Secret Lives (14 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

‘I
feel so guilty. If I hadn’t been ill, who knows? I might have noticed something was wrong. I might have been able to help her.’

The tearful English accent was familiar. Cassie came to a halt and turned quickly on her heel in front of the noticeboard. The voices were just round the corner, approaching through the entrance hall.

‘You mustn’t blame yourself, Alice.’ The other girl had a lilting accent. Ayeesha?

‘I can’t help it. Such a terrible thing to do. She must have been desperate, I should have noticed something. Somebody at breakfast said that she looked awful, not herself at all. Oh, I should have
noticed
—’

‘Now, now.’ Yes, it was definitely Ayeesha. ‘People can be very skilled at hiding these things, and Keiko must have been very determined. To jump from the upper floor! Please, Alice. There was nothing you could have done.’

Cassie peered closely at a Christmas Ball notice as the two girls came round the corner, but Ayeesha stopped and put a hand on her arm.

‘Cassie, hello!’ Ayeesha smiled.

‘Oh. Hi, Ayeesha! I was miles away.’ Oh dear, thought Cassie: not very convincing. ‘Hello, Alice.’ She swallowed awkwardly. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Yes, I suppose.’ Alice was almost in tears. Her face was stunned and a little panicked. ‘No. Terrible. I just want to go to classes.’

‘But this morning – you sure that’s a good idea?’

‘I need to be busy. I’ve missed so much, it’ll keep me occupied.’

Ayeesha shook her head. ‘I think classes are going to be cancelled, Alice. But we’d better be on time anyway. Come on, Cassie.’

Cassie walked alongside Alice. ‘I’m so sorry about Keiko.’

‘Me too.’ Tears spilled down Alice’s cheeks.

Hell, thought Cassie, bewildered. It was obvious Alice had no memory of what Keiko had been trying to do to her, just last night. ‘You’re feeling better, though? Are you sure? I mean, you’ve got over your …?’

‘Glandular fever.’ Alice blew her nose. ‘Couldn’t have happened at a worse time, could it? And all I hear is how worried Mummy is about
me
. How Daddy’s employed a tutor to help me catch up in the holidays. They’ve been on the phone since half past five this morning but they don’t seem to care about Keiko. It’s all about me. Am
I
OK. When poor Keiko …’ Alice put her hand over her mouth.

Cassie scrutinised Ayeesha, but she was all sympathy for Alice. ‘Well. It can’t have sunk in yet. And they’ll be so worried about you.’

‘God, yes. Mummy’s had to book herself into a spa for a week. To help her nerves, you know?’

Ayeesha glanced dryly at Cassie as she shepherded Alice into Herr Stolz’s classroom. ‘You need a week in one yourself. Come and sit down, Alice.’

She wasn’t kidding, thought Cassie as she sat down by Isabella. Alice still looked terrible – gaunt, pale and tired – though not nearly as fragile as the day before; Keiko’s death must have begun to restore her straight away. Cassie could understand why she needed to get back to normality, why she needed to get out of her room. She probably understood Alice’s motives better than Alice did. Glandular fever and the supposed suicide of a roommate weren’t all she needed to escape.

Herr Stolz coughed, silencing the subdued murmur of the students, and got straight to the point. ‘You are all aware by now of the terrible tragedy that occurred last night.’ He was pale too, quite drained and shocked. ‘You won’t be surprised to learn that classes are cancelled for today and tomorrow.’

They all listened in silence, even the Few. Cassie had already noticed Ranjit was missing.
Again?
This time, Katerina was too. She stared out of the window, Herr Stolz’s voice fading to a murmur. She couldn’t concentrate; there were too many questions, too many half-remembered conversations starting to fit together.

Why, for example, was Ranjit such a special case? He seemed to treat the school as his personal fiefdom, even more than the rest of the Few, to act as if classes were for lesser mortals. Somehow it didn’t fit that Jessica had been his girlfriend. If Jess was anything like Jake, Cassie couldn’t imagine her and Ranjit together. It would be as weird as picturing herself and Ranjit …

Her spine chilled. She looked like Jess: everyone said so.

The way you make me feel … I can’t accept it, Cassandra.

What did that mean? He couldn’t accept it, because he’d been in love with Jess? Or because he’d killed her?

Ranjit had warned Cassie off. Ranjit didn’t want her in the Few, when even the bitchy Katerina was willing to accept her. What made him dislike her so much?
Guilty conscience?

Jess had gone in the night to Angkor Wat, and she’d never been seen alive again. What must it have been like for her, alone and scared in the jungle darkness? Hearing the soft approach, a killer drawing closer in the night …

He found Jess’s body
.

