Puppy Pie (27 page)

Three heads lean toward Harry as he starts to tell them in detail what he's found out. Halfway through, he says, ‘Look, let's go into the lounge and look at your spread sheet again, and I can tell you where things link up.'

The four of them race into the lounge, and Lucy turns on the computer. ‘But who's doing this?' Lucy asks. ‘And why?'

Just then, Shirley's ute draws up at the kitchen door and Gull gets out, waving goodbye as the ute disappears towards the top gate.

‘You're still awake,' Gull exclaims, staring at Harry as she follows the voices into the lounge room.

‘Yeah! And Dad's been fishing up at the Council,' Jake says helpfully.

Gull lets her backpack slide off her shoulders.

Quickly, Harry fills her in on what he's been doing.

‘Anything to add, Gull? Any exciting discoveries?' Harry asks hopefully.

Gull smiles like a cat who has swallowed the canary.

Chapter 13

‘Well, there's a tall,
white haired man from the Council who might know what's going on,' Gull says.

‘What makes you think that?' Jake asks.

‘Because he was in the bank manager's office again today and the other day when I happened to overhear a few words. They were using the same words again today.'

‘How do you know that?' Harry asks.

‘Um,' she says blushing, ‘I was hanging off the fire escape eavesdropping.'

‘What?'

‘Well,' she says quickly, ‘I thought I wouldn't be able to hear anything if I was standing on the roof even if the windows were open. So I climbed up the fire stairs, I lent further over, and the bank manager saw my shadow and thought someone was listening in.'

‘Which you were,' Tom grins.

‘The other man thought it was just a cloud, so I had to move back very slowly, and pretend I was a cloud.'

‘Now you're a cloud,' Tom laughs. ‘What are you going to be next?'

Gull grins at him cheekily.

‘And then what did you do?' Lucy asks.

‘Well then I decided to lean over the fire stairs just a little way to see if I could hear better.'

‘Did that work?' Jake asks.

‘Not as well as I was hoping: I could only make out a few words.'

‘What were they?' Harry asks curious.

‘Well first the other man was talking and I heard him say something about a “draft”. And then the bank manager said “three” something. And then the other man said something about “developing”. And then they both started laughing but not a nice laugh. It was a mean and nasty laugh.'

‘Doesn't make any sense at all,' Tom says. ‘I mean, one of them's talking about a bit of a breeze through the door, the “draft”. And then “three” something. And “developing”? Developing what? Film?'

‘More mystery,' Lucy sighs. ‘So, anything else, Dad?'

Harry begins. ‘Well it looks like someone has been investigating our farm.' He opens a bundle of papers. ‘See? Here's where someone took photocopies of the original ownership documents dating back to the 1800s. And here,' he says, grabbing another photocopied sheet, ‘someone has taken copies of all the contracts to do with this land. I get the feeling someone's trying to find a reason for taking all this away from us.'

‘What do you mean?' gasps Gull.

‘As if they were trying to find an excuse. Just say, for instance, one of our ancestors had stolen some land or bribed somebody to give him more land. As far as I can see, none of that's happened. Still, I get the feeling someone's been trying hard to find a legal way to take the Folly from us.'

‘But who would do such a thing? And why?' Jake frowns. ‘It makes no sense.'

‘None of this makes sense,' Lucy sighs.

‘Well maybe a bit of it does,' Harry says slowly. ‘At least we know someone is investigating this farm. We don't know who or why but this tells us when, because whenever you take a file out, you have to put your initials and the date in a book.'

‘Why?' Gull asks.

‘Well if somebody else in the Council is looking for the file, they'll know who's got it. It's an old fashioned way of doing things but this time, it might help us. One of the clerks at the Council said the initials were T.R. And those initials belong to the town planner.' Harry looks over at Gull and says, ‘A tall, white haired man.'

‘Oh!' Gull exclaims.

‘Now, I wonder what he'd be wanting with the Folly file? You know, I was half hoping those initials were part of the initials on that file at the bank, HTJF. However, no such luck,' Harry murmurs.

‘But we know,' Jake says excitedly. ‘Tell him Lucy.'

