The Impossible Clue (2 page)

I
opened my eyes to find Sammy staring down at me. We were in the back seat of the car and we were moving.

‘You're awake.' His dopey smile and overeager eyes made my head ache.

‘Sammy, they got you too?'

I sat up slowly, my back protesting, but at least I could breathe now.

‘I always get a ride home,' Sammy said. And then it hit me. I'd been ignoring Sammy for so long, he asked his dad to make me come over. What was wrong with this kid?

‘I'm so excited. I can't wait for my dad to meet you. I told him all about how you solved the mystery of the ghost in the wall. He was really impressed.'

‘I'll bet he was.'

Sammy grinned at me and sat on his hands, fidgeting
back and forth like a four-year-old trying to keep a secret. ‘Oh, wow. I can't wait to see the look on your face when Dad makes the announcement about Dr Learner's new invention. You are gonna be so amazed. I helped Dr Learner make the breakthrough, you know.' He stopped talking long enough to take a short breath, then kept right on going. ‘But don't tell anyone. I'm not supposed to go in the lab. You destroyed the note, right? Dad says there are spies everywhere.'

‘Sounds like some invention,' I said as I leant to the side to look out the front window.

We were driving out of town on Route 30 toward the Main Line. It was rush hour and traffic was barely crawling. I jiggled the door handle. It didn't open. The two men in suits had turned on the child locks. I named the driver Bruno and the other man Brutus. I had a feeling they wouldn't be introducing themselves.

‘For your safety,' Bruno said without turning around. I resisted the urge to kick the back of his seat. I had to count to 211 (the forty-seventh prime number).

What kind of dad sends two goons to pick up his son from school and kidnap one of his classmates? And why didn't Sammy think it was weird? I wondered if he got all his friends this way.

‘Great,' I said under my breath. ‘Just great.'

‘I know, isn't it!'

I pulled my phone out of my backpack and sent my dad
a text to let him know where I was. I didn't want him to freak out and call the police when I didn't come home. He writes the Crime Report for the
Philadelphia Daily News
. He likes to have the cops owing him favours, not the other way around. Then I put my head against the window and watched the city melt into the suburbs.

We pulled up a mile-long driveway and stopped right in front of the Delgado Mansion. It was a large square building with the kind of windows that watched you. Long, grasping arms of ivy crawled up the walls. I'd only been there once before, when I'd solved Sammy's squirrel mystery. It had been a beautiful sunny day, but even then the house had looked creepy. This time it was even worse. Lightning flashed, thunder crashed. All that was missing were some screeching bats. Sammy and I waited while the muscle up front opened the doors for us. Bruno held the umbrella out for Sammy and took his bag. Brutus opened my door and grunted.

‘Still sore?' I asked. The man didn't say anything, but the way he glared at me was more than eloquent. I climbed out of the car and into the downpour without help.

As I ran past Sammy across the gravel driveway, a large white van pulled in and parked next to a small line of cars by the entrance of the house. The words ‘Channel 4 Action News' were printed in bold blue letters across the side.

I made it up the steps to the front door just in time for it to swing open, almost knocking me back into the rain. A
man in his mid-twenties wearing a dark grey suit that was exactly the right size stared down at me like he'd just found something unpleasant on the bottom of his shoe. He had an umbrella in one hand and two more hooked over his arm.

He sniffed once, then lifted his umbrella and walked quickly into the rain towards the van. Sammy shied slightly as the man brushed past him.

‘What's going on here?' I asked Sammy as he came up the steps.

Sammy looked at the camera van and back at me. He grinned so hard it looked like it hurt.

‘I told you! Dad's announcing Dr Learner's new invention.' He puffed out his chest. ‘Come on, what are you waiting for? This is going to be so great.'

Sammy shot through the door without a second glance at the camera crew. Maybe it wasn't just his imagination after all. I took one last look over my shoulder at the driveway, but my bike was back at school and I doubted Bruno or Brutus would give me a ride home. I sighed and followed Sammy inside.

The entrance hall was palatial and arctic. From the walls to the paintings on them, the entire room was decorated in varying shades of white. It was like standing inside a very large and well-decorated igloo. I stood shivering in my shoes and dripping on to the white marble floor. Mr Delgado was not a man who believed in skimping on the AC.

Sammy checked his watch. ‘OK, there's still time. Let's go to my room. We can have snacks before it starts.' He grabbed my arm and started to drag me towards the large curved staircase that dominated the room, but stopped short. There was a good puddle of water pooling around my shoes. From the look on Sammy's face, I guessed water wasn't welcome in the Delgado household.

‘Oh, right. Just wait here. I'll bring a towel. Be right back.' Sammy was halfway up the stairs, but he kept talking. ‘I've got dressing gowns for us too. They match. It'll be great!' He yelled the last line as he reached the top step and then disappeared down the hallway.

I shivered a little harder, and it had nothing to do with the cold. Hanging out with Sammy was bad enough, but matching dressing gowns? Scientific breakthrough or not, that was taking things too far. I'd rather walk home through a tsunami.

‘If you need us, we'll be right outside,' Brutus grunted. ‘Have fun.' Then he and Bruno walked back out the front door. I was pretty sure that was Brutus's way of saying ‘don't try to make a run for it'. At least, that's what his smirk made me think. If I wanted to get out of the Delgado Mansion, I'd have to find another way.

Besides the stairs going up and the front door going out, there were five other exits out of the entrance hall. My trainers squelched against the marble tiles as I made my way quickly across the floor. The first door I opened was a
cupboard. The next one was a bathroom. I grabbed one of the monogrammed hand towels and dried myself off a little. It didn't help the squelching, but at least it stopped the water running into my eyes.

