Suddenly, Scary Guy stooped low, and in no more than two swift movements he had scooped the lot back up into the bag and snapped it shut. He was just as quick to unlock the hut’s door and disappear inside, slamming the door shut behind him.
And then the world seemed especially quiet. A wind came up and blew the girls’ hair, but still they didn’t move. They were all big eyes and thumping chests. It was Romeo’s howl that finally broke the spell. It was almost as though he sensed that something was up.
Coral was the first to breathe again. “Wow wee…” she gasped. “What do you make of that?”
Nicks was the first to actually move again. She slithered on to a deckchair and tapped her knees thoughtfully. “He was a strange one,” she said. “Did you see the stuff in his bag?”
Coral nodded solemnly. “You do know what the most common use for duct tape is, don’t you?”
Nicks shrugged lightly. If Coral was going into crazy mode there was no point in encouraging her.
“Kidnapping… murder… that sort of thing!” Coral cried out, grabbing the air with her hands and giving it a good shake.
Now it was Nicks’s turns to snort, only she made more of a delicate pssht sort of sound. “Oh, please, where do you get that from?”
“I watch television! Where there’s dodgy business - there’s duct tape. No criminal can be without it.”
“Keep your voice down.” Nicks glanced left, then right, before whispering, “So you’re suggesting that our neighbour is a criminal?”
Coral paused and took a deep breath. “Not just a criminal. A—” She stopped herself. Actually, she wasn’t exactly sure what she was suggesting. But she was convinced that Scary Guy was up to no good. Why else did you carry duct tape, a hammer and rope around with you?
Coral did an about-turn and tiptoed inside Coral Hut. She really needed to lie down on the lovely bright white daybed for a bit. She wanted to rest and think the whole dramatic incident through.
Coral sighed as she absorbed it all. She felt better already. Almost. Sort of. With just a bit more rest…
Nicks and her mum were still jumping the early-morning waves the next day as Coral made her way over to the beach hut, feeling queasy from all the saltwater she’d swallowed. She climbed up the front steps and settled down on her beach towel, pressing her tummy to the deck, and resting her chin on her hands at the edge. The view was good and the warm morning sun had turned the deck toasty. She could even see the top of Romeo’s snoozing head poking out of the cool hole he’d dug in the warming sand. And then, very slowly, she started dozing off. When suddenly—
“SAY IT ISN’T SO!”
The voice was so loud. Coral hoisted one eye up.
“I don’t even know what that colour is!”
“It’s called khaki.”
“They should call it KAK-i instead.”
“Oh dear.”
“And what’s that hanging over the roof?”
“It’s camouflage netting - my uncle’s ex-army,” This particular voice sounded weary.
Coral raised the other eyelid ever so slowly. The image of four older girls came into focus. They were standing in front of Headquarters with lipglossed lips and manicured fingers pinching their trim hips. They all wore variations of the same sort of thing: bikinis, knotted sarongs, oversized sunglasses, wide-brimmed sunhats, and enormous beach bags dangling from the crooks of their bent arms. They looked like a fashion shoot. Coral guessed they must be about eighteen years old. She kept her eyes half-mast and watched them carefully.
“We could spruce the place up a bit?” suggested the weary voice with forced cheeriness. “I’m sure my aunt and uncle won’t mind if we add our own pretty touches.”
So that was Saffron - Birdie and the Captain’s niece. Coral zoned in on her - with her sequined clothes, shimmering glass-bead accessories and glittery lipgloss, she was obviously a sparkly sort of girl.
“We’d have to do a lot to pretty this place up!” muttered a girl with long, dark red hair.
“Oh, Tallulah, don’t be such a bore,” ordered a girl with wavy blonde hair. “Do you remember our last makeover? Now did we transform that girl from drab to fab?”
Tallulah gave this some thought. And then she smiled. “You’re so right, Sienna, sweetie. We can make anything look beautiful!”
Coral was still watching carefully; she was keeping a tally too. So there was sparkly Saffron. And Tallulah the redhead and Sienna with wavy blonde hair. That just left a girl with short feathery hair who seemed preoccupied with her shoes. She pulled one leg and then tried to pull the other. But her feet were stuck fast. She seemed to think about this for a moment, then she slid her feet out of the shoes. Bending low and using both hands, she yanked the shoes from the sand. She’d worn high heels to the beach!
Saffron already had the double doors of Headquarters pulled wide open. She was surveying the interior of the hut with her enormous beach bag still dangling from her arm while she tapped a fingernail against her front teeth. She seemed to be thinking out loud.
“Some glittery dangly decorations… a crystal bead curtain, perhaps… flowers… a few scented tea candles…”
The other two girls - Tallulah and Sienna - had also taken an interest in the hut. Tallulah was testing the spring of the army cot bed with her bouncing bottom (except there was not much bouncing to be done). She looked less than impressed with the hard mattress. She muttered something about “So much for comfy afternoon naps,” while Sienna turned the Captain’s brass bugle this way and that in her hands. She then put the bugle to her eye and looked through it like a telescope. She seemed less than impressed too.
Saffron meanwhile was humming a tune while she busily dressed one of the beach hut’s windows in her (unsurprisingly) sparkly sarong. After a few minor adjustments to the sarong tassels she stepped back to admire her decorating. At last somebody looked pleased.
“Time to suntan!” squealed the girl who was now sensibly carrying the high heels in her hand. She had found a spot on the sand directly in front of Headquarters, and was dropping everything - a large pink towel, a glossy magazine, various bottles (suntan oil, sunblock, cooling mist face spray, mineral water) and her mobile phone. She then finally settled down on her towel with the magazine and began to read out loud.
“How do you know if you’re loved up?” she demanded.
Coral’s ears pricked up.
“You have to answer A, B or C,” the girl finished.
The other girls stopped what they were doing and nodded thoughtfully.
“Question one,” the girl went on. “It’s your first-year anniversary and your boyfriend: a) buys you flowers and choccies or b) makes you a card or c) gives you an extra special cuddle because it’s not about gifts anyway?”
The rest of the girls were silent. Tallulah was the first to speak. “Is there a D, Chanel?”
Ah, so that was the girl’s name, thought Coral.
“I told you there’s only A, B or C,” Chanel went on.
“Are they fancy florist flowers or