Operation Gadgetman! (11 page)

‘That's all settled then,' Gran smiled. ‘Now then, you three. Off with those dirty things and I'll throw them in the washing machine. Beans, go upstairs with your friends and give them some of your clean clothes.'

‘And there I was, about to give them my dirty ones out of the linen basket,' Beans muttered.

‘I heard that, madam!' said Gran.

Laughing, the three girls ran upstairs and into Beans's bedroom. Beans closed the door carefully behind her before turning to Louisa and Ann.

‘Now you two can tell me just what all that was about downstairs,' Beans ordered. ‘Why the sudden rush to spend the night?'

‘Because I think your dad's kidnappers are out to get you as well, even if Detective Warner doesn't,' Louisa answered. ‘And there's no way we're going to leave you alone tonight so that they
can
get you.'

‘Dead right!' Ann smiled. Her smile faded. ‘But what can we do?'

‘Plenty,' Louisa said. ‘We'll set up some traps and alarms in the house, just in case the kidnappers should try anything funny.'

‘What sort of traps?' Beans asked suspiciously. ‘I don't want to set up anything that could hurt my gran. And besides, how can we set up alarms that Gran won't set off?'

‘Don't worry. I've got a plan,' Louisa smiled.

It was lucky for Beans and her friends that there was nothing on the telly that Gran wanted to watch. She decided to go to bed early, leaving the house free and clear for Beans and Louisa and Ann.

Following Louisa's instructions, they raided the kitchen and the airing cupboard and the cupboard in the front room where Dad kept all his stationery. Beans's bedroom took half an hour to prepare, but at last it was ready.

A plethora of coat hangers hung on the door handle and behind the door on the dressing-gown hook, ready to rattle if Beans's bedroom door was even looked at sideways. Tin cans were strewn on the carpet directly under her bedroom window. The curtains were partially drawn to hide the drawing pins littered across the windowsill. A frying pan was placed under either pillow on Beans's bed, and a rounders bat was placed behind the headboard. The only thing Beans wasn't too sure about was the cornflakes scattered around her bed.

‘That's our alarm if the kidnappers get past the other traps,' Louisa said. ‘They'll scrunch the cornflakes underfoot and the noise will wake us up.'

‘But I'll get ants and mice in here . . .' Bean protested.

‘Would you rather have ants and mice or kidnappers?' Louisa asked. It was a close thing, but the ants and mice won.

‘Gran's going to go nuclear if she sees all those cornflakes on the floor,' Beans muttered.

‘We'll vacuum them up before she sees them,' Louisa promised.

‘Hhmm!' Beans said, not totally convinced.

At last they went to bed. Louisa and Ann tossed a coin to see who would share Beans's double bed and who'd have to sleep on the lilo. Ann got the lilo, much to Louisa's relief.

They started watching the late-night movie on the telly in Beans's room, but it was a horror film and they all agreed that it was
not
the best time to watch something like that. Beans had to take a flying leap out of bed to unplug the telly, and another flying leap to get back into bed – all to avoid the cornflakes. She reached up over her head to switch off the light. They all lay on their backs, listening to the dark silence in the house.

‘I won't sleep a wink,' Beans whispered. She fingered the rounders bat. It felt smooth and reassuringly solid beneath her fingertips.

‘Neither will I,' Louisa sighed.

‘Nor me,' Ann joined in.

Ten minutes later, they were all fast asleep.

‘Beatrice Teresa Conran! Just what have you been up to?'

Beans sat up, rubbing her eyes. ‘Is it morning already?' she asked, surprised.

‘Yes, it is morning. And you can just clean up this room – and that means
every
cornflake removed from the carpet – before you come down to breakfast,' Gran stormed.

Beans blinked. ‘Yes, Gran.'

Ann sat up slowly. Louisa groaned and turned round, pulling the duvet over her head.

‘So much for traps and alarms,' Beans said with disgust. She was
almost
disappointed.

An hour later, the tins and drawing pins and hangers were all back in their proper places. The cornflakes had been vacuumed up until the carpet looked like new.

‘I'd still like to know what you three were up to.' Gran peered at her reflection in the hall mirror before straightening her hat.

‘It was just an experiment, Gran,' Beans said for the umpteenth time.

‘An experiment? AN EXPERIMENT! You and your father – God protect him – must learn to do your experiments out in the garden workroom and keep them out of the house,' Gran said. ‘Mind you, I'm not surprised your dad works in this house sometimes, considering the state of his workroom! The door was just about to fall off its hinges. So untidy! I had to use your dad's tools to fix it this morning. Did that nice Detective Warner get in touch about your father whilst I was out shopping yesterday?'

‘No, Gran. I'd tell you if he had,' Beans replied.

‘I'm not so sure about that, Beatrice.' Gran turned to wag a finger in Beans's direction. ‘I know you don't want to upset me, so I wouldn't put it past you to keep bad news to yourself.'

‘Well, I'm not.'

‘Just make sure you don't,' Gran sniffed. ‘I'm not made of glass.'

‘Yes, Gran . . . I mean, no, Gran,' Beans said.

‘I just hope your dad's safe,' Gran muttered. ‘If I didn't have you three girls to look after, I don't know what I'd do . . . All this worry.'

Beans was surprised, then she wondered
why
she was surprised. She was more like her gran than she had thought. They both had to
do
things to stop themselves from worrying too much. Only Gran's way of handling it was to keep busy with her shopping and dusting and cooking and cleaning and mending doors!

‘I'm off to church now,' Gran said, straightening up. ‘I want you three girls to behave yourselves. No more trying to plant cornflakes in the carpet!'

