The Secrets of Ice Cream Success (29 page)

‘
My Uncle.’
Herbert shouted back, trying to protect his face. ‘My Uncle
Randolph!’

Carlo stopped
mid-punch. ‘
Your
Uncle Randolph?’

Unfortunately the pause gave
Herbert time to regain the upper hand and he shoved Carlo from on
top of him sending the smaller boy into the air to land with a thud
amongst the debris on Herbert’s floor.

Carlo hardly noticed his change
of location, still confused. ‘Your Uncle Randolph? You mean Uncle
Randy? Randolph Fox?’

‘
Yes!’ Herbert
shouted. ‘
My
Uncle Randolph. Formerly married to my father’s
sister.
My
Aunt
Gladys!’

This was a shock, there was no
doubt. Carlo couldn’t even get his brain to concentrate on the main
point of the conversation regarding his father, so surprised was he
to hear he had been living with a member of Herbert’s family for
nearly three years. ‘I don’t understand. Why didn’t anyone say
anything? Why didn’t Uncle Randy tell me.’

‘
He’s not your
Uncle!’ Herbert shouted, doing a fair, if unplanned, impression of
Norton.

‘
And he told
you that my Dad…’

‘
Isn’t. Your.
Dad!’ Herbert finished. He felt abused and ill-used and had been
attacked in his own bedroom. His anger, already clear to see, had
started to boil over. Herbert absently wiped is nose as he advanced
on the still stricken Carlo and looked down upon his hand to see
blood from his face. Carlo could see the blood covering Herbert’s
top lip, streaming from his nose and realised he was now in danger.
His own anger had diminished with the revelation about Uncle Randy
and there was no way he could possibly defend himself.

‘
I’m going to
kick your head in!’ Herbert said in such a matter of fact manner,
it was possibly the most frightening thing Carlo had ever
heard.

Wasting no more time, Carlo
sprang for the door with Herbert right behind him. He leapt for the
stairs clearing a plate of sandwiches outside the door which had
been left there by Mrs Fitzherbert. Herbert was not so lucky; his
first step outside his room skidded on the plate of well-buttered
ham sandwiches and sent him flying into the opposite wall as Carlo
took the stairs three at a time, jumping the last four to land in
the hallway. He looked up to see Herbert untangling himself from
the floor with a look of pure hate on his bloodied face and saw Mrs
Fitzherbert bustle into the hall.

‘
What is all
this noise? Are you both alright?’ she asked, staring at Carlo and
then noting her son struggling to right himself. ‘My Heavens! Bert!
What happened?’ she shouted, running up the stairs.

Carlo took the opportunity to
open the door and sprint up the path, collecting his bike from the
front garden on his way and departing as quickly as he could.

After riding for ten minutes
Carlo calmed down and walked for a while, wheeling his bike along
next to him. He was confused, still a little scared and not at all
sure what to do.

It was possible that Herbert
was lying, but something told him that everything he had been told
was true. But if Uncle Randy was related to Herbert’s family, why
hadn’t anyone ever mentioned it?

But as Carlo continued along,
not really noticing where he was walking, he began to recognise
that, as surprising as the news was, Randolph Fox marrying Gladys
Fitzherbert was not the detail that was making him anxious. The
revelation that Randy had been the one to tell Herbert that Carlo’s
father was not his real father was something Carlo couldn’t get his
head around. He could probably have coped if it had been proven
that Herbert had made up the story or even if it had come from
someone else. But Herbert can’t possibly have been so stupid to
think that he could use Randy as a cover for his lies. After all,
Carlo lived with him; Herbert must know they would talk about this.
Therefore, unless Herbert was even more of a fool than Carlo
already thought, there was only one conclusion. Randy really had
said it.

Carlo pulled out his rarely
used mobile phone and cycled through the contacts until he found
his home number, but swore a few seconds later when he discovered
that Randy was still not at there. He had to find him; Carlo must
know what was going on, but where on earth was he? Through most of
Carlo’s life Uncle Randy had been a fairly solid presence and was
to be found in only one of three places; home, the factory or his
van. Carlo hopped back on his bike and headed for the factory.

