by Damian Davis
I ducked down another aisle and raced to the other end of the warehouse. Mr Black came around the corner just after me. I dashed across to another aisle and five seconds later he came around the corner of that one, too. How many Mr Blacks were there? Maybe Wrigs was right and Mr Black was a ghost.
I couldn’t get away from him. I was pretending to look at some orange pipe things when he came up and stopped behind me.
‘Hello, yeah, are you doing some plumbing?’
‘No, I’m looking for something to fix up concrete,’ I said.
‘Ah, yeah, these won’t work. What do you need to fix?’
I told him about Squid and the coins and the driveway. He started laughing. His laugh was so loud it shocked me. His mouth was wide open. His gold tooth flashed in the light.
When I told him about the sledgehammer he started snorting. He sounded like a donkey.
‘Your little brother, he is very smart, yeah. Did he get the coins?’
‘No, and I got into trouble.’
‘Too funny, yeah,’ he said. ‘What you need is a combined quick-set cement and sand. It’s down in the aisle next to all the paints.’
‘Do you work here?’
‘No, but I’m here so much maybe I should, yeah,’ he said. ‘Come, I’ll show you where it is.’
We walked down to the right section. ‘You’re in big trouble, yeah?’ he said.
‘Kind of,’ I said.
‘We all make mistakes, yeah,’ he said. ‘Not because we’re bad, it’s just what happens, yeah. And people look at it and think, he’s bad, yeah, but you’re not, it just looks like it. You just made a mistake, that’s all. You know what I mean, yeah?’
We stopped in an aisle and he pulled off the shelf what looked like a huge bag of flour. It was the quick-set cement and sand.
‘What you need to do, yeah, is clean out each hole. Make sure there’s no dirt in them, yeah. Then you get some of this stuff and mix it with water, like it’s a cake. Only do enough for one hole at a time, right? Then you put it in the hole and use a trowel to smooth it out. Easy, yeah? Make sure no one walks on it for twelve hours.’
‘Thanks,’ I said.
‘And stop looking so worried, yeah, worse things happen. See ya, yeah?’
Mr Black left. The cement and sand mix cost twenty dollars. I rode home and told Mum about it. She said she would lend me the money as long as I cleaned out the chicken coop every weekend for the next three years. Man, I wish Dad would get rid of those birds.
I rode back to the superstore and bought the mix. Then I spent the rest of the day cleaning, mixing and cementing.
It worked. And it was easy, yeah. The world was looking up.
I rang Tearley to tell her about Mr Black. I told her how I was worried that maybe we had got carried away in thinking he was an animal trafficker. He seemed too nice.
‘I’m not sure whether putting the clip on YouTube was the right thing to do,’ I said.
‘Bit late,’ she said. ‘I just checked and it’s had two hundred views.’
It had gone viral. Two hundred views. Mr Black may have been one of them.
CHAPTER 32
DAY 32: Tuesday
My skims: 0 (Harder than it sounds.)
Wriggler’s skims: 0
Tearley’s skims: 5
Sergeant Tranh’s skims: 5 (Pathetic.)
Constable Stevens’ skims: 7 (Not bad for a first-timer.)
Countdown to tinnie going on eBay: 2 days
Chances of us getting it: 0%
The knock on the front door made the whole house shake. It was 8.00 am. Dad was on his way out to work. He took one look at Sergeant Tranh and called out, ‘Dean, it’s for you.’
Sergeant Tranh looked at Dad and said, ‘Is Dean about nine years old, a hundred and forty-five centimetres tall, and a Caucasian male with a squeaky voice and mousy-brown hair?’
Dad called out, ‘Digs, it’s for you,’ and carried on to his car.
Nine years old? A hundred and forty-five centimetres tall? Tranh’s got to be the least observant cop in the whole of policedom. I am exactly a hundred and fifty-seven point five centimetres tall, which is the exact average height for an eleven-year-old.
As soon as I got to the door, Tranh said, ‘Son, I’ve had fifteen phone calls this morning, all asking about a certain OurTube clip.’
‘YouTube.’
