We Can Be Heroes (27 page)

I wake up in the middle of the night with a hangover (or at least I think it's a hangover because my head hurts a lot and I feel sick). When I look outside, the police car is still there, so I know Stevie is still missing.

It's a weird thing when a kid goes missing because everyone suddenly starts acting differently. All the neighbours are pretending to be friends with Stevie's mum and dad, even though Granny says they've been moaning about the state of their front garden and their gaudy Christmas lights for years. And first thing in the morning they come out of their houses, in their slippers and their dressing gowns, and they talk to each other in low voices in the middle of the street – neighbours who've barely said hello to each other for years, Grandad says – suddenly all matey with each other.

The other thing I notice is that everyone is looking at their watches all the time. Jed says this is because cases like this are time critical.

But other than the police car permanently parked outside Stevie's house, and the fact that neighbours in their slippers are talking to each other over the privet hedges, you'd never know anything had happened
here yesterday. Grandad said that the cul-de-sac would be covered in litter and all the flower beds trampled after the party, but actually everything's been tidied up just like new, so I'm guessing the Muhammeds were up late last night clearing things away. ‘So much for Shakeel's wedding night,' says Jed, earning him a look from Granny.

This morning, Mr Muhammed is out with a can of paint going over the new graffiti which has been painted along the fence down the alleyway, and we hear him telling old Mrs Underwood from No. 21 that his sons cleared the park of broken glass to make it safe for the kiddies.

We don't go over to Priti's. Granny says me and Jed aren't allowed out – just in case we go missing too, like there's suddenly a black hole or Bermuda Triangle in the cul-de-sac. So Jed and I hang around the house. I draw cartoons while Jed comes up with theories on Stevie's disappearance.

‘Perhaps she's been abducted by aliens or transported back through a time vortex to another millennium,' says Jed.

I draw a spaceship hovering over the cul-de-sac, Stevie Sanders being beamed up on her pink bike with the tassels on the handlebars.

Granny says he's been watching too much
Dr Who
. Then she sighs and says that Stevie's mum and dad would probably welcome the appearance of a tardis with Stevie in it right now.

I draw a picture of Stee-V (I figured Stevie can be in the Bomb-busters strips too) being kidnapped by little green men while Jed-eye and Ben-D attack the spaceship with swords. Lil' Priti just stands by, eating a toffee apple.

About ten o'clock in the morning another police car arrives. Two officers get out and go round to all the houses in the cul-de-sac.

‘Will they come here?' Jed asks.

‘I should think they'll want to talk to everyone,' says Granny.

‘Right,' says Jed, and he stops going on about UFOs and time travel after that.

Eventually, they come to our house – a policeman and a young policewoman with a ponytail, who
Grandad says doesn't look old enough to be out of school. Granny makes them a cup of tea and then they talk to Granny and Grandad first in the sitting room while me and Jed wait outside in the hallway. Although he keeps making jokes, Jed's in another of his weird moods.

‘Do you reckon they'll talk to your dad too?' I ask.

‘Why would they want to do that?' he snaps.

‘I don't know,' I say. ‘I just wondered.'

‘He doesn't know anything, just like we don't,' says Jed, staring down at his shoe and kicking it against the banister.

‘But we
were
nearly the last people to see her,' I say.

‘No, we weren't,' he says quickly.

‘How do you figure that then?'

‘What about the bikers and Zara and Mik? They all saw her. They're just not saying so, that's all.'

‘So was she still there when you went back to the park?'

No answer.

‘What about your dad? Did he see her?'

But I don't get to hear his answer because just then
the policewoman comes out and says she wants to talk to us.

So me and Jed have to sit on the sofa side by side while the policewoman sits on the pouffe in front of us. It's too low, so her knees are nearly up to her chin as she asks us questions in a soft nursery-rhyme voice, as if we're about three years old. The other officer stands by the window, pretending to look out, but I know he's listening to everything we're saying: the old bad cop, good cop routine.

When did we last see Stevie? lady cop asks.

‘In the park,' I reply.

‘What time was that?'

‘Not sure. Before it got dark,' I say.

‘Who else was there?'

‘The bikers,' I say. For some reason Jed is letting me do all the talking.

I glance at Granny and Grandad, who are standing in front of the fireplace, next to the picture of my dad and Uncle Ian, watching us anxiously.

‘Do you know their names?'

‘No,' I say, although this is a lie because I know
Tyreese's name. I'm not sure why I don't tell her.

‘How many of them were there?'

‘Four maybe.'

‘Are you sure?' The policewoman looks up from her notepad. ‘It's just that some other people said they saw five men on bikes ride into the cul-de-sac.'

‘There were only four,' I say.

She notes it down. ‘Anyone else?'

I suddenly wish I'd spoken to Priti about what to say. I shake my head which feels like less of a lie than actually saying ‘No.'

‘Did you see anyone else going in the direction of the park after you left?'

‘Mik,' I say and it occurs to me that I haven't seen Mik at all since then.

‘Mikaeel Muhammed?'

I nod.

‘Do you know why he was going to the park?'

‘No.'

‘Could you tell what sort of mood he seemed to be in?'

‘No.'

‘Anyone else?'

I turn to Jed, but he doesn't say anything, just stares at his feet. It's like we've switched identities – today he's the mute and I'm the big mouth.

‘Ben,' says the policewoman. ‘Did you see anyone else going into the park after you left?'

I pause then say quietly, ‘I think Jed and Uncle Ian might have gone back for a bit.'

‘No, we didn't!' Jed's head shoots up as if he's suddenly woken up.

‘You ran off after we saw . . .' I stop, remembering that Granny and Grandad don't know about Jed's mum.

