The history teacher was grumpy, yes, and a stickler for the rules. But he’d always seemed like the most rock-solid of all the teachers. The one who never shifted. Utterly loyal to the school.
Her mind in a whirl, she was half looking at papers relating to the school’s accounts when something about the numbers struck her. Picking up a page she held it closer to the light.
‘Carter,’ she whispered, ‘this is weird.’
‘What is it?’
‘It’s just… Are we broke?’
‘Broke?’ He frowned, reaching for the paper. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Look here…’ She pointed at the bottom line. ‘It says the school has negative three hundred and seventy-four thousand pounds in its accounts. That’s a lot of minuses.’
He scanned the paper quickly and shook his head. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘That’s not possible.’
But Allie was looking at another paper now. ‘Wait. Look at this one.’
She read aloud: ‘… as nearly half the parents have failed to pay their fees this term, I’m depositing the necessary funds into Cimmeria’s account to make up the difference. However, this indicates that Nathaniel is preparing to make a move during this term. Thus we must increase our efforts to stop him and his group before this can occur. Otherwise, the school could be destroyed. And the organisation lost to us.’
The letter was signed with Lucinda’s sweeping signature.
‘So they knew this was coming,’ Allie said. ‘That’s why they’re all hoping they’ve caught the spy.’
Carter met her gaze. ‘They think it’s their only chance to stop it.’
When he reached for the page to read it again, his fingers brushed against hers, causing an electric spark and Allie jumped back, letting go of the paper. The page floated to the floor.
‘Sorry,’ they both said simultaneously, bending over to pick it up at the exact same moment and hitting heads with a cracking sound.
Clutching her head, Allie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she reeled away from him.
Carter held his own temple. ‘Are you OK?’
Though her head was throbbing, Allie gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘I’m fine, I think.’
But as she ran her fingers through her hair she felt a lump beginning to rise. It was sensitive to touch and she hissed from the pain. Seeing this, Carter’s face darkened with concern.
‘What is it? Let me see.’
‘No, I’m fine, really…’ Allie demurred, but he shook his head sternly.
‘Come on. Let Dr Carter have a look.’ He held the lamp up close to her head and, with a touch as soft as silk, parted her hair.
Allie stayed very still – afraid if she moved he’d stop. And go back to ignoring her.
He whistled softly. ‘That’s a nice goose egg you’ve got there, Sheridan.’
She shot him an ironic look. ‘Will I make it, doctor?’
His replying smile made his eyes crinkle.
It was just the way things used to be between them – so natural and easy. Allie wanted the moment to last and last. But as if he’d suddenly remembered who he was with, Carter cleared his throat and took a step back, returning the lamp to its place. When he spoke again his voice was cooler.
‘We’d better hurry. Why don’t you check the drawers?’
‘Oh… yeah.’ She moved to the other side of the antique desk, keeping her face down so he couldn’t see the colour in her cheeks.
With a sigh, she tried the top drawer.
Locked.
The one below it was locked, too. And all the rest.
‘No joy,’ she said.
‘I —’ He began to reply then stopped.
They both heard the sound at the same moment. Frozen in position, Allie stared at the door in horror.
Somebody was trying to get in.
Without a word, Carter grabbed her hand, pulling her to his side. Then he turned out the desk light.
The room was plunged into darkness.
SEVENTEEN
Crouched low behind Isabelle’s desk, Allie held her breath. In the darkness, she couldn’t see Carter but she could sense him next to her.
Whoever was trying to get in was having a bad time of it.
The doorknob rattled again and they could hear the faint jingle of metal against metal.
‘He has a key,’ Carter whispered, so quietly his words barely disturbed the air. They stayed very still.
For a long moment the rattling sounds continued. Then, abruptly, they stopped.
‘It doesn’t fit,’ a muffled voice said outside the door. ‘She must have given us the wrong key.’
It was a man’s voice. After that, they could hear other voices conferring.
The thought made her quiver – getting caught now would ruin everything.
But outside the conversation faded away. Holding her breath, Allie listened hard but could hear nothing.
A full minute ticked by as they huddled together in the dark.
‘I think they’re gone,’ Carter whispered at last. ‘We should get out of here before they come back with the right key.’
They stood, careful not to make a sound. Carter kept a hand on her elbow as they made their way through the dark room to the door. He didn’t need to – Allie knew this room well. But his touch made her feel safer; she was sorry when he let go.
As they stood at the door, she looked at the shadow shape of him beside her – wishing there was something she could say that would make all the bad things that had happened between them go away. That would allow them to be friends like this again.
But there wasn’t.
‘Ready?’ he said.
She lifted her chin. ‘Yes.’
Then she opened the door and walked out into the light.
‘We’ve found out they are keeping her somewhere else,’ Nicole whispered.
‘Could you be more specific?’ Carter’s tone was too sharp; a nearby student glanced up from his physics book.
‘Carter,’ Sylvain said quietly. ‘Volume?’
Allie expected Carter to glower at him or say something sarcastic. Instead he merely lowered his head in acknowledgement.
Watching the two of them, she frowned. Something had changed between them. They weren’t enemies any more. They didn’t act like friends exactly, but there was clearly some sort of understanding between them. They were like… allies.
When Carter spoke again his voice was low. ‘Sorry, Nicole. Go ahead.’
They’d gathered in the far corner of the common room, perched on a leather sofa and chairs and leaning in to hear each other speak. The room was packed with bored students in various stages of relaxation – some played board games, others read books or gossiped.
The ambient noise was loud enough they’d thought they could talk here without being noticed.
‘Wait,’ Sylvain said, before Nicole could proceed. ‘Pretend to talk about something fun. Like football.’
‘Football isn’t fun,’ Rachel said pointedly and Nicole giggled.
