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1

Jesse blunders blearily into the bathroom the next morning, grabs his toothbrush and starts brushing his teeth. He knows there is no point checking the kitchen for food because there is rarely any. His growling stomach will have to wait until lunch when his free school meal ticket will buy him a hot meal and a drink.

He is shaking with fear and barely restrained panic and he didn’t sleep a wink last night. It all weighs him down: the camera, Mayfield, his father. How many more days does he have? How much longer can Mayfield keep his father locked up? He knows what will happen next. A visit from social services with Mr Hewlett sighing and biting his lip while trying to reassure Jesse that they are all here to help him…

He brushes his teeth vigorously, thinking about the bedroom full of stolen goods and the kitchen full of unwashed crockery and overflowing rubbish.

He spits, turns around to grab a towel and screams.

There are three bodies hanging over the bathtub. Blood drips from their mutilated carcasses, creating a tacky pool of ruby red in the bath. Jesse staggers against the washbasin and hears his brothers laughing at him.

Three sets of glazed dead eyes stare. The two pheasants hang by their broken necks, while the hare dangles from its long, muscular back legs.

Wyatt puts his head around the door. ‘What’re you screeching about, you bloody girl? That’s dinner, that is.’

Jesse has to get out of there. He pushes past his brother, grabs his backpack with the DVD’s and camera in and runs out of the flat. Outside, he pauses to catch his breath but he only gets a moment before he is quickly accosted by three children. They come marching right up to him, backpacks on, hands gripping the straps like they really mean business.

Shit. Ralph, Willow and the new girl. Jesse brushes his hair from his eyes and starts walking. They fall into step with him.

‘We need to talk to you,’ Willow says, her eyes fixed on him.

‘Any news on Paddy?’ he asks back.

She shakes her head. ‘I phoned his dad just now. Nothing, but they’re starting a huge search at 12pm. If he went off anywhere on his own, they’ll find proof.’

He nods. ‘Good.’

Jaime is on his other side. ‘We need to know what Sergeant Mayfield gave you, Jesse.’

He looks at her sharply. ‘What’re you talking about?’

‘Don’t lie to us,’ Willow warns him. ‘Jaime saw through her camera lens and the photos she took are being developed as we speak so if you don’t tell us, we’ll soon know anyway. He gave you something before you got out of his car outside the bookshop. Tell us what it was.’

Jesse stops walking. A police car is rolling slowly towards them.

His heart seems to freeze inside his chest as he makes out the white-haired hulk of a man behind the wheel.

‘Shit…’

‘Mayfield,’ states Ralph.

They all look at Jesse. He slips his backpack from his shoulders and shoves it at Jaime.

‘Give that back to me at school and I’ll tell you everything. Meet me at break behind the bike shed.’ He walks away quickly before any of them can respond.

Head low, eyes down, his breath snagged in his throat like a dagger, Jesse forces his heavy legs to walk over to the police car. Sergeant Mayfield rolls down the window.

‘In you get, Archer.’

Jesse slouches around to the other side and gets in.

‘Let me give you a lift to school,’ Mayfield smirks at him, ‘so we can finish our conversation.’

‘I haven’t had a chance yet.’

‘Course not. You wouldn’t be wandering around at night up to no good, would you, Archer?’

Jesse fastens his seatbelt. ‘Well, I don’t know when I’ll get the chance. Police are crawling all over the shop. What d’you expect me to do?’

Mayfield drives with one elbow hanging out of the window and his other palm spread casually over the centre of the steering wheel.

‘Should’ve thought about that before you stuck it in the treehouse and gave me the middle finger, boy.’ Mayfield shoots him a filthy look. ‘Come up with an excuse. Say you left something in Paddy’s bedroom or something. Be inventive and get it done or your old man spends another night in my cell and time for you is-a-ticking.’

To drum home his point, Mayfield taps the face of his watch. Jesse feels like he can’t breathe. His hands clasp hold of his knees and he licks his lips like a frightened dog.

‘I’ll do it,’ he mutters.

Mayfield nods. Then he leans over and slaps Jesse’s leg, hard. ‘Course you will. Now, while we’re here, I’m supposed to question you about Paddy Finnis. I’ve been told you were bullying him. That right?’

Jesse shakes his head. ‘No, that’s not true. We were…’ He stops, looks out of the window and sees they have driven past School Lane and are heading down High Street. He hopes like hell that those kids look after his bag.

Mayfield takes a left onto Alfred Lane, then turns right onto Black Hare Road. He’s doing a loop; killing time until he gets the information he needs.

‘What?’ he barks at Jesse. ‘Friends? Bullshit. Don’t make me laugh. You were bullying him, weren’t you?’

‘No, I wasn’t.’

‘Well, that’s what everyone thinks,’ sighs Mayfield. ‘Your reputation goes before you, son. You only have yourself to blame. Anyway, what I need to know is where you went after you left his treehouse?’

‘Home.’

‘Straight home?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Anyone verify that?’

‘My brothers were in.’

‘All right then, I’ll check with them and clear that up. You didn’t see or hear from Paddy Finnis again after you left his place?’

Jesse shakes his head. Mayfield parks up on Black Hare Road, opposite the mouth of School Lane.

‘And you claim you’ve not been bullying or harassing him lately?’

‘No way. Can I go?’

Mayfield unlocks the door. ‘You can go. Get that camera in place by the end of today or you know what happens.’

Jesse climbs out as fast as he can, shuts the door and starts putting distance between himself and Mayfield.

2

During morning assembly, Mr Bishop tells the school that if they have any information on the whereabouts of Paddy Finnis, they are to come to the office and speak to himself or Mr Hewlett. He also mentions that if anyone is worried or concerned, they can drop into the church to see Vicar Roberts at any time. He tells them that at 12pm, a thorough search of the town will be conducted, starting at the bookshop before working their way up either side of the valley and beyond. He’s pleased to say that the weather is supposed to remain sunny and warm.

