Read Online No True Echo by Gareth P. Jones - Free Book Online

chance to get out. I really don’t have time to argue with you.’
    â€˜Let’s go, then.’
    â€˜Eddie Dane, you are the stubbornest person I have ever met.’
    Weirdly, even though she shouted the words and banged the dashboard in frustration, I didn’t really feel as though she was genuinely angry. She sounded amused, as though she was repeating an often-told joke between us. I liked it. She turned the key and started the engine with the confidence of someone who had been starting cars all her life.
    â€˜You were joking about it being stolen, weren’t you?’ I said.
    â€˜Which answer do you want?’
    â€˜The one that means you’ve borrowed your mum’s car or something.’
    â€˜Fine. Then I did that.’
    â€˜That’s not true, is it?’
    â€˜What do you think?’
    â€˜Did the car key get delivered by another one of your magic motorbike people?’ I asked.
    â€˜Don’t call him that, and no. It was in the ignition.’ The noise the car made when Scarlett put her foot down suggested it was unused to being driven at such speed. Everything rattled in a terrified protest against her driving.
    â€˜Did Bill teach you to drive?’
    â€˜Actually, I had a very good teacher,’ she replied, keeping her eyes on the road.
    I gripped the side as she took another corner without slowing down.
    â€˜Aren’t there protocols about this?’ I asked.
    â€˜To be honest there are protocols about more or less everything, but you’ve got to have a little bit of fun too, otherwise what’s the point? I’m sorry, am I making you nervous?’
    The truth was that Scarlett didn’t need to break the speed limit in a stolen car to make me feel nervous, but it wasn’t the kind of nervous that made me want to get away. It was the kind of nervous that made me want to stay for ever.
    â€˜Do you remember me saying my mum died in a car crash?’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean that it was a family tradition or anything.’
    She laughed. ‘What do you know about your mother, Eddie?’
    â€˜Not much.’
    â€˜I mean, what did she do? Did she have a job?’
    â€˜I don’t think so. She was still at university when she had me. She dropped out, I think.’
    â€˜Hold on,’ said Scarlett. ‘We’ve gone past the turning.’
    She slammed on the brakes and I felt my whole body jerk forward then rock back. Scarlett looked over her shoulder and put the car into reverse along the road, then turned right onto a dirt track that cut through a field. Having rained continually for the past three days, we hadn’t got far before the car began to skid and slide in the mud, unable to go any further.
    Scarlett switched off the ignition and undid her seatbelt. ‘We’ll have to walk,’ she said. ‘When you get out of the car, get out quickly and close the door behind you straight away.’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜So you don’t let the cat out.’
    â€˜What cat?’
    â€˜That cat.’
    She pointed over her shoulder where a terrified-looking cat was digging its claws into the backseat. I reached down and inspected the collar around its neck. The cat was quaking in fear. He hissed at me as I read his tag.
    â€˜He’s called Rascal,’ I said, stroking his head.
    â€˜Well, let’s keep Rascal in the car. It’s bad enough stealing an old lady’s car, but losing her cat would be awful.’

The Green Door
    Scarlett was walking fast and I was doing my best to keep up, but I was also trying to avoid the really deep puddles, which involved a lot of hopping and jumping.
    â€˜Do you have to do that?’ she asked.
    â€˜I’m trying not to get my socks wet,’ I replied. ‘So is your life always like this?’
    â€˜These days it is, yes. Things are more complicated where I’m from.’
    â€˜You mean that we’re all simple here in the