Verity (11 page)

“Could a dog have done it?” I said, thinking hard. “I thought I saw a dog outside last night.”

“Maybe,” he conceded as he scrubbed his hands. “Stil seems strange. Why carry it here and then leave it? And so carefuly. Bizarre.”

“Poor kitty,” I said sorrowfuly.

“Do you stil want a dog after this?” Dad said.

“Yeah. But we should rescue a kitten too.”

“Don’t push your luck. Especialy after last night.”

Gran almost crowed with excitement, immediately distracted. I tried my hardest to force the image of the slaughtered cat out of my mind, but I wasn’t as easily side-tracked as my grandmother.

“Oh, yes, last night. How was work?” she teased.

Dad’s face turned pink. “Aw, leave him alone, Gran,” I said, forcing a smile. “But you won’t get away with not teling us anything, so you better spil, Dad.” He roled his eyes, knowing ful wel we would gang up on him al day if he didn’t talk.

“Okay, okay! I lied about having to work. Erin is a medical secretary in the hospital, and we decided to go to the pictures together. As friends. Perfectly normal. No big deal.”

“I don’t hold hands with my friends. Grandmother, do you?”

She shook her head in mock seriousness. “No, granddaughter, I don’t.”

“Oh, stop it.” Dad tried to sound stern, but I could hear the laughter in his voice. “And you’re one to talk Perdy. You just happened to bump into Amelia’s brother last night?”

“Eh, yeah actualy!” I said as indignantly as I could manage.

“Amelia’s brother?” Gran’s eyes gleamed with this new piece of information.

“Don’t turn it around on me, Dad! What were we supposed to say? No Amelia, your brother can’t be seen with us? Pfft.” Dad laughed heartily, a rarity in our house. Gran and I glanced at each in bemusement. He hadn’t given me any grief for going out without his permission. Maybe this Erin woman was a good influence on him. I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of him having a girlfriend, but if it helped him lighten up then I had no problem reaping the benefits.

As soon as Gran left the room, I grabbed the opportunity to ask Dad about the cat. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Do you realy think a stray dog did that?”

“Of course.”

“It just seems weird. Maybe some sicko could have done it?” I wasn’t sure why that thought was in my head, but lately I hadn’t felt as safe as usual.

Dad smiled. “Don’t be so melodramatic, Perdy. I know you’re upset, but keep that imagination under control. Your Gran told me how scared you were last night when you came in. Besides, you said yourself you thought you saw a dog.”

I scowled. I
had
been sily the night before, but it didn’t mean he should discount my opinions straight off.

“Come on, Perdy, cheer up. It was just a one-off.”

Something about the whole thing didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, so I smiled back at Dad and tried to forget about it.

Gran went out that afternoon, leaving me and Dad at home. I figured it would be nice to spend some time together for a change.

“Hey Dad, wanna watch a DVD with me? I’l let you pick. I won’t even hide the Jean-Claude Van Damme DVDs this time.” Dad cleared his throat and fidgeted with his watch. “Actualy, I have plans with Erin today. Why don’t you go over to Tammie’s house or something?” My face fel. The one day I didn’t want to be alone. I straightened photo frames on the mantelpiece to distract myself.

“Erin? Again? What’s the story with you two, Dad?” I pinched my bottom lip with my teeth in an effort to keep my face expressionless.

“It’s no big deal. Is it?”

He met my eyes, and for the first time, I saw him looking for my permission or blessing or some sign I wouldn’t make things awkward for him. Since my mother left him, he had put me and his job before personal relationships. Deep down, I knew it wouldn’t be fair to ruin his chances now.

“You’re the only one who knows if it’s a big deal or not, but in my opinion, it’s about time you had some fun. You were getting a little boring there for a while, you know.”

His face lit up. It reminded me of when I was younger, before Dad had started worrying about boys or alcohol or failing in school. He had always been protective, but once upon a time, he had also fun to be around. If he rediscovered that side of himself with Erin, then who was I to interfere? Stil, when he left I felt completely alone. It was surprisingly hard to shake that left behind feeling.

I tried to paint, but after staring at a blank canvas for twenty minutes, I decided to give up on that idea. I turned to cleaning to distract myself. I worked on scrubbing away the niggling fears in the back of mind. No more murdered cats, staring strangers, and brown eyed boys.

