Hold Your Breath by Caroline Green Read Free Book Online Page B

put down a small leather purse on the table. It was bright turquoise in colour with a felt owl stitched on the front. A sparkly M charm on a chain was attached to
the zip.
    ‘It’s her purse,’ said Will with a triumphant air. ‘It was underneath a load of stuff in my room. My ma found it.’ He had the grace to look a little sheepish at
this admission.
    ‘She’s got bank cards and her student travelcard in there,’ he continued. ‘Why would she go to Brighton without those?’
    That
was
odd, Tara had to privately admit. She thought about the bad feeling she’d had before and tried to shrug it away. None of this was her problem.
    ‘Well . . . what do you think’s happened to her?’ she said, despite herself.
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Will, shaking his head. ‘I just don’t buy that she’s gone to live with her dad. She almost never sees him. To suddenly go and set up home
in the rock-star palace now? Well, it doesn’t add up.’
    Will seemed to read the question in Tara’s face.
    ‘You know who her dad
is
, don’t you?’
    ‘No,’ said Tara. ‘I don’t really even know
her
.’ In fact, she was starting to wish she’d never even heard of Melodie Stone.
    Will’s expression sagged a little. ‘Oh. I was hoping you did.’ He took a sip of his coffee and sighed. ‘Her dad’s Adam Stone.’ Tara made a puzzled face.
‘Adam Stone from The Tin Gods?’ he said.
    ‘Oh . . .’ Tara’s eyes widened.
    Everyone knew The Tin Gods. They were part of the whole Britpop thing in the early nineties. Tara’s mum danced with embarrassing abandon if their music ever came on at parties. Their
biggest hit, ‘Best Days of Our Lives’, was still played on the telly all the time. ‘I didn’t know.’
    ‘She doesn’t see him very often,’ said Will balefully. ‘He’s got a new family and lives in some mansion in Brighton. He’s reinvented himself as a food and
wine buff and he’s developed a couple of apps to do with restaurants. He’s properly minted.’
    ‘You seem to know a lot about him,’ said Tara.
    Will’s face hardened. ‘Hmm,’ he grunted grumpily. ‘Thought at one point he might be able to help me out, but he’s obviously forgotten what being a struggling young
musician is like.’
    Ah
. . . thought Tara. Seemed Will had reasons for disliking Adam Stone that had nothing to do with Melodie. Will had such a pouty sulk on his face now that Tara almost wanted to
laugh.
    ‘Like that, is it?’ she said, draining the last of her juice.
    Will widened his big brown eyes. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I might not like the man, but I still don’t believe Mel would go and live with him.’ He paused. ‘God!’
He ran a hand over his beard. ‘I’ve been there to mop up her tears when he’s rejected her before. I don’t buy that suddenly he’s the loving father.’
    Tara sighed. ‘Look, none of this has anything to do with me. I saw you talking to Karis the other day at school. What does she say?’
    ‘She doesn’t know anything. And that Jada is all huffy about it, like Mel’s gone away just to upset them.’
    ‘Been to the police?’ Tara said, knowing it sounded lame.
    Will raised an eyebrow, rather impressively. ‘And say what? My underage girlfriend isn’t answering my calls?’
    Tara made a face. He made it sound really sleazy, put like that.
    ‘Well, I don’t see what I can do,’ she said. Her earlier exertions were catching up with her. She felt tired and wanted to go home.
    Will sat forward, his expression earnest. ‘Look, you seem like a nice girl . . .’ he began.
    Patronise me a bit more, why don’t you?
thought Tara.
    ‘Will you just do one thing for me?’ he said. ‘Then I’ll leave you alone once and for all. If you’ll just take the purse to Mel’s house.’ He reached
into the leather satchel and produced a piece of paper. An address was written in flamboyant, curly handwriting. ‘Say you found the purse under the bed or something at your house.
There’s