The Impossible Clue (11 page)

I
woke up at seven with bird-nest hair and dents on the side of my face from using the corduroy couch cushion as a pillow. I had a crick in my neck that felt like an ice pick.

Dad was rushing around the kitchen, trying to eat his breakfast and get ready for work at the same time. He had a square of toast in his mouth and a cup of coffee in his hand. Every move was a disaster waiting to happen. Della stood still, eating a bowl of porridge with one leg stretched up on the counter like it was a ballet barre.

‘Morning sweetie,' Dad said. ‘I'll be late again today, but call me if you need anything. Either of you.'

Dad gulped down the dregs of his coffee and put his water bottle in his bag before giving me a kiss on the forehead. His chin was rough with two days' worth of stubble.
Then he kissed Della and ran out the door.

As the door banged shut, I realized I hadn't told him about my meeting with the FBI or the silver Mercedes that had been following me. But he was already gone. I'd have to tell him when he came home. Until then, I'd just have to be careful. I shambled into the kitchen and poured myself the last of the coffee from the pot. Della moved out of my way, but didn't say a word. She still wasn't talking to me. We finished our breakfast in silence.

Sammy showed up right on time. He arrived in a black town car, probably the same car that ‘picked me up' from school two days ago. It seemed like a lot longer ago than that. I'd spent the past two days chasing my tail and I was exhausted. I gathered up the papers from the Delgado file and stuffed them into my messenger bag. I could feel Della's eyes on me every time I turned my back. I guess the town car was pretty impressive. But I wasn't in the mood to explain. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out of the door without looking back.

I scanned the street carefully as I walked down our front steps. No silver cars in sight. I didn't waste any time climbing through the door Sammy's driver held open for me. It felt good to be behind tinted windows.

I let Sammy talk about the case for the first couple of minutes, while I kept busy checking the windows to make sure we weren't being followed. He spoke at a terrifying pace, words forming and tumbling out on top of each
other like cars on the motorway heading for a crash. After we'd gone through three junctions with no sign of the silver Mercedes, I started to relax. I didn't know where they were, but they weren't after me and that was good enough.

Sammy was still talking a mile a minute. I hoped he stayed talkative. I had some questions and I wanted answers.

‘Sammy,' I interrupted him in the middle of a story about the time he and Dr Learner built a hovercraft. He stopped jabbering and tilted his head eagerly to one side. ‘How did you know I went to Dr Learner's apartment yesterday?' I asked as casually as I could. It wasn't like I was accusing him of anything, but it did seem strange. He'd already had his dad kidnap me over to play. For all I knew, Mr Delgado was having me followed. Maybe I'd been wrong about the silver Mercedes. Maybe it wasn't Chronos's car, maybe it was Mr Delgado's.

‘Oh, I called your house. No one was home, so I phoned your dad. I would have called you, but I don't have your mobile number.'

He looked at me hopefully, but I didn't bite. The last thing I needed was phone calls from Sammy. But it answered the question. I guess I was lucky he hadn't decided to come over and help.

‘OK, that makes sense,' I said. Dad exchanged numbers with everyone he met, just in case they ever turned into a
source. I shook my shoulders, trying to lose the feeling someone was watching my every move. The case was making me jumpy and it was getting hard to think straight.

‘I'm sorry I couldn't come over and help you. It would have been great! I even got all this detective stuff.' He pulled his backpack on to the seat between us and unzipped it so I could see inside. He had a notebook, a magnifying glass, a small fingerprint brush and vial of printing powder, and a listening device that looked like an MP3 player. Actually, the listening device looked pretty cool, but the rest of it was useless. What's the point of taking fingerprints when you don't have access to a criminal database?

‘Isn't it great? I ordered it after you took the case, special delivery. It came this morning. This time when we search Dr Learner's office, we'll find something for sure!'

‘You said something like that on the phone too,' I said. ‘You asked me if I'd found anything.'

The colour drained out of Sammy's face like water out of a bath. I think he actually had to bite his tongue to keep his mouth shut.

‘What did you think I was going to find?'

Most of the time, the best way to get someone to talk is to make them sit in silence. Especially someone like Sammy. I waited and watched as the wheels spun in his head. I only had to count prime numbers up to seventeen before he cracked.

