Page 48 of The Impossible Fortune (Thursday Murder Club Mysteries #5)

Kendrick is not stupid.

If they know where Uncle Jason lives, who’s to say they don’t know where Grandad lives too?

That’s why they have to go to Ibrahim’s.

They are rushing over now. Uncle Jason and his grandad are each holding one of his hands.

His grandad’s hand is shaking, but Kendrick has felt that before.

Whenever it shakes too much, Kendrick squeezes it, because he never wants Grandad to worry that his hands shake.

He has never felt Uncle Jason’s hand shake before though. That’s new.

‘All good, Kenny?’ says Grandad, out of breath. ‘You all good?’

‘I am,’ confirms Kendrick, because that’s what you have to say sometimes.

Ever since he saw his mum with the gun and the bruises, life has been speeding up in a way that is making Kendrick feel uncomfortable.

He keeps finding pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but no one will show him the picture on the front of the box.

Kendrick likes information, and at the moment he doesn’t have enough of it.

‘He was a diamond,’ says Uncle Jason. ‘A chip off the old block.’

Where is his mum? That’s the main thing he would like to know.

Uncle Jason tells him that she is okay, and he trusts Uncle Jason, but he would like to see her.

He would like to cuddle up on the sofa with her.

They watch Friends together. His favourite is Phoebe, but Chandler is good too.

He would like to be watching Friends now.

Instead everyone is scared, and that makes Kendrick scared.

His grandad buzzes on the door of Ibrahim’s building. Uncle Jason is pretending not to look over his shoulder, but Kendrick notices most things.

The man who had rung on the doorbell, the man who Kendrick now suspects was not an Amazon delivery driver, had kept firing shots at them as Uncle Jason had carried him across the back garden, over a fence and into woodland.

They had hidden for a while, and that bit was okay.

It is fun to hide, and Kendrick is very good at it.

He has hidden from his dad many times. All you have to do is be small and quiet.

There is a buzz and his grandad pushes open the door. Jason ushers Kendrick in behind his grandad. He will be safe here, Kendrick feels it. But what about Grandad and Uncle Jason? What if they go back out? Will they be safe?

‘Will we all be able to stay?’ he asks.

‘I’ll stay this evening,’ says his grandad. ‘Get you settled.’

Kendrick has always been aware of trouble – loud noises, late-night phone calls, raised voices – but he has always felt that the trouble was on the other side of a wall.

On his side of the wall were his mum and his grandad, and school, and stickers, and lists you could learn, like all the countries of the world.

If you concentrated on any of those things for long enough, the trouble on the other side of the wall went away, and everything was quiet again.

But now the wall is gone.

Uncle Ibrahim is there to meet them. Normally there is a smile and a hug, but he looks frightened too. He rushes the three of them in and closes the door behind them.

‘I need to warn you, Ron,’ says Ibrahim. ‘I have guests.’

They go into Ibrahim’s sitting room and there is a lady with blonde hair who looks like maybe a model or a wrestler, it’s hard to say, and another lady who is much younger, with her feet tucked up beneath her on a chair like his mum does sometimes.

‘You know Connie, of course?’ Ibrahim says to his grandad.

It’s the blonde lady. Maybe she looks like a racing driver or someone on Britain’s Got Talent ?

Or maybe like a supply teacher you never see again.

Kendrick is usually very good at working out what people look like, but this ‘Connie’ is proving elusive.

What he can see is that she has been crying.

A lot of adults are very upset at the moment, and Kendrick doesn’t like it one bit.

‘Connie,’ says his grandad. Kendrick senses that his grandad doesn’t like Connie.

‘Ron,’ says Connie. Kendrick senses that Connie doesn’t like his grandad.

‘Connie,’ says Uncle Jason. He doesn’t like her either.

‘Jason,’ says Connie. And now we have the full set. Kendrick needs some information.

‘Everyone is being a bit rude to each other, Uncle Ibrahim,’ says Kendrick.

‘Well, your grandad helped to put Connie in prison,’ says Ibrahim. ‘And then Connie threatened to kill him.’

Okay. This is stuff Kendrick can work with, but there are still a few gaps. He looks at Connie. ‘Perhaps you deserved to be in prison? I’m Kendrick, by the way. This is my grandad.’

‘Nice to meet you, Kendrick,’ says Connie. ‘And, yes, you’re right, I probably did.’

‘And you shouldn’t say you’ll kill someone –’

‘It’s okay, Kenny,’ says his grandad.

‘No, he’s right,’ says Connie. ‘I was probably angry, Kenny. I’m Connie. Can I call you Kenny?’

‘Kendrick is better,’ says Kendrick. ‘It just flows better, doesn’t it?’

‘I was probably angry, Kendrick,’ she says. ‘I didn’t like going to prison.’

‘No,’ says Kendrick. ‘I’ve seen pictures about it.’

His grandad walks over to Ibrahim. ‘What’s she doing here?’

‘Meet Tia,’ says Ibrahim, and the other woman stands up. His grandad shakes her hand.

