Sleeping Angel (Ravenwood Series) (29 page)

‘Gosh, I wish they had let you speak today,’ said April. ‘You put things so much better than Professor Young.’

‘It’s gratifying to hear you say that, April,’ said Tame, unable to hide his pleasure. ‘You know, I’ll admit I wasn’t sure about you when I offered you the position of Head Girl, but I’m very pleased to see that you’re rising to the challenge.’

April was about to make her excuses and slip away when they were interrupted.

‘What’s this, a Ravenwood convention?’

April groaned inwardly as Detective Inspector Johnston stepped out of the crowd, with a familiar figure on his arm. Chessy. It was as if someone was sending her all the people she most loathed in the world all at once. If she was really lucky, Marcus Brent would come back from the dead and try to strangle her again.

‘April!’ cried Chessy, disentangling herself from the policeman long enough to come over to air-kiss her. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?’

Because you were about the last person I wanted to know I was here
, thought April, wondering how Chessy had managed to wangle an invitation – had she got her claws into the detective or merely latched onto him when she got here?

‘You giving the girls an impromptu lesson here, Tame?’

The Headmaster gave the detective an oily smile. ‘We’re merely exchanging views,’ he said. ‘That’s the sort of thing we value at Ravenwood.’

Johnston raised his eyebrows. ‘As long as they agree with you, presumably.’ Ignoring Tame’s glare, Johnston turned to April. ‘Did you bring Gabriel Swift with you?’ he said. ‘I’d very much like to speak to that young man.’

‘We don’t speak much anymore,’ said April.

‘Lover’s tiff, eh?’ he nodded, as if that was information he already had.
From Chessy?
Suddenly April felt a rush of paranoia. Chessy had dropped heavy hints about some long-past relationship with Gabriel – could he have been in touch with her during his disappearance? No, that was just silly, wasn’t it?

DI Johnston continued, ‘I hear you have Davina Osbourne staying at your house?’

             
April looked at Chessy; now
that
information had to have come from her. ‘My mother’s house, yes.’

‘Such a horrible thing – her dad’s crash,’ said Chessy.

‘Yes, she’s taking it pretty hard.’

Johnston nodded. ‘Even so, perhaps you could pass on the message that she should come along to the station as soon as possible.’

‘Is the girl in any trouble?’ asked Tame, his tone of voice suggesting he was more concerned by the potential for bad publicity for the school than Davina’s wellbeing.

The inspector sighed. ‘I don’t suppose it will do any harm telling you – it’s all over the news channels already. Seems that they’ve dug up eye-witnesses who saw another vehicle chasing Nicholas Osbourne’s car moments before the crash – there’s been a suggestion that it wasn’t an accident after all.’ His eyes locked with April’s. ‘Looks like we might have another murder on our hands.’

There was laughter coming from the kitchen as April opened the door. She tip-toed in and peeked through the crack in the door: Davina and Silvia, sitting at the counter, a bottle between them.

‘I know, you should have seen his face,’ giggled Davina. ‘He thought he was in for a frisky night, the dirty old sod, he genuinely had no idea that—’

‘Mother?’

Davina stopped dead in the middle of her sentence and both women looked up, their faces slightly guilty, the lipstick-smeared glasses in front of them telling their own story.

‘April, we didn’t expect you back from your lunch so soon.’

‘Looks like you’ve been having your own little picnic,’ April replied.

‘Just a glass, darling. We’ve been down to see Barbara – still under sedation poor thing – and I thought Davina could do with a little pick-me-up.’

‘I saw Chief Inspector Johnston at the lunch,’ April said carefully.

Davina nodded, her smile sagging.
So she had heard.
‘The police came to the house. It’s going to be all over the papers again. The last thing mum needs.’

‘’Vina tells me you met that dishy David Harper,’ said Silvia, clearly trying to change the subject. ‘Is he lovely?’

Dishy?
What century was she from? Why did grownups always insist on slipping into their old-fashioned slang when they were talking to young people? She’d be saying things were “groovy” and “far out” next.

‘He was horrible, mum. They all were – just a load of old men only interested in money.’

‘That’s not all they’re interested in, by the sounds of it,’ giggled Silvia, nudging Davina who broke up laughing.

They really are drunk.

‘I think I’ll go up to my room,’ said April. ‘Leave you two to your picnic.’

If Davina were hiding inside a bottle, April couldn’t really blame her. April could vividly remember how wretched she felt after her own father’s death; she would’ve welcomed anything that could have masked the pain, even for a moment. Anything was better than that horrible helpless feeling, like falling through space, seeing the ground rushed towards you, knowing it was going to slam into you, unable to stop.

Up in her room, April sat on the window ledge, looking out across Pond Square, remembering that night when she had first seen Gabriel.

Where are you Gabriel?
She checked her phone for the hundredth time that day. Why hadn’t he called? Why hadn’t he come back? DCI Johnston had said he was “keen to talk” to Gabriel, but that didn’t mean he was in trouble – after Calvin’s murder, she doubted the police would be very interested in pursuing the fight between him and Gabriel – so there was really no reason to hide. So where was he?

Surely he hadn’t contacted Chessy – no, that was just stupid. But he
had
gone off with her at that Valentine’s party at Davina’s, hadn’t he?
Come on, April, get a grip.

Actually, a more likely scenario, and a more worrying one, was that he had gone off in search of the King. What if he found him? Gabriel could already be dead for all she knew. It was so hard not knowing. April heard the door creak and Davina put her head around.

‘Knock knock,’ she said with a weak smile.

‘It’s okay, come in. I thought you were bonding with my mother.’

Davina shook her head. ‘She’s having a little lie-down. I think it’s gone to her head.’

‘And you’re okay?’

