Sherlock Sam and the Cloaked Classmate in MacRitchie

by A. J. Low

  Wendy quickly created an account for me and she invited the Supper Club to a group chat. It turned out Jimmy did in fact have an account as well.

  “I was sure you were going to call my account CHER-LOCK,” I said.

  “I tried to, but that name was already taken,” Wendy replied.

  Watson’s circuits crackled.

  SGSherlock: We need to go back to MacRitchie tonight.

  History4Ever: What

  QueenElizabethIII: What

  JimmyJimmyBoBimmy: I like monkeys.

  WendyVanGogh: I tried to talk him out of it.

  WatsonHatesWater: As did I.

  “When did you get an account, Watson?” I asked. He was using the spare laptop that Dad had bought me for my detective work and case files.

  “I-just-created-it,” he replied. I sighed and turned back to the screen.

  QueenElizabethIII: No way. It’s raining like crazy.

  History4Ever: My dad would never let me out.

  JimmyJimmyBoBimmy: I’m working on my Comfort-Toe! So comfy!

  SGSherlock: We’re gonna have to sneak out. Something really odd is going on at the reservoir.

  History4Ever: What do you mean by odd?

  SGSherlock: I can’t tell you yet, I need to investigate more. But when have I ever been wrong about these kinds of things?

  QueenElizabethIII: I will not be traipsing about in the rain without a really good reason, Samuel. If you don’t have one or you won’t tell us, then I’m not going anywhere.

  History4Ever: And how would we even get to the reservoir on our own?

  WatsonHatesWater: I could guide you with my GPS.

  WendyVanGogh: It sounds like Watson’s in.

  JimmyJimmyBoBimmy: If Sherlock says it’s important, then it’s important. I’m in too.

  History4Ever: Okay, I’m in too.

  QueenElizabethIII: This is insane, guys. No, I’m not going. You guys have fun falling in the mud and catching colds. Or worse, going missing like that kid.

  JimmyJimmyBoBimmy: I know where Mama keeps her car keys, but I might still be too short to reach the pedals.

  WendyVanGogh: I knew you were a chicken, Eliza. *snicker*

  QueenElizabethIII: Argh. Fine. Jimmy, DO NOT USE YOUR MAMA’S CAR. I will pick you up in our town car. Nazhar, you too. You crazy Tans are on your own.

  SGSherlock: Thanks, guys. This means a lot to me. I’ll meet you all at the park, outside the Mushroom Café. I’ll let Watson give you directions if you need them.

  I logged off and looked out my door. As I suspected, Dad was in the living room watching TV. Mom was reading in the bedroom as she always does in the evenings. I had to think of a way for the three of us to get past Dad. I knew I would be okay, but I wasn’t sure about Wendy and Watson.

  Watson logged off and said, “I-still-think-this-is-a-terrible-idea.” He shimmered the colour of water.

  I knew exactly how Wendy and Watson would get past Dad. I quickly explained the plan and both Wendy and Watson agreed.

  “But how will you get across?” Wendy asked.

  “Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I’ve got it covered.”

  We stuffed torchlights, extra ponchos and umbrellas in Watson’s secret compartment, along with two bottles of water and five packets of Khong Guan chocolate biscuits, just in case. We stuffed Wendy’s bag similarly and she put it on.

  Wendy climbed onto Watson’s back.

  “Ready?” Watson asked.

  “No, but let’s go anyway,” Wendy replied. Watson flew as close to the ceiling as he could without squishing Wendy, and then turned horizontal, so he was in a Superman pose. Wendy scrunched up on his back so I could only see Watson’s front. He matched the colour and the pattern of the ceiling perfectly. He was completely invisible until he moved and then, if you looked closely, you could see a slight shimmer.

  I opened my door slightly and gave them the go-ahead signal.

  The living room lights were off as Dad liked watching TV in the dark. That was perfect as it would make Watson even harder to see. I could barely see him and I knew he was there!

  Watson and Wendy started their flight across the ceiling towards the front door, and suddenly I heard the Mission: Impossible theme song playing. For a panic-stricken second, I thought Watson had decided to give us a soundtrack, but I quickly realized Dad was just watching the show on TV.

  Then Wendy coughed.

