Fighting Back by Cathy MacPhail

mean?’
    This was when I had to be careful. Careful to make itlook like I had worked this out myself, that someone – Ming – hadn’t told me he’d seen the whole thing. ‘I was thinking, Mum, remember that can of kerosene the police found on our stairs?’
    Mum just shrugged. ‘There weren’t any fingerprints on it.’
    ‘But what if that wasn’t the one they used? What if that was a decoy?’ That was what Ming had called it. ‘So the police would look no further for the real can, the one with the fingerprints on it. The one that maybe they put down our chute?’
    Ming’s exact words came back to me. ‘They had their hands all over it, Kerry. Splashing it over some rags, then setting them alight. When they were finished they pushed it right down our chute. And then they ran.’
    Mum was thinking hard. ‘But we wouldn’t know what floor it came from. It would prove nothing.’
    ‘That’s the good bit!’ I said excitedly. ‘I found out today – ’ I’d found out from Ming ‘ – that each floor has its own bin at the bottom of the chute. So anything put in at our floor lands in the bin for the thirteenth floor!’
    ‘Do you really think they’d be so stupid?’
    ‘Not stupid, mother. Sure of themselves. They always have an alibi. No one will ever admit they sawthem.’ I could see she was hesitating. ‘It’s worth a try, surely?’
    She suddenly looked crestfallen. ‘Oh dear – I’m just after telling Sergeant Maitland I’d never talk to him again.’
    She straightened, sure of herself again. ‘I’ll go to that nice young Grant. He’s much more pleasant to speak to anyway.’
    The first thing PC Grant did, however, was lead her straight to Sergeant Maitland’s office. He was grim-faced as he listened to her story. Then he turned his attention to me.
    ‘You figured this out for yourself, did you?’
    I thought it was a bit insulting that he should sound so surprised. I nodded.
    ‘No one told you anything … ’
    I’m sure I blushed, but luckily Mum answered for me. ‘Of course she figured it out for herself. She’s very bright!’
    ‘We’ll look into it,’ he said, standing up. Dismissing us.
    ‘You’ll do it right away?’ I must have sounded panicky because he looked at me in surprise.
    ‘Tomorrow.’
    ‘No. Tomorrow the bins are emptied.’ I hadn’t known this either until Ming had told me. ‘You have to come today. Right now! Please.’
    He held me back as we were leaving the office. ‘Who tipped you off, Kerry? You can tell me.’
    I swallowed. On my mother’s life, I had promised. I wouldn’t break that promise, for anybody. ‘I just figured it out. Honest.’
    He didn’t believe me, that was clear. But he came. They all came. Police, forensic, everyone. And the whole of the tower block turned out to watch.

Chapter Twenty-Four
    It didn’t take them long to find the empty can of kerosene, and there was a bonus. The forensic people found minute scrapings from the same can on the rim of our chute. Proof positive that the can had come from our floor, if more proof were needed. The neighbours watched silently. Only Sandra and Ming were noticeably absent.
    ‘And have you enough to arrest them now?’ Mum asked loudly as we stood on the landing.
    Sergeant Maitland nodded. ‘Oh, yes, enough to arrest them … and to hold them without bail. They’re a threat to a single mother and her daughter, and with the reputation the Laffertys have they won’t get bail. I’ll make sure of it.’
    ‘And my daughter did it!’ Mum said, even more loudly. ‘My Kerry. A little girl, on her own, found the proof to put them away!’
    I wished she would shut up. I felt so guilty. Ming had found the proof. If it weren’t for Ming, we would never have discovered the can – the bin men would have come and it would have been gone for ever. And I couldn’t say a word.
    Sergeant Maitland knew. I was convinced that he did. He stared at me for a long time, waiting for me to say something.