April hadn’t meant to sound disapproving, but it came out that way.
She’s entitled to let off a little steam
, she reminded herself. However, Davina didn’t seem to have noticed; she just sat down on the bed and looked at her hands.

‘So I guess DI Johnston told you the latest about my dad?’

‘Not much, just that there was another car.’

Davina nodded. ‘Rammed him from behind, sent him into a skid which flipped his car over. Apparently forensics found paint from the other car on the wreck.’

‘So you think he was deliberately killed? But why?’

‘Why not? He knew just about everything there was to know about Agropharm – and in a company that size, there are always plenty of secrets they want to keep.’

‘But what about Ravenwood? Was that involved?’

Davina turned to face her, her eyes blazing. ‘Oh, grow up, April – of course it was! What do you think has been going on there for the last year? It’s one big hot-house: brainy kids for industry, rich kids to be used as influence over their parents. Ravenwood was fundamental. If they couldn’t persuade the Establishment to come over to their side, they’d always have the option of holding their kids to ransom. By any means necessary, remember?’

April thought of the gathering in the Crichton Club and wondered if such a thing would be necessary. It certainly didn’t look as if the Establishment would require much persuasion to join the vampires. Just a matter of dangling the right carrot.

             
April reached over for her bag and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. ‘Here, I think this is what you wanted,’ she said. ‘A list of everyone attending the lunch.’

Davina looked up, a surprised smile on her face. ‘Wow, good work, Sherlock. How did you get this?’

‘No special detective skills, I just asked the lady on reception. Said I wanted it for the school paper.’

She sat down next to Davina as she looked over the list. ‘So, is the King Vampire on there?’

Davina shrugged. ‘I doubt it. Why would he expose himself? That place is far too public. But I think at least a handful of these people know where to find him.’

‘David Harper, maybe?’

‘Perhaps. Rumour is that he is being lined up for a new cabinet post. I doubt he would have got that far without being part of the inner circle.’

‘He
was
very smug,’ said April, wrinkling her nose.

‘Well, they all are until they feel teeth on their jugular.’

‘Davina! My dad, remember?’

‘Oh, yeah. Sorry.’

‘You really think the vampires killed Nicholas because he knew too much?’

‘Who knows? But humans are expendable to the vampires. Like this David Harper. He plays his cards right, it’s possible he might even make it to Prime Minister. But he won’t have any real power; he’ll be doing exactly what the King says. And if he gets out of line – whoosh! – he’ll be straight off to landfill.’

April gave Davina a sideways look.

‘What?’ she asked. ‘Why are you looking at me funny?’

‘I just don’t understand how you can be so blasé about death and yet be so upset about your father and brother.’

‘Because Benjamin and Nicholas were mine,’ she said with feeling. ‘Maybe they weren’t a real family, but however unorthodox my home there was, it’s the only one I can ever remember. They protected me, looked after me, and whoever took them away from me is going to pay. You of all people can understand that, surely?’

April nodded.

‘But these people?’ said Davina, tapping the list. ‘These people are here because of one thing – greed. They think they’re making a smart move, making friends with the wolves before they overrun the village, but they’ll find you can’t make deals with wild animals. When the time comes, they will all be herded into the fields with the rest. Everybody dies, April.’

‘Even her?’ April pointed to
Francesca Bryne, Ravenwood
.

‘Chessy?’ spat Davina. ‘Ha, I’m not at all surprised she was there. What’s that phrase – “would you jump into my grave as fast?”.’

April told her about her encounter with the girl and her suspiciously cosy friendship with DCI Johnston. Davina shrugged as if it was only what she had expected.

‘She’s just aligning herself with the most useful people. Or thinks she is. She will soon see that she has chosen the wrong side. In fact, it will be the last thing she ever sees. ’

A shiver ran up April’s neck. It was chilling to listen to her.

‘Does that shock you?’ said Davina. ‘Perhaps it should. Because that’s exactly what their plan is. Vampires have no morals, no standards of decency. They will kill everyone in their way, and we have to play by the same rules.’

April nodded slowly. She knew Davina was right and that the time for half-measures had passed. She had stood in the Crichton Club and seen just how high the conspiracy went, and how ready all those people were to move.

‘We have stop them,’ said April.

Davina looked at her and put out her hand. ‘So you’re in?’

This time, April didn’t have to think about it. ‘I’m in,’ she said.

The clouds above Swain’s Lane were plump and grey; you could smell the rain in the air, but even so April was glad to get out of the house. April needed to be alone, to think and to plan her next move. But it was so hard to think. She badly needed to talk about Davina with someone, but she wasn’t sure Caro and Fiona would understand that April had decided to collaborate – was that the word? – with a vampire. And a
bad
vampire at that.

Maybe Gabriel would get it: that she had to do whatever was necessary to bring this to an end; that there was too little time and too much at stake waste more time worrying about the right way of doing things. But still Gabriel was nowhere to be found. April knew that was why she was drifting down the lane towards the cemetery, hoping he might be there as on that first night.

That first night.
What
had
happened to Isabelle that night? April ran over it in her mind. Walking down Swain’s Lane, spotting the cemetery gates open and hearing a cry from inside. Creeping into the darkness and finding the ground wet with blood, then Gabriel appearing from nowhere and telling her to run for her life. It had been Isabelle lying on that cold pathway, April knew that now. But she didn’t know why Isabelle was there or who had killed her. Had Isabelle got in over her head? Had she tried to out-manoeuvre the vampires? Sheldon had said something about that, and about how she had been punished for it – April wished she could remember every detail of that night, but it had become fuzzy and unclear, just a jumble of images and sounds. You’d think someone pouring petrol over you would focus the mind, wouldn’t you?