‘… and we will all miss her.’

Cassie jumped. It took her a moment to realise Herr Stolz was talking about Keiko.

‘The Christmas Ball will not be cancelled, but a minute’s silence will be observed at the beginning. Sir Alric has asked me to let you know that arrangements will be made for a memorial service at a date early next term. In the meantime, any students who feel the need to talk to a senior member of staff should feel free to do so. Alice.’ He smiled kindly at the English girl. ‘This is a particular shock for you. I know you are keen to catch up on your studies, and work can be a good distraction. Please stay behind for a few minutes. The rest of you are free to spend today and tomorrow as you wish. Naturally there will be no boisterous behaviour.’ He surveyed them all severely. ‘Perhaps a study visit to a chapel or a cathedral would be more appropriate than the avenue Montaigne?’

Jake leaned across to Cassie and Isabella as they gathered their books and the murmur of gossip and speculation rose around them. ‘Nôtre Dame, then, you guys? Eleven o’clock?’

Cassie made a doubtful face. ‘Half the school might be there after that speech.’

Jake grimaced. ‘Half the school will be in the avenue Montaigne flexing their gold cards, whatever Stolz says.’

‘How about the Bois de Boulogne?’ put in Isabella. ‘A serene place for thought and reflection, no? Plenty of space. Plenty of privacy.’

‘Good thinking. I’ll meet you both at the Lac Inférieur.’ Jake gave Isabella a wink. ‘By the boats.’

*

‘I’m freezing,’ moaned Isabella. ‘I shall freeze to
death
.’

‘Cheer up, my southern flower.’ Jake hauled on the oars. ‘This was your brilliant idea. Anyway, you can die spectacularly of pneumonia, and someone will write a great tragic opera about you.’

Isabella gave him a teeth-chattering grimace, but her expression turned dreamy and distant as if she was already imagining her last heart-rending aria. Cassie cleared her throat in exasperation. ‘Can we
not
talk about spectacular deaths?’

Jake’s smile faded as he rested the oars in the rowlocks. ‘I think we have to, huh?’

‘How can anyone believe Keiko killed herself?’ complained Isabella, wrapping her vicuña scarf once more round her neck and tucking her fingers under her arms. ‘I thought you said she had a knife in her throat?’

‘Not by that time.’ As the little boat drifted under the frosted chestnut trees, Jake fumbled inside his jacket and drew out Keiko’s knife. Its blade was wrapped up in strips torn off an old T-shirt, and it took him a minute to unwind them. Tentatively he held the knife out in two hands. The girls stared at it, riveted.

‘Marat covered her body before anyone came,’ Cassie told Isabella. ‘We saw him do it. After everyone was sent back to bed, he must have moved it, fast.’

‘
They
must have moved it,’ corrected Jake. ‘Marat can’t be the only one involved. Somebody else must have seen that body.’

‘And who exactly are
they
?’ murmured Cassie.

The lake was still, and the boat shifted only a little on the water as they fidgeted in the cold. Feathers of ice were forming on the surface, and Isabella trembled. Cassie wasn’t that cold, but she shivered too as she examined the knife blade. It was some six inches long, slightly curved, the edge smooth and gleaming in the wintry December light.

December
. It was the first of December. Cassie could hardly believe it. She’d been at the Darke Academy nearly a whole term. Boy, she’d learned a lot …

‘Look at the handle,’ said Jake. ‘It’s weird. I’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘Nor me, said Isabella. ‘And Papa collects antique swords, daggers, things like that. I’m sure he could tell us something about it, but I have seen nothing like this one in his collection.’

Cassie reached out to touch the handle. It felt ancient. The elaborate carvings seemed smoothed by centuries, sheened with age. She stroked the pad of her forefinger along them. You had to inspect the handle closely to see the details, because all the figures and beasts and ornamentation were intertwined: snakes, mermaids, caryatids, demons – snarling, twisted things that might have been cats or wolves.

‘I bet it’s worth a fortune,’ she remarked. ‘Y’know, at night it looks incredible. There’s sort of an optical illusion. The carvings seem to move.’

‘They’re so realistic, aren’t they?’ Isabella touched the knife, then snatched her hand back. ‘I don’t like it, though.’

‘I do,’ said Cassie.

‘I don’t like it or dislike it.’ Jake rewrapped the blade and tucked it back inside his jacket. ‘It’s evidence, that’s all.’