Willow spots Jesse Archer at the side of the hall, sat cross-legged with arms folded. She stares at him until he feels it and looks her way. She mouths, ‘break-time’ and he nods then mouths back, ‘bike-shed’.

In English, she plonks herself next to Jaime. ‘Where’d you put his bag?’

Jaime leans closer. ‘In my locker. Why do you think the policeman picked him up again?’

‘No idea, but we’ll find out soon. That boy is going to tell us everything he knows or I’ll drag it out of him myself.’

English passes at a snail’s pace. Maths goes even slower. Ralph is in the year below and Willow can only imagine how torturous the waiting is for him. He doesn’t seem like the most patient of kids.

Finally, breaktime rolls around and Willow and Jaime clatter breathlessly out of the class to fetch Jesse’s bag from Jaime’s locker. They collect Ralph on the way and the three of them leave the school building and head for the playground. The bike sheds are close to the main gates and they can already see Jesse Archer skulking up and down behind them, hands in pockets and shoulders bunched.

He brightens when they arrive and holds his hand out to Jaime. ‘Gimme it.’

The three of them gather around him but Willow intervenes, snatching the bag before it can pass into Jesse’s hands. ‘Wait. We talk first. What did Mayfield give you?’

‘I’ll show you if you let me,’ Jesse mutters, tugging the bag from her grip and unzipping it. He pulls out a small black device and holds it in his palm.

‘What the hell is that?’ Ralph whispers, eyes wide.

‘A camera!’ breathes Jaime, her eyes lighting up. ‘I’ve never seen one so small or slim!’ She takes it carefully and turns it over in her hands. ‘It’s got Velcro on it and a little clip. It’s so flat! I bet you can hide this anywhere!’ She looks at Jesse, wide-eyed. ‘Is it digital? I don’t know anyone who has a digital yet.’

‘No idea.’

She frowns down at it, inspecting it closely. ‘But it records? Like a security camera? I’ve heard these things can hold weeks or even months of footage!’

Jesse straightens up, nodding and shrugging at her. He’s still holding on to his unzipped bag.

‘What the hell did Mayfield give you this for?’ Willow demands, her eyes boring into his. He bites his lower lip, looks away and swallows thickly. She looks back down at the camera. ‘Were you supposed to hide this at Paddy’s?’

He meets her eyes and she knows in that second that she is right. For whatever reason, Sergeant Mayfield has blackmailed Jesse Archer to plant some sort of security camera in Paddy’s home…

Ralph and Jaime are silent and watchful, each of them sensing how big this is. Jesse nods at them all, hanging his head and for the first time ever, Willow feels genuinely sorry for him as the pieces jostle together inside her head.

‘He caught you in the school. You were telling the truth about that.’ Another nod. His tortured eyes burn into hers. His lips are thin, pressed tightly together. ‘He let you go but only if you planted this camera?’ Another nod. Her next question comes out as a whisper. ‘Where you were supposed to put it?’

Ralph throws up his hands. ‘And why?’

Jesse swallows again. He stuffs his hands back into his pockets and kicks at the ground. ‘The bookshop. Anywhere, but discreet. But I put it in the treehouse to piss him off…’

A lightbulb goes off in Willow’s head. ‘I knew you kept staring at the roof!’

He bites his lip again, head down. There is silence as they all stare at each other, at the tiny camera, then at Jesse.

‘How did you get this back then?’ Jaime asks finally.

‘Mayfield. I’ve still got to put it in the bookshop.’ He sniffs and takes it gently from Jaime. ‘I don’t have a choice, okay? He never gives me a choice.’

‘Because he caught you in the school?’

Jesse sighs. ‘Yeah, but not just that. Loads of stuff. It’s just a twisted game to him. And my dad, I think they go way back, so it’s something to do with that too.’ He shakes his hair out of his eyes. ‘It’s a long story, I guess.’

‘This is crazy!’ Ralph exclaims, throwing up his hands again. ‘I mean, I had no idea!’

‘Sergeant Mayfield spies on people.’ Willow looks at Jesse and he doesn’t look away. Again, she knows she is right. She shudders. Somehow the world suddenly feels very different. Colder. Out of reach. Dismissive. Even the tarmac under her feet and the blossom skittering across it feel wrong. It all feels like a dangerous lie.

‘Jesus Christ,’ says Ralph, in a low voice.

Then Willow holds up a finger. ‘Hang on a minute. So, Mayfield was watching us in the treehouse? He heard and saw everything while we were in there?’

‘That’s so creepy…’ murmurs Ralph. He looks up suddenly. ‘Hey, we didn’t like, bitch about him or anything, did we?’

Jesse snorts, as if that’s important. He puts the camera back in his bag and holds up the DVDs that Billy gave him.

‘I can find out what’s on this camera, like if anything happened with Paddy after we all left, before I put it back in the bookshop for Mayfield.’

‘How?’ asks Willow.

‘My brother told me to give these dirty films to Hairy Dave in the hardware shop. He’ll hook the camera up to his computer so I can see what was recorded.’

‘When?’ Willow demands, her tone sharp and excited. Jesse drops the DVDs into his bag and zips it up.

‘I’ll go now. Won’t take long.’

Willow feels panicked. She looks at the others and sees the same unease on their faces.

‘You shouldn’t go alone.’

Jesse frowns. ‘Why not?’

‘Because we all need to see what’s on it.’

He shrugs. ‘Come if you want but you might get in trouble.’

Willow turns to the others. ‘I’ll go with him. You two stay here. If anyone asks, say I was upset about Paddy and had to go home.’

They nod and stand back obediently as Jesse shoulders his bag.

‘You know a way out?’ Willow asks him.

‘Course I do.’

3

Jesse takes Willow to the hole in the wire. He holds it open so she doesn’t scratch herself and glances over his shoulder one more time to make sure no one is watching. Satisfied, he squeezes through after Willow and they hurry down School Lane side by side.

