Finally, the day had come. I was going to see my dad. At the prison. Behind a screen. With my constantly weeping mum. I had been looking forward to it yet also desperately dreading it. It would be great to see my dad again, I felt like over the past few years I had started to take for granted that he was always there. Now, I really missed him. At the same time, I was dreading having to see him through a glass screen with a microphone, with him in the orange overalls. We wouldn't even be allowed to hug him, because they thought he was a dangerous, a danger to us. His own family. I knew that he would try to put on a brave face, but I would see straight through it to the sadness and vulnerability underneath. I was also worried that he might have given in. Surrendered. Accepted his charges even though he knew that he didn't deserve them. I hoped that he would still be fighting to be let out and be cleared of all those horrible charges, but thing was, I just didn't know. I wouldn't know until we got to see him.

I looked up at the large, wrought iron prison gates that towered above me, looking even more menacing than I had imagined. It wasn't a particularly large prison, but that isn't to say the security wasn't up to scratch. Barbed wire topped the massive gates, security cameras lurked around every corner, large bright white lights were set up to search the grounds at night, armed prison guards lined each corridor and large padlocks and fingerprints ID were given to each thick, metal door. An officer showed my mum, Niall and me through one last corridor to a small room with blinding white lights on the ceiling. On one side there were five numbered booths, each separated by a thin divider. One of them, booth number five, was occupied by a frail, young Greek woman wrapped in a colourful shawl. She was talking mournfully in Greek to who I presumed was her partner. He was a tall man with dark eyes and spiky hair and though she seemed sorrowful, he looked more irritated as stared from his side of the glass to her. “Booth number 3” the guard said sternly in a thick Greek accent, gesturing towards it. We walked over and sat down on three metal chairs before the glass screen. We had to press on a button that made a short, sharp beep, calling our dad in. He looked so different. His large brown eyes looked so tired, with dark circles beneath them. His walk was much slower, more calculated and meek. And his light stubble was starting to turn into a beard, with even more specks of silvery grey. He sat down and smiled, I could tell he was so happy to see us again and, although I could see the worry and sadness beneath like I had expected to, I could also see determination. He had not given up. Not yet. “Hi,” he said, “How have you all been?”

“We- we’ve been fine,” I replied, “How about you?”

“Oh, its a bit different to usual but I’ve been okay.” It felt so awkward. Like we didn't really know what to say or do. Well, we didn’t. We couldn't hug him. And that was all we really wanted to do. And we might never be able to again. Tears began to build up in my mum’s eyes I could see how much it was paining my dad to see her like that and not be able to help at all. My brother grasped my hand and squeezed it tight. I squeezed back. I knew how hard this was for him. Mum had said he was too young and that he wouldn't want to go because it would just upset him, but he had insisted and, eventually, she had given in. I could see tears beginning to well in his eyes too, but he rubbed them hard and, with as much determination as he could muster, said, “ We don't think you did it, dad. We believe you. We know you would never do that, someone else did it.”

My dad smiled sadly again. “I know. Thanks for believing in me. Hopefully it will all get sorted out in the end, Ni.”

“But,” his lower lip started to quiver, “ W-what if it doesn't and- and we never see you again.” My dad looked at him. I could tell he didn't know what to say. He couldn't console him. He could never promise this would all be sorted out. He just couldn't get his hopes up like that, given the high chance they could just be dashed again. “We’ll see dad again,” I said, stroking Niall’s hair soothingly. I looked at my family and I could tell their hope was fading. But mine wasn't, and I knew it would never.

After that, we talked a bit more about how everyone else back at the villa was doing and what we had been getting up to since he had left. There wasn't really much to say, but it was still nice, just to hear my dad's voice and see him smiling. The woman who was in the other booth left and soon after, it was our turn to leave. The guard came in but as my mum and Niall got up to leave, I asked if I could just have a couple of minutes to talk to my dad alone and they allowed it. So my mum and brother were ushered out and it was just me and my dad.

“I’m gonna solve the case,” I blurted out as soon as the door had closed, “Me and Ellie and Renuka and Conrad are gonna clear your name. We know it wasn't you, we just have to prove it.”

He just looked at me for a second, slightly quizzical. Then he said, “Okay,” before pausing again.

“I know that someone else did it. We can't tell the rest of them we’re trying to solve it though, because they would stop us, but I just know there's got to be something to prove it's not you. Oh please don't say I can’t, or tell mum, because we're going to do it anyway.” I babbled, my words a mash of desperation and pleading, not making much sense. I could tell he could see how much I cared and how worked up I was getting about it.

“Okay, okay I won't, just- calm down Sien.”

I breathed out and sat back down properly again.

“ I need you to make sure that you are very careful with this,” he said, “I do not want you doing anything silly or reckless and ending up getting hurt. You need to be sensible. Remember, this is real life, not a murder mystery novel.”

“I know dad. I will be. And I’ve realised already how different it is to in the books and movies.” He paused for a second again and took a deep breath. “You need to know why I got arrested. When we got to the ruins that day, I realised I had forgotten my camera. I really wanted to take some nice, good quality photos of the area and I knew it wasn't far to get back to the villa, so I told the others to carry on and that I would be back soon. The journey took me ten minutes to get there and then I spent another ten minutes looking for my camera. As soon as I found it I left again and got back at around eleven. Someone must have told the Detective I left and was at the house during the allotted time frame that it happened.”

“Um, yeah, we worked that out, you walked right down the high street where everyone else was. I saw you from the beach.”

“Oh, so any one of them could've told him.”

“Yeah, we’re trying to work out who.”

“Mmm, er, Sienna, you should probably know something else. While I was there, I heard your grandad on the phone to someone in the, you know, the room he was found in,” I nodded, “ I walked in to say hi and he said hi back but he looked sort of concerned and like he sort of didn't want me to hear what he was talking about so I left again.”

“Did you hear any of the conversation?”

“Well, I was mostly searching the floor below, so it was muffled, but he seemed to be saying something along the lines of ‘We need to talk, can you please come back to the house so we can have a chat about it’. And he sounded really stern. Sienna, I think he was talking to his- murderer.” I gasped.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I think that while I was there, he asked his murderer to come back to the house to talk about some sort of problem, probably their motive, and when they came, they shot him.” I nodded.

“Do you think they heard your voice over the phone and maybe that's why they framed you, because they knew you were there and might work out who they are because you did hear their voice when you walked in, right?” He nodded calmly. “ Yeah, but I couldn't tell who it was or what they were saying. I wish I'd asked him who he was talking to.” His eyes filled with regret.

“No, its fine, if he didn't seem to want you to hear, he probably would've lied anyway, so we’d be no closer to the truth.” I paused. “Anyway, I should probably get going now, so…” I trailed off.

“Oh, yeah, of course, off you go,” he said. I could the sadness that I had to leave behind his smile.

“Thanks, I think this is really going to help.” He smiled again.

“Oh, and one last thing. I really think that what he wrote- S E A, is really important. I know how clever my dad was. He must have written that as some sort of clue, so just, keep that in mind.”he said, sincere.

“Okay,” I said, I didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to, to get my dad out of there, so I put on a brave face just like his and said goodbye.