‘Whatever. It’s a very serious offence to obstruct police work.’
‘What do you mean, obstruct? We told you about Mr Black. We showed you the video of the native animals.’
‘Were you aware there was an ongoing investigation into the goings-on at the deserted house?’
‘Is there?’
‘Well, no. But there might have been and that’s my point. If there had been you could have jeopardised the whole operation.’
That was ridiculous. How could I be in trouble for something I had no idea was happening even though it wasn’t?
I must have looked confused because Tranh said, ‘Anyway, we’ll worry about that later. We’ve got to sort this out. Get that Tearle girl and the kid that’s missing the arm to meet us at the river.’
‘Wriggler?’
‘The ginga,’ Tranh said.
‘He’s not missing an arm. It’s broken.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Okay get the ginga with the two arms,’ said Tranh.
I rang Tearley and Wriggler and told them to meet us at the river.
I went in the police car with Tranh and Stevens. On the way to the river Tranh stopped at the police station.
‘Back in a moment,’ he said and he and Stevens raced into the station.
This was the worst thing ever. I could hear Mr Black’s words ringing in my ears. ‘People think, he’s bad, yeah, but you’re not, it just looks like it.’
I had posted something on YouTube saying he was guilty of trafficking animals and now I wasn’t so sure.
Worse still, the police were going to arrest him, and it was my fault. I felt sick in the stomach.
Sergeant Tranh and Constable Stevens came out and got back in the car.
They were no longer in police uniform.
‘Son, it’s important we do not raise suspicion if the male of interest happens to be at the alleged crime site, so Constable Stevens and I have changed into civvies.’
He had on a backwards cap, a hoodie and a pair of low-cut, baggy red jeans. He looked like an idiot. Stevens looked much more normal in a white t-shirt and blue jeans.
‘If anyone asks, Constable Stevens and I are your homies. At all times we must keep in character and not let anyone think we are hiding something. Oh, and I brought some of these in case we need to skim.’
He handed me a bag of the pebbles from the police garden.
He started the car and squealed the tyres. As we drove off he said to Stevens, ‘I love undercover work.’
On the way to the river Tranh said, ‘I can’t believe three hundred and fifty people have watched your clip. I had no idea about it until the Police Commissioner rang this morning and told me to sort it out.’
Three hundred and fifty people. This was getting worse. I’d tried to call Wrigs about a million and seven times the night before, to get him to take the clip off YouTube but he wasn’t home.
Wrigs and Tearley were waiting for us at the top of View Street.
‘W’sup, bro,’ said Tranh and fist-bumped Wrigs.
Then he said, ‘Hey, sis,’ and high-fived Tearley. ‘Have you brought your laptop?’
‘Yes, Sergeant,’ said Tearley.
‘It’s not Sergeant today,’ said Tranh, ‘it’s Tranh-man. Listen up, dudes, and I’ll tell you what’s goin’ down. You’re going to show me the manhole and where you set up the surveillance camera. In case the alleged trafficker is in the vicinity we will maintain the charade of being “homies” who have come to “skim” so as to avoid suspicion. Any questions?’
Any questions? Ap
art from, was he for real?
‘No, Tranh-man,’ said Tearley.
We walked down the path to the house. We showed Tranh and Stevens the manhole.
‘Are you going to open it?’ asked Wriggler.
‘Not straight away,’ said the Tranh-man. ‘Well, not for two days. We want to catch the alleged trafficker in the vicinity of the animals. If he even thinks we are onto him he will disappear and we won’t have a case.’
‘What’ll be different in two days?’ asked Tearley.
‘It’s not in his interest for the animals to starve, so if he doesn’t return in the next forty-eight hours it means that he has realised we are onto him.’ He looked at me. ‘Probably because of a certain clip.’
‘Well,’ said Tearley, ‘if you’d listened to us in the first place we wouldn’t have made it.’
Wow, Tearley said ‘we’. She hadn’t even wanted to make the clip.
‘But you can make up for it,’ Tranh told us. ‘I need you to work with us. We’d like you to become part of Operation Liberate Reptiles From Under the Deserted House.’
