Dangerous to Know Read Online Free PDF Page A

in the lanes.
    “And we missed the first train as well,” Sammy said. “We had to take the slow one.”
    “Oh for goodness’ sake – it stops at every hole in the hedge.” Yvonne glanced at her watch. She was wearing a blue and white striped apron over jeans, a long bright pink cardigan covered in tiny mirrors, and a pair of wellies. “But that taxi of yours must have headed halfway to Bristol and back. Didn’t you run out of cash?” Yvonne asked. “I hope the driver didn’t charge you extra for getting lost.” She gave Sammy a long look and he shrugged. Yvonne’s no one’s fool. If there hadn’t been a mile-long queue in the café she might have asked a few more awkward questions.
    Bethany smiled. “He did, but there was no point arguing. My mum gave me taxi money, too. So we were fine.”
    I could see that Sammy was starting to sweat.
Mum asks all these really innocent-sounding questions
, he’s said before.
Just kind of tricks things out of you. I can’t get anything past her.
    Yvonne looked a bit surprised to see Bethany but, again, she played it cool. “Oh, well that was lucky. I’m Yvonne, by the way.”
    “This is Bethany,” I said, relieved that the questioning seemed to be over. That didn’t last long.
    “Are you OK, Jack?” Yvonne asked me. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
    “I’m just a bit tired,” I said.
    Yvonne gave me another one of those long looks. “Come and help me a second will you, J? I need to reach a box of teabags from the dry store, and I think you’re the only one tall enough. Franky’s in the beer tent.” She sighed. “Why don’t the rest of you all sit down and have a cup of tea, hot chocolate – we’ve got chai on the go if you fancy it. Sounds like you had a long journey.”
    When I’d climbed past the tins of beans and packets of burger buns stashed in the tent next to the kitchen, and finally found the teabags, Yvonne said “Are you OK, Jack?”
    “I’m fine, really,” I replied. “Just tired, like I said.”
    She must have felt it was OK to move in for the attack. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”
    “We haven’t been together that long.”
    “Bethany doesn’t go to your school, does she? I don’t think I’ve heard Sam mention the name.”
    I shrugged. “She’s at St Agnes’s. She’s really nice, Yvonne. Really up for helping out, too. I promise.”
    “I’m sure she’s nice. She’s very pretty. Natural-looking, unlike most of them nowadays. Bad liar, too.” Yvonne shook her head and I flinched. Lucky for Sammy that Yvonne’s cool. You really couldn’t get anything past her. If she was all uptight and strict about stuff, it’d be a nightmare. “Is Bethany going to be OK with you three boys, though?”
    “Yeah,” I said, “we’ll be fine. Honestly.”
    Yvonne gave me that look again. “What I mean is, Jack, that I hope you’ll be careful. Sensible.”
    Ugh, God, what was she on about? What did she think I was going to do, lose my virginity in a tent full of baked bean tins with Jono and Sammy as company? Classy.
    I nodded, handing her the box of teabags. “Don’t worry, Yvonne. We’ll be OK.”
    Just as I said it, the lights went out and someone yelled from the kitchen tent, “Yvonne! The urn and the fridge have gone off, too.”
    “Bugger,” said Yvonne in the darkness. “See you later, Jack. Just don’t do anything stupid, will you?”
    Then she yelled, “Coming!” I was off the hook.
    Bethany and I managed to lose Jono and Sammy outside the cinema tent. There was a little bonfire with hay bales laid out around it and we sat down on one of the bales.
    “It’s powered by a bike!” Bethany grinned, teeth white in the darkness. “A cinema powered by a bike. Thanks for bringing me, Jack. It’s amazing.” She passed me the pint of cider we were sharing, taking a long draw from a joint. But then the smile disappeared and she stared down at the ground, already scattered with plastic pint glasses and