There was a note by the drawing, held down by the small black bag. He lifted the small bag up and read the note: ‘Back soon, Dad. Love you, Shannon. PS I came across these by accident. Tell the police. Collect the reward. It’s a 4-way split with the girls.’
Puzzled, Mr Richards looked at the small black bag. Then he opened it and his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened as he saw the diamonds sparkling brightly inside.
The four girls sat in the plane, glasses of champagne in their hands. They were halfway across the Atlantic, flying away from their individual nightmares in London. Their eyes were on the TV screens in front of them, showing the latest international news. While the banner with the words ‘Diamond heist arrests’ rolled across the screen, the reporter looked intently into the camera and said, ‘There has been a domino rally of criminals who have all reportedly turned informant. Police are currently looking at forty-five arrests.’
‘Wow!’ breathed Shannon. ‘Forty-five!’
‘I am gonna be in so much trouble when we get back,’ grinned Jo. ‘I mean, leaving the mart like that.’
Cass sipped at her champagne.
‘We all are,’ she said. Then she smiled. ‘But that’s what rich parents and their credits cards are for, right?’
‘We’ll pay them back when we get the reward,’ said Kerrys.
Cass shook her head. ‘They can afford it,’ she said. ‘And it’s nice for them to do something good with their money for once.’
Shannon looked suddenly thoughtful.
‘Do you think we’ll have fun in America?’ she asked.
Jo grinned happily and raised her glass in a toast.
‘It’ll be great!’ she told her. ‘I mean, come on! Five days, four girls! We’re all smart. What the fuck could possibly go wrong?’
The air hostess moved past them with a drink on a tray, heading further down the First Class cabin. She stopped beside a classy-looking woman who was reading a newspaper.
‘Your drink, Mrs Field,’ she said quietly.
Kelly Field lowered her paper and took the drink with a nod.
‘Thank you,’ she said.
As the hostess left, Kelly thought about how near she had been to The Big One: so close she could almost smell the diamonds and the money. But at the last second it had been snatched away from her. Well, one day she’d meet up with those girls again, and when she did . . .
Noel Clarke
Noel Clarke was born and raised in west London. At secondary school he began to excel in drama and his dream of going into acting was realised after he left university. In 2003 he won The Laurence Olivier Award for ‘Most Promising Newcomer’. He wrote and starred in the multi award-winning 2006 movie Kidulthood, also published by Bloomsbury as a novelisation by Jim Eldridge. Noel was voted Orange Rising Star at the BAFTAs in 2009. Well known from his roles in Dr Who and Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Noel has made regular appearances on many TV shows, including The Bill, Casualty and Holby City. He has had lead roles in the plays Talking About Men and Where Do We Live, among others.
Jim Eldridge
Jim Eldridge worked for twelve years as a teacher before turning to full-time writing in 1987. Jim started his writing career in radio. He is the creator and writer of Radio 4’s award-winning and long-running King Street Junior, and CBBC’s sci-fi drama Powers. He was a key member of the writing teams on The Ghost Hunter and Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde. He has had over 250 TV and 250 radio scripts broadcast in the UK and across the world. Jim has also written humorous titles, graphic novels and many children’s books over the years, starting in 1985 with How To Handle Grown Ups. More recent titles include the Warpath series, and The Trenches and Desert Danger in the My Story series. He wrote the novelisation of Noel Clarke’s screenplay for the 2006 movie Kidulthood. Jim was born in London and now lives in Cumbria.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Imprint Page
Sunday night
Shannon
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Cassandra
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Kerrys
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Joanne
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
The Bridge
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Noel Clarke
Jim Eldridge