FRIDAY 3.45 P.M.
It was impossible to watch the TV screen. Mike wasn’t even sure what the movie was about. Some chick who liked a guy …
At least there were no car chases, thought Mike. At least there were no heroes chasing bad guys through the crowded streets, not caring how many died on either side, as long as they got their villain. ‘We’re the spear carriers now,’ said Jazz’s voice in his mind.
Mike shut his eyes. There was no point watching the video. All he could see was Jazz’s face as they carried off the stretcher. He hadn’t known that brown skin could look so white, that Jazz’s bright face could look so blank …
Terror gripped him. All at once he was sure that she was dead. She’d died on the ride to the hospital and he would never see her, never. Everything that was once Jazz was gone.
Mike grasped his phone and tiptoed down the hall. He turned his back and dialled.
‘Dr Fallerton, it’s me. It’s Mike.’
‘… Mike …’ said the tinny voice from the phone. The sound was broken up. It must be almost out of mobile phone reception range, thought Mike.
‘Please … how’s Jazz?’
‘… tremors … not as bad as the others yet …’ said the voice. Dr Fallerton was crying, Mike realised. It wasn’t just that the line was breaking up.
‘She’s still alive?’ he whispered, then wished he hadn’t, because Dr Fallerton began to sob into the phone. He tried not to imagine her, alone except for the driver with her daughter lying in the back of the station wagon, the strange empty paddocks all around her.
‘… not even any oxygen, nothing I can do … if only …’ Suddenly the line grew clearer. They must have come up on top of a hill, thought Mike. ‘… if only they knew what it was, we might have some idea how to treat …’
‘How long till they get the results on the stuff in the wastepaper basket?’ he asked.
‘… don’t know … all so far away …’ said the sobbing tinny voice. ‘Oh, if only we knew what it …’ The voice broke off. The line went dead.
Mike dialled again frantically. The phone rang once, twice, and then was answered, ‘Hello, I’m sorry I can’t come to the phone right now. If you’d like to leave your name and telephone number …’
Mike put the phone down. Out of range, he thought. He looked at his watch. It would take them at least half-an-hour to get to Gunyabah. Half-an-hour before he could ring again …
He sat with his head in his hands. If only they could get hold of Loser! But maybe Loser had sickened too … and even if they did get hold of him, he wouldn’t know what was in the test tube. Just that it killed people, and he’d used it.
There had to be some way to find out what it was in the test tube. There had to be!
He had to think! If he thought hard enough he’d find the answer; if he thought hard enough he wouldn’t think of Jazz lying on the stretcher, her legs twitching just like the dog that Mr Loosley killed …
Mike sat very still. Was it … could it be … he had to think this through …
Point number one: Loser had seemed deadly serious this morning. The blank hard look had changed his face, as though he wasn’t really seeing any of them any more.
Yes, Loser had looked like he really meant to kill.
Point number two: Loser had said that the test tube held explosives, and then he’d changed his story. Mike had been sure he’d been lying both times. All of them had been sure that he’d been lying.
What if they’d been right?
Point number three: There was something in Mr Loosley’s shed that killed …
If something could kill a dog, it could poison human beings.
Mike stood up. He walked slowly over to the group watching the video and caught Budgie’s eye. He signalled. Budgie nodded, and came across to join him.
‘What’s up?’ he whispered. ‘Hey, you’re not feeling crook are you?’
Mike shook his head. ‘No, nothing like that. Look, I just had an idea.’
‘What?’
Mike sat down, Budgie sat next to him. ‘Look, suppose there was nothing dangerous in the test tube. What if Loser was just spinning us another of his stories?’
‘Yeah?’ said Budgie.
‘But he really wanted to get at us. And he knew where his dad kept some poison.’
Budgie’s forehead wrinkled. ‘So he poisoned Mr Simpson and Caitlin … and Jazz. But how?’ he demanded. ‘You think he might have put something in their food?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Mike. ‘I just don’t know. I mean, it’d be different if Loser had passed around a … a box of chocolates or something. But look, Mr Loosley does have poison in his shed. I saw it.’
‘When?’
Mike hesitated. ‘Years ago,’ he admitted. ‘I was just a little kid. But I bet it’s still there.’
‘Do you want to tell Constable Svenic?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Why not?’ demanded Budgie.
‘It’s just … well, you know Mr Loosley. If Constable Svenic turns up at his front door asking if he’s got any poison, Mr Loosley’s going to say, “No”, isn’t he? And then if Constable Svenic starts looking, the next thing he’ll do is get rid of it, or signal to his wife to get rid of it, and then we’ll never know what sort of poison it is. And we have to find out! If we knew what it was then maybe the doctors could do something.’
‘Constable Svenic could just sneak in there.’
‘He won’t,’ said Mike decidedly. ‘He wouldn’t do something like that without a search warrant, just like he wouldn’t break into Tenterfield.’
‘But what else can we do?’ demanded Budgie.
‘I’m going to try to find it myself,’ said Mike.