Page 11

“Do you do cross-country runs too?” Jack asked.

“Only at school. Cross-country starts next week. That was what I opted for. I tend to stick to roads when I run.”

“Can we give you a lift?” Thomas asked.

“I’m fine. The buses run regularly.”

“We can drop you off,” Thomas said. “You don’t live far from us.”

“Okay. Thanks.” Zeph had hoped to have some breakfast in town with Jack, but he could see that wasn’t going to happen.

They walked to Thomas’s car, which was an old Land Rover and Jack got in the back next to Zeph.

“Have you always lived in Middleton?” Thomas asked.

“I was born in Greenwich and we lived there until I was nine. Then we moved to Middleton.”

“What does your father do?”

“He’s in banking.”

“Jack tells me you want to work for GCHQ.”

Zeph shot Jack a glance. Had he told Thomas everything? “Possibly. I probably didn’t ought to tell anyone. I wonder how many people who say they want to work in intelligence, actually end up doing that.”

Thomas chuckled. “Maybe more than you’d think. MI5 openly advertises for applicants.”

“But you can’t apply until you’re seventeen,” Zeph said, “and not work for them until you’re eighteen. There are tests and quizzes you can do online and…” Oops.

“Have you done them?” Jack asked.

Zeph nodded. “They test observational skills and whether you can hold a conversation while you use those skills. Things like that.”

“And how did you get on?” Thomas asked.

“Fine. But I know it would be different if it was real. Spotting that a man with a package got in a silver car, that a woman not making eye contact and walking very fast was suspicious. Little observations but lives could be at stake. What do you do, Mr… Is it Steel like Jack?”

“Yes, but call me Thomas. I’m a design curator. I procure, interpret, maintain and protect artifacts or artworks.”

“That must be fascinating. For museums, business or private collections?”

“All three.”

“Is there a lot of travelling.”

“A fair amount.”

Zeph turned to Jack. “Do you get to go too?”

“Sometimes.”

“Lucky you. I’ve hardly been anywhere. I went to France with school to look at the war graves in year seven and to Spain on holiday, last year, and it was horrible.

Not Spain, though I didn’t see much of it, but the hotel and the fighting for sun loungers and the all-you-can-eat lukewarm buffets of mostly English food.

My stepmother is frightened of flying so we had to go by car.

It was a really long way and everyone was bad tempered. I never want to do that again.”

“Did you go anywhere this summer?” Jack asked.

“The Norfolk Broads. I did a sailing course. It was fun, though I’m not going to be setting off across the Atlantic anytime soon.”

“Worried the water would be cold?” Jack asked.

Zeph laughed. “More worried about things in the cold water.”

Thomas pulled up on the road near Zeph’s house.

“Thanks very much for the lift. See you at school, Jack! I enjoyed the run.”

Zeph waited for the car to turn and leave before he faced the house. Nerves had made him talk too much. He’d hoped Jack might wave, but he didn’t. He’d climbed in the front next to Thomas.

His father and Elisa were back. Well, the car was there. He headed for the front door, and it opened before he could use his key.

“Where the hell have you been?” his father snapped.

Zeph recoiled. “I-I left a note. I went for a run.”

“Who was that in the car?”

“A boy from my class and his uncle.”

“Jack, by any chance?”

“Yes.” What had been said?

“Get in the kitchen now!”

Elisa and Georgia were in there, sitting at the island unit. He had no idea what was wrong. Where was Alice? Oh God. Is she okay?

“You left your sisters to do all the work this morning.” Elisa glared at him. “Where have you been?”

So Alice was okay. “No, I didn’t. I cleaned up before I left. I went on a run when I’d done. There was a note next to the kettle.”

Georgia rolled her eyes. “There was no note . ”

Zeph gaped at her. He looked over at the kettle but there was no note there now. “You’re lying.”

“Don’t call your sister a liar,” Elisa barked.

