by A. J. Low
“My yelling at Eliza was all a ploy to catch James,” I said. “I came up with the plan once I realised James could only see us, but not hear us. I told Wendy and Dad, then Dad texted Mom and Wendy told Eliza. I yelled at Eliza so she, Wendy and Mom would run off and not be followed by James.”
“Then I texted Uncle Mike to tell him where we left the phone,” Mom said.
“Then you left the phone behind as bait so the girls could catch James,” Nazhar said, slowly nodding his head. “Very clever, but why didn’t you tell me about the plan?”
“Because we all know what you look like when you’re trying to be inconspicuous,” Eliza said. She imitated Nazhar’s classic I-am-staring-into-air-in-a-very-focused-manner look.
Nazhar flushed red.
“Though I’m pretty surprised that Dad didn’t tip James off with his horrible acting,” Wendy said. “Uncle Boon Chong really wasn’t kidding about you, Dad.”
Dad grimaced while Mom struggled to hide her smile.
“Anything to say under there, James?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, sir, but Master James isn’t here.”
We looked at each other and pulled the blanket back. Moran was sitting there.
“Good afternoon,” he said.
“Of course! It all makes sense now,” I shouted. “You’ve been using your X-ray or thermal vision to watch us through buildings, so we couldn’t see you. So which is it? X-ray or thermal?”
Eliza’s phone rang again. Eliza immediately answered it and put it on speaker.
“Well done, Sherlock,” James said. “That plan of yours worked perfectly. I guess you’re not as addled by your missing robot as much as I had thought.”
“Let’s trade,” I said.
“Trade what?” James asked.
“Robots. I have Moran, and you have Watson, so let’s trade.”
James let out a chuckle. “No deal. Watson is clearly more valuable to you than Moran is to me. I’ll just build another servant. What this means, however, is that I won’t be giving you any more hints.”
The line went dead.
“That’s fine, we don’t need his help,” I said. “Let’s go back to the building Jimmy was pointing at before and solve this riddle properly, without James’s meddling.”
“But first...” Dad said, looking at Moran.
“I will submit to your incarceration,” Moran said. He really was exceedingly polite.
“We’re not going to imprison you,” I said. “You’re coming with us so we can keep an eye on you.”
We walked back to the building Jimmy had pointed to earlier, and stared at the large Chinese characters on it but it didn’t match up with our list.
“Sam! Look here!” Wendy called out. She was pointing at a directional signage for the Guest House and the Stone Lantern Valley .
“They look a bit different, but I think that’s because the clues James gave us used traditional Chinese characters,” I said. “To the Guest House!”
As we dashed by the Stone Lantern Valley, Nazhar asked, “How can you be sure James’s clue points to the Guest House, Sherlock? The characters on the sign don’t match the characters on his clue.”
“James’s clue uses traditional characters while the sign used simplified characters. Even though our Chinese isn’t fantastic, we can still recognise the root character, which is the same in both writing forms.”
“You know, we should really take the kids on a holiday to Japan,” Dad said to Mom as they jogged together side by side with Moran in the middle. “The last time we went was on our honeymoon!”
Mom grinned and nodded. I really wanted to visit Japan too. I had heard that in Tokyo, you could get personalised cup noodles and specially designed bento sets! I wanted one with robot-shaped onigiri. But more than that, I wanted Watson to come with us. He would love Japan and all its robots!
“This is it, Samuel,” Eliza said. As usual, she and Nazhar had reached it before the rest of us. “No Cup Gate.”
Eliza pointed at a red, wooden gate that was situated in front of the Guest House. There was a sign on the gate with the traditional characters that matched James’s clue exactly. To the right of the gate was a sign on the ground that explained why the gate was called the “No Cup Gate” and pasted on the base of that sign was a white envelope.
“That must be the next clue, Sherlock!” Jimmy exclaimed as he scampered over to pull the envelope loose.
I immediately opened the envelope as everyone gathered around me.
“Those are elements,” Mom said.
