False Tongues by Kate Charles Read Free Book Online

either of them, and indeed they both averred that they hadn’t seen Sebastian since Saturday night.
    Miranda went back to the kitchen and checked round to see whether Sebastian had left a note anywhere—magneted to the fridge door, or on the worktop—which she might have missed in her semi-comatose pre-coffee state. The only evidence of Sebastian’s presence in the kitchen was the jumble of dirty dishes in the sink.
    It was, she decided, time to wake Richard. Perhaps Sebastian had mentioned something to him about plans to go out. He’d left for work later than she did yesterday; it was possible that he’d talked to Sebastian before leaving the house, or had even had a previous conversation with him on the subject.
    She took one more look in Sebastian’s room as she went by, regretting that she hadn’t checked on him when she got home in the early hours of the morning. It was something she’d always done when he was younger, but now that he was a teenager it seemed an invasion of his much-valued privacy. As she’d expected, his bed was still pristine; there was still no sign of him.
    Richard was sleeping on his side, his knees drawn up toward his chest like Sebastian had always slept. In so many ways Sebastian was very like his father; the most instantly noticeable similarities were the long, lanky frame and the tightly curled hair. But Richard’s curls were light brown, now liberally interspersed with grey, while Sebastian had inherited Miranda’s much darker hair.
    How Sebastian hated those springy curls—he claimed they made him look like a freak. Short of shaving his head, there was no way to get rid of them. Miranda, on the other hand, would have given anything for a bit of curl in her poker-straight locks. For years she had worn her hair long—Richard preferred it that way—but now she kept it quite short, in a wash-and-wear cut that was more suitable for her demanding lifestyle as well as for her age. The only trouble was that every few weeks she needed to take the time to go to the salon and have it trimmed, or she would start looking rather like a shaggy dog. Sebastian liked to tease her about it. ‘Time to go to the groomer, Mum,’ he would say when she was overdue for a haircut.
    She woke Richard; she told him that Sebastian was missing, and explained what she’d done to try to find him. Richard knew no more than she did about their son’s whereabouts.
    â€˜I think we should ring the police,’ he said.
    ***
    Breakfast was already in full swing, Callie saw as she entered the dining hall. She grabbed a tray and headed for the serving station.
    â€˜Full English, love?’ The man behind the counter, a youngish bloke with a cheeky grin, was the one who usually worked the breakfast shift. He gave her a wink, as he’d always done. Callie wasn’t sure whether he reserved his winks for her or dished them out as indiscriminately as he served up eggs, bacon, and sausages. She smiled and nodded.
    â€˜Hold the beans, right?’ he remembered.
    â€˜Right.’ She was impressed.
    â€˜And an extra toast.’
    â€˜Thanks.’
    Callie collected her cutlery, poured herself a cup of tea from the pot at the end of the serving counter, then turned to the buzzing room to look for her friends.
    Tamsin was the easiest to spot: her mop of yellow Shirley Temple ringlets always stood out in a crowd. She was sitting at a table on the far side of the dining hall, Nicky at her side, so Callie turned her steps in that direction.
    But wait.
    On Tamsin’s other side, his head inclined toward her as he talked, was Adam.
    Callie turned round, before any of them saw her, and went for the first empty seat she could find, her back to the treacherous Tamsin. Bending her face over her tray, she took a deep breath and tried to compose herself.
    It was only natural and to be expected, she told herself firmly. Tamsin wasn’t being disloyal to