Entering the cottage warily through the open door they saw that the previously stacked cardboard boxes had been ransacked. Their contents strewn over the wooden floor, it appeared that their visitor, or visitors, had not left any stone unturned. Cereal packets had been torn open and Tracy's sleeping bag lay unrolled and torn among the rest of her scattered clothing. Reuben was taken aback at the sheer violence of the scene and glanced incredulously at Phil.
"I think it's about time you told us a little more about what's going on here, don't you?" he asked brashly, and then wished he hadn't. Tracy's face was white as a sheet. Phil reached out to steady her.
"Do you know who did this?" he asked quietly.
"I've got a fair idea." She glanced at Reuben and then down at the floor. "I'm sorry! I didn't think it would come to this."
"What were they looking for?" Reuben picked up a cardboard box and began to repack it with tins of food from around the floor. "Not baked beans it would appear."
"I'm not sure." She started picking up her clothes. "It's something to do with Mum's work. She's in computer systems of some sort. That's where she met Dad. A few weeks ago she left to sort out some contract. She came to see me last thing at night. She told me not to worry but she was on to something 'hush-hush'. I was to cook Dad a good breakfast next morning and look after him while she was away."
Reuben picked up another box. "Couldn't your Dad shed any light on the subject?"
"That was the next problem. When I got down to breakfast the next day I found a note, addressed to Mum. 'I've got a lead on the Zimmermann case. Shouldn't take more than a week. Love to Tracy, tell her I've gone to a conference or something.' So there I was one evening two loving parents, the next morning alone in the world."
"Why didn't you stay at the house? One of them was bound to ring or something."
"I did at first. Then one afternoon, after school I was walking up the hill from the village, pushing my bike, when a large black car passed me and swung into the drive. My first reaction was of relief. One of them had come back, perhaps I would find out what it was all about, but when I got to the house I realised that the people in the car were strangers. There were two men. One was standing at the front door, ringing the bell, the other stood at the door of the car.
"I was about to approach them to unlock the door, they might have been salesmen or something, when the man at the door moved away towards the front windows. He peered through the glass and shook the window frame. They hadn't seen me yet and I decided to keep it that way. I tucked my bike in behind the trees in the drive and watched. The other man had joined him now. Together they tried most of the windows on the ground floor. I could have told them they wouldn't have much luck! Dad is very security conscious and fitted strong catches. I heard the men talking.
'You can't break in in broad daylight. It's too risky.'
'It's got to be in there! He didn't take it with him. I don't need to tell you what will happen if it falls into the wrong hands.'
'I know. But now is not the time. We'll come back later with the right tools.’
‘There's no one at home. I expect she took the girl with her. That gives us a few days to play with.'
"When the men had gone I let myself in. I really didn't know what to do. I could have called the police straight away, but what would I tell them? The men hadn't broken in yet. There was no damage. If the police arrived they would be more interested in what a girl my age was doing on her own without supervision."
"Had you any idea what they were looking for?" Phil asked, placing a hurricane lamp on an upturned box. The room was once again ordered and tidied and the three sat down on the floor. Reuben opened a bar of chocolate and passed it around. The light from the lamp somehow lifted their spirits, standing firm against the invading gloom of approaching night.
"Not exactly." Tracy replied. "I knew Mum handled some fairly sensitive deals and much of the paperwork would be in her briefcase, but she had taken that with her. Then I remembered that Dad had brought something back a few weeks ago. A small leather covered box it was. I thought it was jewellery for Mum or something and I teased him about it. Dad usually has a good sense of humour but he really snapped at me and told me to mind my own business. Later he apologized, but I could tell he was afraid of something.
"Anyway I couldn't think of anything else that might be worth taking, unless they were just after the video or something and they didn't strike me as burglars. So I decided it would be a good idea to make myself scarce for a while. The island seemed the perfect place."
"And the box?" asked Reuben. "Did you find out what was in it?"
"It took me some time to find it and when I did it was locked. Dad has the key and I know he would not want me to open it. Still, I brought it with me. It's hidden on the island."
Phil glanced across the room at the cardboard boxes, now neatly stacked as they had been before.
"No. Not here." Tracy read his thoughts. "It's in a safe place. No one will find it there."
"Have you been back to the house since then?"
