The Impossible Clue (9 page)

‘
H
ide!' I hissed.

Kevin made a move to get under the bed. I dragged him back. Not even Kevin Jordan deserved what was under there. Besides, we might need to leave in a hurry, and it was easier to make a run for it if you weren't flat on your stomach.

‘Get behind the door.'

Kevin jumped over a pile of laundry and squeezed behind me in the space between the bedroom door and the wall. I could feel Kevin's breath on the back of my neck, the stray hairs that escaped from my braid tickled like torture.

If I pressed my eye against the crack between the door and the frame, I had a clear view of Dr Learner's front door. The window next to it was broken, a slight breeze
wafting the curtains into the room. I watched as a hand reached through them and groped for the door handle. Then the fingers closed around it and Dr Learner's door swung open. It looked like whoever had searched Dr Learner's apartment before was back to finish the job. But if they were back, did that mean the briefcase was still missing? And if so, where was it?

‘Oh, man, what do we do? What do we do?' Kevin said. His fingers dug into my shoulders.

‘Shhh,' I said. ‘It's fine. Just keep quiet.' I couldn't think with Kevin panicking in my ear.

The burglar came into Dr Learner's apartment. He had a Philadelphia Flyers cap pulled down low over his eyes. The rest of his face was hidden by his enormous hand as he tried to block out the smell. But I'd seen that gigantic upside-down trapezoid before. In fact, I'd seen it that very morning.

Kevin's fingers dug in deeper. Tomorrow I'd have ten finger-sized bruises.

‘He's going into the kitchen. Quick,' I said. We moved from behind the door and into the living room.

‘What are you doing?' Kevin asked, as I took a wheelie chair from under a pile of pizza boxes and carried it gently to the front door, blocking the only escape route. I took out my phone and waited.

‘Trust me,' I said, sitting down. I could hear gagging coming from the kitchen, and then the burglar came back into the living room, bent over holding his stomach.

‘Hello Graham. Say cheese.'

The tiny light from my phone flashed. Graham Davidson stood frozen in the middle of the room, half standing, half squatting. He looked like a cat clinging to a curtain. He stared at me and then at the door behind me and then at me again. It was like he was stuck in some sort of fight-or-flight loop.

‘Wait, you know him?' Kevin asked.

‘He's Dr Learner's lab assistant. We met this morning.' I looked at the time on my phone and then back at Graham. ‘You must have left work early.'

Graham opened his mouth, but he didn't make a sound. I couldn't even tell if he was breathing. I guess I would have been shocked too if I'd broken into my boss's place and been caught in the act by two kids. It was either that or he'd left the fridge open for too long and the smell had broken his brain.

I tried some gentle prodding. ‘The briefcase isn't here, if that's what you're after. I checked.'

That did the trick. Graham let out his breath in a long sigh and came back to life. He looked up at the ceiling like he was asking someone
why does this stuff always happen to me?
Then he flopped down on to the couch. A cloud of dust mushroomed around him.

‘That's that then,' he coughed. ‘When you came asking questions at the office, I thought there might be a chance it was all still here. I should have known it was too good to
be true.'

I could feel Kevin relaxing. I shot him a look that said
let me do the talking
. It didn't look like Graham had been here before, so he probably wasn't the one who turned over the place. But I still wanted to ask him some questions and I didn't want Kevin giving the game away.

‘What was too good to be true?'

‘Like I'd tell you. Sorry kid. Go fish.'

I held up my phone. ‘Too bad,' I said. ‘I guess I'll have to send Mr Delgado that photo and tell him all about your little visit to Dr Learner's apartment. He's pretty smart. I'm sure he'll figure out what you were up to. I wonder what happens to a lab assistant who tries to steal company secrets? I'm sure there are plenty of other PhDs who'd love a job with Delgado Industries.'

Graham stared at me and leant forward in his seat. I could see his fingers twitch. He licked his lips like he was getting ready for something. Behind me I could feel Kevin getting ready to make a move of his own. I held up my hand to stop them both.

‘Don't even think about it,' I said. ‘I've got my finger on the send button. I'll press it before you can stand up.'

‘Stop,' Graham said. He held up his hands. ‘Stop. I'll talk. But you gotta promise not to tell Delgado. He'll fire me in a second. I'll never get a job in a lab again.'