‘Nice to meet you, Tia,’ he says. ‘You a friend of Connie?’

‘More a student,’ says Tia. ‘I’m sorry someone shot at your grandson.’

‘I appreciate that, Tia,’ says Ron. ‘Nice sentiment.’

Tia then holds her hand out to him, and Kendrick shakes it. She smiles. ‘I love your name.’

Kendrick doesn’t know what to say to this new woman with the soft voice. He always knows what to say, but his brain is currently a complete blank. It must be the shock. Diving through the window, running across the garden, hiding in the woods.

‘Thank you too,’ says Kendrick. Thank you too? Thank you too? What does that mean?

‘Can I make everyone a cup of tea?’ says Ibrahim. Tia is back on her armchair. Her hair is so shiny. Kendrick is sure she uses conditioner. Sure of it. His mum does, so he knows.

‘Depends if Connie still wants to kill me,’ says Ron.

‘I’m prepared to let it go,’ says Connie.

‘Connie is in disgrace,’ says Ibrahim. ‘Doctor–patient confidentiality stops me saying why.’

‘Something to do with Tia?’ says his grandad. Isn’t that a lovely name when you hear it out loud? Tia. Like the ringing of a bell.

‘I can’t tell you,’ says Ibrahim. ‘But, yes.’

‘Why don’t we have a whisky?’ says Connie. Kendrick still can’t work out who or what she is. Someone who sells tickets at a circus?

‘Connie,’ says Kendrick, ‘can I ask you a question?’

‘Of course you can,’ says Connie. She really has been crying.

She’s tried to cover it up, but you can never completely cover it up.

Sometimes his mum comes and sleeps in his room – ‘Thought you might like some company, Kendrick’ – and every time she’s been crying.

She never cries when she’s with him though, and Kendrick is very proud of that.

‘What do you do?’ Kendrick asks.

‘All sorts of things,’ says Connie. ‘A bit of this on a Monday, a bit of that on a Tuesday.’

Lots of things, he knew it. Ibrahim is pouring whisky from a decanter into some glasses.

‘Not for me, thank you, Uncle Ibrahim,’ says Kendrick.

Ibrahim nods. ‘A squash perhaps? I think I have some Sprite too.’

Kendrick looks over at Uncle Jason. ‘Uncle Jason, can I have a Sprite?’

‘Your mum said no sugar,’ says Uncle Jason.

‘She probably said don’t let anyone shoot at him either,’ says his grandad. ‘Let the boy have a Sprite.’

Uncle Jason nods at Ibrahim. This is all good. One, he gets a Sprite, and, two, his mum has given Uncle Jason instructions. Wherever she is, she’s still in charge.

‘Do you think I could get a Sprite too?’ says Tia.

‘Of course,’ says Ibrahim. ‘They’re in the kitchen. Make yourself at home.’

Well, well, well. Kendrick likes Sprite and Tia likes Sprite. What are the odds? Tia heads to the kitchen. Her hair is really swinging. It’s conditioner for sure.

‘Kendrick,’ says his grandad, ‘why don’t you go and help Tia in the kitchen – there’s going to be some boring grown-up talk in here for a while.’

Kendrick nods. This is interesting. Normally Kendrick’s favourite thing in the whole world is boring grown-up talk.

He can sit for hours and listen to Joyce talk about a friend who’s just had a hip replacement, but she went private and didn’t she like to let people know about it, but they did it on the cheap and who’s having to fix it?

Only the good old NHS, that’s who. He loves it.

But just at this moment he is being drawn to the kitchen.

The adults are all sitting down now. Uncle Jason, Grandad, Ibrahim, and the mysterious Connie who does a bit of everything. Kendrick could see her renting out kayaks on a beach in the Caribbean.

He walks into the kitchen and Tia offers him a Sprite.

‘Thank you,’ says Kendrick. ‘I am obliged to you.’

Tia smiles again. ‘You have very good manners.’

Kendrick nods. He has always prided himself on his manners. Not everybody notices, but Tia did.

‘Are you staying here?’ Tia asks.

‘I think so,’ says Kendrick. ‘Are you?’

‘I think so,’ says Tia.

Kendrick needs some conversation. If he was in the kitchen with Uncle Ibrahim, he could just say, ‘How long do you think an elephant can hold its breath?’ and they’d be good for an hour or so. But he worries that won’t work with Tia. He will try a different angle. Here goes.

‘Do you like watching Friends ?’

‘I love it,’ says Tia. ‘Let’s watch some.’

‘Ibrahim has Amazon Prime,’ says Kendrick. ‘So he can watch Below Deck . Who’s your favourite Friends character?’

‘Joey,’ says Tia. ‘Who’s your favourite?’

Kendrick takes a sip of his Sprite. Joey, eh? Not Phoebe? Perhaps it’s just the sugar talking, but something feels different here. Perhaps this is life on the other side of the wall? There are raised voices in the sitting room, but Kendrick couldn’t tell you what they were saying.

He places his Sprite down on a coaster and says, ‘Tia, my favourite is Joey too.’