What Do I Do?

6.33. Granddad’s bathroom light switches on.

6.36. The bathroom light goes out.

6.53. The hall light turns on. His shadow grows big through the glass as he walks down the stairs.

7.00. The front door opens and he lets Samson in.

7.35. He goes outside and checks the gnomes, then stares across at my house. I duck down.

7.36. I peer up over the windowsill. Granddad has disappeared, but a white car has just turned into the square. Perhaps it’s one of his friends from the GFG who has seen the internet and they’ve come to pick him up.

‘Felix . . . Felix!’ I jump as Mum comes into my room. ‘I said me and Dad are going out and . . . and what are you doing on the floor?’

‘Nothing,’ I say. ‘I just lost a pen.’

‘Mmm.’ Mum looks at me suspiciously. ‘Anyway, we’re going to a car boot sale – do you want to come?’

‘No,’ I say. ‘I’m busy.’

‘Yes, and maybe you can get busier by clearing the mess out from under your bed. Do that before you go and see your granddad. He’s up and about.’ She nods towards the window.

‘I know,’ I say.

‘Then why haven’t you been over there? You know how excited he’ll be by your news.’

‘I will . . . in a minute.’

‘But I thought you’d be desperate to tell him.’

‘I am,’ I say. ‘I’m just . . . doing something else.’

‘Okay,’ Mum says like she’s surprised.

I listen to her footsteps go back down the stairs, then peer out of the window. The white car is parked just down from Jake’s house and Granddad is nowhere to be seen. I reach for my laptop. I’ve been reading and rereading the Chess Monthly website, ever since Jake sent the messages. I’ve been hoping that it was a mistake, or maybe someone from school hacked into their computers and put the article there as a joke. But how could Granddad have got the move? Lionel Steiner disappeared; Wikipedia said so. The only way my granddad could have got the move is to be him.

I press refresh and hope the article disappears, but the screen reloads with the headline and the stupid picture of me grinning with the trophy and the same words: ‘secret police commander . . . disappeared . . . World Championships . . .’ Granddad told me bits about his past, but it’s like there was a whole chunk of years missing from the middle.