Page 79 of You Float My Boat

Or before nine, if truth be told.

The Violet Effect.

Brooks was standing over the stove stirring a pan with one hand, holding his phone in the other when I walked into the kitchen. If I wasn’t already running on my supercharged energy, seeing him standing there and not Oz would have been enough to wake me up. The three of us were creatures of habit, and Brooks did not make breakfast.

His head snapped up to me, ‘Can you stop writing shit like this on my sister’s Instagram?’

Ignoring him, I rinsed my mouth in the sink and turned to him, ‘What are you doing?’

‘The porridge. Are you supposed to stir it this much?’

‘No,’ I replied, easing the spoon from his hand, ‘where’s Oz?’

‘He’s not up yet.’

‘Seriously?’

Brooks shook his head. ‘Nope. Did something happen last night? I thought Oz was staying at Kate’s, but his car’s outside.’

‘Um …’ I frowned, trying to get my brain to kick into gear. ‘Yeah, he came home when I was making dinner for us, but he went upstairs. I had work to finish, and assumed he was working too. I didn’t see him again. Didn’t hear you either.’

Brooks walked over to the coffee machine and flicked it on. ‘When I got home you were asleep on the sofa, snoring like a little baby. I put a blanket on you.’

I stared down at the porridge as it bubbled and thickened. Last night I’d cleaned the kitchen, left dinner out for the boys and sat down to do some work, but I’d woken at midnight on the sofa with a book in my hand. I must have been more tired than I thought, if Brooks crashing about the kitchen hadn’t woken me up – because he was not quiet, and crashing about was kind of his thing. But when I’d eventually made it to bed, the house had been silent.

I opened up the fridge. It was emptier than it had been when I’d gone upstairs. ‘I left dinner out …’

‘Yeah … I ate it.’ Brooks’ eyes widened sheepishly.

‘I left it for you both.’

‘Yeah … I ate that as well.’

‘The whole thing?’

He shrugged, ‘I was starving, and it was late. I didn’t get in until ten, so I figured it was fair game. Delicious, mate. One of your better ones, for sure.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Is Oz really still in bed?’

Brooks nodded, ‘Yeah.’

I turned the stove off and set the porridge to one side. Something wasn’t right, I couldn’t remember the last time I was up before Oz. ‘Come on, we need to find him.’

Brooks rubbed his hands together with a glee that had no place while it was still dark out. ‘Ooh. House mystery.’

The pair of us walked back up the stairs to the top floor of the house where Oz’s room was situated. I glanced at Brooks; it didn’t look like he had the same ominous feeling I did, but something definitely wasn’t right. Just like I never woke before the alarm and usually needed four to five strong coffees to get me talking, Oz never failed to get up.

He was just one of those inexplicable people who liked mornings.

Number 5 Tolkien Lane seemed to be playing a game of Freaky Friday.

‘You definitely didn’t hear anything last night?’ I whispered, but Brooks shook his head.

‘No, everyone was asleep.’

We stood outside the door. I was just about to press my ear against it when Brooks stopped me.

‘Wait. You don’t think Kate’s in there do you?’ he hissed in my ear, enough that I needed to rub away the ringing it left.

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