A little while later, Lennie and Wesley held a last-minute briefing in their secret agent base behind the big chair in the corner of the hotel bar. “OK,” said Wesley, clutching his notebook, “This is Agent Scorpio and Agent…”

“Dali.”

“Agent Dali, synchronising our watches and heading out.” Neither Lennie nor Wesley a) were actually wearing watches, or b) knew how you synchronised them when you did. It just sounded cool to say. “Have you got all your equipment, Agent Dali?”

“Um…” Lennie patted herself down. “Notebook, check… Grappling hook, check… X-ray glasses, check…”

“Have you got your secret disguise kit?”

“Right here.” Lennie held up an invisible bag.

“OK. When we have all the information we need, we’ll meet up back at the secret base. Lets go.”

They split up, Wesley taking the left side of the room and Lennie taking the right. They dodged behind chairs and crawled under tables, avoiding the adults’ gaze. The riskiest part was when you had to rush through a gap in the crowd, because then you had no cover and the enemy might spot you. After one such ordeal, Lennie crouched down behind the nearest sofa, pretending to tie her shoe but actually trying to listen in on the people sitting there.

“It goes, he thinks he’s ED-ucated, AIRS the family SHARES,” sang Aunt Sammy.

“I always heard it as, the flat he shares.” Lennie was surprised to hear Aunt Angel’s voice sound like that. It hadn’t been half as clear at the dinner table.

“No, honest. I’ll look it up.”

“I believe you. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

Lennie wrote down, Aunt Sammy and Aunt Angel arguing about the right words to songs, and moved on in a quest for more information. She saw a set of curtains next to the big window, and dodged behind any furniture she could find until she got to it. The perfect hiding place. No-one would look for her here.

She heard a voice. “Your parents would have fucking battered you if you’d gone out dressed like that at her age. Don’t tell me they wouldn’t.”

There was another one of Nana Celine’s sighs. “Charlie…”

“Just because I don’t like to see little girls dressed up like sluts, suddenly I’m the bad guy.”

Lennie flinched. She’d never heard that word before, but she could tell by the way he’d said it that it meant something horrible. Something dark, dirty and slimy that Lennie didn’t want to know about.

“I know,” said Nana Celine, “It’s OK. When you and the girls move back in, things will be different. I promise.”

“They’d better be. Because if Lucy can’t even be bothered to parent her own daughter, I’m going to have to step in, aren’t I?”

“They will be. I think deep down, Lucy knows you were right. She just likes being in control, that’s all.”

“Well, she’s going to have to learn different.”

Lennie didn’t want to hear any more of this. She didn’t want to write anything down, either.. She slipped out from under the curtain without Charlie or Nana Celine noticing, and went outside to get some fresh air.

She sat by the entrance, in the shadows where no-one could see her, and watched people park their cars and go in. They said a few things when they did, but Lennie didn’t bother to write those down, either. The dark, dirty, slimy feeling just wouldn’t go away.

But it was just as well she was there, because if she hadn’t been, she wouldn’t have seen the black VW pull up.

It looked just like a normal car, at first. Then a man Lennie didn’t recognise got out on one side, a man with thick black hair and glasses, wearing a grey suit. That got Lennie’s interest, because it probably meant he was coming to the wedding rehearsal after-party too. She kept an eye on him, and saw a woman get out of the other side. She had layered dark-brown hair, the same colour as Nana Celine’s, and she was wearing sparkly earrings and a purple dress. She looked up at the hotel, frowning, and that’s when Lennie knew for certain.

It was Aunt Van.

She walked round the car and took her husband’s arm. (Lennie remembered that Aunt Van had a husband, but she didn’t remember his name.) They walked in slowly, heads down, talking to each other.

As they came through, Lennie listened in on what they said. “I’ve got to say, I don’t remember you being this nervous before our wedding.”

“Of course not. My fucking mother wasn’t coming to our wedding.”

“There is that.”

“Anyway, I was nervous. The way I kept shooting down your suggestions, I was worried you’d think I was getting cold feet.” Aunt Van laughed. “It’s hard to plan a wedding when you’ve got an insane hatred of romantic things.”

They walked up the steps to the entrance, shrinking against each other as if it was cold (it wasn’t). Lennie leaned in for a closer look.

“Just warning you, the next two days are going to be hell. It’ll be a cloud of dread and misery, and we’ll come out feeling kind of soiled.”

“We’ll be fine.”

“Remember last time? I can’t believe it took you so long to realise she was hitting on you.”

“I thought maybe she just got chatty when she was drunk!”

“Really?” Van put on a breathy voice. “I think it’s best to try everything life has to offer, Emil.”

Van’s husband laughed, and they went in.

Lennie stayed outside for a moment, mainly so they wouldn’t think she was following them around. Aunt Van looked amazing. Even if you didn’t already know she was a famous celebrity, you’d be able to tell just by looking at her. Normal people didn’t look that glamourous, ever.

She’d definitely be writing this up in her notebook. And then she was going to go in and talk to her.

(To Be Continued)