Feel the Fear

by Lauren Child

  He jumped when the phone rang. ‘Hullo Elliot.’ He knew it had to be Elliot, he had probably rung about twenty-five times already.

  ‘Hey, howdya know it was me?’

  ‘Probability.’

  ‘So what are you going to do?’ asked Elliot, ‘I mean this is bad, man.’

  ‘Do you want to meet?’ asked Clancy, ‘I think I need to get some air.’

  Clancy and Elliot had arranged to meet at the Donut, mainly because Elliot felt safe there. Marla did not allow brawling or customers beating other customers to a pulp, not in her premises and the Gorilla had been told to take a walk. As fearful as he was about being caught in someone else’s punch-up, Elliot was very interested to talk about it.

  ‘So, have you seen the kid again?’ said Elliot, leaning forward, talking in a hushed voice.

  ‘Do I look like I have?’ said Clancy, pointing at his face.

  ‘That’s good,’ said Elliot. ‘What did he look like anyway? I didn’t get a good chance to see.’

  ‘Ugly,’ said Clancy. ‘Nasty eyes, you know, unpleasant.’

  ‘Probably one of those kids that’s got no friends, you know.’

  ‘Even Bugwart has friends,’ said Clancy.

  ‘Yeah but she’s got a sort of charisma; this guy sounds like a loser,’ suggested Elliot.

  ‘Yeah,’ agreed Clancy, ‘no charisma that I could detect, but he sure looked like he had plenty of friends hanging around.’

  ‘That’s not good; if he has friends at Junior High then I expect you will run into him again, huh?’ said Elliot.

  Clancy looked at him with exasperation. ‘Would you stop sounding so thrilled about it?’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Elliot. ‘You think he’s gonna hound you for the rest of your school days?’

  Clancy took a deep breath in an effort to keep his cool. ‘Look, I don’t think he’s even realised I’m at Twinford Junior High and since he isn’t even attending Twinford, then if I’m lucky he won’t notice me before graduation. I mean, we only met for like a second. He’s not gonna remember me.’

  ‘Some hope,’ said Elliot, ‘a kid like that sets his sights on you, you are done for.’

  ‘That’s helpful,’ said Clancy. ‘I am feeling a whole lot better after this little chat.’

  ‘You got a way of preventing yourself from being socked in the nose?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m gonna avoid him,’ said Clancy.

  ‘And how do you plan to do that?’ asked Elliot.

  ‘I’m gonna try that technique – the one that magician whats-his-name was talking about.’

  ‘Which one?’ asked Elliot.

  ‘Thingy on Channel Z, with the hands that look like they belong to someone else.’

  ‘The magician guy person?’ said Elliot. ‘Darnley Rex?’

  ‘Yeah, that guy,’ agreed Clancy, ‘so he was talking about invisibility and—’

  ‘You’re gonna make yourself invisible?’ interrupted Elliot, ‘by magic?’

  Clancy rolled his eyes. ‘Are you nuts? Of course not by magic, I’m talking about the illusion of invisibility.’

  ‘Well good luck with that.’ Elliot started to laugh.

  Clancy rolled his eyes again. ‘You don’t sound like you have a lot of confidence in me.’

  ‘Oh, I do,’ Elliot laughed. ‘It’s just, say. . .’ He was beginning to lose it now. ‘It’s just, I mean I hate to be a downer here Clancy and throw eggs on your parade or whatever, but what if the kid sees right through your brilliant illusion?’

  ‘Then I guess I get socked in the nose.’

  Elliot nodded. ‘So long as we’re clear.’ He continued to laugh so much that he fell off his chair, which caught Marla’s attention.

  ‘Could you two kids behave like people who belong in a diner or could you take yourselves to another establishment.’

  Clancy and Elliot immediately pulled it together.

  ‘So look,’ said Clancy, ‘don’t tell anyone about this, OK?’

  ‘Why not?’ said Elliot, ‘what’s the problem with people knowing?’

  ‘Because it’s my problem,’ said Clancy, ‘nobody else’s, and I’m going to deal with it my way. Plus,’ he added, trying to appeal to Elliot’s cowardly side, ‘I don’t want anyone else to get this creep’s attention. It’s on me and I’m gonna sort him out my way.’