Black Hare Road looks quiet but there are a lot of cars parked up outside the bookshop. An hour until the search starts. Jesse figures that will be his best chance of getting the camera where Mayfield wants it to be.

They cross over, both of them staring around constantly in case they see someone they know. Jesse nods to the alley between the bookshop and home improvement shop and Willow follows without a word.

Around the back, they come to a six foot chain-link fence surrounding a small yard. Jesse pushes open the gate and approaches the door with Willow just behind him. Hairy Dave is leaning in the small hallway at the back of the shop, smoking a cigarette. He looks exactly as his nickname suggests; a hulking brute of a man in his early to mid-twenties, with shoulder length curly black hair and a beard to match.

‘Billy sent me,’ Jesse says quickly when the large man’s small eyes fix on him. ‘Said you could help me out.’

‘Yeah, yeah, he called me. It’s not a problem. What have you got for me?’ Dave throws his butt down and pushes the door open to allow them inside.

Jesse hurriedly unzips his bag and pulls out the DVDs. Dave takes them, his eyes lighting up his vast pimply face.

‘I hope these are fresh!’

‘Think so,’ Jesse replies, feeling vaguely sick.

‘Nice one. That’ll do nicely then. You can use my office. This way.’

Jesse glances back at Willow, who merely shrugs in reply. He sighs and follows Dave into a small office to the left of the hallway. It contains numerous shabby filing cabinets, a huge, cluttered desk and a lot of technical equipment. He clears a space on the desk and turns on the console of a large computer.

Jesse passes the camera over and Dave examines it. ‘I think I’ve got something that will fit. Wait here.’ He leaves the office and they listen to his heavy tread going into the shop.

Willow hugs herself and looks around uneasily. ‘What was on the DVDs?’

‘You don’t want to know, believe me.’

Dave plods back in with a small cardboard box in his arms. It’s spilling over with wires and cables of various sizes. He’s wheezing slightly as he sets it on the desk and starts rummaging through it, until he plucks out a thin black cable. Willow and Jesse look on, breath held as he fixes one end into the camera and the other into the side of the computer’s keyboard.

A small box appears on screen and Dave taps in some instructions. ‘Where’d you get this?’ he asks, leaning close to the screen. ‘It’s pretty high-tech. Wireless, you know?’

‘No,’ Willow responds quickly. ‘We don’t know. What do you mean, wireless?’

‘Well, it’s not your regular closed circuit stuff, is what I mean,’ Dave replies, tapping at the keyboard. ‘It doesn’t need a tape in it, because it’s got its own hard drive to hold whatever footage it records. It’s what you call a DVR. A digital video recorder.’

‘The sort of thing the police might use?’ Willow questions, shooting a look at Jesse. ‘Or the government?’

Hairy Dave whistles through his teeth and gives a little shake of his hairy head. ‘Yeah, I’d say so. Pricey anyway, out of our league, you know? Worth a bob or two. Did you steal it, Jess?’ Dave glances over his shoulder with a toothy grin.

‘Found it,’ Jesse mumbles. ‘Can we see what’s on it, or what?’

‘Sure. Here you go.’

Hairy Dave clicks a small box inside a bigger box and then suddenly they all hear voices. Paddy and Jesse’s. Paddy saying, ‘What’re you doing?’ Jesse saying, ‘Nothing.’

Dave backs out of the room, uninterested in anything other than the dirty tapes Jesse has passed on. He holds them in both hands. ‘I’ll leave you to it. Tell Billy I said thanks and close the door on the way out, okay?’

‘Okay thanks, Dave.’

Jesse pulls up a chair and hunches over the keyboard. Willow stands behind, her hands gripping the back of the chair.

‘There’s Jaime now,’ Jesse comments. Then, a few minutes later, ‘And now you.’

‘Bit weird if you think about it,’ she says.

He looks up at her. ‘What?’

‘How we all ended up there together,’ she replies, her gaze fixed on the screen. ‘It’s normally just me and Paddy, I mean. We’re not exactly the sociable types.’

Jesse looks at her carefully. ‘Yeah, I see what you mean.’ He turns back to the screen. ‘Now there’s Ralph.’

‘So, you really weren’t planning to bully Paddy?’ Willow asks.

His shoulders sag with a long sigh. ‘No, I wasn’t. But I get why you’d think that.’

‘Well, why did you keep going over there then? Paddy said you turned up about once a week.’

On screen Jesse is now leaving in a hurry. ‘Hard to explain,’ he tells her.

‘Try me.’

He doesn’t answer because he doesn’t understand it himself. Paddy was a mystery to him, that’s as close as he can get to figuring it out, a mystery he wanted to unravel. A curiosity he could not keep away from.

He leans forward, watching intently as one by one Jaime, Ralph and Willow all leave the treehouse and go home. Willow watches from behind and they see Paddy still in the treehouse, alone now, finishing off the hot chocolate. Then he leans out, as if checking the coast is clear. He sits back and crawls over to an old tin box in the corner. It’s covered in old blankets and looks like it’s mostly used as a seat or a table. Paddy pushes the blankets off and flips open the stiff metal lid. They watch him reach inside.

‘What’s he looking for?’ asks Jesse. ‘What’s he keep in there?’

‘I don’t know. I totally forgot that old thing was there. It used to have board games in it, shit like that but mostly we’d use it as a table for stuff.’

Paddy leans in, moving things about with his hands. Then he sits back on his heels and spreads a heavy cloth out on his lap. His back is to the camera and they can’t make out what he is looking at as he unwraps the cloth, but they can tell how transfixed he is.

‘What the hell is that?’ asks Jesse.

They stare a moment longer, catching movements that suggest the turning of pages. ‘A book?’ they both ask at the same time.

Willow shakes her head, mystified. ‘There were never books in there. Paddy is super fussy about books. He won’t let you turn the corners of the pages or anything let alone leave them in a tin box in the treehouse. I have no idea what that is. He didn’t tell me.’