I opened the third door expecting to find another dead end. Instead, I found myself staring into a room full of people. The room stared back. I could tell by the way the conversation ground to a halt that they weren't expecting to see a dripping wet twelve-year-old girl. I smiled as best as I could and moved to the side of the room. The key to blending in is pretending you belong. Nine times out of ten, if you act like you're supposed to be somewhere, people believe you. With any luck, I could hide out in the crowd until Bruno and Brutus gave up their guard duty and then make a break for it.

The room looked like the study on a space station. The floors and walls and furniture were all silver or white, and smooth as if they'd been designed for speed by a team of engineers. The bookshelves that lined the walls to my left were almost transparent, giving the illusion that the books were floating in mid-air. To my right, three flat-screen TVs embedded into the wall displayed the Delgado Industries logo. A row of trophies sat in a proud line on the cupboard beneath them. Apparently, Delgado Industries had been runners-up for the American Excellence in Scientific Research Award for the past five years. The only things in the room that looked like they came from this century
were the folding chairs. There were eighteen of them, three rows of six, all facing the grand white desk at the front of the room.

The reporters forgot about me before the door was even shut and went back to speaking in excited whispers, each trying to get more information from their neighbour than they were giving away themselves. I could feel the excitement building, charging the air like a thunderstorm. Even I was intrigued. It would have to be a pretty big announcement to get reporters this worked up. As long as Sammy and his dressing gown didn't show up, this might be interesting.

I made my way across the room to a refreshment table moulded out of pearlescent white plastic. It took me a moment to find the coffee in a large metal urn shaped like a rocket. I poured myself a cup and started looking through the books on the shelves. They were all autobiographies and science books. I'd just pulled out
Feynman Lectures on Computation
when a voice made me jump.

‘What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?'

I spun around, sloshing hot coffee all over my hand. I managed to keep the book safe and put it back quickly.

‘Dad? What are you doing here?'

Dad grabbed a bunch of napkins and began to mop up the coffee dripping down my arm. It was hard to tell where the coffee ended and the rainwater began, but he did his best.

‘I'm covering for Greico from Science and Technology. She's been going on about this announcement for months. It's supposed to be a pretty big deal. Look, even Channel 5 came.' Dad refilled my cup and we found two seats next to each other. ‘The question is, what are
you
doing here?'

I made myself as comfortable as you can when your clothes are soaked through. Dad sat down. Then he stood up to get his notebook out of his back pocket and sat down again.

‘Mr Delgado's personal henchmen picked me up from school.'

‘I know. I got your text.' He flipped through the notebook until he found a blank page, got a pencil out, licked it and began tapping the point against the paper. ‘But why?' Dad adjusted his glasses and raised his eyebrows at me. ‘Don't tell me Sammy kidnapped you for a play date.'

I rolled my eyes. ‘No, he wanted me to come to this press conference. He said he helped make the breakthrough. Just let me hang out here until you can give me a ride home.'

Dad made a face like he was impressed.

‘I'm pretty sure he was exaggerating. He probably held a notepad or something.'

‘Maybe you should give the kid a break. You know what your mom says about making new friends.'

‘Dad. It's Sammy.'

‘Maybe if you gave him a chance he wouldn't be so bad?'

‘No, Dad, it's Sammy. He's over there.' Sammy stood in the doorway wearing a maroon paisley dressing gown with satin lapels. He looked like he'd walked straight out of a Sherlock Holmes novel. All that was missing was the pipe. He had more maroon paisley draped over his arm. Paisley meant for me. I hunkered down in my chair and tried to make myself invisible.

‘So that's Sammy?' Dad whistled softly. ‘You said he helped with some of Dr Learner's experiments?'

‘Dad, please don't. Sammy asked me to keep it a secret.'

‘Don't worry, I'll be discreet,' Dad said as he stood up and waved at Sammy.

At first Sammy just looked confused, but then Dad pointed at me and motioned Sammy over, scooting me down a seat so we could all sit together. Dad would talk to anyone for a story. Even if Sammy was just a fly on the wall while Dr Learner was conducting his experiments, he was still a source. Normally I wouldn't mind, but this time he was getting me involved.

‘Hi Alice. Here's your dressing gown. I was worried I wouldn't find you before the press conference started.' I don't think Sammy even realized I'd been trying to get away. He glanced round the room and licked his lips, then leant into my personal space and whispered, ‘You are not going to believe your eyes. Dr Learner said his invention could change the world!'

I was saved from any more conversation, and from Dad
starting to ask questions, by Mr Delgado himself. He made his entrance through the door behind the desk and stood in the doorway, his body almost filling the frame, until he had our attention. He was one of those men who owned a room. Everything about him was designed to impress, from the mirror-shine on his expensive shoes to the perfectly groomed hair parted on one side and brushed across the top of his head, not one strand out of place. Even though he hadn't said a word, we were all watching him.

Mr Delgado stepped into the room and smoothed his hand over his hair. For just a moment I wondered if he was nervous. I looked at Sammy, but he didn't seem worried.

Mr Delgado centred himself behind his desk and looked out at the crowd, gathering us up with his eyes. And when he was certain he had our full attention, he started to speak.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid the unveiling of the latest scientific breakthrough which Delgado Industries made in December cannot go ahead as scheduled.'

A dull murmur filled the room as Mr Delgado paused for dramatic effect. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sammy lick his lips. He suddenly looked nervous. ‘Instead, I have a much more serious announcement to make. Our top scientist, and lead researcher on this project, Dr Adrian Learner, has disappeared.'