‘Operation Liberate Reptiles From Under the Deserted House?’ said Tearley.
‘Yeah, cool name, isn’t it? I came up with that,’ said Tranh.
‘I thought the point of a codename,’ said Tearley, ‘was to pick a name that wouldn’t tell the bad guys what you’re doing.’
‘Well, yes. But we don’t say which deserted house,’ said Tranh. ‘Okay, are any of you aware of the concept of text-mailing?’
‘Do you do it on the Google-web?’ I asked, trying to keep a straight face.
Constable Stevens let out a short sharp giggle, and then bit her bottom lip.
‘You do it on mobile phones,’ said Tranh.
‘My brother said he did it on SkypeFace,’ I said.
‘I think you mean BookFace,’ said Tranh.
Constable Stevens let out another giggle. Tranh gave her a confused look.
‘Well done, sir, I think you’re right,’ she said and bit her bottom lip again.
Tranh continued. ‘Anyway, as you three are the only people who have actually seen the alleged trafficker, we want you to wait here and engage him. Get him talking, but don’t make him suspicious.’
‘Are we going to wear a wire?’ asked Wriggler.
‘A wire? You mean a microphone strapped to your body? Get a grip, son. This is Pensdale, not Chicago. No, what we need you to do is come here every day. When he turns up, you need to engage him in conversation. While you chat to him, one of you walks away and text-mails me. We will be down here in three minutes flat to catch him in the act. Okay? Understand?’
He handed Wrigs an ancient mobile phone. It was so worn you couldn’t read the numbers on the buttons any more.
‘Now, that’s police property, you need to look after it.’
As we were leaving Tranh said, ‘Let me give you a lesson in skimming.’
He grabbed one of the stones from the bag.
‘It’s all about how you hold it, and about timing the release to maximise the lateral spin before the stone makes contact with the water.’
His stone hit the water and bounced high into the air. It bounced another four times.
‘Oh yeah, go the Tranh-man,’ he shouted.
He punched the air and celebrated like he’d just won Wimbledon.
I couldn’t believe how unco he was. Still, he was so excited I didn’t think I should show him up. I pretended to stuff up my throw and the rock went straight in.
‘Ha,’ said Tranh. ‘You need to work on your action, son.’
Tearley got five on her throw.
‘Good technique,’ said Tranh as though Tearley should thank him for showing her how to skim.
Tranh turned to Constable Stevens. ‘Go on, have a go,’ he said and handed her a rock.
‘I’ve never done it before,’ she said.
‘Go on, we promise not to laugh,’ he said.
Stevens pegged it at the water and it bounced seven times. She blushed.
‘Beginner’s luck,’ said Tranh. ‘I used to get twenty every time before I had this shoulder reconstruction.’
He rotated his shoulder and grimaced like it was hurting him.
When we got back to the police car there was another car parked behind it. There was a man sitting in it. As we approached he got out and started taking photos of us.
‘Which one of you is Digger Field?’ the man called out.
I put my hand up, and he took a photo of me.
Tranh said, ‘Wills, no photos. I told your editor this morning this is the scene of an ongoing investigation.’
Wills ignored Tranh and got back into his car.
‘Who was that?’ said Tearley.
‘Wills is a journalist from the South-West Daily,’ said Tranh. ‘Apparently the editor there has seen your OurTube clip.’
CHAPTER 33
DAY 33: Wednesday
My skims: 6
Wriggler’s skims: 0
Tearley’s skims: 0
Mr Black’s skims: 12 (He’s getting better.)
24 hours until police raid the cellar. 24 hours until the tinnie goes on eBay.
Wrigs rang first thing.
‘Let’s go.’
‘Where?’ I said.
‘The river. We’ve got to catch Mr Black.’
I hadn’t told Wrigs about my meeting with Mr Black in the hardware superstore. With all the fuss caused by Tranh and Stevens going undercover the day before, I hadn’t had the chance.
‘We need to take the clip down from YouTube,’ I said.
‘No way,’ he said. ‘It’s had almost four hundred views.’
