Eva and the Hidden Diary Page 6

  ‘Oooops,’ I said. ‘Our bad. We seem to have called to the wrong house.’

  Then I grabbed Kate’s arm and we ran out the gate and down the road towards the beach.

  ‘You knew, didn’t you?’ I asked, as soon as we were settled on our favourite spot in the sand. ‘You knew Cathy was going to be there.’

  Kate shrugged. ‘I suspected, but I didn’t know for certain sure. I know that Mrs Eades is Cathy’s aunt, and that Cathy stays there a lot in the summer. And I’d heard a rumour that she was going to be back in town soon.’

  ‘But why didn’t you tell me?’

  She didn’t answer.

  ‘Kate?’ I said.

  ‘I tried.’

  I felt my face going red as I realized that this was true. She’d tried a few times, but I hadn’t listened.

  ‘But still you came with me,’ I said. ‘You stood outside that door, even though you knew there was a good chance that Catty Cathy was going to open it.’

  ‘I know what it’s like to have your family break up into little pieces,’ said Kate. ‘My mum and my dad both vanished out of my life when I was little, so I know exactly how Daisy must have felt. I wanted to help to make things right for her again.’

  ‘You were prepared to face that evil bully, for Daisy’s sake? That’s totally brave and crazy.’

  Now Kate’s face turned red to match mine. She hates being the centre of attention.

  ‘We should go back there,’ she muttered. ‘We should try again – for Daisy’s sake.’

  I shook my head. ‘No way. That’s not going to happen. I want to help Daisy just as much as you do, but not if it means giving Cathy another chance to pick on us. We’ll have to think of something else.’

  ‘Like what?’

  And how was I supposed to answer that?

  ‘Great news,’ said Zoe when we met her later. ‘I’ve spent hours on the internet. I’ve managed to track Daisy down to a school in Chicago. She started attending there in January 1948.’

  ‘So Daisy really made it to secondary school,’ I sighed. ‘That’s so great. Maybe her dream of being a children’s nurse came true after all.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Zoe. ‘But she left that school in 1950, and I can’t find where she went next.’

  ‘So is that the end of the trail?’ asked Kate.

  Zoe grinned. ‘No way,’ she said. ‘I’m not giving up that easily. This research is really interesting. I’ll find out what happened to your old friend – it might just take a bit of time, that’s all. Now what about you girls? How did you get on today?’

  So Kate and I told her all about Cathy and our failed attempt to get more information about George Eades.

  Martha came in and heard what we were saying.

  ‘You’ve got it all wrong, girls,’ she said. ‘That Eades family in the village are not related to old George Eades at all. They’re blow-ins – they’ve only been around here for thirty-five years or so.’

  We all laughed and Martha pretended to be offended.

  ‘OMG,’ I said, remembering how Cathy had looked at Kate and me like we were total losers. ‘That’s awful news. We totally embarrassed ourselves in front of Cathy, and it was all for nothing.’

  ‘She must have thought we were complete idiots,’ said Kate helpfully.

  I could feel my face going red at the thought of how I’d prattled on to Cathy. She usually bullied us for nothing. Now that we’d acted like weirdos in front of her, there was no telling what she was going to do.

  ‘So where did George Eades live anyway?’ I asked, changing the subject.

  ‘He was from Kylebridge at the other side of the bay,’ said Martha. ‘But there’s no point in going looking for him over there – unless you fancy visiting the graveyard. George Eades died donkey’s years ago.’

  ‘Did he have a family?’ asked Kate, who was looking a lot more enthusiastic now that Cathy was out of the picture.

  ‘I don’t know who’s left now,’ said Martha. ‘I haven’t been to Kylebridge for years. But George had a couple of sons, so no doubt there’s someone over there still.’

  Kate looked at her watch.

  ‘We could …’ she began.

  ‘Don’t even think about it, Kate’ said Zoe. ‘It’s nearly tea-time. I know all this investigation stuff is exciting, but it’s going to have to wait another day.’