‘Fine.' I lowered the phone but kept my finger on the button. I didn't want Graham making any sudden moves in
my direction. ‘So what are you doing here?'

‘It isn't what you think,' Graham started, then he stopped, searching for the right words.

‘I'm listening.'

‘OK, maybe it
is
what you think. But why not? I reckon Dr Learner's already run off with his research. So why shouldn't I look for his notes? I worked on that project too, technically. I should get some of the credit.' Graham leant forward again, bracing his elbows on his knees.

‘Go on.'

He glared at me, but he kept talking.

‘After Dr Learner went missing, I got a call from Chronos. They asked if I'd worked on the project. If I thought I could reproduce Dr Learner's results. They offered to hire me. And not just as an assistant. They offered to give me a job as a lead researcher.'

It looked like Dr Learner wasn't the only one Chronos was trying to steal from Delgado Industries.

‘So you took the job?'

‘Not exactly.' Graham's large fingers picked at a patch of dirt on his knee.

‘Oh, I get it. You couldn't reproduce the results.'

‘As I said, Dr Learner got really secretive about six months ago. He wouldn't let me into his office. And he stopped having me type up his notes. That's when he must have made that breakthrough you were talking about. He must have known how much people would pay for . . .'
Graham paused and looked at me, his eyes narrowed.

‘For the technology to make an invisibility suit?' I finished the sentence for him.

Graham gasped, then he choked. ‘How did you know about the suit?' He managed between coughs.

‘That doesn't matter,' I said. I thought about getting Graham a drink of water, but I wasn't sure there was a clean glass in the place, so I waited until he finished coughing before I asked any more questions. It took a while.

‘So you think he's made a breakthrough that will make it possible to create an invisibility suit?' I asked once I was sure Graham wasn't going to choke.

‘I don't think he's just come up with the theory of the technology. I think he did it! He built the suit!'

‘But that's crazy,' I said, wishing I felt as sure as I sounded. It was one thing to tell Della and Dad that making an invisibility suit was impossible. But if a scientist like Graham Davidson thought it was true, maybe I was wrong.

‘I thought so too,' said Graham. ‘But don't you see? It's the only way he could have disappeared the way he did. He waited overnight in the office, and when I came in that morning he put on the suit to become invisible. When I opened the door to see if he was there, he just walked out. He could be here watching us right now and we'd never know.'

I shivered, just for a moment, imagining a world where invisible people watched you from the corners of your room. And then I shook it off. No, even if Graham Davidson thought it was possible, I still couldn't believe it. Not without real, solid proof.

‘Wait. What are you two talking about?' Kevin couldn't keep quiet any longer. The words almost exploded out of him.

Graham looked at Kevin and then at me. ‘Who is this kid?'

‘He's . . .' I tried to think of a word that would be reassuring, but also honest. I came up blank. ‘He's helping me out on the case.'

Kevin said nothing. The idea of helping me must have shocked him into silence.

‘Well, I'm not saying another word. Now delete that photo and let me get out of this cesspit.'

‘Wait. Just one more question. What do you think an invisibility suit would look like? How big would it be?' I tilted my head to the side. ‘Do you think it could fit inside a briefcase?'

Graham Davidson stood up and loomed over us. Any advantage I'd had before was overshadowed, literally.

‘I said no more questions.'

‘Fine.' I made a show of deleting the picture. He didn't need to answer. I could tell I was right. Graham wasn't looking for Dr Learner's notes in that briefcase. He was
looking for the finished suit.

We helped Graham Davidson cover the window he'd broken with a piece of cardboard from an old pizza box and some duct tape, and then we left. The air on the other side of the door smelt as sweet as a fresh box of No. 2 pencils. I gulped it in. I needed a shower. Not just any shower. I needed the kind of shower people got after a radiation leak.

Graham pushed past us and took the stairs two at a time. He was in his car and driving out of the car park before Kevin and I reached the bottom of the steps.

‘Ugh, I feel disgusting.' Kevin shuddered.

I looked around quickly to make sure Mr Ryder wasn't going to grab us and make us finish the clean-up we were supposed to have started. He must have been busy somewhere else in the building.

‘Come on, let's get out of here,' I said.