‘Oh, yeah,' Lucy says suddenly remembering. ‘I reckon ‘HTJF' stands for ‘Harry, Ted, Jimmy and one “F” for the Folly. Oh,' she says frantically looking at her sheet. ‘Didn't I write it down?' She glances over at Tom who's trying not to smirk.

‘Mm, so HTJF is us,' Harry says excitedly. ‘Sounds good to me! Right, so let's presume we've got the right file. What's next? Oh, yes, wait on. Then I asked a friend of mine at the Council if there'd been any new developments recently. You know, plans for new buildings and that sort of thing.'

Just then the phone rings and Gull jumps up to answer it. ‘Hello Helen,' Gull says excitedly. ‘No, we're all here. And Harry's really awake. You wanted to speak to me first? Uh, huh. Oh, right. Yes, six letters. Both words. Yep, I'll try them both and see. We've still got two chances left. Right. I'll put Harry on. Oh, and has the baby arrived yet? Really? Has she got any hair? She has? What colour is it? Oh! Okay, bye. I'll get Harry.'

Harry wanders out to the kitchen and picks up the phone.

‘Have we got a new baby cousin, Gull?' Lucy asks looking thrilled. ‘A girl?'

Gull nods happily.

‘Why did you ask what colour the baby's hair was?' Tom asks.

‘Oh,' Gull says wearily. ‘Just thought if she was a Gull, I might get some extra help.'

‘Er, wouldn't she be a bit young?' Tom asks, staring at his cousin.

‘Guess four hours old is a bit young,' she agrees disconsolately.

Finally, after everyone has spoken to Helen and her sister and heard the baby grizzle, they wander back into the lounge room to find Gull at the computer.

Harry looks over at Gull. She is counting on her fingers. ‘Gull, what are you doing?' he asks.

She looks over at him. ‘Double checking “danger” has six letters.' Everybody looks at her questioningly. ‘It's just that Helen told me that two words have been running around in her head ever since the bank manager came out here the second time. And,' she says hitting “enter”, ‘I'm trying it out to see if it's the password.'

Immediately, everybody clusters around the computer.

Gull groans. ‘Oh, no, it's not “danger”.' She slumps across the keyboard, disheartened.

‘But didn't you say two words, Gull?' Jake asks.

‘Yeah, just try the second word Mum gave you,' Tom adds.

‘I just have to get my courage back first,' Gull frowns, ‘because this will be the last guess we get.'

Finally, Gull lifts her head and places her fingers on the keyboard. Everybody gathers around. And holds their breath.

‘And,' Harry murmurs as he watches Gull type, ‘my friend at the Council happened to mention that a man from a company called ‘B.E.Ware Developments' had been in a few times to see the tall, white haired town planner.'

‘Beware?' Gull echoes. ‘But that's what Helen just said. And that's the word I've just typed in.'

They all stare at the screen without blinking.

‘Oh no,' Gull groans. ‘It can't open the file.'

‘That was our last chance,' Lucy cries.

‘No, no,' Gull says quickly. ‘That's not it. I mean, this computer doesn't have enough memory for the file. It must be massive.' She grins at everybody. ‘I think we've got the right password, just not the right computer.'

‘But what does that mean?' Harry asks bewildered.

‘It means I need the Bank's computers which have a lot more memory.'

‘Dad, I thought you said this computer would have enough memory for us,' Tom says looking at his father.

‘Yes, well I didn't quite see us adding stuff from the Bank's computer at the time, did I?' Harry answers, sighing heavily. ‘So what do we do now?'

‘I'll have to try opening it at the Bank tomorrow.'

‘Tomorrow,' Harry repeats. ‘And tomorrow is …'

‘Thursday,' Lucy says heavily. ‘Not a lot of time left, is there?'

‘And that's if it opens,' Harry sighs, running his fingers through his hair.

‘Oh, I reckon it'll open alright,' Gull says optimistically. ‘It's just getting a chance to do it so I can print everything out.'

‘Well I think everything depends on that now, Gull,' Harry says with his fingers crossed.

‘But what about the plans the Council has? They could be our backup if this fails,' Lucy says.

‘Well that's the funny thing, Lucy,' Harry says. ‘There aren't any plans even though the bank manager's been in quite a few times, and always seeing just the one man, the town planner. I mean, if there are any plans they have to go through Council, so something must be going to happen. But nobody knows anything about them.'

