The Secret Key

Be a shame for you to wind up an orphan, wouldn’t it?

I’m getting closer, and I can hear their raised voices. Dad lifts his hand, pointing towards the park gates. The man in black reaches back, towards the bike. The bike looks like the same one that knocked over the professor this morning.

Be a shame for you to wind up an orphan, wouldn’t it?

In a fluid motion that makes my heart skip a beat, the man in black mounts the bike, kicks the machine into life and roars off, back wheel spraying clods of dry earth. Dad shouts after him, but he’s drowned out by the roar.

‘Dad, are you OK?’ I yell, running headlong into his arms.

‘I’m fine, I— Agatha, what on earth are you doing here?’

‘Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?’ I step back to look at his face.

‘Hurt me? Of course he didn’t hurt me – I was just telling him he couldn’t ride that stupid bike in the park. He’s made furrows through the lawns, look. Anyway, don’t change the subject – I got a call from your headmaster earlier. He said that you hadn’t shown up for any of your classes today. He used the word escaped.’

Bother.

I swallow. In my moment of fear, I’d forgotten that I was supposed to be avoiding Dad on my way home.

‘Ah, yes … about that …’ I say.

Dad has given me some big lectures before, but this is the biggest. Being dressed down in public, as dog walkers pass by, is the worst. By the time he sends me home, with an order to go to my room, my cheeks are burning. I trudge back to the cottage, tired and miserable. His final words are the ones that sting the most –

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