‘I didn't mean anything specific,' he stammered. ‘I just
wanted to know if you found any clues, that's all. Like a ransom note or something like that.' Sammy had been reading too many detective books. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye to see if I was buying it. I wasn't. So Sammy kept on trying.

‘Or maybe you found something about his research, or where he hid it. I don't know. I just wanted to help.'

‘Wait, back up,' I said, as the car braked suddenly as someone swerved into traffic in front of us. I checked the window again for the silver Mercedes, but it still wasn't there. Then I turned back to Sammy. ‘Dr Learner hid his research?'

Sammy froze, a total rabbit in headlights. He licked his lips.

‘I don't know,
maybe
he hid it. If no one can find it, it must be hidden somewhere, right?' he back-pedalled furiously.

‘Hidden or it never existed at all,' I said. I was getting tired of Sammy not telling the whole truth. The worst part was, I couldn't figure out why he was lying. Or what he was hiding. I knew he wanted to find Dr Learner, so why wouldn't he tell me everything he knew?

I gave Sammy one more hard look, but I knew I wasn't going to get anything else out of him.

‘All right, all right.' I held up my hands. There was no point in arguing with Sammy if I didn't have any facts to back up my theory.

Sammy watched me. His face was tense, but it softened
when he realized I was done asking questions. He pulled his backpack on to his lap and spent the rest of the journey examining the car's leather interior with his mail-order magnifying glass.

W
hen we finally arrived at Delgado Industries, the chauffeur made his way through the car park and towards the back of the building. He parked and came around the side, opening the door for Sammy. I let myself out.

‘My dad's private entrance is back here. I told him we were coming this morning. He'll let us in.'

Sammy led me up a few steps to a large metal door with a keypad lock and intercom. He pressed the buzzer.

‘Dad, it's me.'

The door clicked and Sammy pulled with all his strength. It came open, but so slowly it was like watching the glaciers recede. I grabbed on and helped.

Mr Delgado sat back in his swivel chair with his legs propped up on his desk. Across from him in a low metal
chair sat a very young, very eager-looking reporter. She must have been a new recruit. Mr Delgado was on the phone and she didn't even have her Dictaphone running. Dad would have had a fit. I didn't know who was on the other end of the line, but Mr Delgado looked very pleased with what they were saying.

‘Well, I'm glad you feel that way,' he was saying. ‘No, I completely understand. We wouldn't want you to sign anything without being completely sure. Bad business practice.'

The reporter looked at us and then back at Mr Delgado. I guess she didn't think we were worth talking to. I shrugged and followed Sammy to a hard leather couch on the other side of the room. She obviously wasn't a crime reporter; she would have pounced on us in a heartbeat. Maybe someone from the lifestyle section?

Mr Delgado's office was a large, airy room. One wall was made entirely of glass, which surprised me since it had looked solid from the other side. Now I could see Sammy's chauffeur reading the paper in the front seat of the town car. No one coming to visit Mr Delgado would ever have the element of surprise.

‘It's one-way,' Sammy said when he saw me staring at the window. ‘You can see out, but not in. They invented it here.'

I had to admit, I was impressed. It was hard not to be. The whole room was designed to inspire awe. A large
abstract painting hung on the wall behind Mr Delgado, bold splashes of paint arcing across the canvas. A gold and mahogany nameplate that read ‘Dr Samuel G Delgado PhD' sat on the front of his desk. It looked brand new. He must have ordered it as soon as he heard the university was giving him an honorary degree. I wondered how long he'd been waiting to be able to call himself a doctor.

‘Dad likes to entertain clients here, that's why he's got the separate door. He uses it if he's making deals with people he doesn't want the competition to know about. That way they can come in and out without anyone knowing. And he's the only one with a key to his office, so no one can interrupt him. My dad's really smart about business.' Sammy puffed out his chest.

‘I guess that's why he's in charge,' I said.

Mr Delgado hung up the phone and turned to the reporter.

‘I'm so sorry Maria, but as you can see I'm a very busy man. Now, where were we?'

Maria smiled. ‘You were telling me about when you first decided to open Delgado Industries.'