‘He’s turning the pages very gently, notice that?’

Willow nods. ‘Yeah.’

‘He was obviously keeping whatever it is to himself…’

Willow nods again. Suddenly, Paddy looks up, as if hearing something. He responds quickly, covering the book back up and lowering it carefully back into the metal box. Willow and Jesse watch as he arranges the blankets back on top of it. He then scuttles across the floor and is gone.

Jesse moves the mouse and hits fast forward. There is no more sign of Paddy in the treehouse but the next activity recorded is the following day. Fully expecting Sergeant Mayfield’s broad frame to come into view, Jesse and Willow both recoil in shock and confusion when two boys appear instead.

Jesse blinks furiously, unable to understand what he is seeing. But it’s there in colour, there right before his eyes, on tape.

‘Steven and Dominic…’ he splutters.

Beside him, Willow’s mouth falls open. ‘What the hell…?’

Both boys examine the treehouse for a few moments, Dominic with a look of genuine envy on his face, then Steven spots the camera and reaches for it with his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth. Seconds later, the screen goes black.

Jesse shakes his head. ‘Why would he get them to get it back? I don’t understand.’

Willow watches as he unhooks the wire and stuffs the camera back into his bag. ‘I’m gonna assume he’s blackmailing them too.’ She catches his eye and raises her eyebrows. ‘Right?’

Frowning, Jesse scratches his chin. ‘God. I don’t know. Maybe.’ He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head. ‘I’m gonna go now. See if I can put it in the shop or the flat like he wants.’

Willow grabs his arm as he vacates the chair. ‘But why? I don’t understand. Why the hell does he want to spy on them? Or anyone?’

‘Power,’ Jesse tells her with a shrug that suggests it should be obvious. ‘He’s got something on everyone, believe me.’

‘You can’t just put it back, Jesse,’ she argues. ‘You have to warn Mr Finnis!’

‘Nope.’ He shakes his head and leaves the office. ‘I have to do it, Willow, or I’m in even deeper shit. Don’t worry, he won’t get anything and he’ll be getting me to do someone else next week.’

Willow catches up with him outside. He can tell she wants to ask a thousand questions and he can feel see the edge of disgust in her gaze as she wonders if he has ever planted a camera in her parent’s shop, or her home…

‘We’ve gotta go,’ he tells her urgently. ‘I’ll get the camera up and you go to the treehouse. We’ve got to see if that book is still there, right?’

Willow nods. ‘Okay. Let’s go.’

4

They split up in the alleyway, Jesse going around to the front and Willow to the back. Her heart is pounding as she pulls open the rickety back gate and peers into Paddy’s narrow stretch of garden. She pauses there, catching her breath and for a moment, utterly overwhelmed by loss and sorrow. She can barely stand to be here on his territory, knowing he is not here as he should be. It feels so wrong. This is his home, his treehouse, his life. She squeezes her eyes shut for a few moments and wills him to just come back.

Just come back, Paddy, just bloody come back… how am I meant to write our story without you?

Willow opens her eyes and forces herself to move. She thinks about Jesse on the other side, figuring out the best way to put the camera back. She thinks, we know more than Mayfield wants us to. We have one up on him, just maybe. She begins to climb the rope ladder, calming herself down by counting off the facts, the things that they do know.

Sergeant Mayfield, a goddamn police officer, is blackmailing Jesse Archer and maybe others too. She’ll need more information from Jesse as soon as they are out of here. Mayfield is using hidden cameras to spy on people. What for? Why? For fun, or sleazy kicks, or something else?

Willow crawls across the floor and swipes the blanket from the top of the tin box.

Jesse wasn’t bullying Paddy and didn’t drive him away. She believes this now. She saw the video, saw how relaxed Paddy was with him.

Is Mayfield’s spying and blackmailing connected to Paddy’s disappearance? And is whatever Paddy had in this box anything to do with it? And another burning question…was Paddy, her best friend, keeping secrets from her?

She flings open the lid and rummages quickly inside, her heart beating so loud it is all she can hear. She pulls everything out but she already knows the truth even as she scatters the contents around her. A torch, a pack of playing cards, an old snakes and ladders game, Monopoly, two pencils, a half-eaten tube of Fruit Pastilles and a broken umbrella…

The book is gone.

Of course it is. Mayfield would have seen Paddy looking at it…

5

Jesse walks casually through the small crowd of people gathered outside the bookshop. They don’t pay him any attention as he weaves between their mugs of tea and wellington boots. He walks through into the darkened shop and sees Mr Finnis behind the till alone. He is perched stiffly on a stool, staring at nothing and holding a cup of tea. Jesse stops in front of him.

‘Mr Finnis?’

He blinks twice and slowly meets Jesse’s eyes. ‘Oh. Hello, Jesse. How can I help you?’

‘Uh, I think I left something in Paddy’s room. Would it be okay if I went and got it?’

Mr Finnis clears his throat. ‘Yes, yes, of course you can. Off you go.’

Jesse nods and moves on. He stops in the doorway. ‘Has there been any news?’

Mr Finnis looks away and shakes his head. ‘No.’

Jesse turns and walks down the narrow hall. He takes the stairs up to the flat. He knows the way to Paddy’s room on the upper floor but he won’t go there. He wants to get out of here as soon as possible.

He goes quickly into the lounge and hides the camera behind some books on a cluttered dusty shelf above the TV. It gives Mayfield a perfect view of the lounge. Jesse backs out quickly, his heart pounding in his ears.

Suddenly without warning, his eyes fill with tears. The flat, the bookshop, the treehouse, they all seem so desolate and tragic without Paddy in them. He had a presence, Jesse thinks helplessly, he was small and kind of frail looking, like a mad little scientist or a nerdy bookworm, but he had something. He commanded attention. He held your eye. He held Jesse’s attention for weeks and it was still never enough.