“Does he want us to do an experiment here?” Dad asked, spinning around to look at our surroundings. “Did he leave us any materials?” He looked at Moran, who shook his head (politely, of course).
“I don’t think so, Dad,” I replied, taking a look around too. “It has to be a clue like everything else.” I then stared hard at the words on the paper.
“Does ‘CHIS BOA’ mean anything to anyone?” Wendy asked, squinting at the piece of paper.
“BoA is a Korean pop star, I think,” Eliza said. “But that doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Maybe he wants us to sing and dance!” Jimmy said, striking a dramatic pose with an imaginary microphone. He danced around and almost bumped into a metal structure that was situated opposite the No Cup Gate some distance away. Grinning, he ran back to us.
“Wait, what did you say, Wendy?” Mom asked, frowning.
“CHIS BOA, Mom,” my sister replied. “I just took the first letters of all the words that James listed. Sherlock said it was a puzzle so I thought maybe the first letters of the words would spell out something. But it really doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“That’s a good try though, Wendy,” I said. I had also been thinking along the same lines. “Maybe...does anyone have a piece of paper?”
Dad dug out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket.
“If A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, E=5, F=6, G=7, H=8...” I muttered to myself, scribbling madly.
“That would give us 3, 8, 9, 19...” Nazhar said.
“Are you thinking this might be a mathematical formula again, Sam?” Dad asked.
“Yes, but—”
“CHINA BOAT!” Mom yelled out before clamping her hands over her mouth. She was too late though. She scared the same elderly couple who had just caught up to us. This time they shot us a stern glare before hurrying away.
“What, Mom?” I asked. “China Boat? What does that mean?”
“It’s the symbols for the elements,” Mom replied. “Here. Pass me the notebook and I’ll write it down so it’s easier for everyone to understand.”
“And since we’re right next to the Chinese Gardens, we should look for a boat over there!” I concluded. “Mom, you’re a genius!”
“She really is, you know, Sam,” Dad said, giving Mom a hug. “She’s smarter than me.”
“Mike...” Mom said, her face tinged with red.
“She was a genius chemist, but then your sister and you came along and—”
“And nothing,” Mom interrupted. “I use my skills in my molecular gastronomy classes. It’s quite fascinating, really.”
“She still sometimes recites the periodic table in her sleep,” Dad said. “She also drools. I bet she could tell us what her drool consists of, chemically.”
Mom gave him her best just-you-wait look.
“Maybe I can come with you for your next lesson, Mom!” I said. I realised that there were a lot of things about my parents’ lives before I was born that I didn’t know, but I really wanted to find out. There was definitely more to Mom than met the eye.
Mom nodded, smiling. “I would love that, Sam.”
“To the Chinese Gardens!” Jimmy cried out. “I actually know where the China Boat is! I’ve been with Mama!”
We followed closely behind Jimmy as we all dashed across the White Rainbow Bridge that connected the Japanese and Chinese Gardens.
The Chinese Gardens was a lot more bustling comp
ared to the sparse Japanese Gardens. It had a lot more statues: the twelve Chinese zodiacs, important figures in Chinese history and mythology, and stone pagodas, but I didn’t see any boats in the various ponds that were situated around the garden.
Also, I was out of breath. There had been a lot of running. In my rush to find Watson, I had forgotten I disliked running intensely, but my lungs and calves now reminded me.
“Here we are!” Jimmy exclaimed, pointing at a big structure that I had not been expecting. “It’s called the Stone Boat!”
I had been looking for a miniature Chinese boat in the ponds, but this was far larger than I had expected. The base of the Stone Boat was white and had a Chinese motif, and on the top of the white base was a huge, double-storey structure also designed in a traditional Chinese style. So this was the China Boat that James was referring to in his last clue!
“Let’s head to the Stone Boat!” I said.
We ran on to the Stone Boat and carefully searched every nook and crevice on the first level. Eliza kept an eye on Moran, though he hadn’t tried to run away once. He really was quite a polite robot.
