The Shattering (8 page)

‘No one has moved here and stayed. They come and they go.' Keri's eyes widened. ‘And I think . . . no one who moved here before Schuyler died has ever
left
.'

‘We do school trips all the time! I go to Christchurch for —' ‘No. I mean, no one's left for good.'

Janna sucked on the end of her pen, turning her cheeks hollow. Sione twitched and then consciously halted the motion. ‘That's weird,' Janna said judiciously. ‘But they must, right? I just can't think of anyone right now. People go to uni.
I'm
going to leave. I can't be a rock goddess from Summerton.'

‘I'm leaving, too,' Keri said, but she was still frowning. ‘Seriously, though. People go to uni or polytech or teachers college, but they come back. They do hospitality courses, or vet science, or hair and beauty. But they come back, and they keep Summerton going.'

‘Huh,' Sione said.

Janna was chewing her lip. ‘I guess it's a pattern,' she said. ‘And we're looking for patterns.'

‘Not all patterns are relevant,' Sione heard himself say. Again, it felt strange to be arguing with Janna, even a little bit. ‘There is such a thing as coincidence.'

‘I want to check it out anyway,' Janna said. ‘See if Keri's right.'

‘I'm right,' Keri said, looking fierce.

‘We can't afford to waste time on diversions,' Sione said, but the girls were both looking at him, and he could feel his shoulders caving over his chest. ‘Okay. Okay, look, I'll check the census data. That won't tell us about individual people moving in and out, but it'll give us overall population movement.'

Sione opened the hotel's wireless and started grabbing data from the government websites, moving as fast as he could. This was something he was secure in, diving into data and bringing back numbers solidified into facts, implications, projections. ‘Okay, if we look at other West Coast data for a comparison point and track motion over, let's see . . . There's a census every five years, so if we take from two censuses before Schuyler was killed up until today, we can see that . . .' He blinked at the screen.

‘We can see that what?' Keri demanded. Janna was looking at him, and he thought she might have been just faintly impressed.

‘Well, okay, accounting for births and deaths, the population stays steady,' he said. ‘So you're probably right, it's a pattern. But Summerton is a really nice place. I can see why people would want to stay here. And it's still got nothing to do with the murders.'

‘The important thing is that we were right and you were wrong,' Janna informed him breezily. ‘Remember that we have the hometown advantage.'

‘But you're not too bad,' Keri conceded. ‘For a tourist.'

Sione wasn't sure whether he'd just been complimented or insulted. Janna's backpack started singing, and she dived for it. Her skirt flipped up as she landed on her belly on the bed, and Sione jerked his head around as she fished the mobile phone out.

Keri gave him a sideways look. It could have been a pitying one.

To keep his mind off the flash of red over Janna's curvy bum, Sione concentrated on the art on the hotel wall. It was a landscape of Summerton, looking from a point in the ocean up the beach and toward the town. But it was like the tv ads — not a good reflection of the real thing. The colours weren't quite right; the ocean blues were too subdued, the bush greens not deep enough. And there was a thick cloud bank weighing down the sky, even though the crowds on the beach were clustered around a stage, clearly gathered for the annual Beach Bash. It never rained on New Year's Eve; that was one of the things Summerton was famous for. So maybe it was an imaginary landscape. The tourists looked almost unreal in it — brightly coloured little figures dancing in the muted world, ignoring the massing clouds.

In the bottom left -hand corner were square little letters that read octavian and tiberius maukis. He remembered the names; Janna had crossed them off the possibles list.

‘. . . you think, Sione?'

Sione jerked. ‘What?' The girls had been talking while he dreamed about crappy hotel art. More than talking — Keri's jaw was clenched, and Janna's fingers were flashing in and out of fists. ‘I wasn't listening,' he added, which was true, but not very diplomatic.

Both girls snorted, then glared at each other as if they suspected the other was making fun of them.

Sione reminded himself that they weren't mad at
him
. ‘What's going on?' he asked.

