‘Darlings, I know the situation with your daddy is unfair – ’ Miss Monique, LaShawn’s mum, looks at me and Riri as she shovels more food on our plates – ‘but right now, you must focus on food. Eat or else you’re not leaving my house.’
‘This is like reverse Hansel and Gretel,’ LaShawn whispers, eyes on his fork.
‘Yes, ma’am,’ I say.
‘Thank you,’ Riri mumbles.
‘Your mom seems nice,’ Miss Monique says. Her and Mom exchanged niceties in the doorway earlier.
‘Sh-she’s OK, I don’t know.’ I fill my mouth with mouth-watering flying fish and cou-cou, same as Miss Monique. Riri eats the roasted aubergine. Or ‘eggplant’ as Mom and Riri call it. Or ‘baigan’ as Dad and LaShawn’s mom call it. So many names for a fruit that looks like Barney. LaShawn eats fish fingers and fries, much to his mum’s disappointment. ‘How’s LaShawn’s studying going?’
LaShawn lightly pinches my arm. I smirk.
Miss Monique laughs, off-key. ‘I caught him with his invention kit and had to hide it.’
‘He’s getting distracted? Why? I love studying.’ Riri sounds shocked. I expect to roll my eyes but instead, I smile at her. Her quirks are what make her. I can finally appreciate our differences.
‘Studying is boring because I already know everything,’ LaShawn defends. Did I mention that he’s a bit of a bright boy? High IQ and all. Well, apart from maths.
‘Well, kid, until you can rule the world, you follow its rules. I want you to be prepared for secondary school. Smart is one thing, distracted is another.’
There are at least three more scuffles between LaShawn and Miss Monique before we’re done eating. I offer to help her clean up but Miss Monique looks like I’ve insulted her. That’s my cue to hug her thank you and get going with LaShawn. She knows nothing about Operation Cou-cou.
We meet Helin at the end of the block. ‘I hope you’re ready,’ I tell her.
‘Ready as I’ll ever be. I’ve eaten two-and-a-half bananas so I don’t cramp up.’
LaShawn laughs. ‘Yo. Helin, man, this isn’t a marathon.’
‘It might as well be,’ I say. Turn so they can see my rucksack of wearable weights. Helin and LaShawn nod and we talk on. Riri trails behind.
‘I’m not,’ Riri blurts out. We all stop. ‘Ready, I mean. I-I don’t think I am. The first and last time I set foot in the cafe, I saw a dead body.’ Her hands shake. I ask her if she wants to sit this one out but she refuses.
‘It’ll be tough so if you need to, go whenever. Be a big help if you stick around but you’re still super cool even if you can’t do this.’ I reach out to stop her hands from shaking.
She looks down and smiles. Nods her head and announces that she’s ready.
I jog to Cafe Vivlio. The sun is on its highest setting. I’m already sweating and Riri is bright red. Beads of sweat blot LaShawn’s forehead. Helin looks normal. I say, ‘You know the drill, Helin. You’ll have these weights strapped to you so you can have Fred’s weight, Mimi’s and Derek’s. Otherwise, it won’t be a true reflection of if they could’ve killed Mrs Kostas in that timeframe. Now, the time taken to push someone to their death depends on the weight and strength of the pusher and the pushed. Oh, and how long it takes to go up and down the steps leading to the hillock. We’ll have to rely on good old-fashioned mathematics.’
LaShawn sighs. Riri, meanwhile, cheers at that and LaShawn gives her a friendly shove with a mocking look of disapproval.
Helin asks, ‘What if the police are guarding or searching Cafe Vivlio and The Secret Garden? It’s still an active crime scene, right?’
‘The police aren’t keeping a watch on the crime scene because they’ve got all the forensic evidence they need. Helin, stop pulling that face! We’re here now and no one’s around. If you make a scene then we’ll be compromised – ousted by an adult and marked as failures – and we’ll all go to a young offenders prison. Do you want that? I thought not. Besides, I thought your middle name was now Unpressured.’