He blunders quickly from the room and thunders back down the stairs. He lets himself out the back way where he bumps straight into Willow.

‘It wasn’t there,’ she says, her face pale.

He grabs her arm. ‘Let’s go.’

She allows him to tug her quickly down the garden and over to the broken gate. ‘Did you do it?’

He nods regretfully. ‘Let’s get back to school.’

She pulls free. ‘Mayfield must have the book. He would have seen it too so he must have got Steven and Dominic to pick it up.’

They walk along in a tense and desperate silence. Jesse gulps and blinks rapidly to hold back the tears. He walks fast with his hands in his pockets and Willow seems to gather herself together. By the time they’ve reached the hole in the wire, she is breathing normally and smoothing back stray wisps of hair.

‘We’ve got to talk later,’ she tells Jesse when they emerge cautiously in the staff car park.

‘About what? We did it.’

‘About the book, Jesse. And Mayfield! About everything!’

He turns to go but Willow reaches out, snatching him back by his elbow. ‘Jesse, we have to get that book back. It’s a vital clue. Paddy didn’t tell me about it so it must be important.’

He just stares at her – a knowing look clouding his face. He gives her the smallest of nods and Willow breathes out in relief. He says the words so that she doesn’t have to, knowing too well that it is his cross to carry.

‘We have to break into Mayfield’s house.’

6

Willow passes the whisper around but it is Ralph who suggests the old maze near Black Woods as a meeting place. No cameras there, he shrugs when questioned with raised eyebrows. They agree to travel there separately after they’ve all gone home from school to ensure their parents don’t worry. Jesse rolls his eyes at the suggestion but he is hoping his father will be out by now. He’s not much of a man; he’s useless at providing and he’s a nasty, self-pitying drunk at the best of times, but he doesn’t terrify Jesse like Sergeant Mayfield does. As he heads home alone, he hopes and prays to find him there, spreadeagled on the grubby sofa with a vodka and coke on the go.

Close to home, Jesse discovers Steven and Dominic lurking in the shadows of the block. He’s been avoiding them lately but now seems as good a time as any to try and find out what they know. Steven leans against the wall, nudging Dominic and laughing at Jesse.

‘You too good for us now, eh?’ he calls out with a belly laugh. Dominic laughs too – he’s bent over double with it. ‘Hanging out with Witchy Willow now?’

Jesse ignores the question and stops in front of them. ‘Yeah, maybe I am,’ he replies. ‘So anyway, what’s Mayfield got on you too?’

Steven narrows his eyes. ‘What are you talking about?’

Jesse stares at Steven and Steven stares back. Distrust and simmering resentment passes between them like electricity. Jesse draws in his breath and pulls his lower lip in with his top teeth. He desperately wants to ask Steven about the camera and the treehouse and the book, but if he does, will he be giving Steven, and by default, Mayfield, an advantage? He suddenly wishes he had kept his mouth shut.

‘Nothing,’ he says finally, looking Steven up and down in thinly veiled disgust. ‘Just thought I saw you with him.’

‘You thought wrong,’ Steven says firmly and Jesse gives him a nod, okay then. Now it’s Steven’s turn to drag his hostile gaze up and down Jesse. ‘Fuckinghell, eh, Jess? First that four-eyed Finnis freak and now you’re hitting on his girlfriend, Willow the Witch? You better watch out, Archer. Town will be thinking you offed Finnis to get to his girl!’

Jesse reacts before he can stop himself. There is just something so grating about Steven’s voice, something so antagonising about his stupid, smug face that he can’t ignore. Years of winding each other up and competing and for what? There’s no friendship and he’s surprised it took him so long to notice. There’s no loyalty. Not from any of them. For the first time, Jesse realises how truly alone he is.

And he can’t escape the fact that if Steven had been there that day, if he’d backed him up like he said he would, then maybe none of this would have happened. One of them would have been the lookout and they would have got out from the school without Mayfield spotting them.

He turns fast, grabs Steven by his blazer and punches him in the face. Steven doesn’t go down easily. He’s been gearing up for this for years too. He jerks back with the blow but thunders straight into Jesse’s mid-section, following up with a punch to his head. Jesse barely feels it. He throws his fists like bullets and forces Steven to the ground.

‘That’s enough!’ a familiar voice calls out.

They fall apart instantly, panting. Jesse closes his eyes briefly, on his hands and knees. He doesn’t want to look sideways and see Sergeant Mayfield, the monster, the man who haunts his dreams. He gets up slowly, throws a filthy look at Steven and hisses, ‘This isn’t over.’

Then he turns towards the voice like he knows he must, and sees Mayfield stood beside his police car, a placid and knowing look upon his weathered face.

‘Just a misunderstanding I assume?’ he addresses Jesse as he walks over.

Jesse nods. ‘Something like that.’ He looks past Mayfield to peer into the car. ‘Where’s my dad?’

Mayfield flashes a toothy grin and drops a heavy arm around Jesse’s shoulders. He steers Jesse away from the car and towards the block of flats he calls home. Dominic and Steven have already slouched away and out of sight.

‘I don’t know,’ Mayfield muses, rubbing his chin. ‘Didn’t he turn up? I let him go earlier like I said I would.’ He gestures towards the doors. ‘Mind if I come up and discuss something with you?’

Jesse shakes his head and they go into the building. The lift is broken as usual, and Mayfield gives a strained smile as they pass it and begin to head up the stairs,

‘I expect he headed straight back to The Old Fort. I’ll drop by later and check if you like. Surprised he didn’t rush home to see you though.’

Jesse swallows a snort of laughter. ‘No, you’re not.’

Mayfield stares at him for a beat. They open another door and walk down a narrow, badly-lit corridor until they arrive at the last flat, number 9. There are bags of rubbish outside the door next to a broken bike and a battered old chair. Jesse takes his key out and opens up.

