Free Eva and the Hidden Diary by Judi Curtin

woman’s smile vanished. It was like a shutter had come down over her eyes, and she looked blank and cold.
    ‘I think you two girls have wasted quite enough of my time,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what you think you are doing, but it’s time to stop right now. Go home and play computer games or whatever it is young people do nowadays. Go away and stop bothering innocent people.’
    She was starting to close the door and I knew this was going to be my last chance.
    ‘It’s never too late to right a wrong,’ I said. ‘Jean-Marc died and Florrie died, but Daisy might still be alive. Don’t you think she deserves to know the truth about her father? If you know something that could help her, don’t you think––?’
    But now the door was fully closed. ‘Good-bye,’ came the woman’s voice from behind the thick wood. ‘And if you ever come back here again, I will be calling the police.’
    Then I heard the click-click of her heels as she walked away.
    ‘At least we know where we stand,’ I said, aswe walked back to our bikes. ‘I like people who make themselves clear.’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Kate. ‘But it definitely wasn’t a wasted journey.’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘Did you see the way that woman changed? She was all sweet and smiley until we mentioned the court case. That means she knows something. She definitely knows something.’
    ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘You’re right. But you heard what she said. Short of torturing her, I can’t think of a way to get her to share what she knows with us, can you?’
    Kate shook her head. ‘So that’s it,’ she said. ‘This is the end. We did our best, but it’s looking like poor Daisy, wherever she is, is never going to know what really happened.’
    The cycle home seemed very long and full of steep hills.

Chapter Twelve
    A ll that night I had terrible dreams about Daisy. She was sitting on the end of my bed, combing her long, curly hair, and crying big, fat, wet tears. ‘Why won’t anyone help me?’ she kept saying. ‘Why doesn’t anyone care?’
    Even in my dreams, where magic can happen, I didn’t know how to answer her.
    But the next morning there was a present-day problem waiting to be solved.
    Kate called over and sat in our kitchen with her head in her hands. When Mum and Dad spoke to her, she just gave the shortest answerpossible, and then looked away.
    Luckily, Mum was used to this kind of behaviour. The year before, Kate had stayed with us while her social workers were trying to find her a foster family. Even though Kate is my friend, I have to admit that it was a very, very long few days.
    Joey came in after a while, and I hoped that would make things easier. Kate and Joey have always got on really well.
    ‘Hey, Kate,’ he said.
    ‘Hey, Joey,’ she said, in a dead kind of voice.
    ‘Have you heard the joke about the blunt pencil?’ he asked. ‘Oh never mind – there’s no point!’
    Kate didn’t even smile. That’s when I knew things were serious – Kate
always
laughs at Joey’s jokes, even when they are totally unfunny. Usually she laughs extra hard at the very bad ones, because she feels sorry for him.
    Mum gave me a questioning look, but I justshrugged. I had no idea what was going on either.
    ‘Poor Kate,’ said Mum. ‘You must be upset about Daisy. It’s terrible the way things turned out for that unfortunate girl.’
    Kate looked up. ‘I
am
upset about Daisy, but that’s not what’s …’
    ‘That’s not what’s …?’ said Mum helping her along, but Kate had her most stubborn face on.
    ‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘It’s nothing.’
    ‘Come on, Kate,’ I said in the end. ‘You and I need to talk. Let’s go to Jeremy and you can tell me exactly what’s on your mind.’

    ‘Please,’ I said, as soon as we’d climbed up to our favourite branch on our favourite tree. ‘Tell me what’s wrong, Kate.’
    She only hesitated for a second. ‘It’s Zoe,’ she said. ‘Her boss from London called last night and