‘So is all that invisibility stuff for real?' Kevin asked as we walked across the crumbling asphalt to where we'd left our bikes.

‘I don't know. Davidson seems to think so, and he has a PhD. He told me so himself.'

‘Yeah, but is that Learner guy really that smart? I mean, look at his place. Who lives like that?'

I hated to admit it, but Kevin Jordan had a point. Dr Learner's apartment had me asking myself a lot of questions about the so-called genius. It also had me
asking myself when was the last time I cleaned my room.

The trip hadn't been a total disaster, though. I may not have sniffed out much of a personal angle for my father, but I got Graham to confirm our suspicions.

Dr Learner was working on an invisibility suit, or at least the first stages of one.

And Chronos was trying to get their hands on it.

But I couldn't believe Dr Learner would sell it to them of his own free will. Not after seeing that drawing on his refrigerator. Or maybe I just didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to have to tell Sammy his hero had betrayed him.

I crouched down to unlock the bike chain. While I was down there, I made a note to throw away my shoes. Kevin stood next to me, leaning back on the chain-link fence. The metal scraped and rattled as it moved.

‘Hey,' Kevin said. ‘What would you do if you could turn invisible?'

I didn't look up. ‘I don't know. Avoid having this conversation?'

‘That's so boring.'

The lock popped and I stood up, passing Kevin his bike.

‘I know what I'd do.' He grinned.

I didn't ask. I was pretty sure I'd be happier not knowing. I just wound up the lock chain and started pushing my bike towards the exit. Kevin pushed his bike beside me.

‘I have to admit, it was pretty cool when you took the photo of that guy. Like BAM, we've got you now, sucker! I
thought he was going to cry. I can't believe you deleted it, though.'

‘What makes you think I deleted it?'

‘Uh, I saw you?'

I raised an eyebrow. ‘I sent myself a copy first. I'm not stupid.'

I actually kind of enjoyed the look of admiration on Kevin's face. I was just about to smile when something silver caught my eye.

‘What?' Kevin asked.

‘It's nothing,' I said. ‘At least, I think it's nothing.'

I peered casually through the chain-link fence at the cars parked across the road. If it was the same car, I didn't want them to know I'd caught on. ‘It's just I thought there was a car following me and my dad this morning. I've been a bit jumpy since then.'

‘What kind of car?' Kevin was looking across the street too.

‘A silver Mercedes.'

‘Like that one?' Kevin asked. He pointed his finger through the fence. Almost immediately, the silver car started up and pulled away, kicking up loose gravel and stones on to the car parked behind it.

‘Yeah,' I said. ‘Exactly like that one.'

K
evin's mouth hung open as the Mercedes drove away.

‘Wait, were they following you?'

I checked the number plate against the photo I took that morning. They matched. ‘Looks like it.'

‘But why?'

It was a good question, but I could take a guess at the answer.

It was someone from Chronos.

I already knew they wanted the research and they were willing to use Graham Davidson to steal it. It didn't seem that odd that they'd follow the person Mr Delgado hired to find Dr Learner too. Maybe Dr Learner had to disappear to hide from them. Maybe they'd already kidnapped him. If they were willing to do that much for just the research, imagine what they'd do for the actual suit. I shuddered: Dr
Learner might be in serious trouble.

‘So what are you going to do? Call the police?'

‘Do you think the police would believe me?' I pushed my bike out on to the pavement and Kevin followed. ‘I'll tell Mr Delgado about it, and my dad. It's annoying but I don't think it's dangerous. It's not like they'll do anything to me until I lead them to Dr Learner's invisibility suit. And the chances that I'll find it are really low anyway.'

Kevin opened his mouth to answer back, but he never got the chance. He was interrupted by a plain white van. It stopped right in front of us and the door slid open. The first thing I thought when I saw the inside was,
Oh, no, not again
.

‘Alice Jones?' An official-looking man wearing official-looking clothes leant out of the van. Even his haircut looked official. ‘Would you mind stepping into the van for a moment? Agent Reed would like to speak with you.'

Right. Like I was just going to climb into an unmarked van. Kevin must have been thinking the same thing. He had a death-grip on the hem of my shirt, ready to stop me if I made a move.

