Free Mosi's War by Cathy MacPhail Page A

while, he’d been glad. Here was someone he could confide in. Together, they could decide what to do.
    But what if Patrick wanted to know how he knew of this awful man? Knew he wasn’t who he said he was. That he must be here under a false passport. How could he explain that he knew one of the world’s most wanted war criminals? The truth would lead to all his lies tumbling like dominoes, one after another. And Patrick would want to go to the police, and Mosi’s story would come out, and . . .
    NO!
    He could not confide in Patrick. If Patrick knew who Okafor really was, then let him go to the police on his own. He would say nothing. Pretend he had seen nothing. What was it Patrick had seen anyway? Mosi watching Okafor. Mosi being sick. He had put two and two together and come up with the wrong answer. Better to pretend he didn’t understand what Patrick was talking about. And that would be the lie he would stick with.
    Another lie.
    And anyway, perhaps the man had changed. His past he could not change. He had been a monster, worse than a monster, nothing could make up for the past. But perhaps he was trying to build a new life here, just as Mosi was. As his parents were. Perhaps he was trying to make up for all the evil he had done.
    Everyone deserved a second chance. Didn’t they?
    He would not let fear ruin things for him. He was going to forget Papa Blood existed. He would avoid ever being near him. Let Patrick do what he wanted.
     
    It was in the afternoon that the whispered rumours started flying around the school. One wilder than the next.
    It began with a body found in the cemetery.
    But the story blazed out of control.
    Cut into little pieces.
    Blood everywhere.
    Beyond recognition.
    The police were back on the estate in force. Sitting in the classroom, everyone could hear the sirens.
    A body found.
    Let it be Papa Blood , Mosi thought. Then he could live without fear of ever seeing him again.
    But that wasn’t the whispered rumour that raced round the school and was sent on text messages from one school to another. For them, there was a growing excited suspicion.
    The vampire had struck again.

Chapter 26
    Mosi’s father was at the school gates waiting for him when school ended. Many of the parents were there. Mothers, fathers, carers. Mosi even saw Patrick’s granny, a big broad woman with her blonde tipped hair cut in a fashionable bob.
    ‘Why did you come?’ Mosi asked his father.
    His father put his hand on his shoulder. ‘Have you heard about the body?’
    Mosi nodded. ‘We all did. I hoped it was only a rumour.’
    ‘No rumour. Someone has been murdered.’
    ‘Who . . . who was it?’ Mosi was afraid to ask, afraid of the answer.
    ‘No one knows yet. It doesn’t matter. If it is one of the locals, we will all get the blame for it. If it is one of the asylum seekers, we will still have trouble.’ His father looked worried.
    As they walked home together Mosi could feel the tension on the estate. The police cars were there, cruising the area, watching for any unrest. There were groups of men standing talking; they ignored Mosi and his father, but their suspicious eyes followed them as they passed.
     
    Patrick couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw his granny at the school gates.
    ‘What are you doing here?’ He was looking around to see who else noticed her. But how could anybody miss his granny? For a start, she’d just had her hair done. She had blonde highlights and everything. Hair that looked totally out of place on his granny’s head.
    ‘I’m here because your mother isn’t,’ she snapped. At the same time she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him on. ‘Have you heard what happened?’
    ‘A dead body . . . I heard there was blood everywhere.’
    ‘Oh, and you’ll be adding to that, telling people there was a disembodied head rolling out of the cemetery, eyes popping out the sockets, I suppose.’
    ‘Was there?’
    She never answered him. Proof enough it was true.
    ‘The body