Ten minutes later Carlo skidded
to a halt outside Leodoni’s. As expected the gates were closed and
there was no sign of life within. Carlo pulled out his keys and
juggled them until he found the correct one for the gates and
hurried through, locking it again behind him. He ran to the main
entrance and propped his bike up against the wall then once again
hurried to find the right key. Eventually he managed to open the
small hatch in the large factory doors and stepped through,
immediately scanning the factory, but where he had been hoping to
see Randy’s office light on, he was dismayed to find the factory in
darkness.

‘
Uncle Randy?’
he called into the dark to no reply. Carlo jogged off to the left,
down the ramp over to the line of vans parked neatly at the side of
the factory. The numbered vans were all present and although his
father’s van had been renumbered No.13 sometime earlier, his own
No.1 having been retired after his death, so there were still only
twelve vans. Carlo popped his head inside No.2, not really
expecting to find Randy in there.

He looked around the gloom,
unsure what to do next. The factory felt overwhelming in its
silence; a huge dark open space with a faint breeze carrying the
smell of vanilla. He was reminded of the first time he had walked
back into the factory after his father’s death.

“
He’s not even
your father!” Carlo heard Herbert’s words in his head. What a
ridiculous notion; he was the last Leodoni and owner of this
factory. Over the past few weeks that very idea had grown in his
heart until it was now what defined him, but those words were
causing him anguish. The confidence he had gained recently was
beginning to be beaten back by the old doubts he had always wrapped
around himself while growing up. He had been a young boy; unsure of
his place in the world, unconfident around girls with no idea what
he wanted to do when he grew up. And now someone said he wasn’t
even a Leodoni.

Carlo took a deep breath and
leant on the railings, looking across the dark machinery. He knew
there was nothing he could do here. He should go home and wait for
Randy to return, but as much as he wanted to get to the bottom of
this mess the longer the dark thoughts settled in his mind the more
they began to nibble away at his self-confidence.

Where before he was racing to
find Randy in order to demand to know why he would tell Herbert
such lies, Carlo was now thinking of ways to put off that
confrontation. Perhaps he would go to see the gang first or maybe
sneak home and go to bed so he didn’t have to speak to Randy until
tomorrow. He now also regretted not going directly home to speak to
his father. Of course that should have been his first move.

Carlo wandered across the back
of the factory and down the stairs. His mind was jumbled and he
needed a few minutes to think quietly before he headed home. As he
reached the bottom of the stairs he found the door to his father’s
study was ajar. Only he had the keys to this door and no one other
than Abi, Ben, Newton and Norton were allowed to use the room and
they had never left without closing and locking the door before.
Carlo stepped inside making a mental note to reprimand Norton, the
most likely suspect, but immediately realised it wasn’t him. The
room was a mess.

The books had been pulled from
the shelves and scattered across the floor, the draws of the desk
were open, the contents tipped on top. Papers were strewn
everywhere, furniture moved and even the pictures on the wall were
crooked.

Carlo’s first thought was that
they had been robbed, but that didn’t make sense. There were no
other signs of forced entry in the factory and as he looked around
the room, it was clear to him that the chaos was the result of a
search rather than a burglary. But, who would search this room? It
could only have been someone with regular access to the factory,
but not even Norton would be capable of leaving such a state.

Carlo picked through the muddle
of books and papers and realised that nothing seemed to be missing.
Few important documents were kept in this room, just Mr Leodoni’s
old books and notes and those of his Grandfather, but all of those
seemed to be here, thrown everywhere, but still present. Carlo had
only ever removed one item, his father’s diary, which was currently
in his bedroom with his father. All papers relating to the actual
business were in the offices on the other side of the factory.
Carlo suddenly panicked. What if this was another attempt by Hill’s
to discredit them in some way? Not Herbert, obviously, he couldn’t
have done this as Carlo had come straight from Herbert’s house. But
perhaps Ben had been right, maybe Neil was now working for Hill? He
pictured the offices laying in the same state and Neil rifling
through the company’s important papers and immediately ran for the
stairs!