‘Can I see some ID?' Behind him I could see speakers and screens and displays with impressive flashing lights mounted on the inner wall. There was also a small coffee pot in the far corner, which was probably more important than all of the other high-tech gear combined.

The man handed me a black wallet. I flipped it open and
saw a bronze badge and a photo ID printed with the letters ‘FBI'. I looked at the badge, then at the man. It looked real. Besides, no one would use the name Ian Gerber on a fake ID.

I climbed into the van, dragging Kevin along with me. I hoped whatever they wanted wouldn't take too long. I didn't think Della would believe that dinner was late because the FBI wanted a chat.

Agent Gerber pointed us towards a woman in the back of the van before he shut the door. Then he sat down in the corner and got out a newspaper. I noticed he'd filled in the sudoku in pen. I also noticed he'd got the top right corner wrong, but didn't think now was the time to mention it.

The woman handed me her ID badge and smiled a nice, warm, motherly smile that made me want to confide in her. I bet the FBI trained her how to do that. She wore a boxy blue suit, wrinkled like it had been slept in.

‘All right, Agent Reed,' I said as I handed back the badge. ‘What do you want?'

‘It's nothing for you to worry about. We just have a few questions about Dr Learner and his research.'

‘You mean the invis—'

I put my hand over Kevin's mouth before he could blurt it out.

‘Oh, don't worry. We already know about Dr Learner's new project. We have our own sources. We're interested in
signing a contract, but there are other parties interested too. We need to know how far he's got with the technology, and if he's given it to anyone else. It's very important you tell us everything you know. This could be a matter of national security.'

Great
, I thought,
now I'll have to tell Sammy his friend might be a traitor as well as a thief
.

‘And you think I can help you?'

‘Mr Delgado did give you special access to Delgado Industries. The Bureau thought it was a little unusual, but sometimes an outside eye can see things that people too close to a project can't. Or maybe Mr Delgado had another reason for hiring you?' Agent Reed watched me very closely. It felt like she was accusing me of something. I just didn't know what.

‘Why else would he hire her?' Kevin said. ‘Everyone at school knows Alice is great at solving mysteries.'

He must have been angry. His face was bright red. I was too shocked to speak. Kevin Jordan just stood up for me.

Agent Reed smiled again, a little bit cooler this time.

‘We aren't asking her to solve this for us,' she said. ‘We're just asking her to tell us what she knows. And we're asking very nicely,' she turned to me, ‘for now.'

I paused. I wasn't sure how much Mr Delgado wanted the government to know. I mean, if he was trying to land a big contract, did he really want me sharing? Then again, it's not like I was actually working for Mr Delgado. As far as
I was concerned, he'd offered me the ten-thousand-dollar reward for finding Dr Learner just like he'd offered it to anyone who read any newspaper in the area. And so far, all I'd got for my pains was a lot of trouble with a capital T. The sooner someone found Dr Learner the better. I didn't care if it was me or the Feds.

‘What do you want to know?'

‘Everything.'

So I told Agent Reed what I knew. And as I told her, I realized that what I knew didn't even amount to a hill of beans.

Dr Learner had disappeared. Chronos wanted his research, but they hadn't gotten it yet, so they tried to use Graham Davidson to get it for them. Only Graham hadn't found anything either. It made me wonder if there was any research to find. I felt like a dog chasing its tail. I was pretty sure Chronos was behind Dr Learner's disappearance. They seemed like they'd do anything to get their hands on that invisibility suit.

I stopped talking for a moment, and thought about what I'd just said.

If Chronos was asking Graham Davidson to reproduce Dr Learner's work, it meant that they didn't already have it. They were probably following me hoping that I would lead them to Dr Learner or to his briefcase. I'd felt pretty smug about my deduction before. But now I realized it meant my main suspect had to be innocent. Chronos R&D
wouldn't be trying to find Dr Learner if they'd kidnapped him.

‘Wait,' Agent Reed said, stopping me mid-sentence. ‘You say Dr Learner's lab assistant thinks there's a functioning prototype?' Agent Reed bore down on me, her motherly brown eyes suddenly turning professional.

Kevin couldn't stop himself. ‘Yeah, he thinks that Dr Learner used the invisibility suit to escape!'

‘That's what Graham says, but it doesn't seem possible,' I chimed in.