Tammie popped around for a while to make sure I had gotten home okay.

“Wel, if I hadn’t, it’d be a bit late now to check up on me,” I said, mopping the kitchen floor aggressively.

“As if anything could happen to you five minutes away from your house,” she scoffed. “Stop cleaning, why are you cleaning?” I roled my eyes and put everything away. “So?” I said when I sat down next to her.

“So what?”

“Little Miss Innocent today? So, what’s going on with you and Joey?”

“Nothing, why?” she said, but she was grinning from ear to ear.

“Tammie....”

“Seriously, nothing happened. We flirted a bit, which was a nice change, but he didn’t do anything or try anything or say anything important.”

“Disappointed?”

She stretched her arms out behind her head. “Nah. Progress is progress and al that.”

“Looked like progress, al right. We were al afraid to sit next to you in the cinema.”

“But do you think he’l make a move soon?” she said, her forehead creasing with worry.

“No, Tammie. I told you before, you’l have to make the first move. You know what he’s like.”

“What about you and the Evans chap?”

I felt like getting the mop out again. “What about me and... him?”

“Anything interesting happen?”

“Ha. Yeah right.”

“You sat next to each other.”

“So? Amelia sat on the other side of me, and you’re not asking about me and her.”

Tammie laughed. “The lady doth protest too much. Are
you
disappointed then?”

“No. I know better than to expect anything.” I smiled at her. “Dad was morto this morning by the way.” She chuckled with unbridled glee. “Oh, yeah! Who would have thought Old Man Rivers would be getting more action than you? Oh, the shame!”

“Shut up! Anyway, have you heard from my cousin today?”

She shook her head. “I might knock over to him.”

“Alone?”

She avoided my eyes. “Wel, maybe.”

“It’s cool. Go on, you might want to do something about your hair though.”

She touched her fringe, horrified at the thought there was something wrong with it.

“I’m kidding!” I said, laughing. “Go on, I’l meet you at the bus stop in the morning.”

When she left, the house felt empty. Lonely. It was only a matter of time before Tammie and Joey started going out together. I figured I should get used to it.

The landline rang; I answered, hoping it was Tammie, but nobody said a word. I heard breathing, so I said helo a couple of times before hanging up and putting it down to a wrong number. Maybe I was stil freaked out over the dead cat, but I couldn’t ignore the cold feeling in my gut when I put down the phone.

I wandered around the house not realy knowing what to do. I was so grateful when my own phone rang, I raced up the stairs to answer my mobile.

“Helo?” I said, panting a little.

“Perdy? You okay?”

“Oh, hey Amelia. Yeah, I just ran up the stairs to get the phone. How are you?”

“Good, thanks. Any news on Tammie and Joey?”

“She popped over for a minute. She’s gone to his house now, working on it. She reckons she’s getting there.”

“Ah, good. So, what are you doing?” She sounded chirpy enough to turn my mood around.

“Em, nothing realy. On my own here. You?”

“Nothing either. Wanna come over?”

I hesitated. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go over if Nathan was around. Being honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go over if he wasn’t.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to be shy or anything. If you don’t want to see... anyone in particular, we can hide out in my room.” I couldn’t help smiling. “I’l just ring my Gran and ask is it okay first, yeah?”

“Sure, see you.”

It was pretty sly of me to ask Gran, knowing my Dad would say no, but I wasn’t supposed to contact him at work. She agreed readily when I asked if I could go.

She even told me to stay for dinner if I was invited. I rang Amelia again; she told me to hurry up. I took a couple of minutes to stress out about meeting Amelia’s family, and a little part of me was afraid to go outside at al, but I put it to the back of my mind.

Before I even made it to her door, Amelia ran out to greet me, folowed by a huge grey dog. It was almost as big as the one I’d seen outside my house. It walked straight up to me and nuzzled my hand.

“What’s this, a horse?”

“No, one of our dogs, King. Isn’t he handsome?” she enthused.

He was a bit scruffy looking, but he had beautiful, loyal, trusting eyes that reminded me of Doly.

“He’s pretty nice, alright,” I said, giving the dog a scratch behind his ears. He whined appreciatively. His hair was shaggy, sort of wiry, but he was wel groomed. I was used to Doly being bouncy and hyper, so this calm giant didn’t intimidate me at al. When I stopped giving him attention, he nudged me repeatedly.

