Half Moon Investigations - Eoin Colfer [7]
The buttercups trapped in Herod’s boot told me exactly where he had been in the past few minutes. Several years ago, at the beginning of the new millennium, the school got a grant for a commemorative wild garden. Every spring we were treated to the story at assembly by Principal Quinn. The garden was designed in a ring pattern. One ring for each millennium, each ring a different colour. Green, white and gold like the Irish flag. Green grass, white daisies and golden buttercups. Buttercups that were flowering again because of the Indian summer.
Of course, it could mean nothing. Maybe Herod had just walked through the garden on his way to school, but his reaction made me think differently.
I arrived at the garden, dragging the rest behind me like the Pied Piper. I looked hard at the ground for several moments, then glanced sharply at Herod. He was staring at his own feet, but every few seconds his eyeballs would flick across to the buttercup ring. It was just as Bernstein said in chapter eight of the detective’s manual: The criminal’s own body will betray him. Guilt is a powerful force and will find a way out. In this case, through the eyes.
I stepped into the buttercup ring, careful to avoid crushing too many of Mrs Quinn’s precious flowers, and thrust my fingers into the loose clay in the centre. Barely a centimetre down, I hit metal. There was a box down there.
‘I have never seen that biscuit tin before in my life,’ said Herod, jumping the gun a bit.
Red groaned. ‘Moron. How do you know it’s a biscuit tin?’
‘I know,’ replied Herod haughtily, ‘because I put it –’ He stopped then, because the penny had dropped.
‘Exactly,’ sighed Red. ‘As I said. Moron.’
I was about to pull out the box when Bella barged me aside. She ripped the tin from the earth. Surprise, surprise, it was a biscuit tin.
Bella flipped the lid and selected her organizer from the contents.
‘Half Moon was right,’ she crowed. ‘You did take it, you little Sharkey thief. Now I am legally entitled to beat you the length of the school yard.’
‘That probably won’t hold up in court,’ I said from the ring of daisies.
Bella was not the only person annoyed with Herod. Red was having trouble containing himself.
‘You promised me,’ he said, fists clenched in exasperation. ‘No more stealing in school. Don’t you know what could happen to the family?’
‘I didn’t take it,’ protested Herod. ‘The box is mine, but I didn’t put the organizer in it. This is a set-up.’
No one was convinced by this. Legend had it that Herod’s first words were: ‘I’ve been framed.’
I picked myself up from the ring and leaned over, shaking flowers from my hair.
‘In Herod’s defence, this is far from conclusive,’ I said to my shoes. ‘There are missing links in the chain of evidence.’
An impressed silence followed this technical-sounding statement, or so I thought. I looked up to find that it was more of a deserted silence. Everyone who had followed me to the Millennium Garden was now hightailing it back to the basketball court. They moved with a speed and silence that would have shamed a special forces squad. Even Red Sharkey was moving quickly, although he managed to do it in a nonchalant way.
There was only one person in this school that could make Red Sharkey run anywhere. That person must be nearby, so I had better get a move on too.
‘Fletcher Moon. I don’t believe it.’
It was Principal Quinn. As usual she was flanked by Larry and Adam. I know dogs aren’t supposed to smile, but I swear I could see them grinning behind their muzzles.
‘Please tell me what you think you are doing.’
Apparently, telling a teacher what you think you are doing makes you think about what you have done.
‘I think I am going straight down to the office,’ I answered, hoping a bit of humour would lighten the tension.
Mrs Quinn chuckled, and for a second I was hopeful, but her laughter dried up like a waterhole in the Sahara.
‘Correct,’ she snapped. ‘When I get back from lineup inspection, you had better be there waiting.’
It seemed to me