‘I’m not sure it’s right,’ I said.
‘Which part was wrong?’
‘I ran into Mr Black when I was at the hardware store on Monday and he seemed like a really normal guy.’
‘A normal guy who keeps a cellar full of rare reptiles?’ Wrigs said.
‘Maybe there’s some simple explanation,’ I said. ‘Like I don’t know, maybe he’s a scientist or something.’
‘Yeah, right,’ said Wrigs. ‘Like a scientist would keep all those animals underground. Even the police want to arrest him.’
‘That’s because of us. We might have got it wrong.’
‘We’ve spent all holidays trying to tell people he was up to something,’ said Wrigs. ‘And as soon as someone finally listens, you decide we’re wrong. Stop panicking.’
‘Yeah, maybe,’ I said. It was true, I was probably worrying too much.
‘We’ve got to go to the river, like Tranh told us to,’ said Wrigs. ‘If we see Mr Black, we text the police. If we don’t, you get to practise for the world record. I’ve already spoken to Tearley.’
I got to the river first. As soon as I arrived, Mr Black walked out of the house. He was carrying an empty hessian bag and his briefcase.
‘Hello. The quick-set cement and sand worked, yeah?’
‘Yeah, really well.’ I could hear my voice crack.
‘You have beaten the skimming record, yes?’
‘No, nowhere near it,’ I stammered.
‘You’ve come down for practice, yeah. Good idea. Can I have a go, yes?’
He picked up a rock and let it fly. It went like a bullet and skimmed twelve times.
‘Twelve, that’s really good,’ I said.
‘So-so,’ he said. ‘How many for the record, yeah?’
‘Fifty-two.’
‘Fifty-two. That’s massive, yeah. You must be very good, yeah.’
At this point Tearley came running down the path and through the bushes. She was completely out of breath and holding her side like she had a stitch. She was carrying a copy of the South-West Daily newspaper.
When she saw Mr Black, she stopped and stared at him.
‘Girl, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. It’s okay, it’s just me, yeah,’ said Mr Black.
‘Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting anyone to be down here.’
She folded up the Daily and tried to cram it into her back pocket.
‘Your friend is just giving me a skimming lesson, yeah. You’re very good at it, too?’
Tearley didn’t answer him. She turned to me and said, ‘Digs, I think we better go to our … our … meeting with, y’know … y’know, the … thing.’
I’d no idea what she was on about. ‘What thing?’ I said.
‘Y’know, the man … we’re supposed … to … see.’
‘I think she wants a bit of time with you, yeah,’ Mr Black said. ‘I may not know much, but I know you shouldn’t keep a beautiful lady waiting.’
He gave me a nudge.
‘But if you’ve finished with that paper, yeah, could I have a read?’ he asked Tearley.
‘No, sorry,’ she almost shouted. ‘We need it for our meeting.’
‘Okay, okay. No worries, yeah. I just want to check on a horserace. It’ll take two moments, yeah.’
He stuck out his hand and took the paper from Tearley. At that moment Wriggler came tumbling down the path. He looked liked he’d been running, too.
‘Ah look. The whole gang is here, yeah.’
Wrigs’ head was swivelling between Mr Black, the newspaper and me. He was trying to tell me something.
Mr Black’s nose was in the sports section at the back of the paper. Then I got the shock of my life. I could see a photo of myself on the front page. My big huge dumb head was spread right across the whole page. It must have been the photo Wills took. I couldn’t believe Mr Black hadn’t noticed.
‘Don’t put your heart into horses. They will break it, yeah.’ Mr Black folded the paper and gave it back to Tearley.
‘Nice to see you,’ he said. ‘You’ve been looking after our little bit of paradise, yeah?’
‘Yeah,’ we all jumped in, a bit too keen.
‘Cool, I’ll see you later, yeah.’ He started to walk off up the path, but just when we thought we were safe he came back.
‘Hey, show me that paper again,’ he said to Tearley.
‘Why?’ she squeaked.
‘I just need to check something.’
Tearley handed over the paper like she was handing over her life.