  ‘What about Ruby, you gotta tell her, don’tcha?’

  ‘Definitely not Ruby. You know what she’s like, she’ll only end up trying to punch him and I really don’t think that’s a good idea – I don’t think her arm’s strong enough after the break. You gotta promise me, OK, don’t tell Rube.’

  ‘If you say so Clance,’ said Elliot, ‘but let me know if you need a buddy to step in to defend you and I’ll try and find a candidate – hey, maybe Cassius Clay would be interested.’

  He was back.

  The smell of shoe leather,

  the not-quite silence,

  it filled the apartment. . .

  She braced herself and strode into the dimly lit room. He looked up.

  ‘So who are you today, dear thing?’ He was smiling, a questioning sort of look playing in his eyes as if he might really be interested. ‘You seem to have such fun; you see a future in all this. I remember those days – just.’ His smile faded and a sadness fell across his face. ‘I try to see the point in it all but after a while it all becomes so –’ he gestured with his hand – ‘samey.’

  She almost felt sorry for him; he did look so disappointed.

  ‘Murder, kidnap, theft? What really lies beyond this, kicks-wise, I mean?’

  ‘World domination?’ she ventured.

  ‘A pipedream,’ he said. ‘I mean does one really ever dominate the world? Can it be done?’

  ‘Well. . .’ she began.

  He looked deep into her eyes, the cold black of his stare holding her, fixing her, she could not look away. ‘I hope you are not double-crossing me, my dear. I should hate to sever our friendship.’

  ‘I would never,’ she said, ‘never.’

  ‘Then prove it. Bring me the 8 key and the other trifle or I will have to assume the worst.’

  Chapter 26.

  ON HER WAY INTO SPECTRUM, Ruby took 4th Avenue, which ran close to Radio Street. It had been named that way many years ago, when the big technology boom took hold and one by one all the stores in that street became suppliers of radios, cameras, TVs, stereos and the like. It was cameras that Ruby was interested in today. She stepped off her board when she reached Photo Cam, a store that specialised in Polaroid instant cameras. She wasn’t too bothered about the quality, though she figured it was worth getting a good one. She took the advice of the man behind the counter – he seemed to know what he was talking about. She bought several packs of Polaroid film and stuffed her purchases in her backpack. Then she continued on her way to Spectrum.

  Ruby went straight down to the lab and asked SJ if she could study the card. Then, when it was lying on the counter, Ruby loaded the film into the camera, held it above the card and pressed the button. The camera flashed and spat out a small square photograph. Ruby waited for the required three minutes before pulling off the paper to reveal the print. Ruby wasn’t actually expecting it to work, it was what’s known as a stab in the dark, but now she was seeing things – what had been invisible was now visible.

  What had been a total blank was now a card stamped with three words – or rather, the same word, written three times.

  TAP

  TAP

  TAP

  Plus, of course, the ‘loyalty card’ design that had been revealed by the warmth of the lamp the previous day, and the Braille-like code. One card, seven black lines, three TAPS, a whole lot of bumps.

  ‘This guy seems to have access to some pretty sophisticated materials,’ said Ruby. ‘I mean this ink? Where would one lay one’s hands on such an item?’

  ‘Beats me,’ said SJ. ‘I haven’t seen it used before, he’s either some sort of hotshot who’s managed
to develop a flash-sensitive ink. . .’

  ‘Unlikely,’ said Ruby.

  ‘Highly,’ said SJ, ‘or he has access to a place where this ink is being produced.’

  ‘Where does that lead us?’ asked Ruby.

  SJ shrugged. ‘Nowhere that I’m aware of. I’ll report it to Spectrum 1, see if they can find a connection – something’s always going down somewhere.’

  The TAPs meant something, clearly, but she had no idea what. The bumps: well, she had no idea what they meant either. They looked like Braille, but the configurations bore no relation to the Braille she had studied. The picture that kept coming into her head was a corridor. It was not like the corridors of Spectrum, but rather was scruffy, with flaked paintwork and chipped stone floor. The image kept coming in and out of focus, then shoes popped into her mind. Shoes, she thought. Why? The thought connected with the Little Yellow Shoes, but was not the Little Yellow Shoes. The ones she saw were black, men’s shoes, work shoes. Not fancy, not scruffy. Then something else. A hand, a piece of paper. A small white piece of paper. Blank.

