City of Saints & Thieves(66)

“Tina? Is that you?”

My knees go wobbly and I almost lose my footing. “Kiki? Are you okay?”

“I’ve been trying to get you for days!”

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

I hear her whisper something to someone nearby. “What? No, nothing’s wrong. Where are you?”

I can hear girls talking in the background. My heartbeat starts to slow, and I wipe my mouth with a trembling hand. I take a deep breath and try to sound normal. “I left the city.”

“You did what? Why? Where are you? I can barely hear you.”

“I-I had to do some stuff. I’ll only be gone a couple of days.”

“Oh. But you’ll be back by Friday night?”

“I’m going to try. But if I’m not, don’t worry, okay?”

“One of the other girls overheard someone telephoning for me. It was you, right?”

“Yeah, the nun wouldn’t let me talk to you.”

“That was Sister Agnes. She is so strict. No phone calls, no phones. She thinks we’ll call our boyfriends or order takeaway food or something. But my friend Simone has a mobile that she hides in her mattress. She let me use it to call.” My sister speaks in a breathless stream. “This guy said you had skipped town. I was worried; that’s why I asked Simone to use her phone.”

“What guy?”

“Um. I don’t know his name, but he came to the school while I was outside at recess yesterday. He said he was a friend of yours. He said I should call you.” She goes quiet. “Tina, who was he? Why did you leave Sangui? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say, working hard to keep my voice level. “What did he look like?”

“Like, kind of tough. Tattoos and stuff all up and down his arms, like yours. The other girls thought he was cute, but I thought he looked like a meerkat.”

I lick my lips. “You remember any of the tattoos?”

“Not really. He had a bunch. Um, okay, there was a big tomato on the back of his hand. I remember that.”

My vision tunnels.

Ketchup.

At Kiki’s school. Talking to Kiki.

I will kill him.

“He told me that if I hear from you, to tell you to call him. Or if you came by, to give you a note.”

“A note? What does it say?”

“Hang on. It’s in my pocket.” I can hear shuffling, and then, “Okay, it says, ‘Tiny, Your wasting time. Tell your sister hi.’ What does that mean?” She pauses. “He spelled you’re wrong.”

I have to hold my hand over the mouthpiece so Kiki doesn’t hear my breathing go ragged. Ketchup tried to call me. And when I didn’t respond, he did what he knew would get my attention. He wanted me to know he’d seen Kiki in person. That he knows where she is, how to get to her. How did he even find her? I’ve been so careful.

“Tina? I have to go. Simone says I’m using up all her airtime.”

“Yeah, okay,” I manage. “Listen, if that guy comes back to the school, don’t talk to him, okay?”

“I won’t.” Suddenly her voice falters. “But you’re okay, right? He’s not, like, hurting you or anything?”

I shake myself. “No, nothing like that. C’mon, don’t worry so much, okay? I’ll see you soon.”

“Friday?”

“Friday. I’ll be there for sure.”

“Okay, good. Bye!”

I have a sudden urge to tell her I love her, but I wait too long, and the words get stuck in my throat. And then the line clicks off and she’s gone.





THIRTY


Rule 14: Bad luck comes in multiples of so many more than three.

? ? ?

By mid-afternoon both Boyboy and Michael are tired of my jittery energy, and Boyboy pleads with me to go do something productive somewhere else while he works. But I don’t know what that would be. This trip was a stupid idea, and now my sister might be in trouble.

We’ve got to leave super early in the morning if I’m going to make it back in time to meet Kiki. I keep picking my phone up to dial Bug Eye and then stopping, reconsidering. Do I call and try to convince him I’m still at the Greyhills’? Ketchup told my sister that I had skipped town. But how would he know? If I call, could Bug Eye somehow hack my GPS and find out where I really am? Boyboy traced me to the bus station, after all. It’s possible Bug Eye could find someone to trace me all the way here. And then how much trouble would I be in? How much trouble would Kiki be in?

“Let’s go back to town,” Michael says, pulling me out of my thoughts. “We can go to your cousin’s shop that the lorry driver’s friend was talking about. And maybe my dad’s around by now.”

I put my phone in my pocket and follow Michael out of the guesthouse, still not sure whether or not to call. I’ll think about it while we’re on our way. There’s nothing to do at the guesthouse anyway except drive Boyboy crazy. Sister Dorothy is too busy to talk and Mwika’s email is proving harder to crack than Boyboy would have thought. A call to the First Solutions guy hadn’t given us any more to go on.

Getting to town at least gives me a sense of purpose, but I still haven’t decided what to do by the time we arrive. Kiki’s safer at school than most places, I tell myself, but I know it’s not true. If the Goondas know where she is, they can get to her. I wish there were someone I could call to go and keep an eye on her, but the only person I trust is back at the guesthouse, trying to hack David Mwika’s email. And what could he do anyway, to protect my sister from Goondas?