‘I didn't go to the park, stupid!' Jed's staring at me and his face is red with anger.

‘OK, you didn't then,' I say.

‘Where did you and your dad go then, Jed?' the policewoman asks.

‘Just . . . about.'

‘Where?'

‘Does it matter? We didn't go to the park, OK.'

‘OK,' says the policewoman, glancing at the
policeman standing by the window who hasn't said anything up to this point.

‘Several people told us that when they were searching for Stevie in the park last night, it looked like a fight had gone on and other people say they heard shouting – but this morning, the place has been cleaned up.' The policeman stares at me and Jed. ‘Did either of you hear or see a fight?'

‘No,' I say.

‘No!' Jed repeats it a fraction of a second after I do.

‘And did either of you see anyone hanging around, acting suspiciously, perhaps someone who hadn't been invited to the party? Did anyone approach you maybe, try to talk to you?'

This time Jed and I both say ‘No' at exactly the same time.

The police officers go after that, although I hear them say to Granny, ‘We'll need contact details for the boy's father. We want to talk to him too.'

‘Of course,' says Granny.

‘I'm afraid he was rather drunk,' we hear Granny say as she ushers them out into the hall.
‘He misses the routine of army life, you know?'

I turn to Jed and whisper, ‘Why didn't you tell them that you went back to the park?'

‘Because I didn't,' says Jed.

I'm not sure if he means he didn't go back to the park or just that he didn't tell them. But he looks so angry I know there's no point in asking him again, so I drop it.

At lunchtime we hear them talking on the radio about the ‘disappearance of local girl, Stevie Sanders'. Then a bit later, a van pulls up outside and some people with big cameras and microphones and stuff get out.

‘Here comes the media circus,' says Grandad, who seems to be enjoying this. He hasn't even bothered to switch on the TV this morning – he told Granny that the soap opera unfolding outside is far more interesting.

‘I expect they'll do one of those TV appeals,' says Grandad. ‘I wonder if the Sanders know that the police psychologists study the footage to see if any of the family members did it.'

‘Did what?' I ask.

‘Nothing,' says Granny, glaring at Grandad.

‘He means killed her,' says Jed, who's hardly looked at me since the police left.

‘I'm sure nobody has killed Stevie,' says Granny quickly. ‘Soon enough the police will find her safe and well.'

‘So long as she's not
dead
,' says Jed.

Grandad was right. Stevie's mum and dad are on the news tonight. They're sitting in their lounge, holding a picture of Stevie which must have been taken quite recently as she's brown as a nut. Stevie's mum cries quite a lot and doesn't say much. Her dad says, ‘If anyone knows anything that can help us find our angel, please, please contact the police.'

‘We just want you back, baby girl!' says her mum at the end.

Then her dad says, ‘Wherever you are, if you're watching this, Stevie, we love you.'

‘What do you reckon?' says Grandad, flicking the switch to mute after it's finished so we can just see the
silent, crying face of Mrs Sanders. ‘Guilty?'

‘Don't put ideas in the boys' heads, please,' says Granny.

‘Think about it, Rita,' says Grandad. ‘If we're living next to a child-killer, where will he turn next?'

‘Darling, please!' She only ever calls him darling when she's really mad.

‘After everything that's happened to this family, we don't need any more tragedy,' Grandad says.

On the TV they've gone live to a reporter who's standing outside Stevie's house. Me and Jed jump up to look out of the window and, sure enough, there he is, standing on the driveway, just like he is on the TV.

‘Turn the sound back on, Grandad,' says Jed.

Grandad flicks the remote. ‘In cases like this the first forty-eight hours are crucial, so police are redoubling their efforts,' we hear the reporter saying. It's weird watching him through the window and hearing his voice come out of the TV at the same time.

‘It really is live,' says Jed. ‘Watch his lips – you can tell.'

We both watch. There's a very slight delay as the
reporter's lips aren't quite synched with the voice-over. ‘Tomorrow, local volunteers will comb the park area where Stevie was last seen.'

‘Are you going to volunteer?' Jed asks Granny and Grandad.

‘We probably should, Barry,' says Granny.

Grandad just nods and I don't know if that's a yes or a no.

‘Do you reckon we should tell the reporter about Shakeel's bomb?' whispers Jed. We're both still watching the reporter who has stopped filming and is drinking coffee from a flask.

‘Why?'

‘It might be connected, you know.'

‘I don't think we should tell them anything until we're completely sure,' I say, nervously glancing round to make sure Granny and Grandad can't hear what we're saying.

‘I suppose so,' says Jed. ‘We don't want to jeopardise the investigation. And it might all be linked.'

‘What?'

‘Stevie's disappearance and the bomb plot.'

‘Really?' I say dubiously.

‘I bet you it is,' says Jed. ‘You just wait and see.'

1. Has he really hurt his back or does he just say that so he doesn't have to do jobs like hoovering and washing-up? And did he help Granny more when their boys were younger? Is it just since my dad died that he stopped wanting to do anything much?

2. Why does such a clever man spend so much time watching TV and why doesn't it rot his brain like my mum says it does? (It can't have because he's still amazing at Scrabble, if he can be bothered to play.)

3. Did he always dislike Muslims or is it just since 9/11?

4. What does he think of Uncle Ian?

5. Does he like having me and Jed staying or will he be glad when we've gone?

6. Were he and Granny madly in love when they were younger and do they still love each other?

7. Does he miss my dad as much as Granny does?

8. Why is he mad at my mum?

9. Why is bad news the only thing that seems to make him smile?

10. Why does he sign up to help with the search even though he tells Granny they won't find anything and it will be a waste of time?