April sighed. What hope did she have when Peter was talking to people like Tame?
‘Okay. Well thanks anyway,’ said April sadly. She supposed she had hoped he would say ‘Vampires? This is sensational! I’ll put my best people on it – we’ll have this case cracked in a week!’ But that wasn’t any more realistic than expecting the police to take her seriously. She began to get up, but then had a thought.
‘What if Dad was right about the conspiracy, just wrong about the blood-suckers?’ said April.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Peter.
‘Well, I’ve been through all his notes and it seems that, along with all this vampire stuff, he was right in the middle of writing an exposé about Ravenwood.’
‘Really?’ said Peter. ‘What sort of exposé?’
‘Something to do with the school governors,’ said April. ‘No one seems to know who’s behind Ravenwood, but they do seem to be using the students to do all sorts of high-level research for companies like Agropharm.’
‘Agropharm?’ said Peter, suddenly interested. ‘The pharmaceutical conglomerate?’
‘And Ravenwood has strong links with Nicholas Osbourne, he’s the CEO.’
‘Oh, I know who he is, he was at your Dad’s funeral, remember? But this is interesting,’ said Peter, beginning to scribble down notes on a pad. ‘And they’re using Ravenwood pupils as unpaid researchers?’
‘They’re selling students’ work. Mr Langdon, the head of science, has just sold a camera sensor to a Japanese electronics company. He’s admitted that the pupils came up with the idea – you should talk to a student called Jonathon, he’s just left Ravenwood, so he might be prepared to talk.’
April wanted to tell Peter everything – that Jonathon ‘left Ravenwood’ because he was dead, his blood drained by Davina and the Faces – but she suspected it would be more effective if he discovered Jonathon’s disappearance on his own. Let him make the link between the Ravenwood students and the murders himself.
‘This is interesting, April,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘Do you have any other evidence?’
‘An email from Nicholas Osbourne to Mr Sheldon giving him a hard time for not producing enough geniuses for the conveyor belt.’
‘Mr Sheldon? You mean Robert Sheldon?’
‘Yes, he’s the headmaster. Do you know him?’
‘A little,’ said Peter quietly, thinking for a moment. ‘Well, this certainly seems more printable. And how did you get this email?’
‘Research,’ said April, turning red.
‘Well, maybe it is worth looking into after all. Do you think you can find out anything else for me?’
‘So you do need someone on the inside to help?’ said April.
‘I’m not putting you on the pay-roll if that’s what you’re asking,’ smiled Peter. ‘But it’s certainly better than having you running around in the dark by yourself.’
How bad can it be?
thought April, staring at the shop across the road.
I mean, I’ve faced homicidal vampires. It can’t be worse than that, can it?
She took a deep breath and forced her feet to move. One step, two steps … cross the road. Eight steps, nine steps … open the door. The crystals tinkled as she stepped into the cramped little bookshop and April had to remind herself to breathe. Jessica was sitting behind the counter, just as she had been that first time April had walked in. She looked up and raised her eyebrows.
‘Hello, April,’ she said. ‘I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect to see you again.’
April walked over to her desk and held out the library card.
‘I said I’d bring the card back and so I thought I should and … well, say thank you.’
Jessica took the card, but didn’t speak.
‘And I’m sorry about that night at the party,’ said April, rushing on to fill the silence. ‘I – I think I over-reacted a bit. Well, a lot actually. Anyway, it wasn’t your fault, so I’m sorry if I dragged you into my drama.’
Finally Jessica smiled. ‘It’s okay, April,’ she said, gesturing to a chair next to her desk. ‘I think I would have reacted in exactly the same way. Gabriel has many fine qualities, but tact isn’t one of them. Anyway, it sounds as if you had bigger problems to worry about that night.’
April nodded as she sat down. ‘It was a memorable evening, I’ll say that much.’
Jessica leaned forward and touched April’s hand.
‘I hope Gabriel convinced you that there was nothing going on between us? Truly, April, there never has been any romance between us. I’m very fond of him, but well, we have history.’