  Time froze and Dad looked up at the ceiling for what seemed like an eternity. I held my breath for the longest I have ever held it.

  Dad finally shrugged his shoulders and continued watching TV. I looked into his eyes and saw no suspicion, only contentment. Watson and Wendy made it across the room with no further incident.

  It was my turn.

  I stretched a bit, then somersaulted from my bedroom door to behind the sofa Dad was sitting on. I edged across it until I reached the other end. I commando crawled to the footstool and scrunched behind it. I sneaked a peek at Dad, and was happy to see he was utterly engrossed in the Mission: Impossible episode.

  I quickly rolled away from the footstool and lay flat on the ground when Dad shifted his foot. He was still paying complete attention to the TV, so I continued to roll toward the door.

  When I got there, Wendy looked at me, completely slack-jawed. I motioned for Watson to quietly unlock the door. When he was done, he turned his arm invisible and extended it into the restroom, like I had planned. He knocked over a bottle of shampoo, causing a terrible racket, and then retracted his arm before Dad could trip over it.

  When Dad left the sofa, we quickly opened the door, unlocked the gate and went out. After locking everything, we waited for a few minutes, trying to listen through the door.

  We finally heard Dad say, “Must have been the wind.”

  We exhaled and took the lift down.

  When we were safely on the ground floor and running for the bus, Wendy asked, “How did you do that, Sam?”

  “I-did-not-think-you-were-capable-of-such-agility,” Watson said.

  “How do you think I got my Khong Guan biscuits before I built you?” I said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

  “You used your bolster?” Wendy asked, looking at Jimmy.

  We had gathered at the Mushroom Café and were careful not to be spotted by any of the police or rangers still searching the area. It helped that the café was closed and there was no one around. We were now making our way to the entrance of the Japanese shrine once again, using Watson’s GPS system. It was raining but fortunately not as heavily as earlier in the evening. We were dressed in raincoats; it was lucky we had bought them for our school excursions. As I knew it would be dark and there were no street lamps, I had instructed my friends to bring their own torchlights.

  “Yeah, Bolstey and I are about the same size,” Jimmy replied, grinning. “I just covered him with my comforter. Just in case Mama peeked in on me.”

  “It-is-very-odd-that-your-bolster-is-named-Bolstey,” Watson said.

  “My sisters say that I should call him Stinky instead,” Jimmy said, rolling his eyes. “They’re so ridiculous.”

  “But how did you manage to sneak out, Jimmy?” Wendy asked. “Your Mama watches you like a hawk!”

  “I sneaked out when she was busy helping my sisters get ready for bed. I usually go to bed first so no one really checks on me after,” Jimmy replied.

  “How did you sneak out, Nazhar?” I asked.

  “My dad won’t be back till late tonight so I didn’t really have to sneak out,” Nazhar replied, looking at his lighted digital watch. “But I have to be home in about three hours.”

  Before I could ask Eliza she said, “My parents are at some dinner party. I just told our driver to drop us outside one of the nearby condos and said we were spending the night at a classmate’s house doing a project. He never questions me. How did you guys get out? I assumed you would have family night every night.”

  “Sherlock-did-a-somersault-that-shook-our-foundations,�
�� Watson replied.

  “It was literally the most fascinating thing I had ever seen,” Wendy added, giggling.

  “We took a bus. Can we please start talking about the case now?” I said.

  We were almost at the entrance of the Japanese shrine and I was ready to reveal my suspicions about what was really going on.

  “Are you finally going to tell us why we had to drag ourselves all the way here in the rain?” Eliza said.

  We had arrived at the hidden forest trail that would lead us into the shrine. It was almost pitch black, but we were still able to locate the three boulders, thanks to Watson’s GPS system.

  “Okay, first of all, I really would like to thank all of you for trusting me enough to come here without your parents’ permissions,” I said. “It means a lot to me.”

  “Yes, yes, what about the case?” Eliza said. Despite the rain, Eliza still looked very neat and clean. The rest of us were covered in mud. Wendy had already slipped once and clearly regretted wearing her school sneakers here. It was made worse when Eliza gave her an I-told-you-so-speech.

