Speak No Evil

‘Omigod, I can’t believe this,’ Amanda exclaimed. ‘There has to be hundreds of people in all those buildings. Maybe thousands! This is terrible!’

When Ken didn’t respond, she turned to look at him. He’d stopped running, and he was several metres behind her. ‘Ken! Hurry up!’

‘Wait,’ he said.

‘Are you crazy?’ she shrieked. ‘Wait for what? For the bomb to go off?’

Ken held up his hand, like he was telling her to stop talking. She knew the expression on his face. One of his dead correspondents had just checked in.

‘Ken, tell the soap opera lady you’ll call her back!’ she wailed.

‘OK,’ Ken whispered. But Amanda didn’t think he was speaking to her. Then he blinked.

‘Amanda, I have to find Jack. You go on without me.’

How many shocks could a girl take in one day? Amanda watched Ken move in the direction of the building. People were pouring out of it now and there was panic in the air. She knew she should get as far away as she could, as fast as she could. But she just stood there, watching Ken walk closer and closer to the danger. And then she ran after him.

When she caught up with him, he’d just spotted Jack. The police officer saw him, and he looked angry. ‘What are you kids doing? I told you to get out of here!’

‘I know where the bomb is,’ Ken said.

Jack stared at him. ‘What?’

‘I know where the bomb is. It’s in the men’s toilets on the tenth floor.’

Jack’s eyes narrowed. ‘How could you possibly know this?’

‘I can’t — I can’t explain it now. There’s still time — you can find the bomb and dismantle it. It’s a simple timing device, you just have to switch it off.’

Jack frowned. ‘Look, if you’re playing some kind of game—’

‘I’m not, I’m telling the truth, you gotta believe me!’ Ken pleaded.

Jack grabbed the arm of another cop passing by. ‘Put these two in a car,’ he ordered. And he took off.

The cop grabbed Ken’s arm with one hand and Amanda’s arm with the other.

‘Hey, that hurts!’ Amanda cried in outrage.

The cop ignored her. He opened the back door of a police car and pushed them both in. Then he slammed the door. Amanda had seen enough police shows on TV to know they wouldn’t be able to get out on their own.

She was pretty sure she knew what had just happened. She turned to Ken. ‘Did the suicide guy contact you?’

He nodded. ‘He was really upset about losing his job, but it wasn’t just that. He was having a rough time in lots of ways. And he was angry at all his co-workers for something, I don’t know what. So he planted the bomb and then he jumped out of the window. But now he feels bad about it. He doesn’t really want to hurt anyone.’

Ken sank back in his seat and started rubbing his forehead. Instinctively, Amanda reached out and took his other hand. Maybe she was being pushy, but for once she didn’t care. This felt like the right thing to do.

They sat there together in silence. From the window, Amanda could see a couple of guys in what looked like spacesuits go into the building. She didn’t know how much more time passed — it felt like an eternity, but when she looked at her watch, she realized it had only been twenty minutes since they left Dr Paley’s office.

Suddenly, the back door of their car opened. A very weary-looking Jack Fisher stood there. ‘OK, you can get out.’

‘Did you find the bomb?’ Ken asked.

‘Yes. It’s been dismantled.’

Ken let out his breath. ‘OK.’

Jack’s eyes bore into him. ‘What I need to find out now is how you knew where the bomb was.’

Ken scratched the side of his head. ‘It’s — it’s kind of hard to explain.’

‘You’re coming to headquarters with me,’ Jack said flatly. ‘You can explain it to me there.’ He turned to Amanda. ‘You go back to school. I’ll have someone take you.’

‘Can’t I stay with Ken?’ she asked.

Ken shot her an appreciative look. ‘You go on,’ he said. ‘Tell Madame what happened.’

Jack beckoned to another cop and told him to take Amanda to Meadowbrook Middle School. She’d turned to go off with him when Ken called to her.

‘Amanda. . just tell Madame what happened here. You know what I mean.’

She did. She had no intention of telling Madame what they’d discussed with Dr Paley.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

COCKROACHES MUST HAVE EXCELLENT hearing ability, Paul thought. Despite the fact that he was encased in leather and practically buried under a lot of stuff, he’d understood everything that went on outside Amanda’s bag.

It had been easy for Paul to get into Amanda’s handbag. She’d put it on the floor next to her chair in Dr Paley’s office, and it had a drawstring fastening. Paul didn’t have any problem crawling in, and no one saw him. But now he had to make a fast decision. Remain in Amanda’s handbag, wedged between her make-up bag and her wallet? Or figure out a way to leave with Ken?

Amanda would be going back to school, and Paul was tempted to go along with her. He missed Madame, he wanted to see his classmates, to find out what they’d been up to. And to hear what they might say about him. Had they forgiven him, like Dr Paley said they would?

On the other hand, Ken was heading for police headquarters, where he’d be questioned about the bomb. And that could be very exciting.

Who should he choose? Who was more interesting? He could feel the bag moving. Amanda was about to get out of the police car. He quickly climbed out of her bag and dropped out. Then he scrambled across the back seat and climbed into the pocket of Ken’s jacket. Luckily, everyone was too distracted by what was going on to see the bug make his journey.

In the darkness of the pocket Paul couldn’t see anything, but he heard Jack the cop return to the car and start up the engine. There wasn’t much else to hear though. Jack didn’t say anything, and Ken was silent too. He was probably trying to come up with a way to explain how he knew about the bomb.

Paul recalled all those times in class when Ken said he thought his gift was worthless. He’d told Dr Paley that he didn’t get any pleasure from his gift. But he’d just saved the lives of a lot of people. Surely he must be feeling something, Paul thought.

He heard the car stop and the doors opening, and he felt Ken move. Then he heard the buzz of many conversations, phones ringing, people moving around. They must be in the police headquarters.

‘We’ll go into my office,’ Jack said.

He heard a door close, and then it was quiet.

‘Sit down, Ken,’ the police officer said. ‘Now, tell me what happened back there.’

‘I didn’t have anything to do with that bomb,’ Ken said.

‘But you knew where it was,’ Jack declared.

‘Yes. Well, no. I mean, I just sort of guessed.’

‘That’s not true, Ken. You were very precise about the location.’

Ken said nothing. Paul heard the rustle of papers, and then Jack spoke again.

‘Did you know this Mr Patterson? Arnold Patterson?’

‘Is that the man who jumped out of the building?’ Ken asked.

‘Yes. Isn’t the name familiar to you?’

‘No.’