Half Moon Investigations - Eoin Colfer [42]
April didn’t swallow a word of that. ‘I was right about you and your family. Here you and your little friend are, snooping around Mercedes’s garden. Maybe you were snooping around May’s garden, with a torch.’
I stepped into the open. It was time to find out if I still had an employer. ‘Red wasn’t there, April, but I was. The torch wasn’t mine, though.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked April. Then the penny dropped, from a great height and with a loud clang. ‘My God, Fletcher. Is that you? What happened?’
I tried to get in the essential information. ‘It’s me, April. I just want you to know that I had nothing to do with May’s dress.’
But April was still trying to get to grips with my appearance.
‘But your hair. It’s gone, and red. And your nose, my God, your nose. And you have an earring now! And a tattoo!’
April stepped closer, completely forgetting that I was definitely a fugitive and possibly an arsonist.
‘Is that food colouring in your hair? Tell me that’s not a real tattoo. And that tracksuit. Those colours are all wrong for you.’
Then it dawned on her that she was sharing space with two dangerous criminals. Her mouth formed an ‘o’ but no sound came out.
Do not spook a scared animal, says Bernstein. The same principle applies to humans on the edge. No loud noises, no sudden movements and no big gestures.
‘April,’ I whispered, keeping my hands by my side, ‘Red and I, we’re both innocent. Red broke me out so that I could prove it. There’s something going on in Lock and I have to find out what it is. You, Mercedes, May, Red and I, we’re all victims. And there are more. I don’t know how many yet. You know I could never set a fire at May’s house.’
‘So what were you doing in her garden in the middle of the night?’
Good question, and difficult to answer without sounding like a lying criminal.
I chose my words carefully. ‘There was a bruise on my arm, after the attack. It spelt out Red’s name, backwards. I needed to photograph it with May’s digital camera. The dress was on fire when I got there.’
This was so preposterous that April took a step back. ‘You wanted to photograph your bruise? Is that the story you’re going with?’
I shrugged. It was the truth. What else could I say?
‘And you two are working together. Red Sharkey and Fletcher Moon are a team? I’m not paying any extra.’
‘I’m not taking the blame for any of this,’ said Red, kicking a pebble. ‘If Half Moon can get me out of trouble, I’m prepared to put up with him for a short period.’
Obviously we weren’t best friends just yet.
‘So what did you find out?’
‘We established a link between the assault and the robberies. The same person was responsible for both.’
April snorted. ‘I already know that. So which of you was it?’
‘Not us. Someone bigger than us. A lot bigger.’
A car crunched over the gravel driveway out front.
‘That’s Mercedes and her gran, home for lunch,’ said April. ‘Right on time.’
Red grabbed my arm. ‘We have to go. Now.’
I looked pleadingly at April. ‘Don’t say anything. Just for one day.’
April was in control and she liked it. I knew from the smirk on her lips that she wouldn’t turn us in just yet. Having us under her thumb would be too much fun.
‘One day. Though you’re going to feel pretty stupid when it turns out that Red really did take Shona’s hair.’
There were doors slamming now. I could hear Mercedes complaining at the front of the house.
‘April, we have a contract. You can trust me.’
April spent half a second thinking. ‘I doubt it. There’s a hole in the hedge on the left. It brings you out behind the school.’
I nodded and bolted for the hedge. Red was already a shadow on the other side of the branches. As I squeezed through the foliage, I heard Mercedes squeal as she came around the corner. For a moment I thought she had seen me, then I realized that this was how Mercedes said hello.
PROOF OR RESULTS?
Back at Chez Sharkey, Herod had a car door propped up against the garden wall.
‘Go!’ shouted Genie, clicking the button on a large stopwatch.