Half Moon Investigations - Eoin Colfer [45]
Papa shrugged. ‘No court would convict, but they did the deeds all right. This other one is a new player.’
I opened the file and read the single typed page.
Incident Report
Subject: Isobel French (details below)
Miss Isobel French is a dance teacher from the town of Lock. On the evening of 18 August, at approximately 8 p.m., Miss French was returning home after a dance class in the community centre. As per usual, she had her personal CD player in her bag for the walk home. When Miss French put on her headphones and switched on the music, her head was immediately filled with noise of an unusually high volume. Miss French describes the sound as ‘like feedback, only a million times, like, louder’. The sound was sufficiently loud to partially deafen Miss French for three days. Her sense of balance has also been disrupted. Miss French’s doctor advised her never to wear a personal CD player again and to avoid loud noises for a period of eight weeks.
Miss French decided to sue the manufacturers, and took her CD player to an engineer. The engineer discovered that the headphones had been tampered with. The volume inhibitor had been removed and powerful micro-speakers had been added. He concluded that a person or persons unknown must have taken Miss French’s headphones and replaced them with this extremely dangerous pair. It was at this point, 5 September, that Miss French and her father, Mr Frank French, reported the incident to the police.
I closed the file. A dancer unable to dance. The victim was older, true, but it was the same man, I could feel it. Our mysterious giant. But even though I knew this, it brought me no closer to him. He was out there, somewhere close, manipulating our lives with his unfathomable crimes.
I looked up. Red and Papa were looking back at me.
‘What?’
Red patted my shoulder sympathetically. ‘You were talking to yourself, Half Wit, sorry, Half Moon.’
‘I was not.’
Red allowed his eyes to glaze over. ‘It’s the same man. I can feel it.’
Papa’s shadow fell over me. ‘You said something about a giant too.’
I thought fast. ‘It’s a quote from Arthur Conan Doyle. A metaphor for our problem.’
Papa squinted down from a great height. ‘So there’s no real giant?’
‘No. This is some kid picking on smaller kids. A smart bully, that’s all. When we find out who it is, we ring the police. End of story.’
Papa folded his arms across his chest. ‘Because I don’t want you boys putting yourselves in harm’s way. Red can handle himself, but you, Half Moon, would be knocked over by a gentle breeze.’
Red hustled me out of the kitchen. ‘Harm’s way,’ he scoffed, quite convincingly. ‘Don’t worry about us, Papa. We’re not tackling anyone. As soon as Half Moon charts this new file, he finds the connection and we’re on the blower to the guards. Then he’s out of your hair and everything’s back to normal.’
‘Back to normal,’ sighed Papa wistfully. ‘I like the sound of that.’
Back down to the bedroom.
Red propelled me inside. ‘OK. You’ve got everything you asked for. The files are sorted, you visited a couple of crime scenes and you have your computer. So how long will you need, half an hour?’
I got the feeling I was beginning to outstay my welcome.
‘Red, it’s not that easy. We’re not joining the dots here.’
‘Well, you better do something, Half Moon, because I don’t have a single clue what to do. Not one. If you can’t find something in those files, we’re up the creek.’
‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘We’re not sunk yet. I have a few ideas.’
Red ballooned his cheeks, blowing out a breath. ‘Good. I was beginning to worry that you weren’t as smart as you’re always saying you are.’
I shot Red with two finger guns. ‘Hey, don’t worry about it.’
‘I thought we talked about the finger-gun thing.’
‘Sorry.’
‘I’ll give you an hour, then. I know you brainier types like to be alone.’
‘Appreciate it.’
The door closed and I was alone. Alone with my ideas, of which there were exactly none.
Alone in a strange room. With strange people outside the door. With Lock’s police force outside the walls. The