The Key to Finding Jack by Ewa Jozefkowicz (i can read books TXT) 📗

‘Her full name is Samantha. I can’t think if her surname begins with an “F” but it is worth a try, no? Your brother liked her very much, and he helped her get a job when she was struggling.’

‘Really? How do you know that?’ I asked. My head felt as if it was about to burst with all the new information I’d found out about Jack in the last half an hour.

‘She’s a regular customer. She was so excited when she came in to tell me about it. She works at Gilmore’s down the road. I remember now, she’s Samantha Fabri – she has an unusual surname. You must speak to her.’

‘Gilmore’s? The estate agent?’ Uncle Michael, Dad’s brother, had been running Gilmore’s since I was a baby. Would Jack have asked him to give this girl a job? It sounded so unlikely that I couldn’t quite believe it.

‘I’d better head back,’ said Sutty, checking his watch, ‘but you could always go and speak to her? She’s a nice girl. She will be worrying about your brother too.’

I followed him out of the cafe in a daze, and slowly began to make my way home. Around me, the world had taken on a grey hue and the streets that I’d walked down thousands of times seemed somehow unfamiliar. I told myself that I was being silly – it was only the rain clouds gathering, casting everything into semi-darkness. But deep down I knew it came from something locked deep inside the treasure chest of my thoughts – the realisation that perhaps I didn’t know Jack as well as I thought.

Six

‘Your brother and Simon battled two thugs to get an old man’s wallet back?’ asked Keira, her dark eyes widening.

‘That’s what Sutty said.’

I had told her the whole story from start to finish.

‘And he managed to get this girl a job with your uncle?’

‘Yep.’

‘And you never heard about any of this?’

Keira had known Jack almost as long as she’d known me. Our parents were good friends and she was always staying over – it was pretty much her second home. She knew the full story of Jack’s detentions and his arguments with my dad.

‘No, never.’

‘Well, at least we’ve got a lead in our case. We need to speak to this girl, Manfy, don’t we?’

‘Yeah, but how? We can’t just go in there and talk to her. The only time I met her, I got the impression that she was much more interested in Jack than me.’

‘We could go undercover?’

‘D’you think she’ll believe that we’re going to buy a house? She’s not stupid.’

‘I meant more like hanging around outside and waiting until she goes on her break. It’s Saturday. Most estate agents are still open, aren’t they? Let me check Gilmore’s website.’

She brought the details up on her phone and gave me a thumbs up. ‘Open until 4 p.m. There’s a good chance she’s working. We could at least try. Come on.’

‘I suppose, but isn’t that a bit weird? What would we do? Hang outside?’

‘It’s on the high street so we could look in the shops next door and keep half an eye on their front door.’

I didn’t have any better ideas, so in the end I agreed with Keira. We spent half an hour pottering around the card shop, making the owner increasingly suspicious, and then we walked up and down the high street several times, pretending to be window shopping. I was ready to give up and go home when Keira nudged me in the ribs. A car had pulled up outside Gilmore’s. The driver, who was a woman, parked and stepped onto the pavement. She was wearing a pencil skirt and suit jacket.

‘Is that her?’ Keira whispered.

I shook my head, but then I looked closer and saw the dark hair and pale skin. I’d barely recognised Manfy without her leather jacket. She must have felt our gaze, because she turned and I could see a glimmer of recognition in her eyes.

‘Flick?’ she called over, and her face rearranged itself into a look of concern.

‘How do you know my name?’ I blurted out.

‘Oh… We met before, didn’t we? I have a good memory. And your brother told me a lot about you. Have you… have you had any news?’

‘No, nothing yet,’ I said. I was beginning to dread the question, and I guessed I would be hearing it repeated, over and over. I wondered if this had been a bad idea after all.

I must have had a pained expression on my face, because Manfy asked, ‘Are you all right?’

‘Actually, d’you mind if we come in to have a glass of water?’ Keira asked her, linking her elbow through mine.

‘Course,’ said Manfy. ‘I’m on a half day today and I’ve finished, so I can make you a cup of tea.’

This was only the second time that I’d been inside Gilmore’s. The first was many years ago, when Uncle Michael had set up the agency and I’d gone along with Mum and Jack to take a look at the office. We’d gone for a trip to a cavernous furniture warehouse to get the place kitted out. The navy leather sofas that we’d chosen were still there – now looking very battered. I could still visualise Jack sitting on them in the shop, checking for ‘bounce factor’. ‘If you get the level of bounce right, then people will know that you mean business,’ he’d told Uncle Michael, who had nodded seriously.

The place looked the same as it had back then. The only difference was that somebody had painted one of the walls bright blue, and on it, had drawn a huge, old-fashioned house with loads of windows, and pillars framing the front door. I paused before it, mesmerised. It was the kind of house that I imagined Lady Abigail and Margot living in. I could see them