Half Moon Investigations - Eoin Colfer [64]
‘I don’t want to be normal!’ stated Herod. ‘What am I going to do? Be a private eye, like you and your new best nerd friend?’
Red was upset now.
‘You’re too young to know what you want!’ He sat at the table, hiding his face in his hands.
Herod laughed. ‘Sure, have a little cry there, Mary. Will I get you a hanky?’
‘Shut up, Roddy,’ snapped Genie. Her eyes were brimming with tears. She was angry and sad and sorry all at the same time. ‘Why didn’t you tell us this before?’
Red spoke between his fingers. ‘I was trying to keep an eye on the sly. Not turn everyone against me. It’s getting too much now. Herod is a one-man crime wave at school. The police are already watching him. For his sixteenth birthday he’s going to get a set of handcuffs.’
Genie took a tissue from her sleeve, wiping her eyes. ‘Papa, maybe Red is right.’
Papa threw up his meaty arms. ‘Another one. Are you all against me?’
Genie stood her ground. ‘Don’t take it personal. We’re not against you. We’re for Mammy, and Roddy too.’
Papa’s fingers disappeared inside his beard as he scratched his chin.
‘Well, maybe I could rein him in a bit.’
‘What?’ yelped Herod. ‘You can’t rein me in. Especially not because of Red.’
Herod had forgotten that you don’t give orders to Papa.
‘I can’t rein you in?’ he thundered. ‘Can’t? I am the master in this house. You will do as I say. From now on, school three days a week and no robbing.’
‘Three days a week!’ howled Herod. ‘I’m not a robot!’
Papa’s mind was made up. ‘Three days. That’s it. Maybe four after Christmas!’
Herod ran to his room, howling like a wolverine. He did pause on the way past to punch me on the arm.
‘I know this is your fault, Half Moon!’ he said before disappearing down the corridor.
Papa turned his gaze to me.
‘How long have you been hanging around?’ he asked, as if all this family upheaval had been my fault.
‘Just today.’
‘Seems longer. Anyway, your time is up in the morning.’
‘I know. Twenty-four hours.’
‘It’s OK, Papa,’ said Red. ‘It’s all over. We cracked the case. By morning we’ll be in the clear, then he can go home and we all can get back to normal.’
Papa nodded slowly. ‘All over? Wrapped up quick and easy. I have an instinct for crime. This isn’t over. Nobody’s going back to normal just yet.’
Instincts versus facts. Papa had one, I had the other. I was right. This case was dead and buried. And there are only two ways something can come back from the dead. One, in dreams. And two, if they’ve buried the wrong body.
I felt a twinge of doubt in my stomach.
‘I need to go to my room,’ I said. ‘I need to check my notes.’
My files were where I had left them, strewn across the furniture and floor. Generally when a case is wrapped up, hindsight makes it easy to join the dots. When you know who dunnit and why they dunnit, how they dunnit is not so difficult.
So. April Devereux wants to get rid of the troublesome boys in her class. What does this have to do with May Devereux or Adrian McCoy or Isobel French or Maura Murnane? On the face of it, nothing. But there must be some method in her madness. Some knock-on effect. It was impossible to know without that clipboard. Murt would figure it out. He would slot the pieces of the jigsaw into place, and I would be welcomed back into law-abiding society with bear hugs and sloppy kisses.
I lay on the bed among the files and photos. The ancient mattress sagged alarmingly under my slight weight.
Mam. Dad. Hazel. Sorry. Home soon. Love, Fletcher Watson Sharkey Half-Moon Moon.
I was getting all emotional. Running through reunion scenarios in my head. An alarming number of them ended with me being grounded until I got married and moved out. You know you’re in trouble when your own imagination starts punishing you.
What have Les Jeunes Étudiantes got to do with you?
It was an annoying question because I didn’t have an answer for it. Why had April and her comrades targeted me? I couldn’t trace it back. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that there were two separate cases here.