Breaking Her Rules

Chapter 9

I find Julian sitting with his brother Findlay and Findlay's girlfriend Lexington outside the front of school the next morning. The boys are both interested to hear my take of events from last night. I haven't ever properly met Findlay's girlfriend. She's a very pretty blonde in Findlay's grade, and she introduces herself with a big grin and tells me it's nice to meet me.

'I just don't even know what's going on anymore,' I'm telling Julian. 'First Duncan and Lucas make those accusations about your mum breaking up the band, and now this?'

'Dude, my Mum was fucking George Addison in the eighties,' Julian says harshly. 'I can't believe I never knew that. And he cheated on her. I bet that's why the band broke up.'

'Oh yeah,' I say, resting my chin in my hand. 'Maybe that explains what Lucas was saying. He didn't know George cheated. He thought it was your Mum's fault somehow.'

Findlay decides to fill his girlfriend in on our conversation, since she seems a little lost. 'You remember me telling you about Dime's, right? George Addison was the lead singer. But he died.'

'My mum hates that band, actually,' Lexington says, flicking blonde hair off her shoulders. 'She hates rock music. It's totally weird, but lately I've been listening to heaps of old Australian bands, like Cold Chisel and Powderfinger and even ACDC. Dime's is pretty good, I reckon.'

'Jules, you haven't even heard the worst of it,' I say, cutting through Lexington's rambling. 'The detective that's taken on my father's case, guess who?' I say.

'Who?'

'Robert Forrester,' I scowl. 'He just happens to be Duncan's father. You should have heard the way he talks to Duncan. He was forcing Duncan to study and really putting pressure on him. If Duncan wasn't such a massive dickhead I might even feel sorry for the guy.'

Julian raises his eyebrows. 'This is pretty fucked, dude. What if it was murder?'

I'm about to say something when I notice Watson walking towards us. His hair is messy and his shirt is crumpled. I smile unintentionally at his approaching figure. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and shows me an article on a news site.

'Maisonwood's book not dime a dozen for police?' I read out the title of the article. 'Thomas Maisonwood, drummer for 80s rock band Dime's the Limit was yesterday questioned by police after new allegations about lead singer George Addison's disappearance arose thanks to new evidence in Maisonwood's book, which is due for publication later this month.'

I look up at Watson, surprised. 'This is in the newspaper?' I ask.

'Yeah. Are you okay, Emmy?' he places a hand on my arm.

'I'm worried about it. Dad seems to think the police want to get him on the murder. He says there's no evidence, but the police seem to think that something in his book changes something about the case.'

Watson gives me a reassuring smile. 'It'll be okay, Emmy, I'm sure. But there's no point us worrying about it. Your dad and the police will sort it out. Ainsley is already in homeroom. She's got something to tell you.'

'Really?'

Ainsley is sitting at a desk in our homeroom in C block, drawing flowers onto the outside of her notebook. When I take a seat beside her she looks up, and I see a hint of terror in her face. I glance at Watson, who nods reassuringly.

'What's up?' I ask.

'Uh, my parents are going away for a weekend,' Ainsley says. 'And um, I thought, since no one in Cernette has had a big party, maybe I could host one.'

'Oh!' I say, excited. 'Really? Yes, that's awesome! A Cernette party!'

Ainsley looks relieved. 'You need to help me organise it though. I don't know how to host a party.'