  ‘The Wicked Stepmother speaks,’ said Kate, but she was laughing.

  Zoe laughed too. ‘If you don’t behave yourself,’ she said. ‘The Wicked Stepmother won’t make your favourite lemon cake for dessert.’

  Then the two of them had a big long soppy hug.

  I smiled. A year earlier, those two had never even heard of each other, and now they were the best of friends.

  Life can be very strange sometimes.

  Chapter Eleven

  It was still early next morning when Kate and I headed off on our bikes. As we cycled through the village, I could see Cathy sitting on a wall outside the shop. She was with a girl I’d never seen before and they both looked like they were all dressed up for a party or something.

  ‘Who’s that with Cathy?’ I whispered.

  ‘That’s her friend, Andrea,’ whispered Kate. ‘She sometimes stays with Cathy when she’s in Seacove. She’s kind of a mini-Cathy. She’s not very nice.’

  Just then Cathy looked up and saw us approaching. She pointed at Kate and said something to her friend. They both laughed – a mean, spiteful kind of laugh. Then Cathy held her nose, like something smelled bad.

  I really couldn’t understand what was going on. I know that bullying is always wrong, but back when Kate seemed weird, I could kind of understand why a mean girl like Cathy would pick on her. Now though, Kate was totally nice and normal, and still Cathy gave her a hard time. Clearly the whole bullying thing had always been more to do with Cathy than with Kate!

  ‘Pay no attention, Kate,’ I said. ‘Cathy’s not worth it.’

  Kate didn’t answer, but when I looked at her I could see a real hurt look on her face. Kate is my friend, and I hate when people upset her – so I knew it was time to do something.

  I sped up my bike and zoomed towards Cathy and Andrea. When I got close to them, I suddenly veered to one side and cycled straight into a huge puddle of mucky water. It was totally brilliant – Cathy and Andrea were soaked from their perfect highlighted hair down to their perfect glittery red toenails. They jumped up from the wall and screeched and flapped at their clothes like demented chickens.

  ‘Ooops, sorry, girls,’ I said, without slowing down. ‘I didn’t see you there. I think your hairspray must have got in my eyes.’

  When I was safely around the next bend, I stopped my bike. A second later, Kate stopped beside me.

  ‘OMG,’ said Kate. ‘That was so cool, Eva. Did you see their faces? That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in hundreds of years.’

  Then she looked at my clothes. ‘But you’re soaked too,’ she said.

  I grinned. ‘I know,’ I said. ‘And I don’t care. It was totally worth it. Now let’s forget about Cathy and Andrea. You and I have got a job to do.’

  Half an hour later we parked our bikes on a lane outside a huge old ivy-covered house.

  ‘Here we are,’ said Kate. ‘This is the house Martha told us about. I bet all the answers we need are somewhere in here.’

  I looked through the big metal gates. Suddenly I didn’t feel so confident.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, sarcastically. ‘Maybe we can go inside and search the place. Maybe we’ll look under a four-poster bed and find the stolen chalice with a note tied to the handle telling us who really took it.’

  Kate rolled her eyes. ‘Now you’re just being pathetic,’ she said. ‘All we need to do is find someone who knew George Eades back in the day.’

  ‘And then what?’

  ‘And then we ask them a few questions.’

  ‘But we can’t just march in there, can we?’

  ‘Why not?’ asked Kate.r />
  ‘And what will we say?’

  ‘You’ll think of something,’ said Kate.

  I liked her confidence in me, but wasn’t sure that I deserved it. But we’d cycled a long way and it didn’t seem right to give up without trying.

  ‘Right,’ I said, trying to sound brave. ‘Let’s go.’

  I pulled one of the gates half open, and the two of us walked towards the house. Our feet made crunchy noises on the gravel, and that distracted me from the thump-thump noises my heart was making. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was afraid of, and in a way, that made things even worse. I was tempted to turn around and run.

  ‘If there’s a guard dog, I’m totally out of here,’ I said.

  ‘This is important,’ said Kate. ‘We can’t let Daisy down.’