‘Evidence of what?’ said Cassie. ‘That’s not proof of anything, unless Keiko’s wacky DNA’s on it. Or ours. And then it’s you and me in trouble, cowboy.’

‘I know, I know. But there must be more to find.’

Sniffing, Isabella rubbed her nose violently. It was turning red. ‘Well. How do we find more? Where to start?’

‘We need connections with the Few, that’s obvious.’ Jake frowned. ‘They’re at the heart of it.’

Isabella shrugged. ‘Cassie and I have both been interviewed. At least one of us must be chosen.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t like that idea.’

‘Yeah, but you’re not calling the shots, are you?’ said Cassie. ‘What’s the worst that can happen? One of us gets to be a member, we find out as much as we can, then we say it was a mistake, we don’t have the time, we need to study … something. Resign from the Few.’

‘I don’t think anybody gets to resign from the Few,’ said Jake.

‘I have never heard of it,’ agreed Isabella. She took a deep breath. ‘What about Ranjit?’

Jake froze. ‘What about him?’

‘He is the most important. He is practically Head Boy. They are all afraid of him, haven’t you noticed? And I think he likes Cassie. He has the – what do you say? – the hots for her.’

‘You’re wrong,’ muttered Cassie. ‘He can never wait to get out of my company.’

‘I don’t think that is true, you know. I have seen how he stares at you.’

‘That’s because of how she looks,’ said Jake bitterly. ‘She’s the ghost at his cosy little banquet. No way can Cassie get involved with him. It’s too dangerous. Who knows what he’d do if she got too close? Maybe that’s what happened to—’ He fell silent.

Isabella rubbed her arms. ‘Richard, then?’

Sighing, Cassie trailed a finger through the icy skin on the water, till she realised the others were still watching her in silence. ‘Look, Richard doesn’t have much influence,’ she protested. ‘Some of the Few don’t think he should have proposed me. Ranjit doesn’t like him, and Katerina treats him like a pet. He probably doesn’t know anything worth knowing.’

‘He’s still our only point of contact,’ said Jake. ‘And he
definitely
likes you. If he isn’t in on the main clique, you could at least get friendly with the others through him.’

‘Get him to take you to the Christmas Ball,’ suggested Isabella. ‘That would not be difficult.’

‘Yeah?’ snapped Cassie. ‘If it’s that easy, why doesn’t
Jake
ask him to the flaming Christmas Ball. Richard fancies him too, doesn’t he?’

‘Look, I know you feel bad about using him,’ said Jake, ‘but Richard would use you if he needed to. That’s what he’s like. He wouldn’t have a moment’s hesitation, Cassie.’

‘I’m not so sure. He’s OK, you know. Richard.’ Her cheeks were burning, even in the frosty air.

‘It’d be safer than trying to get information out of Ranjit,’ pointed out Jake.

Cassie sighed, beaten. ‘I’ll try, then, OK? But I’m not promising anything.’

‘I appreciate it. Thanks, Cassie.’ Lifting the oars, Jake began to pull the boat back round a little island and towards shore. ‘You know we’re the only idiots out in a boat?’

‘I am not surprised,’ Isabella sniffled. ‘The boatman, he thought we were crazy people.’

‘We are crazy people,’ murmured Cassie. ‘Do we know what we’re getting into?’

‘Hell, no!’ Jake grinned. ‘Life’s a challenge, huh?’

A loud burst of music made them all jump, and the boat rocked slightly. Cassie fumbled with cold hands in her coat pocket.

‘Sorry,’ she said sheepishly, pulling out her phone and staring at the display. She raised her eyebrows. ‘You’re not going to believe who this is.’ She flipped it open. ‘Hi, Richard.’

Jake hunched forward, letting the oars rest and drip water. Isabella huddled closer to Cassie, trying not to let her teeth chatter too loudly.

‘The Bois de Boulogne, if you can believe it … Yeah, it’s bloody cold.’ Cassie laughed and bit her lip. ‘With Isabella …’ A small hesitation. ‘… and Jake … Yeah, well, I didn’t see you after class was cancelled … Yes, course I looked. You’d gone.’ Making a face at Jake, she crossed her fingers.

There was a moment’s silence on the other end of the phone, and Cassie pressed it closer to her ear, a little anxious. ‘Of course I’m not avoiding you. Where did you go anyway? Oh! Nôtre Dame!’ Cassie raised an eyebrow at Jake, and he brushed imaginary sweat from his forehead in relief. ‘I didn’t think you were that obedient …’ 

After another pause, she laughed again. ‘Course I will. What time? … That sounds great, Richard. Anyway, see you later, probably.’