‘That phone call was from Patrick Tan, our lead guitarist. One of the New Year's Eve Beach Bash bands cancelled, and Vikings to the Left has been given a once-in-a-year opportunity — no, once-in-a-
lifetime
—'

‘Which Janna will have to turn down,' Keri said firmly.

Janna's hands made fists again. ‘Like hell she will!'

‘You can't play at the Beach Bash! New Year's Eve is the one night we know for sure that all the boys were here. They probably all went to the Bash. I know Jake did —'

‘Matthew, too,' Sione added.

‘Right. So we have to be on the lookout, not —'

‘Exactly,' Janna said. ‘
Exactly.
We have to be on the lookout, and do you know the best vantage point? The stage! What do you think, Sione?'

Sione had the dizzy feeling of going around in circles. He cleared his throat. ‘Uh, you both have good points. But I think Janna might be right.'

‘Of course you do,' Keri said, and then waved her hand in the air before he could get annoyed, or worse, start blushing. ‘Okay, why?'

‘Well,' he said, working it out as he went, ‘Janna will get privileged access, right? Behind the main stage, that sort of thing. And she probably can get a pretty good view from the stage. But you and I, we'll still be undercover, hanging out in the crowd.'

Keri cocked her head, looking less like a dog about to take a bite out of his leg and more like one considering whether it was worth the trouble of barking.

‘I can signal to you!' Janna said. ‘And come to think of it, Rafferty will be there. He always is. We can watch to see if he talks to any of the boys or looks weird or something.'

‘And that's only if we don't work out who it is before then,' Sione added.

Keri sighed. ‘Okay. I guess Janna can have her fift een minutes.'

Janna squealed and threw her arms around Keri's neck. ‘You are the best
ever
,' she said. Keri's eyes went wide, rings of white all around the green irises. after a moment, her hands rose to rest on Janna's shoulders. She squeezed once, briefly, and stepped away.

Janna was too happy to notice, but Sione saw the way Keri's shoulders hunched and her arms crossed over her chest, warding off further touch, and thought he understood. after Matthew, everything had felt raw and numb at the same time, and any touch or word could hurt without intention.

It wasn't like that now, but he remembered the feeling really well — like a story he'd read too oft en for too long.

‘Let's get some lunch,' he suggested.

‘Mmm,' Keri said. ‘I dunno. I really want to finish this.'

Someone knocked on the door, and they all went still for a second before Keri grabbed the list and shoved it into Janna's bag. Sione went to the door, peering cautiously through the peephole.

He saw a tall, broad-shouldered man in a dark suit, thick blond hair brushed back into careful waves above a square forehead and muddy blue eyes, and instantly knew why the man was there. Sione slapped on his politest smile and opened the door. ‘Mr Davidson,' he said. ‘How are you, sir?'

‘Very well, thank you, Sione,' Kirk Davidson said, shaking Sione's hand. His gaze flickered over Sione's shoulder toward the two girls, then returned. ‘I heard you were in a car accident last night. Are you well?'

‘Yes, thank you,' Sione said, fighting the urge to grind his teeth. No wonder his parents had insisted he stay at the Chancellor instead of one of the cheaper options. They'd asked the hotel manager to keep an eye on him. ‘I was just a bystander, really.'

‘Glad to hear it,' Mr Davidson said affably. ‘Now, your mother asked me to make sure that you got out in the fresh air sometimes.'

She'd probably phrased it that way, too. Like he was ten.

‘We were just going to lunch,' Sione told him.

‘Good! Good! Well, don't let me stop you. Nice to see you, Keri. I'm so sorry for your loss.'

Keri mumbled something that could have been thanks, reluctantly getting to her feet. Janna casually picked up her bag, list hidden inside, and moved into the hall. Sione didn't bother to take his own bag, instead grabbing his wallet from the table. The thought of getting ready to leave under Mr Davidson's supervision made him feel like a preschooler.