  Ruby opened her eyes. She stared ahead of her, unblinking and then suddenly activated her watch transmitter and buzzed for Hitch. He responded on the second ring.

  ‘Redfort?’

  ‘We gotta speak to the security guard,’ said Ruby.

  It didn’t take more than ten minutes to get the answer to her question.

  ‘It seems you were on the money,’ said Hitch. ‘What you saw the security guard at the Scarlet Pagoda pick up was a card, just like the one found at the Okra apartment. He’s had it in his pocket since the night of the costume show, didn’t think anything of it – why would he?’

  ‘So we have two,’ said Ruby. ‘Are they exactly the same?’

  ‘I guess we better take a look,’ said Hitch. ‘I’ll go pick it up and bring it on back to the lab. I won’t be more than twenty minutes.’

  He was true to his word and only a half-hour later, Blacker, Hitch and Ruby were gathered in the lab studying the new card as SJ went about her business.

  ‘Same results as the other card,’ she said. ‘We got the grid of lines and see here, in the Polaroid shot, we have the taps – but this time only two.’ She laid the shoe card next to the poetry card and they all stared down at them. Both had embossed dots and bumps; both had the grid lines. Next to the cards the two Polaroids. On one, three words revealed and on the other just two. All the words were the same – TAP.

  Hitch and Ruby were staring at them; it was a breakthrough.

  RUBY: ‘So one has to wonder, why are there two stamps on the card found at the Pagoda theatre?’

  HITCH: ‘They were the second item the thief stole. The book was the third, hence three TAPs.’

  BLACKER: ‘That’s my bet.’

  RUBY: ‘So this naturally leaves us wondering. . .’

  HITCH: ‘What was the first robbery?’

  BLACKER: ‘Correct.’

  BLACKER: ‘Also, if we are right about our theory and I am bold enough to say I think we are, then we are expecting a further three high-rise thefts.’

  HITCH: ‘So it looks like what we’ve got is a serial thief; a very organised one at that.’

  BLACKER: ‘Yeah and one who seems to want to get caught.’

  HITCH: ‘Or he thinks he’s too good to get caught.’

  ‘Or, maybe,’ said Ruby, ‘he just wants to be noticed.’

  Chapter 27.

  RUBY, HITCH AND BLACKER HAD AGREED that the main focus should be trying to anticipate the next item on the thief’s list – trying to get a step ahead of him.

  Ruby had to start somewhere and since she had got next to nowhere with the poetry book, she decided to find out more about the Little Yellow Shoes. She checked the newspaper for the film festival listings and made a note of the time.

  She was early to school for once and was hanging out waiting for Clancy. Unusually he wasn’t one of the first to make it through the gates, nor was he dressed at all like himself – he looked kind of normal. Ruby was already seated when he finally made an appearance, not late but not overly punctual, as was his style ordinarily.

  ‘Where have you been and what are you wearing?’

  ‘What do you mean? I am on time and I look like everyone else,’ said Clancy.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Ruby, ‘what’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing,’ replied Clancy, ‘I’m just trying to blend.’

  ‘But why?’ asked Ruby.

  ‘It’s an experiment,’ said Clancy, he had second-guessed the grilling Ruby might give him for his weird behaviour and was primed with his answers. ‘You know, we were talking about it the other day, I thought I would see if it really works.’

  ‘What really works?’

  ‘Becoming invisible.’

  ‘Oh that,’ said Ruby, ‘well I have to say, I noticed you as soon as you walked in.’

  ‘Yeah but that’s different, you were looking out for me.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Ruby. ‘Anyway, what I wanted to ask you is, do you feel like cutting class?’

  ‘I only just got here.’

  ‘Not now, at lunchtime.’

  ‘Will we be back for history?’ asked Clancy.

  ‘No, duhbrain, that’s why I said, “do you feel like cutting class”, as in not go.’

  ‘Rube, you shouldn’t ask me to do this, I can’t afford to get in trouble.’

  ‘It’s OK, you won’t, I gotta plan.’

  ‘You always say you have a plan but often the plan gets me into more trouble than the thing you were planning to keep me out of trouble for.’

  Ruby looked at him. ‘I’m finding you hard to follow. Look, are you in or are you out?’