Louisa and Ann smiled.

‘No, Gran,' Beans said.

Gran pulled her jacket down straight and headed out the door.

‘Nag! Nag! Nag!' Beans muttered under her breath.

‘I heard that, Beatrice!' Gran said. She popped her head round the door. ‘If you three are seeking useful employment today, you can mow the lawn and water the flowers – in both the back and the front gardens. I started it this morning but didn't get a chance to finish. The side gate is open, so don't forget to lock it when you're all done. I don't want stray dogs wandering up our side path.' And with that, Gran closed the door firmly behind her.

‘Your gran's dead ace,' Ann grinned. ‘I like her!'

‘Me, too,' Louisa agreed. ‘She believes in coming straight to the point, doesn't she!'

‘You two only like her because she's never inflicted her macaroni cheese on you,' Beans replied.

They wandered into the kitchen.

‘Do you want us to help you with anything?' Louisa asked.

‘I suppose we'd better start looking for any notes or drawings Dad might have made about his induction oscillator. Detective Warner has been pestering me about those for ages.'

‘Where do we start?' Ann asked.

‘Dad's workroom. Where else?' Beans said.

Beans thought that the search would take for ever, but Gran had beaten them to Dad's workroom and tidied that as well! Boxes of the same components were stacked neatly side by side against the wall. Screwdrivers were arranged in order of size on the worktable. Miscellaneous components were held in one large box. The broom leaned self-consciously against the wall by the window, and Dad's latest gadgets – the animal crunchies shaped like various animals or insects – were in a box by themselves.

To think that these little things could have caused all the trouble with our neighbour, Mr McKee, Beans thought.

She opened the drawers in her father's worktable and found all of his papers, filed neatly away. Gran again! The notes on the induction oscillator had to be in there somewhere. Beans sighed. Working her way through all that lot would be a job and a half. The workroom was darker than it had been the day before. Beans glanced up. Gran had been up on the ladder to throw a tarpaulin over the hole in the roof. And as Gran said, she'd fixed the door so that it no longer swung haphazardly on its hinges, but closed properly. The workroom door's padlock and key had been placed on a shelf, just inside the door.

‘I would never have recognized the place,' Ann whistled.

‘Dad won't recognize it either,' Beans said. ‘He's always been here before to stop Gran from tidying it up. I guess she couldn't help herself.'

‘Here . . . Beans, isn't that your doorbell?' Louisa asked.

‘I can't hear anything.' Beans turned her head to listen.

‘Yes, it is,' Louisa said. ‘There it goes again.'

Beans stared at her. ‘How can you hear the doorbell from all the way out here? You must have ears like a Labrador!'

Louisa grinned. They all went back inside the house. Louisa was right. There
was
someone at the door. Two people, in fact.

‘Hello, Beans,' Detective Warner said. His piercing eyes seemed to look straight through her and her friends. ‘Er . . . I've brought my sergeant with me today. This is Sergeant Paxman.'

Sergeant Paxman had his back to them as the detective spoke. At the introduction, he turned around slowly. Beans's breath caught in her throat for a moment. For a brief second . . . Beans was sure she had seen Sergeant Paxman before. But that was impossible. He was a podgier man than Detective Warner, but strangely podgy.

Podgy in a squidgy way! Beans thought.

Sergeant Paxman was wearing sunglasses and his hair was gelled straight back off his head. His face had a sheen to it, which didn't surprise Beans.

He must be baking, Beans frowned to herself.

Sergeant Paxman was wearing a zipped-up black leather jacket, and trousers which seemed to have a shape all of their own. If the trousers followed the shape of Sergeant Paxman's legs, then the sergeant had the most peculiarly shaped legs Beans had ever seen. She couldn't see Sergeant Paxman's face very well because he was standing just in front of the sun so that his face was shadowed.

‘May we come in, Beans?' Detective Warner asked.

‘Yes, of course.' Beans held open the door.

‘I thought you were going to be alone this morning?' Detective Warner asked lightly, regarding Ann and Louisa.

‘My friends stayed overnight,' Beans explained.

She watched Sergeant Paxman as he walked into the house out of the sun. It was strange, but the skin below his cheeks, around his mouth and his jaw-line, was noticeably lighter than the rest of his tanned face. Beans frowned. She couldn't put her finger on it but there was something very strange about Sergeant Paxman. Something she didn't like – at all.

‘Have you any news about my dad?' Beans asked.

Detective Warner and Sergeant Paxman made themselves comfortable on the sofa. Sergeant Paxman picked up Beans's English workbook from where it was partially covered by a sofa cushion, and started flicking through it.

‘We've got nothing concrete yet,' Detective Warner smiled. ‘The car was found abandoned in the city centre, which doesn't give us much to go on, but we're still looking. What about you?'

‘What about me?' Beans asked, puzzled.

‘Did you find the blueprints for the induction oscillator or instructions for using it?'

Why did Detective Warner's smile remind Beans of an oil slick? Sergeant Paxman unzipped his jacket before pushing his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose. He closed Beans's English notebook. He started drumming on the cover.

‘I . . .' Beans froze.

She stared at Sergeant Paxman's fingers, drumming on her notebook.

Drumming. Drumming . . .

‘Is something wrong, Beans?' Detective Warner frowned.

Beans looked at him. She clamped her teeth together, then forced herself to smile.

‘No, of course not.' She was speaking too quickly. ‘No, of course not,' she said again, making herself speak more slowly this time.

‘So did you find what we're looking for?' the detective repeated. ‘Any drawings or notes? Anything at all?'