Fake ID by Hazel Edwards

Laughing they fell over in a tumble of legs and hockey sticks. In between, Puss streaked, just as Luke stepped backwards, and fell over the startled cat.
    â€˜Your fault, Puss. Get out of the way. If you get under my feet, of course I’ll squash you and you’ll be a Flat Cat.’ Luke pushed the cat away with his foot.
    â€˜Careful with dumb animals.’ Luke’s dad picked up Puss, and smoothed the cat’s fur. ‘Sorry, Puss. We nearly took one of your nine lives then.’
    â€˜Puss isn’t dumb. You can hear that squawk anywhere,’ Luke protested.
    â€˜Want to have a go, Zoe?’ Luke’s dad held out his stick, but I shook my head. Usually I didn’t miss having a dad because he’d never been around. But, just sometimes, it hurt when Luke’s family was so uncomplicated. I didn’t even know who was in mine any more. Several Grans. Maybe an uncle. I’d have to paint a tree like Gran did to work out all the twigs and branches. Had she done that for herself or someone else or just copied Bruce’s tie?
    â€˜Dad meant playing hockey, not squashing Puss,’ Luke laughed. ‘Although that might be a good idea.’
    â€˜Yeah. I know.’ I said but I was really thinking about Gran’s clues.
    Who was the mysterious Fortuna? I’d checked the postcards which weren’t written in English. Rather than ‘
FOR TUNA
’, the curly writing could have said
FORTUNA
. But Zaria was a third name! I’d keep that appointment at Studio 17 at 4 p.m., even if I had to get off school early. Should have shared the ‘
not to be opened’
package with Bruce, but Gran’s things would be taken away from me and if she had other lives for bad reasons, the whole world would know next time
Missing Millions
was on.
    â€˜Want to cuddle Puss?’ Smoothing its fur, Dad offered the cat to me.
    â€˜No, thanks.’ Bark and I agree on that cat.
    â€˜Dinner’s ready,’ called Luke’s mum. She’d set the table with red place mats that you can wipe clean if you drop bits.
    Spag bol is terrific the way she makes it. Luke had two helpings. So did I. The cheesy bits on top are ace. And the crusty bread is sliced sideways. She’s different from Kat, who hates cooking.
    â€˜Luke told me about the Trustee, Zoe. Glad you’ve got some help. Your gran must have set that up recently. Did you bring anything back from the house?’ Luke’s mum continued, ‘What’s happening about that dog?’
    â€˜Mrs Donna…er, Nell is feeding Bark for a few days. I’ll go back and give him walks. I didn’t want to bring Bark here.’
    Luke’s Mum just nodded. She knew Puss didn’t get on with other cats. A dog like Bark would be even worse.
    â€˜I brought back some Kovacs family photos. Might put them up in my room.’
    â€˜Do you want to show them to us?’ asked Luke’s mum as she put plastic wrap over the left-overs.
    I shook my head. While Luke and I helped clear the table, wipe the red place mats and stack the dishwasher, I thought about those photos. The ones from the ‘ NOT TO BE OPENED ’ package and the digitally enhanced ones. I was planning to look at them in my bedroom later, sort of in private.
    In my bedroom I made a bit of a memory corner with one of the photos.
    â€˜Bloody shrine,’ said Luke later, looking at the candles. ‘It’s a fire hazard if those veils catch alight on the candle. Dad hasn’t put our smoke detectors in yet. Come out and watch TV.’
    Luke wanted to watch
Missing Millions
. ‘There’s Bruce. Doesn’t he look …!’ Presenter Bruce was so obviously loving the camera
    â€˜Yeah…,’ I added. ‘But he’s OK to talk to.
    â€˜Welcome to “Missing,” the TV program where we share with you. Some people do not leave wills. Sometimes they have big estates. If you can prove you are a