  ‘If there’s a dog chewing my leg, we might just have to let her down,’ I muttered.

  Kate laughed. She totally loves all animals, even scary ones with big sharp teeth.

  After what felt like a hundred years, we made it safely to the front door.

  ‘Maybe no one lives here any more,’ I said.

  ‘If that’s the case, then someone should tell the milkman,’ said Kate, pointing to a bottle of milk on the doorstep.

  I knocked and gave a small jump as I heard the sound of the knock echoing through the house. A long minute passed.

  ‘I don’t think anyone’s home,’ I said, trying not to sound too relieved.

  I was getting ready to walk away when we heard the click of high-heeled shoes on a wooden floor. I heard the sound of keys being turned, and seconds later, the door was open and a woman was standing looking at us.

  ‘Yes?’ she asked. ‘What can I do for you two girls?’

  The woman was smiling at us in a friendly kind of way, and I started to feel a small bit braver.

  ‘Er, hi,’ I said. ‘My name is Eva, and this is my friend, Kate.’

  The woman probably guessed that we hadn’t walked up her driveway and knocked on her door just to tell her our names. She looked at my mucky clothes, and she seemed to be waiting for me to say something else. Only trouble was, I didn’t know how to continue.

  I looked desperately at Kate, but she just shrugged helplessly.

  ‘Er …… er …… Kate and I cycled here from Seacove,’ I said. ‘Er … we’re really interested in local history … it’s kind of like our specialist subject … and we …… were wondering … if … if well if you happen to know anything about a man called George Eades.’

  ‘Of course I know something about George Eades,’ the woman said. ‘He was my grandfather. But he was a quiet, private man and I’m afraid I can’t see why you girls would be interested in him.’

  By now I was getting desperate. The vague plan I’d come up with in the safety of my own garden wasn’t much help now that I was standing on this doorstep trying to make conversation with George Eades’ grand-daughter.

  I looked at Kate again, but she was no help whatsoever. She was playing with a piece of her hair, and acting like none of this had anything to do with her at all.

  ‘Er… we just wanted to know what George Eades was like and stuff,’ I said.

  This was turning out to be a nightmare. The woman was tapping her foot on the shiny wooden floor and starting to look impatient. I guessed we had about thirty seconds before she told us to leave.

  ‘Just tell her the truth,’ said Kate, finally finding her voice.

  I knew she was right. When you can’t think of any good lies, the truth is probably the best way to go.

  I took the photograph out of my pocket and held it towards the woman. She took it from me and looked at it for a minute.

  ‘That’s a sweet photograph,’ she said. ‘But I don’t know these people. What have they got to do with me? What have they got to do with my grandfather?’

  ‘That’s a photo of the Lavelle family,’ I said. ‘Daisy, Florrie and Jean-Marc. They used to live over in Seacove – in the little house where I’m spending my summer holidays. They were a really happy family – at first. But then Mr Lavelle got sent to prison for something he didn’t do. There was a court case and we think that George Eades, your grandfather––’

  Now the woman’s smile vanished. It was like a shutter had come down over her eyes, and she looked blank and cold.

  ‘I think you two girls have wasted quite enough of my time,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what you think you are doing, but it’s time to stop right now. Go home and play computer games or whatever it is young people do nowadays. Go away and stop bothering innocent people.’

  She was starting to close the door and I knew this was going to be my last chance.

  ‘It’s never too late to right a wrong,’ I said. ‘Jean-Marc died and Florrie died, but Daisy might still be alive. Don’t you think she deserves to know the truth about her father? If you know something that could help her, don’t you think––?’

  But now the door was fully closed. ‘Good-bye,’ came the woman’s voice from behind the thick wood. ‘And if you ever come back here again, I will be calling the police.’

  Then I heard the click-click of her heels as she walked away.

  ‘At least we know where we stand,’ I said, as we walked back to our bikes. ‘I like people who make themselves clear.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Kate. ‘But it definitely wasn’t a wasted journey.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Did you see the way that woman changed? She was all sweet and smiley until we mentioned the court case. That means she knows something. She definitely knows something.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘You’re right. But you heard what she said. Short of torturing her, I can’t think of a way to get her to share what she knows with us, can you?’

