I start to laugh. As deadpan as Alex sounds, I know he loves Max to the moon and back. “He’s as full of it as his dad.”
“Careful...”
“Anyway, I wanted to ask you something.” I reach out and grab the bottle of water that's resting on my side table. “Is Mum having money troubles again?”
There's silence for a moment, and all I can hear is Alex's breathing, and the distant echo of Max's cries. Then my brother speaks, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. “What's she done this time?”
Hastily, I backtrack. “Nothing, at least not as far as I know. It's just there was some weird guy hanging around asking for her.”
“A weird guy?” Alex echoes. “What kind of weirdo? Did you see him?”
“Yeah, he was standing on our doorstep when I got home from yoga. Asked me where she was.”
Alex's voice deepens. “Did you tell him?”
“I'm not stupid,” I reply, exasperated. “But the odd thing was, he knew my name.”
“What the hell? Tell me what he said?” For the first time I detect a note of panic in my brother's voice. Alex doesn't rile easily. I don't like it.
“He asked me if Tina Cartwright lived here. Then he said my name.”
“He might have heard someone else talking to you...”
I bite my lip before taking in a deep breath. “He knew my real name Alex.”
“Fuck.”
The only way to know my real name is to go through my official documents. Look in the electoral register, or at my birth certificate. Absolutely nothing online—especially not my Facebook account—is under the name Amethyst.
“What did you say to him?” Alex asks. Then I hear him mutter something. I'm hoping he's talking to Lara rather than to himself.
“I said I wasn't Amethyst. Then I asked him who he was.”
“And?”
“He didn't really say. Just said something about digging something up.”
“Digging something up?” I can almost hear Alex running his hand through his hair. He used to do that all the time when we were kids. “What does that mean?”
I frown. “No, I don't think he meant digging. He said his name was Digger.”
Silence. This time I don't hear Alex breathe. His lack of response makes my heart start to hammer, as if there's something I should be afraid of.
“Alex?” I finally prompt.
“He said he was called Digger?”
“He told me to tell Mum he said 'hi'.”
“Shit.” This time his voice raises an octave. “Did you lock the door behind you?”
“Of course I did, I'm not stupid.”
“Where's Mum?” he barks. I blink in alarm.
“She had a shift at the shop I think. She'll be home by eleven.”
“What room are you in?”