‘Oh yes, I know,’ said April quickly. ‘Gabriel explained it all.’ She paused. ‘Well, not that I believed him for a long time,’ she added with a laugh.
Jessica smiled. ‘As I say, I think I would have reacted the same way. But really, it’s as much my fault as his. I think I knew you were talking about Gabriel the moment you told me about the vampires in Highgate. I really should have said.’
‘But how …?’
Jessica waved a hand.
‘Oh, call it intuition if you like. But he’s never very far from that damned cemetery and … well, there was something in the way you talked about him. There aren’t that many men who inspire that sort of emotion and you were taking an awful risk for him, so I knew it had to be someone special. That was why I wanted to see him, to make sure he appreciated that he’d found someone pretty special in you too. Unfortunately it rather back-fired, didn’t it?’
April looked away, afraid that if she spoke she might burst into tears.
‘Oh no,’ said Jessica, stepping out from behind the desk to put her arm around April. ‘Is it Gabriel?’
April nodded.
‘He took the blame for the murder thinking he was helping me, but all I could do was give him a hard time about kissing you. And now he’s being chased by armed police.’
‘Don’t worry, Gabriel will be fine,’ said Jessica. ‘Really. Those idiotic policemen have no chance of finding him, not if he doesn’t want to be found.’
April fought back the tears.
You’ve got to toughen up
, isn’t that what Miss Holden said to her? She was right. What use would a Fury be to anyone if she kept bursting into tears at the first sign of trouble?
‘I’m okay,’ said April, refusing the tissue Jessica offered her.
‘Honestly. It’s just I’ve got a lot on my mind at the moment. Yes, I’m worried about Gabe, but it’s not just that.’
‘You’re trying to find the Regent,’ said Jessica matter-of-factly.
‘Yes! How did you …? Oh.’ But
of course
Jessica would know about the Regent. She knew everything about Gabriel. And if she was honest, that was what was upsetting April more than the memory of Gabe kissing Jessica. She believed – she
had
to believe – they were telling her the truth when they both denied they had any interest in each other, but she still hated hearing someone talk about her boyfriend with such familiarity, such intimacy. Jessica had known Gabriel for
a hundred years
, how could April ever compete with that?
‘Oh, I knew about the Vampire Regent before I even met Gabriel,’ said Jessica, perching on the edge of her desk. ‘He was spoken of in whispers in the taverns and the rookeries. He was evil, but he was elusive – and that was his power. A real person, a real figurehead can be killed or overthrown, but an unseen presence like the Regent becomes more of an idea, a symbol of whatever people want him to be.’
April frowned.
‘What, are you saying the Regent doesn’t exist?’
‘He’s real, all right. I’ve got his infection in my blood, remember? He turned Gabriel, Gabriel turned me. And that means he can be found.’
‘But where do we look?’
‘Ravenwood, of course,’ said Jessica.
‘You make it sound so obvious.’
‘It is. Being obvious is
the point
. The Regent – all the vampires, in fact – have always stayed hidden, creeping about in the night, taking feeders, killing those foxes, but never leaving any bodies to alert anyone that they’re there. But Ravenwood is different, it’s
obvious
, visible to anyone who wants to see. And pretty soon I think a lot more people are going to see.’
‘Are they planning on taking over the world?’ said April.
Jessica smiled. ‘I don’t know, April, maybe. But for now you’d probably better concentrate on Highgate.’
‘So how do I find the Regent? Is he the one behind Ravenwood?’
Jessica looked at April with her big green eyes.
‘Maybe you should ask your grandfather.’
April had never liked Stanton. Grandpa Thomas’s butler had always looked ancient to April – ancient and a little bit creepy, like a servant in a gothic novel. More than that, the old man seemed to look down his nose at her whenever he answered the door at her grandpa’s Covent Garden house, like she was bringing in the plague or something.
