Crocodile Tears

fourteen-year-old. How would he take it? Alex glanced up. McCain was staring across the table with raw anger in his eyes.
    “ I’m sorry … ,” Alex began.
    McCain slammed his hands together as if to break the mood. At the same time, he leaned back and roared with laughter. “Well, there’s a lesson in pride,” he exclaimed loudly, for everyone to hear. “I jumped in too quickly. I was too sure of myself, and it seems I’ve been undone by a child I don’t even remember inviting. Never mind! Alex, you’ve beaten me fair and square.” He used his huge hands to push the chips away as if trying to distance himself from them. “You can cash in your chips with the croupier. I bet you must be the richest thirteen-year-old in Scotland right now.”
    “ Actually, I’m fourteen,” Alex said. “And I don’t want the money. You can give it all to First Aid.”

    That drew a round of applause from the audience. McCain stood up. “That’s very generous of you,” he said. “Donating my own money to my own charity!” He was joking, but there was an edge to his voice.
    “I can promise you it will be well spent.” He moved away from the table, a few people patting him on the back as he left.
    Alex glanced down one last time at McCain’s cards: the knaves, as he had called them. They were strangely ugly—almost like freaks, joined at the chest, with flowing hair and strange multicolored tunics.
    Scowling knaves versus his own brave hearts. But of course, it didn’t mean anything. They were only cards, and even as he watched, they were swept away and shuffled back into the deck.

Chapter 4: OFF-ROAD VEHICLE

    TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
    Even as he made his way back into the main body of the castle, Alex thought about what he had just done. It had been an awful lot of money to give away without thinking. He could have held back a little of it, bought something for Jack or Sabina.
    He shook his head, annoyed with himself. Charity was what the evening was all about. The money wasn’t his and never had been. He remembered the look of anger in Desmond McCain’s eyes as Alex had revealed his straight flush. McCain might be a born-again Christian, but he hadn’t liked being beaten and somehow Alex doubted that he was going to be invited back.

    Sabina had disappeared, but Alex stumbled across Edward Pleasure in yet another of the castle’s many passageways, leaning on his walking stick while he talked on his BlackBerry. There was a spiral staircase just behind him, leading up to the next floor.
    He closed up the phone as Alex approached. “That was Liz,” he said. “She’s not feeling any better and I’m beginning to think we ought to head back after all …”
    “ That’s fine with me,” Alex said. “In fact, Sabina was looking for you. She wants to leave too.”
    It was half past eleven. In just thirty minutes there would be the countdown to midnight, balloons, more champagne, and a chorus of “Auld Lang Syne” before what had been described as the biggest fireworks display in Scotland. Guests were already streaming past, making their way into the main room. But Alex didn’t mind missing it. There was something about Kilmore Castle that he found unsettling. Maybe it was the fact that it was so ancient and remote, perched high above the loch as if it didn’t want to belong to the twenty-first century. He would be glad to see in the New Year somewhere else.
    “ Let’s wait here for Sabina,” Mr. Pleasure said. “She’s bound to turn up sooner or later.”
    Neither of them spoke. Alex could hear music coming from the dance floor—now they’d shifted into Michael Jackson. A few more guests hurried past. One of them recognized him from the casino and smiled at him. Once again, the two of them were alone.
    “ So, are you looking forward to school?” Edward asked, as much to fill the silence as anything else.
    “ Yes. I am.” If the question had taken Alex by surprise, so did the answer. He really was looking forward to the start of the spring term. He felt safe at school. He felt normal.

    “ What was that essay you were working on?”
    Alex had brought homework with him to Scotland. After taking so much time off, he was trying as best he could to catch up. “I’m doing a project about GM crops,” he said.
    “ GM?”
    “ You know … genetically modified. It’s something we’ve been looking at in biology. How scientists can muck around with crops and make them do different