Page 118 of Serenity Falls

It takes Sadie a moment, and then she remembers: Chris was the kid who swapped costumes with Frankie.

‘What do you think happened to them?’

Ramona shrugs. ‘I don’t know, but I do know Chris isn’t a nice guy, although he pretends to be. He set Frankie up.’

Sadie lets this settle. ‘But why? Why would someone want to hurt Frankie?’

There’s a pause. Dax glances at Ramona. ‘You’re gonna have to tell the whole story.’

‘Okay,’ she says. ‘I work part time in the library. About a week ago, Frankie came in and asked if he could look at some newspaper archives. I said sure, but he had to book in with Miss Green, the head librarian, and she was on lunch. Frankie freaked. Asked if I could do him a favour and keep it a secret.’

‘Why?’

‘He said it was safer if I didn’t know. He was acting kind of paranoid – maybe too much weed, but I liked Frankie, so I agreed. He gave me a list of dates, and I found the right reels. He was in the archive room for an hour or so, copied a load of stuff, and then he left.’

‘You don’t know what he looked up?’

Ramona shakes her head. ‘No, but I was curious, so I photocopied the list he gave me.’

She reaches into a bag by her side and takes out a sheet of paper.

‘These are the six dates Frankie was interested in – see?’

27th October 1991

19th May 1997

22nd June 1997

12th March 1998

13th April 2008

17th September 2012

Sadie looks at her. ‘What’s so important about these dates?’

‘I don’t know, and I couldn’t check after he left because Miss Green came back. It was a couple of days before I was on my own again.’ She pauses. ‘And when I went to load up the reels, they’d gone.’

‘Gone?’

‘Yep. Not filed. Not stored anywhere. Gone.’ She pauses. ‘A few days after that, Frankie’s dead.’

She lets this hang. Sadie feels a chill.

‘You think someone killed him because of what was on those reels?’

‘Frankie wasn’t exactly the curious type. I don’t know where he got that list of dates or why they mattered. But something shook him up.’

‘What happened to the copies he made?’ Sadie asks.

‘Good question. I guess whoever killed him has them.’

Sadie considers. ‘Maybe. But if Frankie was paranoid, he might have hidden them or given copies to someone? Is there anyone he would have confided in?’

They look at each other. And then Ramona says: ‘Shit. Of course!’

Frankie