Unfortunately, we didn’t find a clue.
“Shall we go up to the second level, Sherlock?” Nazhar asked.
I nodded. Great, more stairs. I took a deep breath and ran up. I am proud to say I did not pass out when I reached the top. If I hadn’t been so worried about Watson, I would have definitely stopped for a snack.
We continued to search the second level. Luckily, it was less crowded than the first level. I guess other people also didn’t like stairs. Mom, Dad and the Supper Club were scouring the area looking for clues. I went to a window on the right and looked out at the surroundings. Maybe James wanted us to be here so we could spot the clue he had hidden somewhere else. He had a fiendish mind and I wouldn’t put it past him to send us down the wrong path every once in a while.
And then I spotted it—and gasped. Everything clicked into place.
At the same time, Dad exclaimed, “I found the envelope! I found the next clue!” He was on his hands and knees and had found an envelope hidden in the corner of the room.
“We don’t need it any more, Dad,” I said, turning to look at my parents and best friends. “I know what James is up to.”
The riddle we had found at the Stone Boat would clearly point to Jurong Lake Park if we’d taken the time to solve it, but I explained to everybody why we had to go to Changi Beach Park instead. I should have seen the pattern earlier, but I was so busy trying to figure out the obvious clues James had left for us, I didn’t notice the less obvious clues right in front of us. Plus, my reasoning and deductive skills had been impaired by my concern for Watson, but I was now positive we were going to get him back.
Mom parked the Space Wagon at Car Park 1 like I had asked her to.
“According to the website, the sculpture should be around here, along with an amphitheatre of sorts,” I said.
Dad stayed with Moran while the rest of us started looking around the area for either the sculpture or an amphitheatre, but all I found was a beachside restaurant called Bistro@ Changi. It served what looked like delicious grilled salmon. But I had to focus. I knew James was around here somewhere and if he didn’t have Watson with him, we would make him tell us where he was keeping him.
“I don’t see anything that remotely resembles an amphitheatre or the sculpture, Sam,” Mom said.
“I found a small sculpture commemorating the Sook Ching massacre, but I know that’s not the one we’re looking for,” Nazhar said.
“I think I see him, Samuel,” Eliza said. She pointed towards the west, along the beach. I squinted and saw what looked like a boy in school uniform, and one other strange-looking person standing behind him. The boy was writing something in a notebook or a journal.
I then realised it wasn’t just any school uniform. It was our school uniform, and the strange-looking person behind him was a robot! MY ROBOT!
“That’s him,” I said. I turned towards Eliza and said, “It’s true your help has been invaluable during this entire ordeal, but—”
“Her help has been invaluable, Cher Lock,” Wendy interrupted me, “and now she’s going to continue to help us as we confront James once and for all.”
I knew Wendy was very frustrated with me. She’d been calling me “Cher Lock” all day, and I couldn’t really blame her. Eliza had been extremely helpful, but all this could still be part of James’s plan, even helping us capture Moran. James obviously didn’t care about him. What if she’d been keeping him apprised of our progress this entire time? It’s true I hadn’t seen her send any text messages, but she had been using her phone a lot, to help us solve riddles she said. What if when we confronted James, she would show her true colours and find a way to keep Watson away from us?
I pushed all these thoughts away. It was clear Wendy would continue to stand up for her, and nobody else would side against Eliza. Nazhar and Jimmy still considered Eliza a friend, and my parents wanted to help her, because they really cared about all my friends. I decided not to press the issue.
“Fine, but we all go together,” I said. We walked down the beach straight towards James and Watson. James didn’t notice us until we were fairly close and he seemed genuinely surprised to see us. He quickly put his notebook in his pocket. Watson saw us as well but he didn’t move. I could see that Watson’s left hand was the only thing missing from him. That was a huge relief!
“What are you doing here?” James asked, quickly glancing at his watch. “It’s not possible that you solved all of my riddles this quickly. Did Moran tell you anything? And I’m very surprised to see you here, Eliza.”
