Free Hacker by Malorie Blackman

else I’d wanted to say vanished out of my head when I saw him. I’d thought Mum looked bad. But Dad looked far, far worse. All the life and laughter had gone from his face. Only as soon as he saw me, he tried to smile. He straightened up and ran his hand over his damp hair.
    ‘Hello, Victoria. Good grief! It feels like I haven’t seen you in weeks rather than just one day,’ Dad said, holding out his arms.
    I walked into them and he hugged me. I nodded slowly.
    ‘How are you?’ he asked.
    I nodded again.
    ‘You’re very quiet, pumpkin,’ Dad smiled.
    That did it! My eyes started to leak and I was off again. I covered my face with my hands, too upset to be embarrassed, too miserable to care. The next thing I knew, Dad was smoothing down my hair and sighing.
    ‘Victoria, don’t cry,’ he said soothingly. ‘I’m all right, I promise. And this thing will never get to trial. The bank will find out before then that I didn’t take the money.’
    ‘How will they find out?’ I sniffed.
    ‘I may have been suspended, but I still have friends at the bank,’ Dad replied.
    ‘Like Aunt Beth and Eric?’ I asked.
    ‘That’s right.’ Dad smiled. ‘Eric’s a good Systems Manager and Beth knows her way around most of the programs on the system. Between the two of them they should be able to find out something that’ll help me.’
    ‘D’you really think so?’ I asked.
    Dad nodded.
    ‘How … how did that money get into your account?’ I whispered.
    Dad’s smile faded. ‘Well, if I knew that, I’d be halfway towards solving this mystery.’
    I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, feeling better now that we were talking about it.
    ‘Why should anyone want to put that million in your account? That’s what I can’t understand,’ I complained.
    Dad nodded. ‘If I knew that then I’d be three-quarters of the way towards solving the mystery.’
    ‘And the last quarter?’ I asked.
    Dad’s face was stony. ‘Finding out who did all this.’
    ‘Do you have any idea who that might be?’
    ‘That’s just it, I don’t. Nothing definite at any rate,’ Dad sighed. ‘And even if I did know for sure who it was, that wouldn’t help. I need proof. Concrete, indisputable proof.’
    I looked at Dad. Neither of us spoke for a few moments.
    ‘Proof that someone else is guilty to prove that you’re innocent,’ I said slowly.
    ‘Exactly. Right now I don’t see how I can prove my innocence otherwise.’
    ‘Dad …’
    ‘Enough questions, Victoria. All I want to do now is sleep for a week,’ Dad said.
    Mum came out of their bedroom. She glared at me. I’d forgotten what she’d said in the garden. When Dad went into their bedroom, Mum looked at me and shook her head.
    ‘Oh, Vicky,’ she sighed, before following Dad into the room and closing the door behind her.
    I chewed on my bottom lip, feeling about two centimetres high. I had a pain in my chest and my throat felt as if it was full of sand.
    Unwanted again.
    I moved towards the door, ready to knock and say sorry. I hadn’t done it deliberately. I’d just forgotten.
    ‘David, I’m sorry. I asked Vicky not to mention the bank.’ I heard Mum’s muffled voice through the closed door. I grimaced at her words, feeling worse than terrible.
    ‘Why not?’ Dad asked. ‘I’m glad she wanted to talk about it. It’s better than what everyone else is doing. Skirting around the subject but still dying to know all the ins and outs and in-betweens.’
    ‘But I don’t want you upset any more by this business,’ Mum said.
    ‘You’re the one who shouldn’t get upset, Laura. It’s you I’m worried about,’ Dad replied.
    I didn’t mean to listen, but my feet had forgotten how to move.
    ‘D’you know what burns me up about this whole thing?’ Dad said, his voice louder with anger now. ‘If I was some smart-alec hacker from outside who’d been accused of taking the money, the bank would be doing their best to keep all this quiet. They’d probably even