‘Ugh. My god…’ Mayfield wrinkles his nose when they walk inside.

Jesse knows the flat smells damp – black mould permeates the walls, the ceiling, the air. The smell mixes with stale booze and musty vomit. Mayfield takes off his hat and tries very hard not to touch anything.

Jesse stands back and waits while he peers into each room. Somehow he knows there will be no search for stolen goods, not today. Mayfield physically recoils when he discovers the dead animals hanging over the bath.

‘These belong to Mayor Sumner.’

Jesse stands in the centre of the lounge and shrugs. ‘Nothing to do with me.’

‘No, of course not.’ Mayfield’s voice is soft and wondering, as he moves in front of Jesse and places one hand on the top of his baton. ‘I’d like to bring them in, those thieving little scrotes but Mayor Sumner asked me not to make a fuss. What do you think about that?’

‘I don’t know,’ replies Jesse, eyes down.

‘I think it’s generous,’ says Mayfield his tone even softer, even lower, his eyes fixed on Jesse until he can no longer fight it and has to look back. ‘I think it shows true community spirit and neighbourliness.’ Jesse just stares back, waiting. As their eyes meet, he feels frozen – caught in a spell of Mayfield’s making. It’s like his breath has been stolen from him and Mayfield is holding it ransom until he gets what he wants. Mayfield, as usual, holds the power in his hands and he could extinguish Jesse any time he wants, just like swatting a fly. Mayfield wants him to listen, and learn. ‘We do a lot of favours for your family, don’t we, Jesse?’

He nods helplessly. Oh how badly he wants to look away but he can’t. He just can’t.

‘A lot of looking the other way.’

He can’t move. Can’t breathe. Can’t think.

‘It’s been going on for years too. Ask your father if you can ever get any sense out of him. And that’s why you and I have our little arrangements.’ Mayfield digs into his back pocket and pulls out another camera. ‘I’ve got another job for you. An important one.’

Mayfield presses the camera into his chest and somehow Jesse breaks free, his eyes tearing away as oxygen fills his lungs and his chest stutters back to life. A trembling hand flutters towards the camera and takes it.

‘I thought we were square.’

To this, Mayfield laughs. It’s a thick, booming and obnoxious sound. An angry sound. Something dark flares in his blue eyes and he curls his hand around the baton, tugging it half-way free.

‘Square? We’ll never be square, Archer. Not while there’s fist-fights and poaching and violence and trying to burn down schools… You do this for me or you do community service for Vicar Roberts and Mr Hewlett. Indefinitely.’ He leans forward, his hot breath coating Jesse’s face.

Jesse blinks. ‘Who is it for?’

Mayfield leans back. ‘Black Hare Cottage.’

Jesse feels a surge of panic. ‘But she… she never goes out! How can I…?’

Mayfield places a hand on his shoulder. ‘She does go out. Of course she does. She’s nothing special. She has to eat and drink like the rest of us. You’ll have to be patient and watch for her routine. Pick the right moment, plus, she’s losing her eyesight. You’ll be fine.’

Jesse exhales as he slides the camera into his back pocket. ‘It might take me a while.’

‘Well, stay in touch.’ Mayfield smiles at him. ‘Oh and one more thing. I saw you with those kids again this morning. And you’ve obviously had a falling out with your usual scummy sidekicks.’ Jesse stares back at him, frowning. ‘Trying to make new ones, maybe?’ Mayfield tilts his head. ‘Like you were with the Finnis boy?’

Jesse shakes his head. ‘No, they’re not my friends. They think I did something to Paddy.’

‘I saw you all together, remember. In the treehouse.’

‘So, you saw how much they hate me then. We’re not friends.’

Mayfield’s smile is intense as he tightens his grip on Jesse’s shoulder, his thick fingers curling into sharp claws until Jesse gasps and their faces are forced together.

‘Word of warning Jesse Archer,’ Mayfield growls. ‘Don’t lie to me. Don’t ever lie to me. Don’t ever assume you’ll get anything past me because I promise you, you won’t. And you’ll severely regret it. Understand?’

Jesse blinks and nods that he does.

‘Good. Because I know everything, remember? I see everything. And if I find you no longer useful to me, well, what’s the point in me protecting you then?’ He lets go and claps his hands together. Jesse jumps. ‘There would be no point in you at all, Jesse Archer.’

He straightens up, smiles at him brightly while his blue eyes burn with hate, turns around and walks out. Jesse sinks to the floor, holds his head in his hands and tries to remember how to breathe.

7

‘Have you done your chores?’ Charlotte asks Ralph as he zips up his jacket and slings his backpack over his shoulders.

‘Yup,’ he tells her, sitting on the sofa to pull on his boots. ‘Room tidy, rubbish out, kitchen clean. Did I do good?’

With a wry grin, Charlotte steps into the kitchen to check. She has just got home from work and is desperate for a shower. She grins and ruffles his unruly hair.

‘Nice work, kiddo. Where are you off to exactly?’

He stands up and heads for the door. ‘Black Woods. Saw some interesting footprints there last week. Thought I’d have another look around.’

‘My own little David Attenborough.’ Charlotte tips his face up to hers and kisses his nose.

‘Aw, Mum.’

‘Oh, too big and cool for kisses now, is that it? Go on then, off you go. Be back before dark though.’ She catches his pack before he escapes and pulls him back. ‘They still haven’t found that boy, you know.’

Ralph pauses, his stomach sinking. ‘Didn’t the search turn up anything?’

She shakes her head sorrowfully. ‘No, nothing. Not a trace, not even a footprint. It’s so strange.’ She shakes herself and smiles. ‘So, don’t make your mother worry. Home before dark, you promise?’

‘I promise, Mum. I’ll only be about an hour anyway.’

‘Okay then.’

Ralph slips out and closes the door behind him. He glances at his bike chained up next to his mother’s. He’s tempted – it feels somehow faster and safer to be on wheels, but he knows he’ll end up pushing it more than riding it once he gets over the river.

