I stand for a moment, unresolved. Something is wrong. My heart is beating so quickly as I start to walk towards the house. Then my brain catches up. I have to hurry – Brianna might be in danger. I run along the street, up to the door, which is still ajar. As I run, the man emerges at the door, sprints the short distance to the bike, and rides off quickly.
‘Brianna?’ I whisper.
I run up to the front door and try the handle, finding it still unlocked. I push the door back to reveal a checkerboard floor in black and white marble and a well-lit corridor. I step in and make my way down the hallway. Suddenly, I wish I’d told Liam where I’m going.
‘Brianna?’ I try again.
There is a tiny muffled sound. My heart is racing. I walk a little way further down the hall, to a door that is slightly ajar. There is a light on in the room. I fling the door open to reveal …
Brianna, looking like a startled deer, with a slice of pepperoni pizza in her mouth. She gulps the pizza down, not taking her eyes off me for a second.
‘Agatha, is that you under that wig? What the heck? You scared the bejeezus out of me!’
‘Oh, I’m …’ I look round, as though the explanation is behind me somewhere. ‘There was a man … he let himself in.’
Brianna sighs, though I can’t tell if it’s relief or anger. We’re in a book-lined study, with leather armchairs and a huge fireplace. Brianna is sitting in a chair.
‘That was the pizza guy.’ She points to the open box on her lap. ‘Who did you think it was? A trained assassin?’
‘But he just let himself in!’
‘Yeah, I always leave the door unlocked for him.’
‘But anyone could just walk in here.’
She grins. ‘And yet, you’re the first person who actually has, Agatha.’
‘You invited me, remember?’
‘Well, thanks for coming.’ She tucks her sleek hair behind one ear, trying to regain some lost dignity. Her composure is back. She wears the same, self-confident smile that she used to have. For a moment, I’m sure she’s going to kick me out of her house, the same way she would kick me out of the classroom if the CCs wanted it to themselves.
‘Mummy and Daddy are in Switzerland, but my brother should have been back by now – he must have met up with one of his girlfriends.’
‘How many does he have?’
She shrugs. ‘I’ve lost count. They all seem like the same person to me.’
Whereas you seem like several different people to me, I think to myself.
‘Want a drink?’ She walks to a colossal globe, which stands on one side of the fireplace, and pushes a hidden catch. The Northern Hemisphere swings up to reveal a cocktail cabinet.
‘Not for me, thanks.’
She laughs. ‘It’s not alcohol, dummy! Look.’ She holds up a bottle of elderflower cordial and pours a glass.
I decide to try the direct approach. ‘What were you going to tell me?’
She stands still for a second, as if deliberating something. Then says, ‘You like investigating, don’t you, Agatha?’
The question isn’t the usual accusation – that I’m a snooper, a nosy parker, so I nod. ‘Yes.’
‘Well … I’ve never told anyone this … but well, so do I.’
‘You?’ I splutter. ‘YOU like investigating?’
‘Does it seem so unbelievable?’ She grins – an expression I’ve never seen on her face before. Then she looks bashful.
I don’t know what to say. ‘Well …’
‘Come on, I’ll show you.’ She makes for the bookcase at the back of the study, still cradling the tumbler of elderflower. The shelves look like all the others with a light switch next to them. Brianna flips up the casing of the light switch to reveal a security keypad, into which she punches a number. The bookcase clicks and swings smoothly back to reveal a hidden room. She turns to look at me out of the corner of her eye, as if to say, ‘Cool, huh?’ but I don’t comment.
I hesitate for a moment. Do I really want to go into a secret room with a girl I don’t trust – a girl who I’m not sure I even really like?
‘Come on,’ she says. She catches my expression. ‘I promise not to feed you to the alligators I keep in the basement.’
I can’t help smiling at that, although nothing about this weird encounter would surprise me. I follow her through the door and she turns the lights on. The room is small, barely more than a cupboard, but it has a desk and lots of shelves. The shelves are crammed with technology – gadgets from microscopes to battery-powered drones. There’s stuff that even I don’t recognise.
‘Wow,’ I say. I’ve always thought that Brianna was more interested in impressing boys than anything else. I didn’t expect her to have a secret lair. Well, not this kind of secret lair anyway. Perhaps something more with mood lighting and a minibar.
‘Yeah, I kinda cleared out the spy gadget shop in Covent Garden.’ She turns to me. ‘So what do you think?’
I look around, trying to decide what I think.
‘What are these?’ I ask, pointing out what looks like the sort of thing a tree surgeon or gardener would wear to protect his eyes.
‘They’re night-vision goggles,’ Brianna answers me.
‘And this?’
‘A long-range listening device. Cool, huh?’
I look sideways at Brianna. Am I hearing things right?
‘And is that actual luminol?’ I ask, pointing to a spray bottle. Police use luminol to detect where blood has been cleaned up in a room – it glows bright blue where the blood had been, revealing the gruesome spatters. I’ve wanted to get my hands on some for ages.
‘Sure.’ Brianna grins lopsidedly. ‘Ooh, and check out this robotic camera!’ She holds it out proudly.
‘This is all amazing.’ I choose my words carefully.
‘Thanks,’ she says, clearly aware of what I’m not saying, ‘but I know what you’re thinking.’
‘You do?’
‘You’re wondering why I have all this stuff when at school I’m such an airhead.’
‘I guess, yeah.’ I look around the room. ‘I can’t quite believe this is you, Brianna.’
She nods sadly – I’m confirming what she already knows.
‘I’m not like you, Agatha. I care what other people think.’
‘Well, you’re more like me than I’d ever have guessed,’ I say hesitantly.
‘That’s not what I mean.’ Brianna shrugs. ‘You’re so … good at being yourself. You don’t seem to care if people like you or not, but I’m not like that, Agatha. I just want to fit in … I’ve never even used any of this stuff before.’
‘What, you’ve never tried it out?’
‘Only at home – not to actually solve a crime or catch a criminal. I’ve never had a real adventure.’
She says the word ‘adventure’ with a kind of longing that I know only too well. Suddenly I like Brianna Pike a whole lot more than I thought.
‘Fitting in is one thing.’ I incline my head. ‘It doesn’t mean you have to turn yourself into a Carbon Copy.’ I catch my tongue, realising I’ve