‘Your grandfather is in his study,’ intoned Stanton. ‘If you would just follow me …’
I know the way to the study
, thought April, following him through the grand pillared entrance hall, walking at the speed of a sleepy tortoise. Still, it gave April time to rehearse what she was going to say. She couldn’t very well come out and say ‘So what do you know about Ravenwood, Gramps?’ could she? – he’d get suspicious and defensive. She’d seen enough cop shows to know that much.
I wish this was a cop show
, she thought. Then at least you’d have a fair idea that the good guys were going to win. April looked up at the dark portraits of her ancestors hanging in the hall. They didn’t seem to approve of her any more than Stanton. Maybe that would be a good place to start – to ask about her mum’s side of the family and about that birth certificate she had found in the cellar. Not that Gramps had ever been particularly keen to talk about the past. He was a typical immigrant: he’d get all misty-eyed about the ‘old country’ with its half-remembered forests and mountains, but suggest he go back and he’d start talking about blood feuds and typhoid and how they only have electricity on Sundays.
As she walked down the corridor towards her grandpa’s study, she could hear voices. It sounded like her grandfather was talking to another man. Suddenly April wished she had phoned first. She couldn’t really grill her granddad about family matters with some stranger there. But it wasn’t a stranger.
‘Uncle Luke!’ said April with surprise as she walked through the door.
‘Hey there, niece,’ said Luke, embracing her. ‘Great to see you safe and well,’ he added meaningfully, looking over at Thomas.
‘And just where the hell have you been, April?’ boomed her grandfather, a scowl on his face. ‘Your mother has been on the phone all afternoon. She thinks you have been attacked or abducted or something worse. I shouldn’t be surprised if she’s called the police by now.’
‘I had something important to do,’ said April defensively. She had expected her usual warm welcome, but she should have known Silvia would ring Gramps the moment she failed to come home from school.
‘Something so important you couldn’t send her a message?’
‘No, I suppose not, but—’
‘No “buts”, April,’ interrupted Thomas. ‘Your mother said she told you to come straight home after school. No wonder she is frantic. It’s irresponsible, April. Damned irresponsible.’
April was shocked by Thomas’s outburst. She had often heard her grandfather shouting of course; he and Silvia spent most of their time barking at each other like a couple of dogs trapped in a cave. But she couldn’t remember her Grandpa ever shouting
at her
. It was always ‘Princess’ or ‘my beautiful Prilly’ as he squidged her in a huge bear hug and showered her with compliments. He had never so much as raised his voice to her before.
April glanced at Luke, who just shrugged. ‘He’s got a point, cuz,’ he said. ‘We’ve all been worried. Why didn’t you tell someone where you were going?’
‘I didn’t think—’
‘Think? You think of no one but yourself,’ snapped Thomas. ‘Your mother is suffering enough as it is.’
‘Suffering?’ laughed April. ‘She’s having the time of her life.’
‘How dare you!’ shouted Thomas. ‘She is in mourning – her husband was murdered on her doorstep and you’re all she has left.’
‘I
know
he was murdered, Gramps,’ shot back April. ‘I was there, remember? I couldn’t get the blood off my hands …’ she said, her voice beginning to shake. ‘He was my dad too, you know.’
‘I’m sorry, Prilly,’ said Thomas, softening his tone, ‘I didn’t mean to upset you, but you have to understand we’ve been thinking the worst.’
‘Yeah? Well that’s all you adults ever think, isn’t it?’ cried April angrily. ‘I know it’s dangerous. I
know
. I’ve been attacked and chased and terrified – no one knows more than me how horrible it is out there. But what am I supposed to do? Lock myself in a tower?’
‘Your Grandpa’s not saying that, April,’ said Luke. ‘He’s just saying that you could have let us know you were okay.’
‘Well I’m not bloody okay!’ she shouted. ‘I’m sick of being frightened all the time. I just want all this to stop – and having you lot shouting at me isn’t helping.’
‘April, we just want you to be safe,’ said Thomas, coming over to hug her, but April pushed him away.