Mr Davidson stood aside as Sione pulled the door closed behind them, then smiled at them all. ‘I'll look in on you later,' he promised Sione.

‘Aren't you lucky,' Janna whispered as they went down the hall toward the lift. ‘Your own personal spy.'

‘Lucky, lucky me,' Sione agreed, trying not to react to the laughter in her voice.
Parents.

CHAPTER SIX

JANNA

Janna was in love with the entire
world
.

The Beach Bash! Vikings to the Left were going to play at the Beach Bash!

She skipped down the hallway ahead of Sione and Keri. The Bash was televised and webcast, and if the right person saw Vikings to the Left, they were
made
. That was how Caramel Fudge from Christchurch had got their deal, and now they were living in L A with a single that had placed on Billboard! And that country-singing girl from Gore, Terry something, who'd gone all the way to the Grand Ole Opry with songs about
cows
or whatever.

‘You guys, you guys!' she half sang, smacking the liftft button in time to the riff from ‘Elephant in the Bath.' ‘Do you know what this could
mean
?'

‘Does it mean you're going to be like this all day?' Keri wondered.

The lift dinged. ‘Maybe!' Janna said, and whirled as the doors opened. ‘But it also means . . .'

Takeshi Hoshino stood back from the door, looking surprised and then pleased.

‘That this is the best day
ever
,' Janna decided, and pranced into the lift, feeling her smile stretch her face even wider. ‘Hi!'

Skinny, ginger-headed Aroha was there, too. ‘Wow,' she said. ‘I like your T-shirt.'

‘Thanks! Oh, Keri, this is Aroha, whose dad kinda totalled the Corolla, but he's really nice and didn't argue about the blame or anything, and
this
is Takeshi. Takeshi's from Hiroshima!' Keri nodded at both of them. Janna hoped she wouldn't say anything too bitchy. ‘And you guys remember Sione?' she added. Sione's expression was closed off, and she didn't really feel like interpreting it.

‘Yes,' Aroha said, smiling shyly. ‘Wasn't that awful? Is your car okay, Janna?'

Janna shrugged. ‘I'll find out after Christmas. The mechanic is kinda busy right now, and I'm low-priority. So! Are you heading out for lunch?'

‘Yes,' Takeshi said, doing this completely adorable thing with his eyelashes sweeping up and down. ‘We could eat lunch together, maybe.'

‘That is an
excellent
idea,' Janna told him. ‘We know all the best places, don't we, Keri?'

‘Sure,' said Keri, looking amused. Amused with Janna, probably.

But Janna had never minded being obvious. What was the point in playing games? If she liked someone — or the opposite — better to make it clear so everyone knew where they stood. Okay, so she'd kind of made a fool of herself with Matthew, and hooking up with Sione instead was something she still felt a bit ashamed about, but that had been a year ago, and everyone made mistakes.

The lift door opened again.

‘I think sandwiches,' she said, linking arms with Aroha on one side and Takeshi on the other. ‘Do you like sandwiches?' Takeshi was wearing a black cotton jacket, surprisingly soft against her bare arm.

‘My favourite food is sandwiches,' he told Janna, and stepped closer to her to make the linking easier.

Good
sign.

Lunch was at Mimi's Muffins, where the tiny, curvy booth was free, its red vinyl bench sticking to Janna's bare legs while they ate sandwiches and cake. It turned out that Takeshi had chosen to come to New Zealand because he was a rugby player, which made Keri straighten up and start talking. And Aroha played drums and sang. She wasn't actually in a group, but her taste wasn't totally lacking, and she was suitably impressed by Janna's new Beach Bash credentials. Janna would have preferred if Aroha and Takeshi had swapped interests, but she could cope. The four of them discussed training schedules and the rugby sevens team selections (Takeshi and Keri), whether the kinderwhore look was making a comeback and if that was a good thing (Janna and Aroha), and the awesomeness of Summerton as a holiday destination (Aroha and Takeshi, with Janna chiming in to be polite and also to demonstrate compatible ideals).