  “Remember the shoe I found?” I asked. I had brought the soaked shoe, still in the Ziploc bag. “Well, upon taking a closer look—”

  “HELP ME!”

  We all spun around. In the distance, there was a figure standing right in the middle of the trail leading further into the forest. It looked like a young boy!

  “HELP ME!” the figure shouted again. It was standing still.

  “It’s James Mok!” Eliza shouted. “C’mon, we have to go after him!” She grabbed on to Nazhar’s and Wendy’s arms and the three of them ran towards the figure. Jimmy dashed off after them, shouting, “C’mon, Sherlock! Let’s go!”

  I was just about to follow when it struck me that something was amiss.

  “Wait! Wait! If he’s asking for our help, why is he running away from us?!” I yelled. “Guys! Don’t follow him!”

  However, they were already too far ahead to hear me. The dense forestation and the rain made it even harder to hear. I couldn’t see them anymore.

  “Watson, do you think it’s strange that he was running away from us?”

  “Indeed-it-is-strange.”

  “It’s almost like…” I said. Then something occurred to me. “You know what, I think we should look around here. This area.” I spread my arms around and gestured at the surrounding forest.

  “I-think-we-should-head-back-to-Mushroom-Café,” Watson replied.

  “Do you think Wendy and the rest will be okay?” I asked. I knew my sister was tougher than she looked, but she was my sister after all.

  “Yes. They-know-not-to-get-separated. Plus-Eliza-has-her-handphone-in-case-of-an-emergency.”

  “If she has to use it, we will all be in big trouble,” I replied. “C’mon, let’s go this way.” I pointed to the left of the entrance, a little further in.

  We carefully walked around, shining our torches at the ground and the trees above us. After a thorough search, there seemed to be nothing but wet leaves and fallen tree branches.

  “My-feet-are-wet-and-cold,” Watson said.

  “Mine are too,” I replied. My glasses were also fogging up in the rain.

  “At-least-you-have-shoes.”

  “Even my socks are wet. Let’s head back to the entrance and investigate the other side,” I said. “We can also see if the others are back yet.”

  We had to duck under branches and I stepped in a puddle more than once, but we made it back to the entrance. No one was around. I couldn’t even see the light from their torches. Watson and I then walked into the other side of the forest.

  “Stay close to me, Watson,” I instructed. “We don’t want to get lost here.”

  Just then, I tripped over what seemed like a root protruding from the ground. Watson immediately stretched his arms out and caught me. I secretly congratulated myself on giving him that power first. It had come in extremely handy during this case.

  “Thanks, Watson,” I said. “I almost tripped over this—wait, that’s no root!”

  I crouched down to get a closer look at what had caused me to trip: it looked like a thick strap, which was connected to an oddly shaped tent. There was an overhead shelter and even an attached sleeping bag!

  “Look at this, Watson!” I said.

  “I-have-found-mineral-water-bottles-and-muesli-bar-wrappers-in-this-black-rubbish-bag,” Watson said. He was pointing at a plastic bag that was carefully tucked under a fallen tree branch. “There-is-also-a-set-of-very-dirty-clothing-that-belongs-to-a-boy.”

  “What kind of muesli bars were they?” I asked. It had been almost two hours since I had dinner. I didn’t really like muesli bars, but the apple-and-cinnamon-flavoured ones tasted the best. Maybe it was time for a Khong Guan biscuit break.

  “Perhaps-you-would-like-to-focus-on-the-case,” Watson replied.

  “I was only asking because it might be an important clue.”

  Silence greeted me. I cleared my throat.

  “Anyway, this isn’t like any tent I have ever seen before,” I said, returning to the case at hand. “And we just saw all the latest designs at Eliza’s dad’s adventure gear store last month! This looks like it’s made from the new waterproof material that he showed us though.”

  “What-is-it-doing-here?”

  “They seem to indicate that someone has been camping here.”

  “Why-would-anyone-want-to-camp-here?”

  “Why indeed, Watson,” I said. “I think you should use your video-recording function to record this scene for Officer Siva. Remember to turn on the night vision—”

  “SAM! SAM! WHERE ARE YOU? COME BACK, SAM!”