Agent Reed wasn't listening to me any more. She'd clearly got what she was after. She turned her back on us and picked up her phone, waving at the other agent to show us out. He did, quickly.

As we climbed out of the van and back on to the street I could hear Agent Reed saying ‘Hello Director. We've confirmed it.'

But I didn't hear anything after that. The door slammed shut before she could say another word.

Kevin turned to me. ‘Why didn't you tell them about the car that's been following you?'

‘Agent Reed didn't seem interested in
me
.' Plus I didn't like her or Agent Gerber and the thought of asking them for help made my teeth ache. But Kevin had a point. I might not get another chance to report them.

‘Hey!' I banged my palm against the side of the van.

The door slid open again. Agent Gerber looked down at
me. He clearly hadn't been to the ‘friendly faces for children' class yet.

‘What?'

‘There's one more thing.' I got out my phone and started scrolling through the pictures. ‘A car's been following me since Mr Delgado asked me to look for Dr Learner.'

‘Really?' he said. I could tell he didn't believe me.

‘Yes, really. I have the registration. It followed me and my dad home from Delgado Industries, and it was here just now. They drove away in a hurry the second this genius,' I jerked my head in Kevin's direction, ‘pointed at them.'

I handed Agent Gerber my phone. Agent Gerber looked at the picture and clicked his teeth. ‘Fine, I'll make a note of the number plate in the file. Be careful walking home.'

He shut the door again. I got the feeling he wouldn't open it again no matter how hard I pounded on it.

‘Wow,' said Kevin. ‘That was the FBI. We talked to the FBI.'

For someone who lived to break the rules, Kevin seemed pretty excited.

‘Hey, wait a minute,' he said. ‘If they were watching Dr Learner's apartment, why didn't they come and help us? They knew we were in there, and they must have seen that Davidson guy breaking in. We could have been in danger!'

‘The same reason the guys in the silver Mercedes didn't
come rushing in. They wanted to see what we'd find.'

‘Are you going to keep looking for him? For the doctor?'

‘I don't know. Maybe.' It was a lie. I knew I'd keep looking. I was as bad as my father once I got started on a problem. Leaving it unsolved would drive me crazy. I didn't even care about proving Mr Delgado wrong any more, or at least not much. I just wanted to be able to tell Sammy the truth. Even if I didn't like the way he followed me around all the time, he deserved to know what really happened to his friend.

Kevin stared at me.

‘What?'

‘You're not normal, are you?' he said after a long pause. ‘Here, give me your phone.'

He took it out of my hand and started pressing buttons.

‘There, that's my number. Call me if you think you're going to find him. Don't go alone.'

‘You're joking?'

Kevin handed back the phone. ‘You've seen movies, right? All I'm saying is, don't be that girl. Call me, or your dad. Whatever.'

‘Fine, I get it. I'll call someone. Now can we go? I told my sister I'd cook dinner.' I threw my leg over my bike and pushed off. Kevin was right behind me.

‘You have a sister?'

I don't know how it happened. But somehow I found myself talking to Kevin Jordan. No, not talking. I was telling
him things. I told him about Della, and how the audition process was making her a little crazy. How Dad was busy on a story and now Mom probably thought he was neglecting us. I told him how I wished I could solve my family like they were some sort of maths problem, balance the equation and get a nice neat answer.

‘That way, maybe I could make everyone equally happy, you know? And it would be fair.'

I regretted it the instant the words were out of my mouth. But there was nothing I could do to take them back, and trying to cover them up would make it even worse.

‘Anyway, enough about me,' I said. ‘Isn't this your street?'

‘Nah, I'm going into the city. I'll ride with you.'

Side by side in the late afternoon haze, it was hard to tell if he was teasing me or trying to be nice.

It was a relief when we finally got to my house. I pushed my bike up the steps as quickly as I could. Kevin offered to help, but I told him he'd done enough for one day.

‘Listen, about the money . . .' Kevin put his foot on the bottom step, but I stopped him.

‘My dad isn't home, so you'll have to come by some other time.'

‘No, it's fine. Just tell him to forget about it.'

Kevin hopped off the step and back on to his bike.

‘What do you mean?' I called after him.

‘I don't need the money,' he yelled back, and then he rode away, pedalling like his life depended on it.

The list of things that made no sense just kept getting bigger.