“But she is. I cleaned the house all my own. And I cleaned outside. They were asleep.”

Alice came into the kitchen looking as if she’d just been rescued from drowning. Her hair was wet and dripping down her T-shirt, her arms hung limply by her sides and her face was white.

“Sweetheart!” Elisa wrapped her arms around her.

Alice dissolved into her, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed. What had happened? Was she still crying about Jack? What had she said?

“You’re so selfish,” Elisa said to Zeph.

Zeph clenched his teeth. He really wasn’t. He was kind and thoughtful. His mum had taught him that was the way to live and a good defence against meanness. Not that it had disarmed Rufus and Scott.

“He’s the first boy Alice has ever liked.” Elisa stroked Alice’s hair.

So this was about Jack. And that wasn’t true. Had Elisa forgotten last year’s obsession?

Elisa glared at him. “You have no idea how much courage it took for her ask Jack out. Then you monopolise him.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t speak to Elisa like that,” his father said.

Zeph took a deep breath. Losing his temper wouldn’t be helpful. “Jack’s in every one of my classes. Last night I spoke to him for maybe fifteen minutes. He’s a friend. Since when am I not allowed to talk to friends. It was my birthday party.”

“Let Alice have him,” Elisa said.

Have him? “I’m not stopping her.”

“Then why did he go home after he’d been talking to you?” Alice whispered. “What did you say to him about me? Why did you make him leave?”

Zeph couldn’t believe this. He wanted to say Jack had told him he had no interest in going out with her but he could see how that would go down.

“Nothing,” Zeph said. “I said nothing to him. We talked about physics, about the stars. That’s all. You’re all being totally unreasonable. He called his uncle and went home. If Jack had been interested in going out with you, he’d have come back into the house with me but he didn’t.”

Shit. So much for not saying anything. Alice was sobbing even harder and Elisa looked as if she wanted to slap his face.

“Outside. Now,” his father told him.

Zeph followed him down the garden. His dad only turned when they were behind the shed, out of sight of the house.

“Alice isn’t thinking straight,” Zeph said. “You know what she’s like. She’s done this before. She gets fixated—”

“Shut up,” his father said through clenched teeth. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

Zeph shook his head. His heart was thudding now. There was something he was missing.

“You manoeuvred Alice into inviting him.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Don’t argue with me.”

Zeph didn’t think he’d seen his father this angry. “I didn’t want a party. I didn’t invite anyone. Not one single person. I didn’t even want to come out of my room. You phoned and made it clear I had to, otherwise I’d have stayed in there all night.”

“You went out into the field with him.”

“I didn’t. He followed me, but what’s wrong with that? He’s a friend.”

“You don’t have any friends.”

“I do now. I thought that was what you wanted.”

“He didn’t go home when you said, did he? He was in your room.”

“No, he wasn’t. Call and ask him.”

“He’ll say what you told him to say. Stop this now before it goes any further or I’ll throw you out of the house.”

There it was. His father knew. Zeph wanted to deny there was anything going on. There wasn’t. Only in Zeph’s head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stared straight at his father and maintained eye contact.

The blow to his face came so quickly, Zeph had no time to avoid it. He staggered into the back of the shed and hit his head. The coppery tang of blood filled his mouth and he realised he’d bitten his tongue.

“Yes, you do. I’ve seen you with Stefanie. You’re to have no further contact with her or the piece of filth she lives with.”

“It’s Martin, not Stefanie,” Zeph said quietly. “Him not her.”

“No, it’s not. I’ve returned that two hundred pounds she put in your account. I’ve suspended your bank account. You’ll get access again when I can trust you. I don’t want her filling your head with nonsense. If you want to continue to live here, you follow my rules.”

His father strode back to the house and Zeph sagged. The feeling of injustice squeezed his lungs so hard that for a moment he couldn’t breathe. He dropped down and curled up in the dry earth and leaves, pressing his arm against his mouth to muffle his howls.