‘The hospital was horrible,’ she whispers once she’s taken a couple of bites. ‘Sophia looks terrible, and I can’t stand her just lying there like that. And now they think someone’s been watching her.’
A cold shiver runs through Zac. ‘What do you mean?’
‘They’ve got pictures of a woman on the surveillance tape from last night, standing in the corridor, snooping on us all through the window. It’s bloody creepy.’
‘What?’ This sounds too much like a movie plot. ‘Couldn’t there be some explanation?’
‘No one knows who she is. I really don’t want to go back, and I hate that Sophia’s stuck there. Thank god my parents are with her.’
Zac tries to process this information. The day is becoming increasingly surreal. Maddie is watching him, as though waiting for him to say something.
‘You want to come up to my room?’ he suggests, hoping to spend some more time with her.
She frowns. ‘Okay.’
Upstairs he holds his bedroom door open for her, and she goes over to his bed. When he sits next to her, the space between them is small enough for their arms and legs to brush against one other. Zac would have thought nothing of it a year ago, but now he’s aware of every touch. He still wants to put his arm around her, but doesn’t dare.
‘I’m so sorry about Sophia. It’s horrible.’
Maddie sighs. ‘Zac, I feel like everything’s going wrong.’ She turns to him, and when he sees the desperation in her face he recognises it as his own.
The moment lengthens, as though they are both waiting for the other’s next move. Zac’s eye-line is drawn towards Maddie’s bright pink bra strap, visible thanks to the wide neck of her jumper. He is mesmerised by that strip of material and the pale skin either side of it. He imagines putting his fingers just there, hooking his thumb underneath the strap, how easy it would be to pull it down, how soft and warm her skin would be. His hand trembles.
Maddie suddenly moves away from him to the end of the bed, leaning back against his pillow. When she speaks again her tone is more matter of fact. ‘There’s something going on with Sophia – I mean, before the accident.’
Zac’s disappointment is tempered by curiosity. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘She’s snuck out a few times, the last time was only a few nights ago. I watched her run across the lawn and get into a car – it’s always after midnight. She doesn’t come back for hours. Mum and Dad don’t know, and now I’m not sure whether to tell them. I mean, it was a hit-and-run, right? That sounds random, doesn’t it? But now that woman is lurking around the hospital. And when Sophia came back the last time, I could hear her crying in her room. There’s something going on, and I don’t know whether I’ll make it better or worse for her if I tell.’
Zac is riveted. He thinks of Georgia’s secret, the evidence in his pocket. Does Maddie’s revelation have anything to do with his sister? She is Sophia’s best friend – surely she knows about her cousin’s troubles? Or has she been too distracted by her own?
‘Maybe you should try to find out a bit more,’ he says. ‘What about if you check Sophia’s phone the next time you’re at the hospital? Surely you’ll find something on there.’
Maddie looks worried. ‘She’ll kill me.’
‘I doubt it – she’s hardly in any state to get cross with you. Otherwise you’ll have to wait till she’s well enough for you to ask her, and then hope she’ll talk to you. But if she’s anything like Georgia . . .’
Maddie stares at the posters on his wall. They are all for Xbox games, dark and grim, and he wonders what she’s thinking.
‘Shit, Zac, this is way too hard.’ Maddie pulls her long hair over one shoulder and begins to comb her fingers through it, examining the ends. ‘Shall we go downstairs and watch a film or something?’
Zac wants to prolong this time, to keep her to himself for as long as he can. He racks his brains. ‘Why don’t we take Arthur for a walk?’ he suggests.
She frowns at him and he suspects she will say no, but then she shrugs. ‘Okay.’
He almost leaves his phone in his room. It will stop him confiding in Maddie, since Georgia’s secret isn’t his to tell. It might also relieve the constant pressure in his skull. But at the last second he decides he needs the evidence close by. So, he pats his pocket to check his mobile is there, and then follows her downstairs.
16
GEORGIA
As they reach home, all Georgia wants is to be left alone. She plans to head straight for her room once her mother unlocks the front door, but they find Zac and Maddie blocking the corridor, putting on shoes and collecting jackets. Before Georgia has even realised Arthur is with them, he clocks her and leaps up, his claws finding her ribs, making her wince.
‘Maddie, what are you doing here?’ Her mum pulls off her coat as she speaks. ‘And Zac, what on earth . . . why aren’t you at school?’
‘Don’t tell me you’re slacking off, Zac?’ Georgia says, as she attempts to push away Arthur’s enthusiastic advances. ‘There’s a first.’