Ben frowns and Cameron walks over. “What’s going on?” he asks, oblivious.
“It’s Amelie,” I whisper.
He frowns. “What’s Amelie?” he asks.
“She killed Natasha.”
“What?” he snaps.
Amelie comes running back inside and our eyes all flick to her guiltily. “I have to go. I have an emergency I have to attend to.” She picks up her bag and throws it over her shoulder.
“But you haven’t seen Joshua.” Cameron frowns.
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry,” she calls as she makes a dash for the doors.
Ben stands and signals to Max to meet him outside and Cameron starts to look between the three of us. “What’s happening?” he whispers.
“Get in the car,” Ben snaps.
Cameron frowns. “What?” he whispers. “Can’t be?”
I shake my head as I try and make sense of this.
“How do you know Natasha hadn’t told anyone this?” Cameron asks.
“It was a code that she wanted me to use if there was someone around she didn’t trust,” I murmur. My eyes flick to Ben. “Natasha is sending me a message. It’s her, I swear to you it’s Amelie.”
Ben stands with his legs wide and his hands in his pockets as he thinks. His jaw ticks in concentration. “Let’s go,” he snaps as he heads toward the door and Max follows him. My eyes dart to Cameron who is still in shock.
“Where are we going?” he asks, horrified.
“Following her. She must know something.” I shrug as I start toward the door after Ben and Max.
Cameron stands still on the spot, defiantly. “What about Nick?” he calls. “How is he going to get home?”
I turn and frown at him. “I will ring him,” I snap, annoyed at his procrastination.
He shakes his head and follows us out to the car. Ben and Max get into the front seat and Cam and I get into the back.
Cameron shakes his head. “I swear to god, Murph, if this is a wild goose chase I’m going to bash you. Joshua needs us today. I don’t want him alone today and tonight. Tomorrow is supposed to be his damn wedding day. He’s on the fucking edge,” he snaps.
“Joshua needs us to prove him innocent you dead shit and we are trying our best! Now shut the fuck up or get out of the fucking car!” Ben snaps and he slams on the brakes and we all lurch forward.
Cameron looks at the roof of the car in frustration. “Fine. Drive,” he replies flatly.
Max starts to type something into Ben’s phone and Ben’s eyes flick to him as he drives. “Where is she?” Ben asks.
“Fifteen kilometres in front.” He holds the phone out for us all to see the little red dot driving along the road.
The car falls silent and Cameron scratches his head in frustration as he thinks. “Explain to me why we are following Amelie again. I don’t get it.”
“Ok, so when Natasha came to LA with us the first time, remember when she had the fight with Carson?” I reply as my eyes flick between the three of them.
Max turns around in his seat to listen. “Yes,” replies Cameron.
“Natasha wanted to make up a code word for snake,” I continue.
Cameron frowns. “For snake… as in cock?”
I widen my eyes and shake my head. “You are such an imbecile. No, not cock-a snake as in someone she couldn’t trust.”
“Oh right,” Cameron mutters. Max laughs and Ben smirks into the rear-vision mirror and shakes his head.
“She said that if I saw someone I didn’t think she could trust I could say the word Cinderella to her as a warning.”
“Yes,” replies Max from the front seat.
I nod. “So whenever we have been alone I have called Natasha Cinderella as a pet name.”
Cameron frowns. “And nobody knows this but you two?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, because if anyone knew, including Joshua, we couldn’t use the code anymore.”
Ben rubs his fingers over his lips, deep in thought as he drives, and Cameron rubs his hand over his stubble as he processes the information.
“Today, when Amelie was talking, she said that Joshua had lost his Cinderella. Nobody knows that but Natasha,” I murmur. “It has to be her. She has to know what happened to Natasha.”
Cameron frowns. “Amelie is a bitch but she’s not capable of this. It’s not her,” he snaps. “No way.”
“She’s turning off,” Max replies from the front seat. “Slow down so she doesn’t see us,” he adds and Ben slows the car down.
I shake my head. “I know it’s a long shot, but I know Natasha would not have told Amelie our code word. I think Natasha is trying to send me a message.”
Max smiles with renewed purpose.