‘Well why don't you ask the town planner?' Tom asks.

‘Yes, that would be the logical thing to do,' Harry nods slowly. ‘But something's telling me not to. Don't ask me why. I've just got a hunch that something's not right but I want to find out what exactly before I go any further. So, now it's all up to our Gull.'

‘Again,' Gull sighs. ‘Just when the bank manager told Shirley that it's a place of work, not a kindergarten.'

‘Huh!' Tom says. ‘A kindergarten is for toddlers.'

‘Yes,' says Gull darkly. ‘That's another reason for wanting to open his silly, secret file.'

* * *

At the Bank as usual, Gull settles herself down at the desk farthest from Shirley and the other employees. She's just about to call up the bank manager's file when she looks up and sees him striding towards her. Quickly, she opens a game that she's borrowed from Tom.

‘Gull, isn't it?' he asks quietly.

‘Yes Mr er, Sprogg,' she mumbles and then smiles nervously.

‘That game you were looking for yesterday, Gull. I've got it right here. So, no reason for you to go searching any more, is there?'

Gull blushes. The bank manager smiles showing his wolf-like teeth, obviously enjoying her discomfort. ‘My nephew is about your age. You're seven, aren't you?'

‘That's right,' she murmurs.

‘Yes, well he's into games too. I've brought you in one of his old ones to keep you occupied. He said it's very difficult. Took him ages the first time. He thinks it could take you all day. Don't want you getting bored, now do we?' he adds with a chilly smile.

Gull smiles back, closes Tom's game and installs the nephew's. ‘Flying Pigs,' she reads as the bank manager hovers. ‘Oh, how cute,' she says. ‘Yes, Mr Sprogg, this does look complicated. It could take me a while to figure it out.'

‘Good,' he says rubbing his hands and nodding. ‘Take your time. You've got all day. I don't know about computer games myself but it does look quite difficult.'

‘Er, thank your nephew,' she says waiting for him to move away.

‘I will. Just leave it on Shirley's desk when you've finished.'

Not your desk you mean
, Gull thinks.

‘I will,' she says brightly. As he walks off rubbing his hands and smiling his cold smile, Gull breathes a sigh of relief. She watches as the bank manager goes back into his office and closes the door.

‘How are you going?' Shirley asks as she wanders over to Gull's desk with a stack of papers. She drops her voice and says quietly, ‘What did he want?'

Gull says brightly in a normal voice, ‘Mr Sprogg brought in a game from his seven year old nephew for me to try. He said it's quite hard to do.' Gull drops her voice, ‘I played it two years ago and it was easy then.' Shirley grins. ‘But I think I'd better play it, at least until he goes out. I don't want him to get suspicious.'

‘What about the file?' Shirley asks frowning.

‘I can't open it while he's in his office. He's making me nervous.' She shudders. ‘Anyway, he might have it set up so that if anyone tries opening it, the computer lets him know.'

‘Oh dear,' Shirley says. ‘I didn't know you could do that. Well that could be tricky. And the trouble is, being Thursday, he's usually here 'til late, probably making up for leaving early on Fridays. And Friday may be too late for us.' Shirley drums her fingers on the desk. She blurts out, ‘I can't bear this suspense. I'll see if I can find out what's going on.' She grabs the incoming mail from a tray and trots up the stairs to the manager's office. Ten minutes later, she's back at her desk where Gull is waiting anxiously.

‘Well it looks as if he's settled in for the day,' she says quietly. ‘He has a whole lot of dictation for poor Mary. Think he's been saving it up. So, we're stuck.'

‘Do you think he suspects us?' Gull asks nervously.

‘Hope not,' she replies. ‘Anyway,' she says with a wicked grin, ‘we haven't really done anything yet, have we?'

Only copy a file from the manager's computer
, Gull thinks.
I wonder how many years I get in gaol for doing that?

Just then, Gull looks up and sees the town planner walking up the stairs to the manager's office. She nudges Shirley who glances in the same direction. ‘Getting all their ducks in a line,' she mumbles. Gull looks at her confused. Shirley smiles. ‘Getting organised for the big day, Saturday.' Just then, Shirley's phone rings. She picks it up, listens, murmurs and then puts it down again.