‘I lied –’ Helin whispers – ‘it’s Bozorgmehr-Mazandarani.’ Of course, I already know that but it isn’t in her TUSC profile because I’m a terrible speller.
‘OK, let’s go. LaShawn, get in position.’ He salutes and dashes off. ‘Riri, are you OK? Are you sure?’ She nods once and I give her a thumbs-up. Then I open the doors of Cafe Vivlio for Helin, using the keys Mrs Kostas/Dimas gifted me. It was a secret surprise, a symbolic gesture, she said, of how much I meant to her. Because the possibility of us getting caught by police or pedestrians is high, I run inside before her. It doesn’t take her long to join me.
I focus on the counter to ignore the dark despair that’s growing inside me. Cafe Vivlio has a shadowed stillness that sends shivers down my spine. It’ll never be the same again. Especially with the stuffy air – the AC is disconnected. Everything feels wrong.
‘Ani?’ Helin’s gentle voice snaps me out of my sadness. ‘Is the stopwatch ready?’
‘Yes, let’s start. Fred’s weight first, right?’ Helin nods then puts them on.
After doing a perimeter check – making sure no one is inside the cafe and The Secret Garden – I show Helin where Fred typically sits.
‘What if he decided to sit someplace else on that day for this very reason?’
I tap my chin. ‘To throw us off his scent so we’re getting the wrong data? Interesting. Let’s time how long it takes from table-to-table. We’ll use the table closest to the hallway as the minimum distance. Then we can deduct that from Fred’s usual table to The Secret Garden.’
Helin gives me a thumbs-up. I nod once I start the stopwatch. She goes table-to-table. Each table is on one side of the cafe and the hallway is opposite. I scribble my notes. ‘It’s only a matter of seconds between each table. Maximum, ten. Our findings could be either give or take ten seconds. Let’s begin.’
Update: Helin was remarkable. She adopted the entire body language of Fred, Mimi and Derek. No one could’ve done what she did – and without breaking into a sweat. Each trip from the cafe’s seating area to The Secret Garden was done three times. Same results each time. Averages identical to each set of readings. No errors. Even Riri’s jaw dropped.
I look at my results, lit up by my phone in the dim Cafe Vivlio.
‘Fred had a total of thirty seconds of going to and from The Secret Garden. Leaves him with twenty-nine seconds to kill Mrs Kostas. Walking, not running.’
‘He could’ve left his laptop open and done the deed?’ Riri says.
‘Possible. Mimi would’ve taken nineteen seconds from her table to The Secret Garden then back again. That’s a total of –’
I’m bad at mental maths. Helin helps me out, ‘Thirty-eight seconds.’
‘Thanks. Thirty-eight is eight more seconds than the gap in her SparxPix update.’
‘Unless she ran, she couldn’t have done it,’ Riri adds.
‘Based on the numbers and technology, you’re right. Would she have run?’ There’s no evidence either way. ‘From each of Rodolfo’s possible locations, he had the most time. Bearing in mind, he doesn’t have a technological update at around the time of death. Then Derek – seventeen seconds from his table with his gait and weight. Another seventeen back . . .’
‘Totalling to thirty-four seconds,’ Helin says.
I rub my face, frustrated. ‘Leaving Derek five seconds to kill Mrs Kostas.’
‘So, what does that mean? Who did it?’ Helin looks between me and Riri.
‘With enough time to kill her, based on the numbers and motive –’ Riri starts.
‘It was Rodolfo,’ I finish. ‘Look at all that time and Mrs Kostas/Dimas could’ve been calling Dad for help. Maybe he staged the call, right in front of her. Fred’s the runner-up.’
‘Now what? Can we leave this former crime scene now?’ Helin asks.
‘Yes,’ I say but we’re already too late. The situation worsens.
LaShawn’s Heli-Drawn taps S-O-S on the window. He’s in danger?
Before we can act, the door of Cafe Vivlio opens.
Chloe enters, a cross look on her face.
Operation Cou-cou has been compromised.