Half Moon Investigations - Eoin Colfer [63]
Red said nothing. He simply pointed towards the main road. A solitary pair of headlights bobbed through the darkness, then turned into the industrial estate. The car materialized under the streetlamp glow. It was a squad car with a crumpled rear bumper. The car disappeared from view around the front of the warehouse. It did not reappear at the other side.
Papa stuffed a tool kit under his arm.
‘Home,’ he ordered. ‘This conversation is not over.’
Back to Chez Sharkey for the final time. There wasn’t much said on the way. This would be my last night here, one way or the other. Even if we hadn’t steered Murt to the clipboard, the twenty-four hours that Papa had given us to break the case were almost up. As it turned out, it hadn’t even taken us that long.
The police protection hadn’t stretched to another shift, so we were able to walk through the front yard. Red and I dawdled at the door, reluctant to face Papa again.
‘I have to sort out this family thing,’ Red said. ‘It could be loud, Half Moon. So why don’t you go home now?’
I had asked myself that same question. I was desperate to see my parents and sister, but I needed to be strong for a few more hours. Until Murt had sewn it all up. It would be fascinating to see how it all tied together.
‘Because it’s not a hundred per cent yet. It may take the night for Murt to trace everything we’ve been accused of back to April and her gang. I want all the loose ends tied up before I turn myself in.’
Papa was waiting for us in the kitchen. The trip home had given him the opportunity to calm down but he hadn’t taken it.
‘In here, the two of you,’ he roared.
We considered disobeying, but not for long.
Papa’s eyes sparkled with annoyance from below brows that could have taken a few plaits. All the man needed was a horny helmet and he could have been a Viking.
‘Right, Red. Start talking. What exactly is going through that head of yours?’
‘It doesn’t have to be like this,’ Red whispered, his eyes on the floor. ‘You’ve made your choice, and Genie. But me and Roddy don’t have to have the same life.’
Herod laughed. ‘I want to do it. I have every video game in the charts in my bedroom. I don’t need friends. That crowd? In the school? I hate ‘em. I just need my console and a bag of sweets.’
Papa was taken aback. ‘You have us too, Roddy boy.’
‘For now,’ said Red, louder. ‘Until you go to jail along with Arthur and Uncle Pete and Mad Mary and Eileen. There’ll be a whole wing of Sharkeys soon. If it wasn’t for Half Moon, you’d be in a cell.’
Herod spoke quietly. ‘Are you going to jail, Papa? When?’
Papa frowned. ‘No, I’m not going to jail.’
‘Me neither,’ added Genie. ‘I’m too fashionable for jail.’
Red was determined to make his point. ‘Tell him the truth. Before you drag him into a life of robbing and thieving.’
Papa was flabbergasted. I got the impression that this was the first time one of his children had ever pressed him on this subject. He recovered, and tried to joke his way out.
‘Ah now, Red boy,’ he sang, dancing his way past the kitchen table. ‘We’re hardly master criminals, just shave a bit off here, skim a bit off there.’ He took Red in his arms, waltzing him around the kitchen. ‘Relax, little man. Aren’t we happy? Don’t we get along just fine?’
Genie and Herod were dancing too.
Red broke away from his father. ‘Mammy made me promise!’ he cried, his eyes wide and rebellious. ‘I was only five but Mammy made me promise that I’d keep an eye on Roddy. But how can I with the pair of you up to your armpits in every swindle going? What kind of example are you?’
This was family stuff. I should be elsewhere. Home with my own family, having our own rows. Suddenly I longed for some of Hazel’s drama-queen hysterics. I would even wear whatever shirt Mam picked out for me. And Dad. Dad. Just thinking about them made my insides melt. I wanted to throw up. Then sleep for a few days.
Papa had stopped dancing.
‘You promised your mother? She asked you? Hardly more than a baby. Why not me?’
He already knew the answer, but Red told him anyway. ‘You’ll never change. But