  Kate shook her head. ‘So that’s it,’ she said. ‘This is the end. We did our best, but it’s looking like poor Daisy, wherever she is, is never going to know what really happened.’

  The cycle home seemed very long and full of steep hills.

  Chapter Twelve

  All that night I had terrible dreams about Daisy. She was sitting on the end of my bed, combing her long, curly hair, and crying big, fat, wet tears. ‘Why won’t anyone help me?’ she kept saying. ‘Why doesn’t anyone care?’

  Even in my dreams, where magic can happen, I didn’t know how to answer her.

  But the next morning there was a present-day problem waiting to be solved.

  Kate called over and sat in our kitchen with her head in her hands. When Mum and Dad spoke to her, she just gave the shortest answer possible, and then looked away.

  Luckily, Mum was used to this kind of behaviour. The year before, Kate had stayed with us while her social workers were trying to find her a foster family. Even though Kate is my friend, I have to admit that it was a very, very long few days.

  Joey came in after a while, and I hoped that would make things easier. Kate and Joey have always got on really well.

  ‘Hey, Kate,’ he said.

  ‘Hey, Joey,’ she said, in a dead kind of voice.

  ‘Have you heard the joke about the blunt pencil?’ he asked. ‘Oh never mind – there’s no point!’

  Kate didn’t even smile. That’s when I knew things were serious – Kate always laughs at Joey’s jokes, even when they are totally unfunny. Usually she laughs extra hard at the very bad ones, because she feels sorry for him.

  Mum gave me a questioning look, but I just shrugged. I had no idea what was going on either.

  ‘Poor Kate,’ said Mum. ‘You must be upset about Daisy. It’s terrible the way things turned out for that unfortunate girl.’

  Kate looked up. ‘I am upset about Daisy, but that’s not what’s …’

  ‘That’s not what’s …?’ said Mum helping her along, but Kate had her most stubborn face on.

  ‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘It’s nothing.’

  ‘Come on, Kate,’ I said in the end. ‘You and I need to talk. Let’s go to Jeremy and you can tell me exactly what’s
on your mind.’

  ‘Please,’ I said, as soon as we’d climbed up to our favourite branch on our favourite tree. ‘Tell me what’s wrong, Kate.’

  She only hesitated for a second. ‘It’s Zoe,’ she said. ‘Her boss from London called last night and offered her her old job back.’

  ‘OMG!’ I said. ‘That’s awful. What did Zoe say?’

  ‘She said she’s going to think about it for a few weeks. And that’s really, really bad news. That means she’s seriously considering going back.’

  ‘Oh, you poor thing.’

  I wriggled closer to her. It’s not easy to hug someone when you’re clinging to a branch, halfway up a huge tree, but I did my best.

  After a minute Kate pulled away. I could see the beginnings of tears in her eyes.

  ‘What will I do?’ she asked. ‘What will I do if they all go away and leave me here?’

  ‘That’s not going to happen,’ I said. ‘I’ve got ages left before I have to go back home. We’ll work something out, I promise.’

  ‘Eva, you’re the best,’ she said, and I tried to smile as I wondered what on earth I was going to do to help her.

  The next few days were really weird. The weather changed, and it was too cold for the beach. Most days Kate and I just put on our fleeces and wandered around Seacove, bored.

  Kate was in a constant bad mood, and nothing I could say or do would make her give more than a small, sad smile. She was turning into the sullen girl I had first known, and, even though this drove me crazy, I couldn’t really blame her.

  I was in kind of a bad mood myself. I like helping people, and in the past I’ve always managed to do that, but now everything seemed to be going wrong. I’d failed miserably in my efforts to help Daisy, and now that Kate needed me, I couldn’t do anything for her either.

  I was a failure. A big useless failure.

  I began to wish that the holidays were over, so I could get back to my real life in town.