Free Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie Page B

alive.’

 
20
Rachel
    I couldn’t take it in. I stood there stupidly, my mouth open, just staring up at Theo. ‘Your dad isn’t dead?’ I said.
    His face went red. He wouldn’t look at me. Couldn’t look at me.
    I dimly registered his friend Jake’s hand resting lightly on my shoulder.
    My attention was mostly on what Theo had just said, my mind ricochetting between the news that his dad – James Lawson – was alive and the suggestion that my dad could have ever, ever have had anything to do with blowing up that clinic.
    But a part of my mind was horribly aware of the hand too. It felt awkward and wrong and embarrassing, just like it had when Jake had stared at me in the kitchen, earlier.
    I shrank my arm down a little. The hand dropped away.
    Theo slowly met my eyes and I knew. He’d lied to me. I’d stolen Dad’s laptop and let his stupid weirdo hacker friend get all over it like a rash. I’d even put up with her staring at me like I was a bit of dirt.
    And Theo had lied to me.
    It didn’t really matter what about or why. I could feel the itchy tingling of tears behind my eyes and nose. I grabbed the laptop and strode out of the room, down to the front door. I pulled it open and started running along the pavement. I’d left my backpack behind, but right then I didn’t care. I felt so stupid for trusting Theo. I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
    I could hear footsteps pounding after me. ‘Rachel.’ His hand grabbed my arm and pulled me round. ‘Rachel. Please don’t go.’
    I stood, staring down at the pavement. My throat felt tight.
    ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry.’ Theo shuffled his feet. He let go of my arm. ‘And I’m sorry Max was rude and Jake was an idiot and that somehow your dad’s mixed up in—’
    ‘My dad didn’t do anything,’ I snapped, blinking away my tears. But I couldn’t be sure of that. My mind went back to the text Dad had sent me by mistake. GODDESS STILL IN HEAVEN. Was that somehow connected to the email with all the Greek god names?
    Theo held up his hands, palms out. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Maybe your dad didn’t do anything bad to the clinic. But he definitely knew my dad, and he lied to both of us about that. Didn’t he?’
    I looked up at him.
    That was true.
    ‘Please come back inside,’ Theo said. ‘Let me tell you everything.’
    Mum and Dad were out when I got home. I was relieved. I needed time to think, not have Mum wittering on in my ear about why I’d been shopping all day and come home empty-handed. And, of course, I needed to put Dad’s laptop back. I slipped into his office and left it where I’d found it that morning. Then I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes.
    It felt like a zillion different thoughts and feelings were careering about inside my head. I took a few deep breaths, trying to work it all out.
    I’d forgiven Theo for lying to me about his dad before we’d even got back inside Max’s house. He looked so miserable about upsetting me – his eyes all dark and sad.
    I love his eyes. They’re the sort of eyes you could totally fall into. Fall and keep falling.
    Stop it. Focus, Rachel.
    So. What else did I know? Everything Theo did. And I’d told him everything too – including about the text my dad had sent me by mistake. None of it made sense to either of us. My dad knew Theo’s dad. And, for some reason, he was in touch with the bunch of lunatics who blew up the clinic where they’d both worked.
    I sighed. Whichever way I looked at it, it was impossible to understand. I know Dad didn’t approve of some of the genetic research that had been done at the clinic. That was clear from that newspaper report Theo told me about. But the idea that he felt strongly enough to murder people over it. No. No way. Dad was too conventional. Too normal. He had a job and a house and went to dinner-dances at the tennis club.
    Anyway. He couldn’t be a murderer. He just couldn’t.
    He was my dad.
    I went over