Outside

Chapter Twelve

I wonder what this man’s going to tell us. Could it be something that will lead us to Chambers?

‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘There was this one thing I found.’

‘What thing?’ Luc asks.

‘I found it down the side of the sofa.’

I look sideways at Luc. He raises his eyes enquiringly at the man.

‘A lighter. I found a lighter,’ the man says.

Something stirs in my memory, but I can’t quite remember. ‘Can I see it?’ I ask.

‘Umm.’ He looks reluctant, but finally concedes and pulls a silver lighter out of his pocket.

I stare at it, puzzled. ‘That’s Pa’s lighter.’

‘Your old man’s? Yeah right.’

‘Look on the bottom,’ I say confidently. ‘And you’ll see the initials JRC. My father’s initials.’ I wait.

He looks at me and frowns. Then he peers at the underside of the lighter and his frown deepens. ‘Shoulda kept my mouth shut shouldn’t I. That’s a nice lighter that is.’

‘Thank you,’ I say, reaching out for it.

‘So.’ He smiles at me, showing yellow teeth. ‘What’s it worth?’ He makes no move to hand it over.

‘What?’ I splutter. Luc puts a warning hand on my arm and I look at him in annoyed disbelief.

‘I’m sure you’ve got plenty of goodies in that bag of yours,’ the man says. ‘You can’t blame me. I’d be a prat to pass up an opportunity like this. Those smokes will sort me out big time. So come on, don’t be tight. A couple more packets an’ we’ll all be happy.’

We do the deal and I finally have Pa’s lighter, feeling its warm weight in my hand.

‘Cheers,’ says the man, as he walks back into his apartment and closes the door without saying goodbye.

What on earth was Pa’s lighter doing on Chambers’ sofa? It doesn’t make any sense. Unless of course he stole it. We leave the apartment block and step out onto the street.

‘Maybe Chambers was a thief,’ Luc muses, as we head back up Porchester Road towards the street market.

‘Must have been,’ I answer. ‘Otherwise, how else do you explain the lighter?’ It feels solid and reassuring in my hand, as if I have a piece of Pa. I imagine the lighter feeling pleased to have been returned to its family. Pa doesn’t smoke, but a lighter is a handy thing to have. I remember last month, Pa asking me if I’d seen it, but I didn’t pay much attention. Funny to think of it all the way over here. I click it, but it just sparks impotently.

We hurry back through the street market, towards the car park. Nobody stops us as we pass through the exit door. We immediately spot the huge AV at the other end of the car park, which is just as well as neither of us had thought to take note of where we’d parked. Luc’s quiet. He seems annoyed.

‘Are you cross with me for making us come here?’ I ask

‘No. No, not at all,’ he replies. ‘I’m just annoyed at letting that bloke get the better of us. We gave him way too much of our stash. I feel like a bit of an idiot.’

‘I don’t think we could have done anything else. It’s only a few packets of cigarettes and we’ve still got loads more.’

‘I suppose. I’m a bit worried about the time as well. We really can’t be anywhere near Ringwood when night falls.’

‘Should we stay here until tomorrow?’ I ask. ‘We could see if we can find any more people who knew Chambers. Maybe we’ll find out some other stuff about him.’

‘We could, but I think we’re too close to home and I don’t want to risk someone recognising us and telling our parents. They’d probably be rewarded for taking us back.’

‘Really? Who would recognise us?’

‘Any of the workers who come to our Perimeter. Some of the guards’ families live here too. Anybody really. That’s why I didn’t want to come here in the first place, but I do understand why you wanted to. I just think we’re lucky no one’s spotted us yet. I don’t want to push it.’

‘Okay.’

‘And I don’t want to waste too much time. It doesn’t get dark till about half seven, eight. I think we should just go now. Once we get on the road we’ll be able to pick up some proper speed.

We eat a quick lunchtime snack in the AV and then head out of the compound and onwards to find the road.

Luc was right about picking up speed once we hit the Wessex Way. It feels like we’re flying. The speedo now reads an impressive thirty five miles per hour, a vast improvement on the measly five to ten we had gotten used to on the rough ground.

The Wessex Way is a dual carriageway that at one time was divided along its length by metal crash barriers. These have long since been removed and now the central reservation is choked with weeds, bushes and trees, so you can’t see the other side of the road. This suits us fine as we’re not keen to meet any other vehicles anyway. We pass nobody and, about three quarters of an hour later, we come to a huge roundabout.

Luc brakes as we get closer and it’s a good thing he does, as three large army trucks rumble straight across our path and away, to our right. They don’t stop to give way to us or to check us out, thank goodness.

‘They’re heading towards Ringwood,’ Luc says. ‘We’re going to be driving in that direction for a while, until we turn off north to Salisbury.’

‘Shall we wait a bit, so they get a good head start?’ I ask. ‘I don’t like the idea of driving right behind them.’

‘Definitely. It’s only four and it shouldn’t take us more than an hour to get clear of Ringwood.’

‘Good,’ I reply.

‘I’m going to close my eyes for ten minutes.’ He yawns and stretches. ‘Keep a look out, Riley and wake me if you see anything.’

He parks up on the grass verge and switches off the engine. My mind wanders over all we’ve seen this morning and I ponder the sheltered existence I’ve led.

I try to imagine what Skye would have made of it all, sure she would have felt a lot braver than me in the same situation. She was always up for anything. I’m overcome with the familiar wash of sadness that she’ll never have the opportunity to experience anything like this. I want to tell her all about it and see the look on her face as I describe the Charminster Compound, the horseman, everything.

I look at Luc’s sleeping face and revel in the fact that here I am, alone with him. His face is so familiar. I’ve known him all my life, but he’s different to me now. It’s a luxury – being able to really stare at him without having to pretend not to.

I suddenly worry in case I’ve missed something on the road, or that he might wake to find me drooling over him. That would be too mortifying to contemplate, so I quickly look away and stare out of the windscreen. Nothing stirs in the hot afternoon and the AV is already starting to feel warm without the air con. I reach into my bag and take out some bottled water. I sip it slowly.

Luc starts the engine, interrupting my thoughts.

‘Good sleep?’ I ask.

‘Mmm, a power nap,’ he says, stretching his hand out in front of him like Superman.

‘I can’t sleep in the daytime, it makes me moody.’

‘Really? I feel great now. I so needed that snooze.’

We cruise around the roundabout and take the last exit, the same one the soldiers’ trucks took. We’re heading towards Ringwood now and I’m keeping my fingers tightly crossed that we don’t encounter any trouble from the riots. The reality of our vulnerability is starting to sink in.