to be nice to Auntie Joan and have some cookies.
Next day it rained and even Uncle Wally had to agree it was no time for going out for a picnic.
‘Best be getting back to Wilma. I got an important meeting tomorrow and this rain’s going to stick around.’
They packed into his four-wheeler and drove down the dirt road through the forest. Behind them the timer on the music centre ticked ominously. It was set for six that evening and the volume was at maximum. According to Uncle Wally that was like one thousand decibels.
On the way Eva said she was going to call the neighbours in Oakhurst Avenue even though Henry didn’t get along with them.
‘He’s very private,’ she said. ‘He hates people to know what he’s doing.’
‘Makes sense,’ said Uncle Wally. ‘It’s a free country. Everyone’s entitled to privacy. That’s the First Amendment. No one has to incriminate himself.’
‘What’s ‘incriminate’ mean, Uncle Wally?’ Emmeline asked.
Uncle Wally swelled in the driver’s seat. He liked being asked questions. He had all the answers. ‘Incriminate oneself means to say things that could damage your reputation or land you in court on a criminal charge. It’s like it’s three words, ‘In’ and ‘Crime’ and ‘State’. That’s the way to remember things. Break them up into little lots.’
From their rented house across the street Palowski and Murphy watched the jeep turn in to the Starfighter Mansion and the gates open automatically.
‘Big Foot’s back,’ Murphy told the Surveillance Truck in the disused drive-in over the scrambler.
‘We got him onscreen,’ came the reply. ‘No problem. Vision sound on.’
Murphy sat back and had to agree that all systems were working perfectly. The screen in the room showed Auntie Joan getting out of the four-wheeler and going into the house.
‘Only problem we’ve got is that Mrs Immelmann. Need wide screen to get her all in,’ he told Palowski. ‘That’s sumo on steroids. And here comes another bulk carrier.’ Eva and the quads had entered the hall. ‘I don’t want to see either of them undressing. Put you off sex for life.’
Palowski was more interested in the Wilt girls.
‘Clever using kids like that. Quads. Like they’re special. Nobody’s going to suspect they’re carriers. That Mrs Wilt can’t have any feelings. She gets ten to twenty she’s going to lose custody. If I hadn’t seen that report from the Brits on her record I wouldn’t have thought it possible she’d be involved. Too much to lose.’
‘Weightwise she could afford to. But some people never learn and those girls are more than good cover. Gets a good lawyer to plead for her and work up public sympathy it could be she wouldn’t do any time. Depends how much they were carrying.’
‘Sol said a sample, he thought. She could claim she don’t even know it’s there.’
‘For sure. Not that I care so much about her. It’s that Immelmann bastard I’m out to nail. What’s the schedule for the other house, the one up by the lake?’
Murphy talked to the Surveillance Centre.
‘Says they should have moved in by now. You reckon that place is important?’
‘Got its own air strip. Could be the ideal place for a lab to make the shit.’
But Murphy wasn’t listening. Auntie Joan had gone to the toilet.
Chapter 18
Harold Rottecombe reached the boat-house to find the brilliant plan he had devised to save having to cut across the fields to Slawford wasn’t going to work. It was clearly out
