Dear Scarlett by Sarah J; Fleur; Coleman Hitchcock Page B

asks Uncle Derek.
    I shake my head again and sniff.
    I’ve lost everything but the stupid tools.
    Then I feel the key round my neck, and the library card in my pocket.
    Almost everything.
    “Strange,” says Uncle Derek. “Strange,” he says again, and clicks his stopwatch.

Oven Chips
    We sleep at Uncle Derek’s.
    For once, I don’t really mind.
    Earlier, Uncle Derek cooked while Mum rang friends and cried and laughed and drank billions of cups of tea.
    We had oven chips, fish fingers, frozen peas and tinned sweetcorn. It was delicious, and we all sat together round the table, with Syd in Ellie’s old sparkly high chair, squeezing ketchup over everything.
    It was almost as if the robbery hadn’t happened.
    As if we were a proper family that always atetogether, but I knew that Dad’s clues were lurking in the background, that we had to do something about them, and soon.
    I was trying to think of a way of asking about Fazackerley Hall, when Ellie spoke.
    “D-ad?” she said.
    “Yes, pumpkin.” Uncle Derek grinned over the table at her.
    “We need to go to Fazackerley Hall.”
    It wasn’t the way I’d have said it. How was she going to explain a sudden interest in old buildings and tea shops?
    Mum blinked. “Why?”
    Exactly. Why? I stared at Ellie.
    She stared back at me.
    “Homework?” I said.
    “A competition?” she said.
    Mum and Uncle Derek gazed at us, as if we’d just turned into hamsters.
    “Competition?” If Mum’s eyebrows could meet in the middle, they would have done.
    “Homework?” said Uncle Derek.
    “Ho-wuk, ’arlet,” said Syd, ploughing the ketchup with a fish finger.
    “Homework.” Uncle Derek gave everyone a bowlof perfectly round pink ice cream, and whisked the fish finger out of Syd’s hand. “Homework’s fun, challenges the mind.”
    I can think of a million ways of describing homework and none of them are “fun”.
    “I’ll take you,” said Uncle Derek.
    Mum touched his arm and smiled up at him. “Good idea, thank you, Derek.”
    And they kissed.
    That was hours ago. The house is really quiet now.
    Although Uncle Derek and Ellie aren’t really my family, it’s nice to be staying with them, having them around us. Sleeping.
    Just this once.
    After being burgled.
    Mum and I are in Uncle Derek’s big double bed, with Syd. I could have slept with Ellie, but I chose Mum, I really wanted to be with her.
    I don’t think anyone’s properly asleep, but I feel safe. It’s not very comfortable, and it smells of Uncle Derek’s deodorant. He’s downstairs on the sofa; he’s got Houdini, our cat, for company.
    We had to bring Houdini, because of all the broken glass.
    I imagine Houdini’s lying on Uncle Derek’s head.
    I lie awake listening to Syd breathing, Uncle Derek snoring downstairs, and Ellie’s mass of electronic things recharging overnight.
    The house hums.
    Over us is a lampshade in the shape of a jellyfish. I don’t suppose it’s deliberately a jellyfish, but in the dark, that’s what it looks like.
    There are eyes, and tendrils.
    I snuggle next to Mum and even though I don’t want to, I think about the burglary.
    I know who it is, of course.
    But I can’t say.

A Fine Collection of Sugar Tongs
    Mum thinks it’s a good idea that we go to Fazackerly Hall. She’s not coming with us, she’s going home to clear up.
    We’re going with Syd and Uncle Derek, so we won’t have to walk which makes Ellie happy, but which is going to make it more complicated.
    It also means that Mum’s at home on her own.
    “Mum, don’t go with anyone – don’t get in any cars, will you?”
    “Darling – what do you mean?”
    “I mean, be careful – don’t take lifts from strangers.”
    Mum laughs. “I’m supposed to say that to you, aren’t I?”
    She’s not taking me seriously. “Please, Mum – I want you to promise me.”
    Mum kisses me on the forehead. “I doubt I’ll even leave the house, I’ll drive myself over and back. I won’t need to take a lift