With a heavy-hearted sigh, Ralph plods past it and walks as quickly as he can out of the site. He’s keen to get to the woods. Keen to meet with his new friends. Keen to tell them about his own little mysteries.

8

With her bedroom door closed and locked, Jaime opens the drawer to her desk and pulls out the sheet of rolled up paper. She’s had to tape six sheets of A4 paper together to create a roll long enough to fit all the Post-It notes so far. Most of them have lost the stickiness so she’s carefully taped them all into place. She snaps an elastic band over the tube and pops it into her backpack along with her camera and a fresh roll of film.

The locked door makes her feel guilty. To hide things from her mother feels unnatural and heavy – like something has changed inside her. But her rational mind is able to out-talk her emotional one. Reporters have to be sneaky. They have to keep secrets. Sometimes they have to have whole lives that are secret… It’s not nice but she knows it has to be this way. She adores her mother but she’s joined the Neighbourhood Watch committee and Sergeant Mayfield is on it too.

Jaime hopes maybe in time she can ask her mother to spy for them, to reveal secrets even, but it’s too soon. Her mother is innocently trying to fit in and Jaime wants to leave her out of this as long as she can.

She zips up her jacket and shoulders her backpack, before leaving her room and clattering down the wooden staircase. She hears her mother call her from the bar so she goes through.

‘Are you off then, sweetie?’

Her mother and Mark are drinking tea on one side of the bar while Mayor Sumner, Vicar Roberts and Mr Hewlett sip glasses of red wine on the other.

‘An impromptu Watch meeting,’ Mayor Sumner laughs. ‘We realised we didn’t quite cover everything the other night. How are you, Jaime?’

‘Fine thank you, Mayor Sumner.’

Jaime feels her cheeks growing warmer with every passing second. She feels the weight of the fledgling investigation in her backpack and her knees go weak.

‘Good, good! Well, don’t let us keep you.’

‘Where is it you’re off to?’ her mother asks. Jaime almost says the library, but remembers in time that the librarian is also on the committee so might mention it to them if she doesn’t turn up.

‘Just more exploring,’ she shrugs, smiling sweetly as she backs up. ‘Still got lots to see!’

‘Oh, you bet,’ Mark agrees, winking at her. ‘Those hills and those woods, acres of wild land to explore. I’ll have to go over the map again with you. Point out some landmarks.’

‘Okay, thanks! Well, I better go. Have a good meeting!’

Jaime leaves through the kitchen, wondering if she ought to be alarmed at the gathering of committee members in her home. No, she shakes her head as she starts off, reminding herself of the directions Ralph gave her. As far as they know, it’s just Mayfield who is dodgy.

9

Willow leaves the shop wearing her favourite long black coat. The sleeves are so wide and the hood so large, it’s almost a cloak. She pauses on the pavement to hold her arms out to the side before dramatically wrapping the cloak around her body. She considers a twirl, sending the dark material spinning out around her as she often does in front of the mirror in her bedroom, but stops when she hears the giggling.

Willow glances to the right and sees Alexa and Bryony leaning against the wall of Milly’s Café. Steven Clarence and Dominic Robeson are with them; Steven sucking on a roll-up before chucking the still lit dog-end at Willow’s feet.

‘I didn’t know it was Halloween,’ he says, a cruel smile spreading up the sides of his thin angular face. He’s wearing an Alice In Chains t-shirt and sunglasses.

‘It’s always Halloween for Witchy Willow,’ snorts Bryony, squaring up to Willow with her hands in the back pockets of her tiny denim skirt.

Willow looks them all slowly up and down. Alexa is wearing white platform boots and a skimpy white dress with spaghetti straps. A yellow and blue checked flannel shirt swamps her tiny frame and Willow can only guess that Steven leant it to her to keep her warm. What on earth the queen bitches from school see in the two reprobates Jesse usually hangs around with, Willow can only guess. She supposes a mutual love of bullying must come pretty high on the list of common interests.

Willow is tempted to respond. A million juicy comebacks fill her mind and she has never backed down from them before; why would she? But something tells her not to encourage them. Something makes her wonder what they are doing there, and paranoia tells her they were waiting for her. What if she antagonises them and they follow her? That would be the last thing they need. So, she lowers her head and turns away, biting her lip as the torrent of giggles and hoots follow her.

Willow stomps down High Street in her chunky black boots, purple and white striped tights and short black denim skirt. She hears the insults in her head as she makes her way across town: Weird Willow; Willow The Witch; Witchy Willow. She smiles to herself. She agrees with her parents on many things and one of those is it is not a person’s duty to fit in or blend into the environment around them. It is their duty to be whoever the hell they want to be in the one short life they have.

So, she ignores the stares and eye rolls and sighs of genuine concern of those older than her, and she ignores the whispers and giggles and insults of those her own age. She floats through the valley like a storm cloud and as she passes Paddy’s shop, she feels her anger solidify. It becomes her. She is angry at Paddy for keeping secrets, angry at him for being gone and angry at the town for taking him. That’s how she feels; like the town has conspired against her – like everyone is in on it, laughing behind her back.

She walks up Station Road, past Sergeant Mayfield’s home and castle, and her face tightens into a scowl. She is still reeling, still unable to quite digest the implications of Jesse’s admissions. Her mind runs with it, trying to unravel it, then she gives up, hands thrown up in defeat. It doesn’t make any sense. She feels like the earth has shifted under her feet and reality is no longer something she can rely on.

Willow cuts behind the station and stomps her way over to Maze Lane. The narrow gravel track takes her over the river. It’s blue and sparkling today – like a giant middle finger beaming back at her. She exhales angrily as she strides over the bridge. The view from all sides is idyllic. The town behind her – rows of thatched and tiled roofs, red brick chimney stacks, and pockets of ancient trees filling the spaces between lives. To the left, the farmland stretches on for as long as she can see – up into the voluptuous hills of the valley; differing shades of green patchworking between hedgerows and fences; white fluffy sheep dotted across the landscape, a herd of cows close to the fence munching on grass.

