September (6 page)
Authors: Gabrielle Lord
I was on the street in hiding, scoping out Oriana’s house once again, looking for the best vantage point from where I could put my plan into action.
She had improved the security around her house considerably since the last time I’d been snooping, searching for signs of Gabbi. There were small cameras that hadn’t been there before. The driveway had a new tall metal gate across it with a serious electronic lock. Another security door had been added to the front entrance.
I considered and rejected a number of
possibilities
and then I noticed the regrowth on the pine tree from where I’d taken the photo that had revealed the Ormond Riddle. Each lopped-off bough was sprouting fresh green needles,
making
for more cover than I’d had on my earlier climb.
I’d be safest at night, although that would bring about its own problems. For what I
intended
to do, I needed some visibility.
I ducked around the back of the apartment block, hauling myself up the fire-escape stairs until I reached the very top. I was starving—I hadn’t eaten all day—and was feeling a bit light-headed.
As soon as I stepped onto the roof and looked towards the door of Winter’s little flat, I could smell something delicious in the air. My stomach grumbled loudly.
Winter must have just washed her hair because it was all wrapped up on top of her head in a white towel. She was wearing a grey-and-white striped sweater and dark blue jeans. Her face was scrubbed clean. I thought she looked cute and wanted to tell her so, but instead I walked inside and said, ‘Something smells good.’
‘I made us some lasagne.’
‘I love lasagne.’
‘Well, you’d better try it before you get too excited. I’ve never made it before.’
‘I’m so hungry right now I could eat almost anything. Although,’ I added, ‘I’m sure if
you
made it, it will taste delicious.’
‘Take a seat,’ she said, sliding out a chair for me. ‘Like my new desk?’ she asked, flashing her eyes over to a neat white table, with ornate, carved legs, that sat in the place of her old one. ‘Vulkan didn’t even end up bringing it over for me—he sent some other guy around with it.’
‘Who did he send?’ I asked, wondering who Sligo was counting on to do his dirty work these days. ‘Wasn’t Red Singlet, was it?’
‘Nah, it was Max. You know, the rev-head guy I had to distract when you and Repro broke into the safe? Bruno’s been behind bars ever since the shootout in Redcliffe—there was no escaping the cops when he was perched up the bell tower. So Vulkan’s been relying on Max a lot more lately.’
‘Hello?’ came Boges’s sing-song voice from the front door.
Winter scurried over to let him in, pulling the towel out of her hair in the process. Her hair was longer than I’d ever seen it before. It twisted almost all the way down to her waist.
‘Hi!’ she said as she greeted Boges.
‘What’s cookin’, good lookin’?’ he joked,
reaching
in for a hug.
‘Lasagne,’ I called out. ‘Sit down, I’m starving.’
Boges came over and squeezed my shoulders before sitting down opposite me. He placed a long duffel bag on the floor, and I hoped it had the air rifle inside it. ‘Wow, it smells good,’ he said.
‘I hope it tastes as good!’ said Winter, heaving the dish out of the oven, with the help of red and white, polka-dot oven mitts.
‘Dude,’ Boges said, ploughing a fork into the giant slice of steaming lasagne that had just landed on his plate. ‘I have some information I need to pass on to you. Winter,’ he said with his mouth full, ‘this is amazing!’
Winter beamed.
‘Sure is,’ I added, before looking back at Boges, waiting to hear his news.
‘I called into Rafe’s house and talked to Gabbi yesterday,’ he said. ‘She looks and sounds so much better; she’s getting stronger every day … It’s so good to have Gabbi back to her old self.’
‘That’s great to hear, but why are you saying it like it’s bad news?’ I asked, not liking the tone of his voice.
Boges scratched at his head. It was such a normal thing for him to do, but it looked so
different without all of his dark hair flopping about over his hands.
‘The media has gone crazy over the story—it’s been an absolute frenzy,’ he said. ‘The paparazzi’s camped out the front of Rafe’s place 24–7 at the moment. I spoke to your mum, too. She’s happy to have Gabbi back but—but—’
‘But what?’ I asked.
‘What?’ I repeated, puzzled.
‘Look man, don’t take this the wrong way. But it’s your mum …’
‘What about her?’
‘Gabbi’s noticed it too. She thinks she’s …
changed
. I know we’ve talked about it before but—I don’t know how to put this—she’s—’ Boges shrugged, gesturing with his open hands. ‘Do you think she’s taking something? Something to help with all her anxiety and stress?’
‘Possibly,’ I said. ‘I know she’s changed. She hasn’t been herself since this whole mess began unfolding. It’s just all the bad things that have happened to her, building up, overwhelming her.’