“Okay, you’re more than nice,” I told him. “What did you say he is? A wolfhound?”

“Yep. He’s my favourite.”

“He seems to like you.”

I looked around to see who was speaking. A tal, broad man, who looked remarkably like Nathan, except with curly hair and a slightly darker shade of skin, approached us. The same man I had spotted watching us the night before. A shiver ran down my spine when he looked at me.

“This is my uncle, Byron,” Amelia said, tugging him by the arm.

“Nice to meet you,” I said. He didn’t hold his hand out to be shaken.

“He doesn’t usualy like strangers,” he said, nodding at King. Byron’s voice was rich and deep, but his eyes were cold, almost completely devoid of emotion. Even though Amelia clung to him, he didn’t respond in any way.

“Lucky me.” I wasn’t sure what to make of Byron. He seemed so stern and aloof.

“Indeed. Amelia, take her inside to meet your grandmother. She’s waiting in the kitchen.”

Amelia linked my arm and led me into the house, chatting away excitedly. King padded after us. I looked behind me to see Byron standing very stil, watching us intently.

“Where are your other dogs?” I whispered, trying to forget about her strange uncle.

“You don’t have to whisper,” she whispered back. “They’re out with my grandfather and Nathan. King always stays with me.” The house surprised me. It was so modern compared to the outside. The part that realy caught my attention was the halway because it was covered in photos and paintings of wolves. Most people I knew had pictures of their families on their wals. The effect was unsettling. Goosebumps covered my arms as I realised the large dog I had seen outside my house looked an awful lot like a wolf.

In the kitchen, Amelia’s grandmother hugged me tight, like I was a long-lost relative. Her hair was almost white, and she had plenty of wrinkles, but her bone structure was amazing, so she looked much younger than my Gran. Her skin was a dark mocha colour, and she smeled nice and fresh, sort of like violets. She was the opposite of the reserved Byron, so warm and friendly that it was easy to see where Amelia got it from.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Perdita,” she said. Her accent was also mixed, but I caught hints of a French accent in there. “You’re welcome here anytime.”

“Mémère, look at King, he’s folowing Perdita around,” Amelia pointed at the dog who nudged my hand with his nose, trying to get my attention.

“King, out.” Amelia’s grandmother shooed him away.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Evans,” I said.

“Mrs. Evans, how sweet. Amelia was named for me, but you may cal me Lia, if you like.” Lia looked at me a little too long, now I knew where Amelia got it from.

“Oh. Right. Thanks. Uh, Lia.” I felt awkward al of a sudden, but she led me into the room, her arm around my shoulders.

“Sit down while I make a snack for everyone. Opa wil be back soon. Amelia, pour yourself and Perdita a glass of juice while you wait for him.” We sat at the dining table with our drinks while Lia prepared a snack. The snack turned out to be huge omelettes filed with pretty much the entire contents of their fridge. She took the last of the mixture from the frying pan as Nathan walked in, his forehead streaked with muck. Four more dogs traipsed in but were ordered back outside by Amelia. As soon as Nathan saw me, he stopped in his tracks. He barely said helo before he backed out of the room. I wasn’t even a little bit surprised.

“I’l be right back,” Lia said, her smile never reaching her eyes. “Amelia, could you begin to serve the food, please?” An elderly man strode in, his back perfectly straight, and kissed Amelia on the forehead.

“This is my grandfather, Perdita,” she said, her voice prouder than ever. “Opa,
this
is Perdita.” Amelia’s grandfather beamed at me. He took my hand and held it between both of his large ones, shaking it gently.

“Ah, I didn’t know you would arrive today. Welcome to our home, we’re al delighted to meet you.” His voice was stil heavy with more than a trace of a German accent, and his eyes twinkled as he spoke.

Mr. Evans, or Jakob as he told me to cal him, sat next to me. He pushed King out of his way and chatted easily to me. I couldn’t feel shy around him.

Amelia set big plates ful of food in front of us and sat on the other side of me. They both tucked in and encouraged me to join them. The portion on my plate was a similar size to Amelia’s, but I couldn’t imagine eating it al. The rest of the plates had double portions. I couldn’t understand how they were al so lean. Lia and Jakob were in much better shape than my Dad, never mind my Gran.