Free Princess Phoebe by Scilla James Page B

telly withoutwatching it. Dad looks through piles of papers, but apart from the occasional swearword he says nothing. I know better than to ask questions; Mum will only say she can do without me going on. So when the twins go off upstairs I say I’m going to bed too.
    I wake up next morning with a great big headache, cold and sore throat. The ditch, I suppose. Jan comes round to see me and brings Jade, which is good, but my legs ache and I’m too wonky to want to do anything. She sits on the end of my bed and tries to perk me up. We send Mrs Henderson a text from Jan’s phone but I guess Mrs Henderson’s useless at texting because she never replies. We don’t dare ring her in case we’re overheard or she rings back when Jan’s with her dad or something. In the end, I fall sleep and when I wake again Jan has gone. To me it feels like the whole house is waiting for something, it’s so quiet. Kind of tense, but with nobody fighting.

    It’s Sunday morning before I feel even half all right. We’ve only got two days of holiday left, so I go early to call for Jan. She gets some drinks and crisps and we set off to see Margaret at the allotment.
    â€˜I’ve been trying to phone Mrs Henderson since I left the house,’ I tell Jan, ‘but she keeps on being engaged. Something’s the matter, I can feel it.’
    I try a few more times. We sit down on a low wall outside the little row of shops we have to go past on the way, but I keep expecting Frank to appear among the old men coughing along to the newsagents for ciggies and Sunday papers. It would just be my luck. So I get up again almost at once and say, ‘Let’s go.’
    We kick our way through last night’s empty chip wrappers and bottles while I keep pressing re-dial.
    â€˜I don’t see why you’re worrying,’ says Jan, ‘she’s probably on the phone to someone else. Her family or something.’
    I hadn’t thought of Mrs Henderson having a family, but while I’m trying to imagine what they’d be like if she had, her phone finally rings through and she answers.
    Though all she says is that she’ll phone me back, she sounds funny.
    â€˜Now I know something’s wrong,’ I tell Jan. ‘It’ll be Princess. I bet she’s run off to look for me, and Mrs Henderson doesn’t know how to tell me.’
    â€˜Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ says Jan. ‘It’s not all about you, you know. Maybe one of her family’s broken their leg.’
    â€˜Oh I hope so,’ I say, ‘if it means that Princess is all right.’
    I catch Jan’s look as my phone rings.
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ Mrs Henderson says on the other end, ‘I’ve just had a bit of a fright.’
    â€˜Is Princess OK?’ I ask. That’s all I can think about.
    â€˜Yes, Ellie, she’s fine, but I’m not sure she’s going to be safe here for much longer. Yesterday afternoon I was out in the garden with her when I noticed a white van going past, quite slowly. There was a big man driving, and I’m afraid he looked awfully like your description of Frank. He didn’t stop, and I didn’t think he’d seen Princess. I went to the gate to look when he’d gone past, but he was already out of sight round the corner.’
    â€˜It must have been him,’ I say. I can feel my heart going down into my trainers.
    Mrs Henderson goes on, ‘I tried to ring you but your phone was off.’
    â€˜I’ve been a bit ill,’ I tell her, ‘and my dad left my battery flat.’
    â€˜Anyway,’ Mrs Henderson says, ‘in case he came back and challenged me I put Phoebe’s collar on Princess and decided to insist that she was my dog however much she might resemble the one he’d lost.’
    â€˜Has he been back?’
    â€˜Yes, Ellie. His van pulled up just as you rang me this morning. He was quite polite. Asked me how