‘Of course, now let me see. It all started back when I was at college . . .'

It looked like Mr Delgado would be talking for a while. I didn't like waiting around, but until I got the keys to Dr Learner's lab, I wasn't going anywhere. I stood up and started exploring the room.

There was a large media cabinet next to the couch. It was made of black lacquer with shelves running up the left hand side and a large-screen TV in the middle. A silver tray filled with glass bottles and cut crystal glasses sat at eye level, and above it were various books and small sculptures.

I opened the drawers of the cabinet absent-mindedly. More bottles of alcohol and packs of cigars wrapped tightly in plastic, a pack of batteries and a remote control. Several hand-labelled DVDs, presentations for investors probably. In the back of the drawer with the DVDs was a small stack of mirrors. They were perfectly square, about ten centimetres wide, with no rim or frame around the outside. They looked like they belonged inside a piece of machinery, like a telescope or laser. They seemed so out of place in Mr Delgado's designer office that I picked up the stack to get a closer look.

‘What are you doing?'

I turned around.

Mr Delgado wasn't smiling and looking pleased with himself any more.

‘Sorry. I can't resist drawers.' I held out the mirrors. ‘Were these Dr Learner's? They look like they might go in one of those machines in his office.'

Mr Delgado smoothed his hand across his hair, glanced at the reporter and put his smile back on.

‘Yes. Adrian asked me to special-order those a few days
ago, before he went missing. I never got the chance to give them to him.'

He didn't move from his chair and he didn't say anything, but I knew he wanted me to put the mirrors down. It was strange. The mirrors were easily the cheapest things in his office, so why did Mr Delgado have to special-order them? And why did he look so jumpy?

‘So, I hear you got a doctorate yesterday,' I said, trying to lighten the mood. I turned around and put the mirrors back in the drawer. Well, all of them except for one. I slipped the top mirror into my bag as I turned around.

‘Yes, yes. It was quite an honour. Maria here is doing a profile on me for the alumni magazine.'

That explained why she wasn't digging for dirt. She was writing one hundred per cent puff.

‘Maria, this is my son Samuel Junior and his friend Alice Jones. They're helping me look into the disappearance of my top scientist. I'm sure you've heard about it. Dr Learner went to the University of Pennsylvania too.'

Maria nodded sympathetically, but I could see her eyes glittering. She was thinking she'd just found the perfect angle for her profile on Mr Delgado. Something to spice it up. I jabbed Sammy in the ribs with my elbow so he'd hurry up and get us out of there. Mr Delgado looked like he was about to launch into some long-winded story about how wonderful he was, and I didn't want to get stuck as the audience.

‘Actually, Adrian and I were at college together. In a lot of ways, he was my inspiration.' Mr Delgado handed Maria a framed photo from his desk. ‘There's me and Adrian before we graduated. We always dreamt about doing research together.' His voice trailed off.

I looked over Maria's shoulder. The picture showed Dr Learner and Mr Delgado about thirty years ago, younger and with more hair. The two of them were onstage and Dr Learner was pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

‘That was from the Physics Department talent show. We won first prize that year.' He gave the photo a wistful smile and then laughed. ‘I remember one time—'

‘Dad!' Sammy cut him off. I got the feeling Sammy heard a lot of stories about Mr Delgado's glory days. Either that or he sensed me gearing up for another elbow jab.

‘Yes, Sammy? What was it you wanted to see me about? You wanted to have another look at Dr Learner's lab?'

I ignored the look he gave the reporter over our heads. A look that said
aren't kids the cutest
.

‘That's right,' I answered. ‘I just want to check a few things.' Mr Delgado pulled open his desk drawers and rooted around until he found his keys. I waited until he put them in my hand before I continued, ‘I also thought I should let you know I went to Dr Learner's apartment yesterday.'

‘You did?' Mr Delgado looked a little surprised. So maybe the silver Mercedes wasn't his after all. ‘And did
you find anything important there?'

‘Not exactly,' I said. ‘I was just wondering . . .' I realized there was no nice way to ask it, so I just blurted out the question. ‘Well, you were friends with Dr Learner. Was his place always such a dump?'

