Chasing the Dark by Sam Hepburn Read Free Book Online

for a joy ride and setting fire to what was left.
    â€˜I bought an old Spitfire last year, fancied doing it up. But with things getting a bit tight money-wise Dilly wants me to get rid of it. So if you could give it a good clean I’ll put it on the market when I get back.’
    â€˜No problem,’ I said, really glad he’d come up with something I could do to help him out.
    â€˜It’s in the garage.’ He sighed and walked to the door. ‘I’ll be sad to see it go.’
    â€˜Hope you get the contract,’ I said.
    He turned and nodded, and for the first time I saw the strain behind his smile. ‘Yes, Joe, so do I.’
    Oz just didn’t get it that the hose wasn’t alive. He went into full attack mode every time the water sprayed his way. He made so much noise that Doreen came out to complain and caught me at the wheel trying to work out the controls with Oz riding shotgun beside me. She threatened to lock him in the shed if he didn’t pipe down and pointed out a couple of dirty marks I’d missed on the bonnet.
    Still, by the end of the day I’d got that little red twoseater hoovered, washed, waxed and polished to such a gleaming shine that even she couldn’t find anything to moan about.
    She was working that night so I had a cheese toastie in front of the telly. By the time I’d watched a couple of movies and read a bit more of Kidnapped I was beginning to feel a bit calmer. Yuri wasn’t about to die on me, George looked like he’d forgiven me, and Doreen hadn’t noticed the missing food.
    Boy, had I underestimated Doreen.
    Around midnight I was poking around in one of her freezers when she burst in covered in face cream, dressing gown flapping, screaming her head off. ‘I knew you were a thieving little scumbag the minute you walked into this house and now I’ve caught you red-handed.’
    I played innocent.
    â€˜Sorry, Aunt Doreen . . . I got hungry. I thought you wouldn’t mind.’
    The good news was that my backpack was still in the hall so she hadn’t caught me stuffing it with food. The bad news was that I was holding a portion of frozen venison casserole in a foil tub, which isn’t most kids’ idea of a late-night snack. I’d been planning to heat it up when I got to Elysium and give Yuri a treat. Go on, Joe. Explain that away .
    She grabbed it out of my hand. ‘Venison!’
    â€˜Oh, sorry … I thought it was . . . ice cream.’
    Not bad, Joe, not bad at all. Now keep smiling and maintain eye contact. Whatever you do, don’t look guilty .
    â€˜Go to your room, now!’
    I hung around with my ear to my bedroom door, waiting for her to go back to bed like any normal person. She didn’t, though. Not Doreen. From the smell of it she was brewing up a gallon of industrial-strength coffee, and when I peeked over the bannister, she was sat in the lounge with a thermos and the door wide open, staking out the stairs. I retreated to my room and gave it an hour or so before I sneaked down, hoping she’d dropped off to sleep. But she was just sitting there and had a fit when she saw me. I mumbled something about a drink of water and beat it back upstairs. Yuri would have to go hungry for one night. I just hoped he wouldn’t think I’d abandoned him.
    In the morning, Doreen was still prowling around like a Doberman in a goods yard, so I got out of there double-quick and used some of the twenty-pound note George had given me to get Yuri two sausage rolls and a Mars Bar from the village shop.
    Soon as I hit the woods I saw fresh tyre marks on the track. I started to run, panicked that it was cops arresting Yuri or hit men come to finish what they’d started. As I got nearer I saw that the metal panels that had been covering the gateway had been torn down, revealing a carved, stone archway and a pair of iron gates that were standing wide open. There were vans