Maze Lane jostles down through another hill and a cluster of cottages can be seen on Mayor Sumner’s land. Directly above, Willow sees the looming darkness of Black Wood. It has a different feel to it. There is a chill in the air as she approaches the crumbling graveyards. She pauses on Hill Lane, the breeze picking up and lifting her hair from the nape of her neck. She hears a noise behind and whips around, startled.

It’s Jaime, hand over mouth. ‘Whoops, sorry! Couldn’t resist. Too good a picture.’ She looks down at her camera then back at Willow. She spreads her hands out, as if smoothing out the view. ‘Those black trees, the white graves, and you stood there in a black cloak. That was awesome. I hope you don’t mind.’

Willow considers it then shakes her head. ‘No. You’re right. It’s a hell of a view.’

‘Tad creepy.’

‘Yeah. We like it here though, Paddy and me.’ Willow smiles briefly then looks away. ‘It’s not our favourite place but it’s one of them. It’s never busy up here. You can get some peace.’

‘I bet.’

They walk on together. ‘Some people think these woods are haunted.’

‘I can see why. Is this really an old graveyard?’

‘16^th century, my dad says. There are newer ones at both the churches in town. But these are so old you can’t read any of the inscriptions anymore.’

Jaime is frowning as she steps gingerly between the broken headstones. The grass is wild and scrubby and peppered with rocks. She lifts her camera and starts snapping.

‘So, no one knows who these people were?’

‘Don’t think so,’ says Willow. ‘Not unless there are any records anywhere. I suppose there could be. Mayor Sumner would know.’

Jaime lowers the camera. ‘She’s at the pub right now with the vicar and Mr Hewlett. A meeting, apparently.’

Willow looks at her sharply. ‘No Sergeant Mayfield?’

Jaime shakes her head. ‘No. Not yet.’

Willow sighs and walks on until they come to the maze. They can see Ralph is there already. He emerges from the black trees waving both hands at them.

Jaime looks around. ‘No Jesse yet then.’

Willow doesn’t answer. She’s still not sure how she feels about Jesse Archer. He’s come through for them so far but there is so much they don’t know. About him, about Paddy, about Mayfield… She feels like Jesse is as big a part of the mystery as anything else. She also sees that maybe she has misjudged him. How long has Mayfield been blackmailing him like this? She grits her teeth as they close the gap between them and Ralph. She hopes they will get some answers when he turns up.

‘You see these?’ Ralph is turning slowly in a circle, pointing at the ground as he moves.

Willow folds her arms and nods at the large neat circle of mushrooms. ‘Cloud funnel,’ she tells him. ‘Why, you hungry?’

Jaime is at her side, instantly snapping pictures. ‘Are they edible?’

Ralph rubs at his belly with both hands. ‘Only if you don’t mind getting the shits!’

‘Why are they in a circle like that?’ Jaime takes a few more shots and then stands back and looks around her. ‘Are there more?’

‘Haven’t you ever seen a fairy ring before?’ Willow asks her.

‘No, what does that mean?’ Jaime lowers the camera and frowns at Willow.

Willow sighs. ‘Never mind. It’s just superstition and folklore anyway.’ She turns to Ralph who is wiping mucky hands off on his jeans. ‘Anything interesting in the woods?’

‘Nah, I was just having a look. Did I tell you about the weird footprint I found?’

Jaime nods while Willow shakes her head. Ralph uses both hands to demonstrate the size of the animal prints he tried to get a mould of.

‘They were huge! Like this! I swear! Next time I find one you can take a photo, Jaime. Someone snatched my mould. But I brought some of my collection to show you.’

‘Why would anyone take your mould?’ wonders Willow, smoothing her cloak out under her and sitting on one of the rugged maze mounds. Her eyes scan the land below and she can just make out a figure crossing the bridge as she had.

‘Don’t know,’ sniffs Ralph. ‘But I’m telling you, only wolves or bears or big cats have feet that size!’ He pulls a few tattered photos out of his back pocket. ‘I had to borrow my mum’s camera, and it’s not the best. It can’t zoom in like yours, Jaime. What do you think?’

Jaime takes the photos and scrutinises each one in turn. She bites her lip before passing them back to Ralph apologetically. ‘It’s hard to tell, Ralph. They’re not particularly clear.’

‘Look at this one,’ he insists, pushing the picture in front of her. ‘See that conker there? Can you see the conker?’

Jaime squints. ‘Ummm, maybe?’

‘That’s a conker I promise you, and look at the size of the print next to it. No way that’s a regular sized cat, right?’

Jaime smiles and shrugs politely. ‘Are there any reports of loose big cats in the area?’

‘Don’t think so.’ Ralph plonks himself down next to Willow.

Jaime turns in a circle, snapping photos of the maze. ‘Tell me about this. It’s like a mini hill fort!’

‘I suppose it is,’ says Willow. ‘But they call it a maze. The winds have worn it down over the years. People treading on it too.’

‘It’s so cool.’ Jaime takes more photos then zooms her lens in. ‘Oh, here comes Jesse.’ She snaps a photo then lowers the camera sheepishly.

Willow feels a thrum of excitement and fear and her mouth goes dry. Jaime sits beside her and unzips her bag.

‘I’ve got all the timeline on a roll out sheet. I’ll add anything we’ve missed while we’re here.’

There’s so much we don’t know, Willow thinks wearily, how would we know where to start?

---

Thanks for reading!

Please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you thought of this latest chapter.

NOTE: Please remember this is NOT the finished version of Black Hare Valley Book 1. This book has not been to my editor yet or even my beta readers. There will be typos, grammatical mistakes, and sentences that need rewriting.

COMING NEXT THURSDAY: Chapter Nine “Black Woods”