Mr Delgado laughed. ‘She doesn't sugar-coat things, does she?' he said to Maria, smiling again. Then he turned back to me. ‘The truth is, Adrian has always been all about the science. When he's working on an experiment, he can go for weeks without going home. He'll sleep on the floor here, or in his car. And he's been so busy on this project, especially after his breakthrough six months ago. It doesn't surprise me that his place was a mess.'

I nodded. Sammy looked miserable.

‘Is that everything?' he asked.

‘No. After I left, there were some people from the FBI watching the apartment. They stopped me and asked me some questions. I told them what I know. I'm sorry if you didn't want me to, but I didn't feel like lying to the federal government.'

‘No,' Mr Delgado said. ‘That wouldn't do at all. No, you did fine, better than fine. I'm very pleased with what you've done so far.'

‘But I haven't done anything,' I said.

‘But I'm sure you are making great progress. Sammy keeps me updated. Now if you'll excuse me, I think Maria has some more questions she wants to ask before we tour
the facility.'

It occurred to me that Mr Delgado had planned for me and Sammy to run into his tame reporter. It was exactly the kind of publicity he wanted. It kept Dr Learner's disappearance in the paper, but it also made Mr Delgado look pretty good. The kind of great guy who lets his son and friends play at being detectives. But I wasn't playing. If I was looking into the case at all, then I was looking into the case for real. I thanked Mr Delgado for his time and said goodbye. I wanted to have another look at Dr Learner's office as soon as possible.

‘Oh, one more thing,' I said as I stood in the office doorway. ‘I've noticed a car following me. I think it might be someone from Chronos R&D.'

Mr Delgado stood up quickly, knocking his state-of-the-art swivel chair backwards into the wall.

‘Chronos? Are you sure? Why do you think it's them?'

I didn't think it was a good idea to tell Mr Delgado how my dad had hacked into Dr Learner's emails. So I told him I heard the name from the FBI.

‘This is very serious, thank you for letting me know.' He picked up the phone, nodding an apology to Maria. ‘Alice, if you see those men again, don't talk to them, don't tell them anything. Just call for help right away. They are not nice people and I don't want you to get hurt.'

It wasn't what he said that scared me. It was the way he said it, like he was afraid of them.

‘Sammy, you make sure Alice gets home safely.'

Then again, if he trusted Sammy to keep me safe, how scary could they really be?

I spent the next hour searching Dr Learner's office, trying to see if there was a blind spot I'd missed. I was certain there had to be another way out of that office. A way that got Dr Learner past the security cameras. Sammy stood at the doorway, like he was some kind of bodyguard. I didn't know what he thought he'd do if trouble actually did show up.

There was no blind spot. No hidden alcove. Nowhere Dr Learner could have hidden in that room when Graham Davidson came to check on him. I even stood on the work surface and checked the ceiling to see if Dr Learner could have crawled out through an air vent. But it was no good.

‘I got nothing,' I said to Sammy. ‘Let's get out of here. I feel like my brain is going to implode.'

Sammy walked me back through his dad's office and out into the car park. Mr Delgado was gone, probably giving Maria a five-star tour of the building. The driver was waiting for us. He'd got out of the car when we'd left the building and was holding the door open for Sammy by the time we made it to the car.

‘Can you take Alice home for me?'

It must have been weird for the driver, taking orders from a kid. He looked about forty-five.

I climbed into the car. Sammy didn't follow me.

‘Aren't you coming?'

‘I've got my own job, remember?'

I stared at Sammy blankly.

‘You know,' he said, leaning closer and shielding his mouth so the driver couldn't see. ‘The device that was on the security camera. The one that might be a clue to how Dr Learner got out of his office. I'm gonna search for it while my dad's giving the tour.'

He stood back, pleased with himself. I felt a pang of guilt as I remembered sending Sammy on that rainbow frog chase. But he looked so happy I didn't have the heart to tell him to give up.

‘I'll call you later,' Sammy said and started to close the door. He shut it halfway and then opened it again. ‘Do you think we should have a secret password for when we call each other? Just in case?'

I looked at Sammy, dumbfounded. That kid read way too many spy novels.

Sammy waited for a moment, but when he realized I wasn't going to answer he just shrugged. ‘Well, think about it,' he said, and slammed the door.