Operation Gadgetman! (5 page)

Louisa and Ann stared at Beans.

‘You're not serious, are you?' Louisa asked. The look on Beans's face answered her question. ‘Beans, you can't do that. It might be dangerous.'

‘I can't just sit around here doing nothing,' Beans replied. ‘And if that detective's in charge of the case, then it seems to me the police need all the help they can get.'

‘But what can you do?' Louisa asked.

‘Dad wrote in his note that there were two men in the house today who made him write that letter to me,' Beans said. ‘So they must have left some clues behind. Footprints, fingerprints – something. And I'm going to look for those clues until I find them.'

Louisa frowned at Ann, then back at Beans. ‘Then we're going to help you, aren't we, Ann?' said Louisa firmly.

‘You can't. You're both expected at home,' Beans pointed out.

‘We can easily phone our parents,' Ann said. ‘Come on, Beans, you must let us help you. That's what friends are for, after all.'

‘But I don't want to get you two into trouble,' Beans said.

‘Don't worry. We'll handle our parents,' Louisa said confidently. ‘We're not going to leave you to do everything by yourself.'

‘Anyway, what about your gran?' asked Ann. ‘You told Detective Warner that you were going to phone her.'

‘I will do,' Beans said. ‘But not now. I'll phone her a bit later. I don't want Gran disturbing any likely clues. I'll be out in Dad's workroom when you two have finished your phone calls. I want to examine the workroom first, before it gets any darker outside.'

Beans lowered her head. A moment's unwelcome doubt settled over her. Would anything she could do help? Would it really?

‘Beans, don't worry. Your dad's all right. I just know he is,' Louisa said gently.

‘Yeah! I know it too.' Ann nodded unhappily as she struggled to find something meaningful to say.

Beans smiled at her friends before turning quickly away. Her eyes were in danger of leaking. Louisa and Ann looked at each other. Ann put an arm around Beans's shoulder. Louisa held Beans's hand.

‘I . . . I'm glad you two are here with me,' Beans said softly. ‘I don't know what I'd do if I had to go through all this alone.'

‘Don't even think about that,' Louisa said firmly. ‘We're here and we're not going anywhere. Not yet, at any rate!'

Beans smiled gratefully.

She ran upstairs to get the Gadgetman spy kit her dad had given her over a month before. It was behind her dressing-table, just below her bedroom window. Beans bent down to get it and slowly straightened up again, her fingers clenched tightly around the briefcase handle.

One of the first to be produced it was. Beans remembered the grin on Dad's face as he handed it to her. Beans had been happy for her dad because he was so pleased about it, but she remembered thinking, Now where on earth am I going to put this thing?

At the time she'd seen it as another of her dad's gadgets, cluttering up her bedroom. Beans lifted the case and placed it against her cheek . . .

Where was Dad now? Was he still in Cleevesdon or had he been taken out of town? He might be in Scotland or down in London. He might even be out of the country by now. Beans closed her eyes. If she carried on worrying like this she would go crazy.

Beans had never felt so useless or helpless. Her eyes began to water again. She stared hard out of her bedroom window, eyelids wide apart to stop herself from blinking the tears down her cheeks.

Come on, Beans. Go downstairs and
do something
, she told herself sternly.

Anything would be better than standing in her room, thinking too much. Beans took a deep breath, then another, waiting for the huge, choking lump in her throat to shrink. She ran downstairs, past her friends in the hall, through the kitchen and out into the garden, eager to get started.

She stood outside the workroom, staring at it. It was hard to know where to begin. How would she be able to tell what was a clue and what wasn't? Beans examined the grass leading up to the workroom. It was short and very dry. No footprints, no tracks of any kind.

‘No help there then,' she muttered.

She walked gingerly up to the workroom door, stepping lightly, still scanning the grass for possible clues. Only when she stood directly in front of the workroom did she look up. At once she noticed something. Something that should have struck her before.

She remembered that the last time Dad had blown the door half off its hinges, he had hammered a nail into the outer doorframe. Until he'd fixed the door properly, Dad had used a strong piece of string to tie the door handle to the nail, to stop the door from swinging open and the rain getting at his gadgets. He hadn't done that now. The door was half off its hinges, but he hadn't secured it.

More proof that he had been kidnapped – as if Beans needed any. If Dad had just gone away to buy components, he would have made sure the door was firmly closed. Beans wished she had noticed it earlier so that she could have pointed it out to Detective Warner. This was more proof that it was no joke.

But thinking about it, Beans was sure that the detective had believed her. He just didn't seem very dynamic. Not her idea of a proper detective at all.

Something caught Beans's eye. There was something on the nail.

She put her spy kit down on the grass and got out the magnifying glass. She moved in for a closer examination of the nail. A long, thin piece of blue plaid material was attached to it. Beans's heartbeat deafened her.

A clue!

It had to be! Using her spy-kit tweezers, Beans plucked the tiny piece of material off the nail and dropped it into an evidence bag. The small, clear plastic bags were perfect for storing any clues she might find. To her surprise – and pleasure – the spy kit was actually
useful
.

‘Don't worry, Dad. I'll find you,' Beans muttered.

Now that she was doing something constructive, Beans felt a lot better. She even felt kinder towards that detective. Maybe she had been a little bit unfair on Detective Warner. Like most grown-ups, he wouldn't want to share his thoughts as to what he was doing with a kid, even if it was the kid's dad who had been kidnapped. But Beans couldn't sit around doing nothing.

