said. Her face changed to a look of shock as she noticed the clock on the wall. ‘Oh hell. It’s half-eight and I’m not even dressed. I’m gonna be so late for school.’
20. SLUMS
While Dave went to the scrap yard with Pete Tarasov, James bummed around the flat. There was no point enrolling in one of the local schools, because it was only two days until the beginning of summer holidays.
There was nothing James could do for the mission while Max, Liza and all the other local kids were at school. Unfortunately, Zara had picked up on this and asked a couple of James’ teachers to set him work.
After Dave went out, James started playing FIFA 2005 on his Playstation. He had a saved game, with Arsenal five points clear at the top of the Premiership, and he extended it to eight by stuffing Chelsea. James knew he ought to start on the schoolwork, but the goals kept going in and it was midday by the time he’d swept aside Liverpool, Charlton and Aston Villa. He finally lost his touch in a disappointing game against Tottenham, with the computer awarding itself a penalty in extra time for a 2–2 draw.
‘Penalty my arse,’ James screamed, as he kicked the coffee table, lobbed the controller and furiously switched off his console. ‘Stupid poxy game … Programmed by a Spurs fan, or some other kind of moron.’
When he’d calmed down, James realised he was hungry. He spread Nutella on toast and garnished each slice with squirty cream. It was nearly 1 p.m. by the time he hit the books.
James lay on his bed and wondered how with all the great battles, civilisations and catastrophes from history to choose from, his teacher had decided to set a 1,500-word report, with a minimum of three illustrations, on the achingly uninteresting subject of water sanitation during the Victorian era. James loathed anything that involved writing long essays, especially as Mr Brennan had a habit of complaining about his left-handed scrawl and making him rewrite entire essays from scratch.
James found himself drawn towards the one subject he was good at. Most kids don’t even start GCSE maths until they’re fourteen, but James had passed with an A* grade the previous November and was well into his studies for Advanced level. He settled on his bed with a clipboard and a fat textbook on his lap, confidently pencilling his way through the test at the end of Unit 14F: The trapezium rule for approximate integration.
Being brilliant at maths wasn’t the kind of thing that set the girls swooning. But while James played it down, he was secretly proud. It was good having one subject where he got all As and his teacher smiled when they passed in the corridor, instead of dragging him aside and making demands for late homework like the others.
James had started Unit 14G and was really into it when the doorbell rang. He walked out of his room and was surprised to see a policewoman’s uniform through the frosted glass.
‘Hello,’ Millie smiled, as James opened the door. ‘So you are here. I tried your mobile.’
James reached towards the tracksuit top hooked up by the door and grabbed his phone from the pocket. ‘I bet it’s gone flat. I’m the world’s crappest person at remembering to charge up my mobile.’
Millie invited herself in. ‘I thought it would be OK to drop by, just this once,’ she said as she closed the door. ‘If any of the locals ask why I was here, just say I was following up on your arrest.’
James thought Millie looked good, even in sensible shoes and with her body armour squashing everything out of shape. She unzipped a small backpack as she sat on the sofa and pulled out a paper bag.
‘I got us some nice sandwiches and cakes,’ Millie explained. ‘Have you eaten?’
‘Only some toast,’ James said, opening up the bag and studying the selection of goodies. ‘OK if I take the smoked salmon sandwich? The other one’s got mayo on and I can’t stomach it.’
Millie broke into an awkward smile. ‘Have whatever you want. I’ll mostly be eating humble pie.’
‘Eh?’
‘Humble pie,’ Millie repeated as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a few sheets of photocopied paper. Each sheet was a copy of a form: 289B – Official Notification To An Officer Of A Misconduct Investigation, with Michael Patel’s name written in the top corner.
‘If someone makes a complaint about a police officer, a copy of this form