Hi. This is Rachel again. After all the trouble I told you about in my first book ‘Family Secrets’, I was really looking forward to going back to Scarborough for the summer holidays.
I was gonna see my gran and all my old friends and get away from all the bad stuff for a while. But that so didn’t happen! It started to go wrong as soon as I stepped off the bus and creepy Joshua tried to chat me up. Then the next day Gran never came home from the day centre.
When the police turned up at Gran’s bungalow looking all serious I was totally freaked. After that things just kept getting worse and it was up to me to sort it all out, even though it could cost me my life.
Suitable for ages 10+
Extract
CHAPTER ONE
“Gran?”
Searching the tidy bungalow, I knew something was wrong. It was like, over an hour since Gran left the old person’s centre, she should’ve been here ages ago.
“Gran, are you here?” Only silence answered me.
“Aargh!”
A sharp rap at the front door exploded into the silence. Walking down the hall, I could make out two dark shadows through the frosted glass on the door. I took a deep breath to try and calm down then reached for the handle, my hand shaking. Opening the door, I sucked air in, then couldn’t seem to breathe out again. Two uniformed police officers stood there looking really grim.
“Rachel Brooks?” The male officer asked.
“Yes?” My voice quivered, my fingers gripping the door handle so tight it was like they were welded to it.
The female officer smiled, weakly.
“May we come in?” She asked, as ice crept over my heart.
“What’s it about?”
“We would rather discuss that inside.” The male officer’s voice was firm.
I wanted to shut the door, pretend they weren’t there, turn around and find Gran in the kitchen. But instead, I stepped back and opened the door wider, hardly daring to breathe. It felt really weird, like I wasn’t really there, just watching the TV or something as they stepped past me into the hall.
Leading them into Gran’s sitting room, I perched on the edge of the settee and scowled as the male officer settled into Gran’s chair.
“Rachel,” the female officer sat down beside me, “It’s about your grandmother …”