"Yes. I collected my schoolwork and some spare clothes. When I got there I saw no sign of a break in, but once inside I knew that they had been in. The safe was open, but the jewellery was still there, as were several envelopes of money. Dad liked to keep cash in the house. I found out how they got in. One of the panes of glass by the back door had recently been replaced. The putty was still soft. This really puzzled me. I've never heard of burglars repairing their damage. Also they had put a new lock on the back door. And then I realised they were still in the house! Not physically at that moment, but there was hot coffee in the kitchen and the day's paper on the side. I was out of that house as quickly as I possibly could and as I left the drive and turned up the hill the car I had seen before was already approaching the house. They didn't recognise me, why should they? They've never seen me."
Suddenly Reuben jumped up in alarm. "Arthur!" he exclaimed. "All this time we're sitting here we don't know where he is! He may be in danger!"
The three of them ran up the hill and practically tumbled down the other side in the darkness and in their haste to reach the camp. Aching and out of breath they arrived at the tents to find the place deserted. Reuben lifted the flaps of the tents one by one, shining a flashlight desperately into the corners of each of them. There was nobody there. Grimly he realised that the tents were always in such a state of untidiness that he couldn't tell whether or not anyone had disturbed them while they were away. Opening the flap to Arthur's store tent he was relieved to see that the equipment cases were intact.
"He was at the cove earlier." He said to Phil. They ran down to the place where Arthur had sat to paint the previous day but again found no trace of him there. His video equipment was all in place, however, and although there was no sign of its operator Reuben noticed the timing device that Arthur had designed to switch the camera on and off every hour. With mixed feelings they returned to the camp worried and at a loss to know what to do. They collapsed onto the ground next to the fire, regaining their breath.
They were still sitting there tired, anxious and in near darkness when Arthur walked cheerfully into the ring of tents carrying a four-gallon plastic container half filled with water.
"Well you might have lit the fire!" he said reproachfully. Putting the container down he leaned down and set fire to a twist of paper that protruded from the base of a pile of twigs. The flame darted here and there among the dry twigs, growing in strength and spreading until the fire was well and truly alight and radiating its warmth and light around the encampment. When he looked up he realised that his three friends were all staring at him. "Was it something I said?" he asked.
"Thank the Lord you're safe!" exclaimed Reuben. "Where have you been?"
"Up to London to visit the queen! Where do you think!" Arthur retorted, puzzled by this sudden interest in his well-being.
"Sorry! But we didn't see you on the hill."
"I didn't feel like humping this weight up and over so I took the roundabout route." Arthur noticed Tracy's pale face and his expression changed. "Something's wrong isn't it!"
Phil explained the situation to him helped out by regular interruptions from Tracy and Reuben. Arthur listened attentively to all that was said about the box, Tracy's parents and the ransacking of the cottage, hardly able to believe his ears.
"Well I've been here all day and I've neither seen nor heard anything." he said. "Whoever did this must have come by boat, and they didn't land on this side of the island."
"Have you seen any boats nearby?" Reuben inquired.
"Plenty. The wind is just right for sailing and there were dinghies and windsurfers all along the coastline, but none that I saw approaching the island."
"They must have arrived soon after we left for petrol. That was about two o'clock, perhaps nearer three." Phil conjectured. "We got back at about seven."
"I was at the well at just after six. I stopped to photograph the sunset on the way back."
"You didn't notice anything out of the ordinary?" Reuben asked.
"I didn't go near the house but there was nothing suspicious at the well."
Reuben turned to Tracy. "Do you think they'll be back?"
"I really don't know. They were obviously looking for something. They didn't find much as far as I know. It depends how sure they are that what they are looking for is on the island."
"My guess is they'll be back." Phil commented. "They must have known about your family's connections with the island before making a visit. Finding your possessions there in the cottage is bound to raise their suspicions."
"The question is what to do about it!" Reuben exclaimed. "We don't really know what we're up against here. There's one thing I do know though!"
"What?" asked Tracy.
"You're not going back to that cottage tonight. We cannot be certain they won't turn up out if the blue. Arthur will have to move his equipment and you can make up a bed in the store tent. There are plenty of blankets."
"No problem!" Arthur suited the action to the word and started transferring the film cases and paint boxes from store to his own small tent. Once the adjustments had been accomplished and the beds prepared the four friends settled down by the fire. Phil's guitar somehow sliced through the tension and anxiety of the moment and the rising sparks from the fire played with their attention, casting a hypnotic calm soothed by the warm summer night air.