Boges shook his head. ‘Just as many bad things have happened to you. And to Gabbi. And both of you are still the same person. Gab looks a little different, but every day, as she recovers, she’s showing that she’s still the same old Gabbi. You’ve had to toughen up, I know that, but you’re
still the same Cal Ormond underneath. With your mum, it’s something else. I’ve known her almost all my life, like since I was five. I know how she handles things.’
His face brightened all of a sudden. ‘Remember that time when I stacked it off your new red BMX bike, when we were about seven or
something
? I had blood gushing out of my forehead, and my mum and gran were wailing, completely freaking out about it, running around like
headless
chooks. But your mum was the one who came over to my side, held my hand and said, all steady and calm, “Well, you’ve had yourself a bit of an accident, haven’t you? Let’s get you into the car and go get you patched up.” She kept me calm by acting as though all I needed was a bandaid, but I ended up with nine stitches! Look,’ Boges said, pointing to a scar high on his forehead that used to be covered up with his long hair. ‘Check out that scar!’
‘Yikes,’ said Winter, leaning across the table to have a closer look. ‘I’ve never noticed it before.’
‘Cal’s mum was always the calming voice of reason,’ he explained to Winter. ‘Even when his dad died, she was the rock. Wasn’t she?’ he said to me.
‘She was the rock in tough situations,’ I agreed.
Sadness gripped my heart. That part of Mum’s personality felt like a distant memory.
Boges paused and took a deep breath, and the concern on his face brought me back to reality.
‘I’m going to talk really straight, dude. I think she’s taking way too many pills, or something. It’s like she’s in la-la land. I mean, there’s no way she would be acting like this—this weird, detached woman who almost switched her own daughter’s life support off, and who believes her son is a murderer. Not the Mrs Ormond I’ve known all my life.’ Boges fiddled with his fork. ‘No offence.’
‘No offence taken.’ I thought some more before I spoke again. ‘You know, the few times I’ve
spoken
to Mum, since all this happened, I have felt like she wasn’t really there. It’s weird because even when Dad was dying, and even after he died, Mum didn’t take anything for the pain. He was her best friend, her soul mate, her life … and he was taken away. But she fought through it with nothing but sheer will.’
Winter put her hand on mine.
‘What has Gabbi said about it?’ I asked.
Boges shook his head. ‘Nothing about
medication
. But she said she’s really worried. She had a bit of a tear in her eye when I saw her. She asked me if I thought there was something wrong with
your mum. Rafe’s really worried, too. You can see it in the way he looks at her. Maybe it’s not pills. Maybe she’s …’ His voice trailed off but I knew what he was thinking.
‘You’re thinking she might be having a
break-down
? Going crazy or something with all the stress?’
‘I don’t know, Cal. At least now she has Gabbi back safely. That might help calm her down a bit.’
‘Is Gabbi going to be safe there?’ I asked. ‘She was kidnapped from there once before. Have they upped the security?’
‘She’ll be fine at Rafe’s place. The security there is tight as,’ Boges said. ‘Rafe’s had all sorts of new gadgets, bars and alarms installed for protection. He walked me around the perimeter, explaining everything to me. Pretty impressive. He’s done his research. He knows what he’s
talking
about.’
Thank goodness, I thought. Although it would make it very hard for me to visit Gabbi.
‘It’s weird how much he looks like your dad,’ said Boges. ‘I mean, I know they’re identical twins, but I never really saw the similarities in them before.’ Suddenly distracted, he eyed a chocolate cake that Winter had begun unveiling, from underneath a tea towel. ‘No way, you made chocolate cake for me too?’
Winter’s flat was starting to look like the
operations
room in a TV police show. We had our notes spread everywhere. The photos from Ireland and Dad’s drawings were stuck against cupboards or propped up on the counter so that wherever you looked there was something to study, something to consider. The freaky little monkey puzzled me a lot. He didn’t seem to fit in anywhere at all. What could he possibly mean?
‘So it was Oriana de la Force behind the
kidnapping
,’ said Boges, munching through a second slice of cake. ‘We think she has the Ormond
Riddle
and the Ormond Jewel. And now she has the drawings too—
thinks
she has the drawings—’ he corrected, throwing an admiring look at Winter.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Now she thinks she has
everything
. Which is good in a way, because it gets her off our back. I hope. And now that Gabbi’s safe, the next thing to do is—’
‘Get the Riddle and the Jewel back,’ Winter finished for me. ‘It’s not going to be easy. From what you said about her place, it’ll be like Rafe’s place—trying to get past security at Fort Knox.’
We sat in silence for a few moments; the only sound in the flat was the distant traffic rising up from below. I realised my mind was always scanning background noises. Anything
resembling
a siren made me edgy.
‘But check this,’ Boges said, pulling out a folded printed page from his pocket.
‘What is it?’ I asked, leaning over to take it from him.
‘I found this on your blog last night.’