Carlo took the steps two at a
time and rounded the top of the staircase at top speed colliding
headlong with someone else running in the opposite direction
towards the exit, sending both spinning to the floor.

‘
Ouch!’ Carlo
moaned from where he had come to rest, his head hanging over the
first step of the stairs down to the study. He slowly raised his
head and looked across to see who he had hit. Expecting to see Neil
or one of the Hill’s staff, Carlo was surprised to see Randy
cradling his head, looking dazed.

‘
Randy?’ he
said. ‘Are you OK?’

‘
Carlo?’ Randy
asked, still looking confused. ‘What… why…?’

Carlo pulled himself slowly to
his knees, feeling aches but no major injuries. ‘Boy am I glad it’s
you.’ he said, standing slowly. ‘Someone’s been here, Uncle Randy.
Someone’s been looking through our stuff. The study is a mess.
We’ve got to check the offices.’

Randy shook his head to clear
it and started to stand. ‘Carlo, what are you doing here?’

‘
I was looking
for you, but that can wait. We have to check the
offices.’

‘
I’ve just
been to the offices, there’s nothing amiss.’

Carlo looked relieved. Perhaps
Neil had been scared off by one of them entering the factory. ‘Well
that’s good. We’ll need to check the CCTV footage tomorrow. I think
Neil has been here.’

Randy looked surprised at the
revelation, but waved it away. ‘We should go, Carlo. We can talk
about this back at home.’ he said as he stretched his back with a
groan.

‘
Wait, I want
to show you the study.’ Carlo said.

‘
I’ll see it
tomorrow. I really think we should leave now. We can check the
study in the morning and see if we need to call the
police.’

‘
You don’t
understand, Uncle Randy. Someone’s been through our stuff. I think
it was Hill’s.’

Randy shifted uneasily, looking
behind him towards the other side of the factory. ‘We should go,
Carlo, now!’

‘
But the
study…’

‘
No, Carlo,
I’m not joking. We should go!’ Randy said, raising his voice with a
note of panic.

‘
What is it?’
Carlo asked, sensing the concern. He looked around the factory. ‘Do
you think they’re still here?’

‘
No… Yes…
Look, I don’t know. But we need to go, now!’ Randy shouted,
grabbing Carlo’s arm and starting to drag him towards the
exit.

The young man shook Randy off
and took a step back. ‘What’s wrong? Why are you so jumpy?’ Carlo
asked. He’d never seen Randy act like this and it was beginning to
make him worried. ‘What’s going on?’

Randy took and deep breath and
looked at his watch, still holding his side from the collision. ‘We
don’t have time to talk about this now, Carlo. We need to
leave!’

‘
Why? I don’t
think anyone’s still here.’

‘
Carlo! We
need to go…’

‘
What were you
doing here? Carlo asked. ‘I’ve been looking for you all afternoon.
I wanted to talk to you about Herbert Fitzherbert.’

Randy looked surprised. ‘Bert?
Why?’ But remembered himself and waved away his own question. ‘Look
it doesn’t matter we need to get out now!’

But Carlo wasn’t listening. He
wanted to say his piece finally. ‘Herbert said you are his Uncle.
Is that true?’

‘
Carlo, let’s
go NOW!’ Randy shouted, looking at the exit, seemingly ready to run
whether Carlo followed or not.

‘
Are you
Herbert’s UNCLE?!’ Carlo shouted back.

‘
Yes, alright?
Yes. It’s not a secret. Why are you obsessing about
this?’

‘
Because,’
Carlo said, starting to get angry, ‘You told him that I’m not my
father’s son!’

‘
Carlo,
please.’ Randy pleaded. ‘Let’s do this outside.’

‘
Why?’ Carlo
demanded, just as a roaring silence sucked the air out of the
factory. Carlo experienced a moment of calm before an explosion
thumped into both men, knocking them into the air and sending huge
flames thundering into the night sky.