Page 8 of The Dead Ex

Then Scarlet would look at herself in the mirror and flick back those braids with the little red beads and wonder once more why her skin was darker than Mum’s. Mum said it was because her father hadcome from a place called Trinny Dad.

‘Where’s my dad now?’ she’d sometimes ask.

But the answer was always the same. ‘I don’t know and I don’t care. We’re happy enough on our own, aren’t we?’

Back to the game. One day, an older woman had come up to them in a shop and told Mum she was a ‘model scout’. ‘Your little girl would be perfect.’ But Mum had said they didn’t want any of that and had rushedher out of the doors. ‘We mustn’t attract attention,’ she explained. It almost spoilt the game. But not quite.

After they did some more trying on, Mum would leave. Scarlet would burst into tears. This was called ‘role playing’, said Mum. But you spelt it with an e: r–o–l–e instead of r–o–l–l.

Then one of the assistants or maybe another customer would ask if she was all right.

At exactly thatpoint, a woman would come rushing in. Scarlet had to pretend she knew her. ‘Thereyou are, love. Your mum’s fallen ill, so she asked me to come and get you.’

The next bit was tricky. As they were walking out, the woman would hand her a tissue. After she’d blown her nose, Scarlet would put it in her pocket. Then the woman would tell her to hand it back so she could throw it away. But Scarlet wouldgive her a different tissue back. The first tissue had a whole £50 note in it, which she would then give to Mum. And the second had a little plastic bag in it with white powder.

Once the game almost went wrong when an assistant asked the strange woman for identification.

‘What do you think I am?’ she’d demanded. ‘A child snatcher? Go on, Scarlet, love. Tell her!’

‘This is my Auntie Julie,’Scarlet said, remembering what Mum had told her.

And the assistant had gone all pink and said she was sorry but you couldn’t be too careful nowadays.

That’s why they had to make sure they didn’t do the tissue swapping bit anywhere near a See See TV camera.

But then came that Wednesday.

Usually Wednesday was Scarlet’s favourite day of the week. You could choose whatever book you wanted fromthe library and read it on your own in class while theteacher did some marking. It was nearly always shouty, because the other kids didn’t like reading and got into fights instead. But Mum had taught Scarlet to shut everything out.

You had to do that on the estate. The people in the next flat were always thumping the walls with their fists or screaming or playing loud music. But a book tookthe noise away, especially if there were pictures. Once, when there weren’t any, Scarlet drew her own on the page. It was the only time the teacher had got cross with her.

Once, she and Mum had played the hide-and-seek game in a massive shop called Sell Fridges. It sold a lot of other things too, and was in a posh part of London, ages away from Hackney. Scarlet almost forgot to pretend she waslost because of the lovely clothes that felt so soft. ‘One day,’ said Mum, her eyes bright, ‘we’ll be able to afford stuff like this.’

But that particular Wednesday felt all wrong, because Mum hadn’t wanted her hair stroked or to sing along to the radio like she usually did. She also got cross because they had run out of bread. ‘It’s all right,’ said Scarlet, even though her stomach was rumbling.‘I’ll just wait for lunch.’

(The other children called it ‘dinner’, but Mum said that wasn’t right.)

‘That won’t help. You’re not going to school.’

‘But it’s library day and News Story Hour.’

‘Forget it. We’ve got to do the swing game today. Don’t look like that. If we finish quickly, you might be able to go in late. Just tell them you were at the dentist’s.’

‘But I said that last time.’

‘Then we’ll pretend it was the doctor’s. OK?’

‘They’ll ask me for a letter.’

‘I’ll do you one later when we’ve got more time. Now stop arguing and do what I say.’

Scarlet shivered, and not just because it was cold. ‘Wear this,’ said Mum, handing her a big, fluffy yellow fleecy jacket.

‘Wow! It’s just like the one we saw in the market.’ The market was one of her favourite places. You could getanything there.

Mum looked pleased. ‘I bought it for you because you’re a good girl.’ Then she handed Scarlet a crisp tube for her pink shoulder bag. The lid was slightly open.

‘Why is there sugar inside?’