This was the first time I had seen James nervous. His plans had clearly not gone exactly as he had designed, and this was probably the first time it had ever happened to him. I wanted to press our seeming advantage.
“You’re not as clever as you think you are,” I said. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice the planetary sculptures at each of your clue points? First, the Sun in the Ecogarden and Mercury at the Fibonacci Terrace at the Science Centre, then Venus near the Torii Gate at the Japanese Gardens and finally Earth near the Stone Boat at the Chinese Gardens. Once I saw that one, I knew where you’d be.”
The Science Centre had set up sculptures around the parks of Singapore representing the Sun and the then nine planets of the Solar System. Each sculpture had facts and figures of the celestial body it represented. Also, their relative distances from the Sun sculpture at the Science Centre represented their actual distances from the real Sun. If we had followed all of James’s riddles as he had intended, we would still have ended up at Changi Beach Park, where the sculpture of Pluto was supposed to be located.
The nervousness left James’s face. “Ah,” he said. “That was a calculated risk. I had assumed you’d be too distraught over the possibility of losing your beloved pet robot and your deductive faculties would have been compromised.”
“I admit they were,” I said. “Luckily, I have really good friends who more than made up for my failings.”
“Bravo, all of you,” James said. “But it doesn’t matter. I’ve already won. I won the moment I started playing the game against you.”
Eliza stepped forward. “You ‘won’? James, it’s over. You kidnapped Watson. Samuel and Wendy’s parents are here. There’s no way for you to spin this. You’ve been caught red-handed. Just...just give up.”
“I’ve been ‘caught’?” And then James laughed. Genuine, coming-from-the-belly laughter that made him double over and slap his knee. His eyes even began tearing. How could he find this all so funny?
We looked at each other. Mom and Dad appeared as worried as Eliza, whereas the rest of us were just utterly confused.
“Oh, thank you, Eliza,” he wheezed between chuckling. “I really needed that.”
“This isn’t funny!” Jimmy said.
“It’s actually quite hilarious,” James said. “Especially when I explain
how easy it was to control your robot.”
“What do you mean ‘control’ him?” I asked. I knew Watson was one of the most difficult creations on this planet to control. I had given him free will and he picked up sarcasm, grumpiness and stubbornness all on his own.
“I installed an obedience chip in him,” James said. “Very simple really. I installed one in Moran, too. It makes them so much easier to handle, don’t you think?”
The news hit me like a punch to the stomach. I was so shocked I nearly fell to the ground. How could anybody do that? I turned to look at Dad and saw that he was just as stunned. He had never once thought of creating an obedience chip for Watson. And Mom, Mom was furious.
“That’s despicable!” I shouted. My control had finally cracked, my fear and anger and hurt bubbled out. “You’re a horrible person and I’m going to stop you.”
Mom put her hand on my shoulder. “James, you will remove that horrible chip from Watson this instant.” I had never seen her look this angry before.
“Mrs Tan, it clearly needed the chip,” James said, his easy smile still on his face. “I know that it never listened to Sherlock, and servants should always listen to their masters.”
“You will also refrain from calling him an ‘it’,” Mom said. “His name is Watson, and he is my son.”
At this, James’s mask fell away. There was real fear in his eyes now. He realised he had miscalculated, and had done so badly.
“Do-you-really-mean-that?” Watson asked.
James spun around to look at Watson. “I commanded you not to speak until I gave you permission,” he said, his voice wavering.
“Be-silent-you-insufferable-child,” Watson said. “Your-ridiculous-chip-never-worked-on-me. My-systems-are-too-old.” Watson shot me a pointed glare.
James looked back at us, naked panic on his face now. “Moran, now!” he shouted.
Moran’s rocket skates popped out from his feet and he rushed away from Dad before Dad knew what was happening. James leapt onto his back and Moran used his skates to walk on water and escape into the sea. Watson stretched out his right arm and tried to catch them, but it was too late. They had already disappeared over the horizon.