gesture.

“And so are the police. MEXA may be many things, but you’re not above the law.”

Pew lowered his hand.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do. Everyone knows that you’re more than just a space agency.”

“In which case a few local constables would hardly be a problem.”

“But the press would be. It’s hardly going to reflect well on MEXA if you’re ransacking my house when they get here.”

Pew paused. A muscle twitched in the corner of his eye. Then he turned back towards the mantelpiece.

“A warrant can be arranged.”

He picked up one of the photographs. “You and Kris, I presume?”

Robert nodded. It was the picture of them as kids, riding donkeys on a beach, back when the summers were warm. There weren’t many beaches left these days. Not nice sandy ones like that.

“And the third person? Another sister?”

Robert nodded.

“My mother,” I said, and my voice caught in my throat.

Pew gave a soft grunt and put the picture back.

“Ah yes, of course. You look just like her. A tragic accident. Drowning, wasn’t it? So sad, to lose both parents like that.”

How dare he! I clenched my fists inside my pockets, trying not to let my anger show.

“What do you want from us?” I said, my voice cracking. He didn’t look around. He ran his fingers over the frame and continued staring at the picture.

“Danni,” Robert was rising to his feet.

But I wasn’t listening. “Why can’t you leave us alone?”

And then it was all too much. Kris dying in Robert’s arms, and now this man. My feet were on the ground. I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit him.

I turned and fled from the room.

“Danni!” Robert shouted, but the sound of his voice was smothered by the blood rushing in my head. I ran. Away from Pew, away from his questions, away from those memories of pain and loss. If only they’d never gone on that diving trip – then they would still be here.

I slammed my way into the bathroom, the room cold with evening chill. I leaned on the sink and deep breaths caught as sobs in my throat. My reflection stared back at me, puffy red eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. I parted my lips and sucked in the cold air. Why did Pew have to mention Mum and Dad?

And then I remembered, deep in my pocket, the thing that Kris had pressed into my hand as she died. I dug it out and studied it as it lay on my palm. It looked as if it was made of stone, but at the same time it didn’t look natural.

The blood on it had dried and formed brown flakes that stuck to my pocket fluff. I thrust on the tap and watched the water run over it, a dark stain swirling into the sink, red against the white. I rubbed at it with my thumb and it started to come clean.

There were strange markings on it. Odd lines etched into its surface that I could see only when it caught the light at a particular angle.

“Danni!”

I jumped at the sound of Robert’s voice and a rap on the bathroom door. I shoved the object back into my pocket.

“Danni, are you all right?”

I eased the door open and looked up at Robert.

“He’s gone,” he said. “They’ve all gone.”

I let out a long slow breath and opened the door wider.

“Good.”

Robert paused. He looked like he was making his mind up about something.

“Pack your bags, Danni. We’re leaving.”

“What? Now?”

Robert gave me a rueful smile. “No, it’s too dangerous to travel by night. But first thing in the morning. We’re not staying here. Not with this happening so soon after your parents… We’re going to the dig site.”

“But Pew...”

“Pew will be back in the morning, with his warrant. He won’t be able to get one tonight.”

“Won’t he guess that’s where we’ve gone?” I wiped my hands on my jeans. They felt clammy and cold.

Robert was looking at me, his eyes intense. “Maybe, but I have to go there. We’re on the brink of something really special. I can’t afford to miss it.”

“Why does he want to search the house?” My heart was beating so hard I could hardly breathe.

Robert glanced behind him, as if he feared someone might be listening.

“I’ve got papers and stuff, up in my study. Pew mustn’t get his hands on them.”

“Is that what he’s looking for? Is that why he wants the warrant? To search the house for your stuff?”

“Yes. I think so.”

“But why?”

Robert paused a moment before answering.

“Let’s just say there’s more to my work that just archaeology.” He reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Try to get some sleep.”

When he had gone, I stood alone in the glare of the electric light. Kris’s loss was a physical pain that wouldn’t shift. But above that, pressing down, was a terrible sense of unease. There was something so wrong about that man Pew, the way he had taken Robert’s rock, that rock with the strange lines on it.

I unclenched my hand and looked down at Kris’s stone.

Robert’s rock – that was where I’d seen those markings before.