  It was Wendy! Even Watson jumped a little. I had never heard my sister shout my name like that before. Not even when she was super mad at me for spilling Milo on her art homework.

  “That’s Wendy,” I said, scrambling up. “Let’s go! WENDY! I’M COMING! WHAT’S WRONG?!”

  Watson and I dashed out of the forest and a branch caught me in the cheek, giving me a nasty scratch that stung as the rainwater dripped down my face.

  When we reached the entrance, Nazhar and Eliza were supporting Wendy, who was standing on her left leg. The other leg was bent behind her. Jimmy was hovering around them, looking terrified. Eliza was biting her lip and frowning very deeply.

  “Wendy! What happened to your leg? Are you okay? What happened?” I said. I bent down and shined my torchlight at Wendy’s ankle. Even in the dark I could see that it was badly swollen.

  “She fell down, Sherlock!” Jimmy said, his eyes huge.

  Watson took over supporting Wendy as Nazhar crouched down beside me. “I think…I think her ankle is broken, Sherlock. At least that’s what Eliza said. Wendy can’t even stand. That was why we took so long to get back.”

  “I told you to be really careful running in your shoes,” Eliza said to Wendy. She was half-hugging, half-supporting my sister. “I think it’d be better if you sat down on that branch over there, okay?” We helped Wendy sit down and she groaned whenever her ankle was jolted. Watson pulled an umbrella out from his secret compartment and held it over Wendy’s head.

  Leaving Nazhar, Jimmy and Watson with Wendy, Eliza came over to me and said, “I’ve called my parents, Samuel. And they called back and said that your parents have called Officer Siva and they are coming here. They also said that we should stay put. My dad sounded really mad.” Eliza looked shaken. “I didn’t think anyone would get hurt,” she added softly.

  “It’s very painful, Sam,” Wendy said from her seated position. I could tell that she was crying even though the rain was streaming down her pale face.

  What had I done?

  “I can’t believe you did this, Sam,” Dad said.

  He was drenched. Mom was seated next to Wendy and she turned to look at Dad and me when she heard Dad’s raised voice. Dad never raised his voice. In fact, this was the first time I had seen my dad truly angry.

  Mom’s face was pale. Eliza
was hunched over, seated on the other side of Wendy. Nazhar and Jimmy looked worried. Watson was uncharacteristically quiet.

  “Neither can I, Samuel,” Officer Siva said. Corporal Boey was at his side. They were both soaked as well. It seemed that they had all ran here as fast as they could and did not stop to get an umbrella. They arrived about ten minutes before Dad and Mom, who were escorted by a park ranger.

  “It looks like her ankle is broken, Sir,” Corporal Boey said. “I’ve already radioed for the paramedics and they are bringing a stretcher here to take her back. They will take a bit longer because of the rain.”

  For the first time in my life, I was speechless. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say to Dad or Officer Siva. Dad was looking at me in a way that made my heart beat far too fast.

  “When I received the call from Eliza’s parents, I actually thought it was a prank call,” Dad continued. “But when we found your rooms empty, Mom almost had a heart attack. Jimmy’s Mama fainted! Nazhar’s dad is rushing here from work. He’s all panicked. He thought Nazhar was at home studying. Do you know what you’ve done? What were you thinking?”

  Dad was pacing back and forth. He was splashing mud everywhere but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “Are my parents coming too, Uncle?” Eliza asked. She looked cold and tired. She was holding Wendy’s hand tightly. They both seemed to be shivering.

  “Of course they are, Eliza,” Mom quickly said. “I think…I think they might be stuck in traffic.” She shared a look with Dad that I didn’t quite understand.

  “I’m…I…” I said.

  “I told you not to interfere in this case, Samuel,” Officer Siva said. He was frowning. “We already have one missing child, and all of you are my responsibility. What if something worse had happened?”

  “Sherlock was just trying to help!” Jimmy burst out, his fist clenched at his side. He had spoken to his Mama on my parents’ hand-phone. She yelled so loud I could hear her.

  All the grown-ups turned to look at him. He looked shocked that he dared to say anything at all and fell silent again. Nazhar put his arm around Jimmy’s shoulders. Nazhar had had a quiet conversation with his dad on the phone too and couldn’t stop rubbing his eyes after.