  ‘Out.’

  ‘Aw, Clance, don’t say that, it’ll be fun, you gotta come.’ She gave him the Ruby Redfort eye hold. ‘I’ll do your Spanish homework for a week.’

  ‘I speak fluent Spanish.’

  ‘OK, biology.’

  ‘I’m good at biology.’

  ‘OK, so you pick.’

  ‘Fine, two weeks of French and math and I’ll cut class.’

  ‘You drive a hard bargain my friend.’

  ‘Take it or leave it.’

  ‘Meet me by the bike racks right before lunch,’ said Ruby. She was already walking away.

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘To put my plan into operation.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Don’t blab.’

  ‘When do I ever blab?’ called Clancy.

  ‘Never,’ shouted Ruby.

  At that moment Red and Del came in through the doors.

  ‘She’s in a hurry,’ said Del.

  ‘Yeah, she has to do something,’ said Clancy.

  ‘What?’ asked Del.

  ‘How should I know?’ said Clancy.

  ‘You look different,’ said Red, giving Clancy the once-over, ‘really different.’

  ‘I’ve modified my look.’

  ‘You’ve what?’ said Del.

  ‘It’s intentional,’ said Clancy. ‘I’ve changed my style.’

  ‘Nothing about your style is intentional, how can you possibly change it?’

  ‘I’m taking more of an interest,’ replied Clancy, ‘this look’s on purpose.’

  ‘You have changed your look to “purposely bland”?’

  ‘It’s my new style.’

  ‘Is bland a style?’ asked Red.

  After Clancy had spent the hour struggling through math class, he felt a little more motivated about Ruby’s plan – he would join her in skipping school and happily allow her to do his math homework.

  They met at the agreed time and managed to dodge Del and the rest of their friends so they didn’t get caught up in any explaining.

  ‘So where are we going exactly?’ asked Clancy as he unlocked his bike.

  ‘The flicks,’ replied Ruby. ‘There’s a matinee showing in midtown village and I wanted to catch it.’

  ‘So why don’t we go after sch
ool?’

  ‘Because it’s only showing this lunchtime; it’s a one-off, all part of the Twinford Film Festival.’

  Clancy was by now sitting on his bike.

  ‘So how are you going to get there?’ he asked.

  ‘You’re going to give me a backie,’ said Ruby.

  ‘Oh brother! You’re gonna kill me Ruby, you weigh more than you think, you know that?’

  ‘Stop complaining man, you’re beginning to sound like your mother.’

  ‘That is a low blow,’ said Clancy.

  They set off at high speed. Clancy was a lot more athletic than he looked and despite his grumbling he found it pretty easy transporting Ruby.

  ‘So what’s so important about this film?’ shouted Clancy as they sped down Avenue Hill.

  ‘It features the Little Yellow Shoes, you know, the ones that went missing the other night?’

  ‘Oh yeah, what’s it called again, something to do with a cat isn’t it?’

  ‘The Cat that Got the Canary. It was made back in the 1950s. I’m scratching my head here, trying to find a reason why someone would take the shoes, other than because they are a deranged fan I mean.’

  ‘OK,’ said Clancy, ‘so it’s work – why we’re cutting class I mean?’

  ‘Oh yeah, it’s work,’ confirmed Ruby. Clancy looked a lot happier – he didn’t mind taking a risk so much if it was in a good cause.

  They bought their tickets from the box office guy – he was young and wore big fashion-type glasses and had a badge with his name on; Horace, it said. Ruby and Clancy settled down in the near empty cinema.

  The film was enjoyable enough. It was an old-fashioned romantic thriller; not that thrilling, but then to be fair it wasn’t really meant to be. It was all about the dialogue, very sassy and smart. And Margo Bardem shone.

  It was about this dancer called Celeste who finds herself invited out on a date by a suave-looking fellow. The fellow is actually a ruthless criminal who is under the surveillance of some unsentimental killer-types. They are hunting for a jewel and rightly figure it is he who has stolen it. The criminal stops to plant the jewel in the dancer’s handbag before hopping out through the bathroom window, leaving the dancer to pick up the check. Unfortunately for the criminal, the killers find him and as soon as he’s blabbed about the jewel’s location, they kill him.