The Collectors #2 by Jacqueline West

Author:Jacqueline West
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

12

Pebble’s Past

The Greys left late Sunday morning.

Peter gave Van a last wave through the window of the sleek black car. Van waved back, hope and worry fluttering in his chest like two fighting birds.

For the rest of that day, and the next, and the next, Van stayed inside the converted stables while Fox Den Opera surged into high gear. Preparation for the season-opening production of Hansel and Gretel had taken over every inch of the grounds. Even in his bedroom, with the windows closed and the door shut, Van could catch the roar of trucks on the drive, the buzz of construction on the stage, the shouting of staff members hurrying by.

But the nights were as silent as ever.

On Wednesday night, Van lay half asleep in bed, trying to feel comfortable in the stillness, when a band of light slashed across his ceiling.

Van jerked backward. His head thumped the wall.

The light slashed again. It swept back and forth across the room, illuminating patches of wall and floor and bed before landing blindingly in Van’s eyes.

Van squinted into it.

It was the beam of a flashlight. It was coming through his window. And aiming it, outlined by pale moonlight, was a familiar figure.

Van stumbled out of bed, pushed his hearing aids into his ears, and flung the window open.

“. . . Come out and talk?” said Pebble.

Van nodded. Tugging a cardigan over his pajamas, he clambered out the low window.

Pebble led the way to the edge of the woods, where they could huddle without being seen. She aimed the flashlight at the ground.

“. . . Get to it?” she asked, speaking too fast for Van to comb the words out of the sound. “. . . Take them inside?”

“The message?” Van repeated. “I took care of it.”

Even in the dimness, he could see Pebble’s shoulders relax. “Good,” she breathed. “So they’re coming?”

“I don’t know. I think so.”

Pebble’s head cocked. “. . . Din tell you?”

“Well . . . ,” said Van. “I couldn’t get to the city myself. I tried. So I had to send the message with somebody else instead.”

“What?” Pebble’s voice was like the edge of a saw. “With who?”

“With a friend,” said Van, wondering if “friend” was the right word for Peter. “I mean—with the boy I had been staying with. He doesn’t know what the message said. He doesn’t know about the Collection. He was just going to deliver it to the collection agency office and leave.”

Pebble let out a breath so fiery it almost made Van’s eyes water. “You can’t—” She broke off, her voice shaking. “You can’t just trust people like that!”

“But sometimes you have to trust people,” said Van. “You trusted me.”

“. . . Maybe it’s not good enough,” Pebble muttered. Or it might have been Maybe I shouldn’t have.

Either way, the words stung.

“Can I hold the flashlight?” Van asked. “So I can see your face?”

Pebble passed it over, mumbling sure or sorry or something else.

Van pointed the light at her. In the beam, she looked rumpled and tired, with faint pink edges around her eyes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.