Secret of the Shadows (16 page)

Authors: Cathy MacPhail

BOOK: Secret of the Shadows

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Miss Baxter had died abroad during the summer holidays. A tragic accident, they said. An accident that should never have happened. Her body had been brought back and she was buried somewhere in England.

But I had seen her!

I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Trying to find an explanation for the unexplainable. And I began to think . . . what if she hadn’t died at all? What if someone else’s body had been identified as hers? What if it was all a scam to get the life insurance?

Or what if she was in the witness protection programme and had had to change her identity?

‘She’d hardly be likely to pop into the local supermarket then, would she?’ Annabelle scoffed at me. And if she couldn’t believe me, what chance did I have with anyone else?

I had also seen Miss Baxter making furtive calls. At least to me they looked furtive. Snapping her phone shut when she had seen I was watching her. And I thought, what if she had a secret life, was an undercover agent, and she’d come to the school for some dark purpose? And then had to fake her own death so she could move on to her next assignment.

It was those ‘what-ifs’ that were always getting me into trouble. My imagination had caused me a mountain of problems at my last school.

I saw the French assistant, Mademoiselle Carlier, and the new science teacher going home together in her car one night after school. I had noticed them before, sharing a look, a smile when they thought no one was watching. But the science teacher was married.

‘What if they’re having an affair?’ I whispered.

I whispered it to the wrong person. She passed it on and I was pulled into the head’s office and warned about spreading rumours. That had been my first warning. The first of many.

But it was this story, this one in particular, my insistence that I had seen Miss Baxter, that had caused the most trouble. I wouldn’t let it go. I wouldn’t let them say I was making it up. I
had
seen her. It hadn’t been a mistake. I began to get angry when people ridiculed me. And that just got me into more trouble.

My parents finally decided it would be best to take me out of that school and find somewhere else. It was a case of leaving before I was pushed. I was already on my final warning by this time. Unfair, in my opinion. I never caused real trouble. I wasn’t a bully. I was never disruptive . . . I just noticed things other people missed. And, in the end, I had been right about Mademoiselle Carlier. Her and the science teacher had run off together, causing no end of scandal. But, of course, no one remembered that! Oh no. In fact, it only seemed to make things worse. As if by telling people about my suspicions I had actually made it happen. As if
I’d
done something wrong.

Sleekit, one of the teachers called me.

Sleekit. A great Scottish word – it means sly and underhand and untrustworthy. A great word, but not when it was applied to me. It hurt. I wasn’t sleekit at all.

I had promised myself that here, in this new school, St Anthony’s College, things were going to be different . . .

Also by Cathy MacPhail

Run, Zan, Run

Missing

Bad Company

Dark Waters

Fighting Back

Another Me

Underworld

Roxy’s Baby

Worse Than Boys

Grass