I'm not that sort, she thought.

Using her magnifying glass, Beans examined the door very closely but could find no further clues. She wondered if she should dust the door handle for fingerprints, but then she wouldn't be able to tell which fingerprints belonged to her dad and which ones belonged to the kidnappers, as she didn't have a record of her dad's.

Beans was still trying to make up her mind what to do, when Ann and Louisa came out into the garden.

‘What did your parents say?' Beans said to both of them.

‘I have to be back home by eight at the very latest,' Louisa sighed. ‘They're so tedious!'

‘I told Mum that you'd invited me to spend the weekend with you and that your dad didn't mind, but she reckoned I'd be too much trouble at such short notice,' Ann said with disgust. ‘When she began to make noises about speaking to your dad to see if it was really all right, I decided not to push it.'

‘Worth a try though,' Beans smiled.

‘Worth a try,' agreed Ann.

‘So how's it going?' Louisa asked.

Beans held up her first evidence bag. ‘This is material I found on the nail over there. One of the kidnappers must have been wearing a blue plaid shirt.'

‘Are you sure that wasn't on the nail before today?' Louisa asked.

‘I can't be positive, but then where did it come from if it
was
here before today? Dad doesn't have any shirts like that, and I certainly don't,' Beans replied.

‘What are you going to do with any evidence you find?' Ann asked.

Beans shrugged. ‘I'm not sure. I haven't thought about that bit yet. I guess I'll just hand it over to Detective Warner – when I have some evidence worth something, some evidence he can use.'

‘Why don't you store all your information and clues in the
TOP SECRET
folder in your spy kit?' Ann suggested.

‘That's a good idea.' Louisa raised her eyebrows.

‘You needn't sound so surprised.' Ann frowned.

‘I'll do that,' Beans butted in before her friends could launch into a full-scale argument. ‘We should really call the folder something, though. Some name only we three will know.'

The garden was quiet as they all pondered.

‘How about “Project Beans's dad”!' suggested Ann.

Both Beans and Louisa wrinkled up their noses.

‘It doesn't exactly flow off the tongue,' Louisa said. ‘How about “Project . . .” No, on second thoughts that's a stupid idea.'

Louisa looked hastily at Beans. Talk about insensitive! She'd been about to suggest ‘Project Kidnap'. What on earth was wrong with her? This wasn't a game – not at all. It wasn't a film or a joke. Beans's dad really
had
been kidnapped.

‘I think I've got a title,' Beans said slowly. ‘What do you think of “Operation Gadgetman”?'

Louisa nodded. ‘I like it.'

‘Brill!' Ann grinned.

‘Operation Gadgetman it is then,' Beans said.

She squatted down and opened up her
TOP SECRET
folder. She dropped her first evidence bag into the folder before closing it.

‘Next, I thought I'd dust for fingerprints,' Beans said. ‘It probably won't do much good, but I have to make sure I've done everything I can.'

‘How can we help?' Ann asked.

‘I'll need some Sellotape,' Beans said.

‘I've got some in my satchel. I'll just go and get it.' Louisa ran back into the house.

‘Be careful not to touch anything. I don't want any of the kidnappers' fingerprints smudged or any clues in the house ruined,' Beans called after her. She turned to Ann. ‘That goes for you too, Ann. Be very careful what you touch. OK?'

‘Gotcha.' Ann nodded.

Gloves! That's what Dad needed in his spy kit. Some thin plastic gloves – or maybe they should be cotton? Beans made a mental note to tell her dad when she saw him again.
If
she saw him again . . . ? No! Beans shook her head fiercely.
When
– not if.

While Louisa was gone, Beans busied herself with sprinkling black fingerprint powder all over the silver-coloured metal door handle as Ann watched. Then Beans used the fingerprint brush to delicately brush away the excess powder.

‘Does it explain how to do all that in your dad's instruction book in the spy kit?' Ann asked, her eyes wide.

Beans nodded. ‘Black fingerprint powder for light surfaces and white fingerprint powder for dark surfaces.'

‘Wow! You must be so proud of your dad. He's not like most grown-ups, is he? He's not boring at all . . .'

Beans straightened up, her lips set.

‘Oh Beans, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to . . . Me and my ginormous mouth,' Ann said, stricken.

‘It's all right, Ann,' Beans said. ‘You're right. My dad may be a lot of things, but he certainly isn't boring. It's just my fault that I didn't appreciate that until now. And I miss him already.'

‘Beans, he's all right. I just know he is,' Ann said unhappily.

Beans wiped her hand over her eyes. ‘I just wish I could be sure.'

‘I've got the Sellotape.' Louisa emerged from the kitchen, a roll of Sellotape in her hand.

Ann gave a secret sigh of relief. She was no good at this kind of thing. She never knew what to say or do when things went wrong with other people and she always just ended up embarrassing everyone. Beans smiled at her.

‘It's all right, Ann,' Beans said softly.

Ann smiled back.

‘Wait a sec, Beans. What about your dad's notes on his oscillator?' Louisa frowned. ‘Aren't you going to look for them?'

‘Not yet. No way. Finding the kidnappers is the most important thing now, not searching for useless information about Dad's gadget. I don't see how that will help to find him.'

‘But Detective Warner said . . .'

‘I don't care,' Beans interrupted fiercely. ‘It's my dad who's been kidnapped, not his. Looking for stupid notes on the lousy oscillator will just have to wait. And what's more . . .'

‘So what do we do now?' Ann asked, deliberately interrupting.