WEDNESDAY, MAY 27
78 DAYS
‘Um, okay, sure,’ I said, moving to walk past him up the stairs. ‘Let’s talk. Just let me dump my stuff –’
‘Now, Pete,’ said Dad, blocking my way.
I actually gasped.
Dad never spoke to me like that. He didn’t give orders. It just wasn’t him.
Who are you?
I stepped back from him.
‘All right,’ I said, dropping my bag on the floor. ‘What did you want to talk about?’
‘Dr Galton sent this out to everyone in the office yesterday morning,’ said Dad, unfolding the paper in his hands and holding it out to me.
It was a print-out of an email.
Dear staff,
I’ve been asked to make you aware of three students whom Officer Calvin and his team have identified as possible security risks.
The students’ names are Jordan Burke, Luke Hunter, and Peter Weir (see photos attached), and they have already been caught engaging in acts of trespassing, vandalism and theft.
Officer Calvin has requested that any suspicious activity – no matter how seemingly minor – be reported directly to security.
Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
Regards,
Victoria
At the bottom of the email were three headshots. My Phoenix High photo and old school photos of Jordan and Luke.
This email must have gone out to the medical centre staff too. That explained why the nurse had been so quick to run off and dob Jordan in to security. And why Mike’s mum was suddenly giving me the cold shoulder.
They were getting the whole town onto us.
I looked up from the page.
‘You want to tell me what all this is about, Pete?’ asked Dad.
I scanned the email again, searching for some excuse, some way out of this, but my brain was like sludge.
‘I don’t know,’ I said.
‘You don’t know,’ Dad repeated. He let out an exasperated sigh and sat back down on the stairs. ‘Didn’t I tell you those two friends of yours would get you into trouble?’
‘You’re saying this is their fault?’ I said.
‘Trespassing?’ said Dad. ‘Theft? I know it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for you at school, Pete, but you never –’
‘They’re making it up!’ I said. ‘We never did any of that stuff!’
‘Pete, Officer Calvin is chief of security,’ said Dad. ‘He’s already got a million things to deal with. Why would he waste his time making up fake security threats from innocent students? What kind of town do you think this is?’
‘I don’t know, Dad,’ I spat, frustration getting the better of me. ‘Why can’t you walk in a straight line ever since you got back from Mr Shackleton’s office?’
No answer. Dad just locked onto me with a sick expression that made me wish I hadn’t asked.
The silence stretched out. I could hear Dad’s laptop whirring in the next room.
It was a full minute before he spoke up again.
‘I don’t want you hanging out with Luke and Jordan anymore.’
‘C’mon, Dad,’ I said. ‘No. You can’t tell me who to –’
‘I’m serious, Pete,’ said Dad. ‘Don’t make trouble for yourself. This isn’t a path you want to go down.’
‘And what path is that, exactly?’ I asked.
Dad stared at the ground. When he looked up again, he had a pleading look in his eyes that was scarier than anything else I’d seen so far.
‘Please, Pete,’ he whispered. ‘I just don’t want you to get hurt.’
He stood up, wincing, but determinedly putting his weight on both feet.
‘Dad …’ I said. ‘What did they do to you?’
‘Nothing,’ he said forcefully. ‘He took back the email printout, folded it up, and stuck it in his pocket. Then he reached out and put an arm around me. ‘Just promise me you’ll stay out of trouble, okay mate? Keep your head down and don’t give Officer Calvin any excuse to suspect you.’
‘Yeah, all right,’ I said. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
Dad staggered slightly, legs almost giving out again.
I had a feeling that excuses were the last thing Calvin needed.
THURSDAY, MAY 28
77 DAYS
‘You couldn’t get anything out of your dad?’ asked Jordan as she, Luke and I pushed our bikes out through the end-of-day bottleneck.
‘I told you, he didn’t want to talk about it,’ I said. ‘I can try again tonight, but I doubt it’ll do any good.’
I’d told Jordan and Luke about the email Dad showed me, but not about the conversation we’d had after.
We followed the crowd of kids across the street to the mall, keeping a look out for Reeve.
School had been pretty uneventful, apart from Mr Ranga almost rupturing a kidney when I walked into history. He’d shouted at me until his face matched his hair, then informed me that my one after-school detention was now a week of lunchtimes scraping gum off desks – that way he could make sure I didn’t run off again.
He’d probably be even more cut tomorrow when I still hadn’t shown up to see him.
‘What about the phone?’ said Luke.
‘What about it?’ I said, sick of him going on about it.
I had made some progress last night. Finally figured out how to connect it to my laptop and get inside the firmware. But changing the security settings was still going to be a major hassle. And even if I did, it’s not like we had reception.
But Jordan had to appreciate the effort, surely, and that was a good enough consolation prize to keep me working on it.
I looked up and realised that Jordan was leading us straight to Flameburger. I was about to point out how spectacularly unsuccessful our last visit had been, when Luke stretched out a hand and said, ‘Look!’
Officer Reeve had just walked through the sliding doors. He was out of uniform, holding his son’s hand with his good arm and balancing a tray of food on the plastered one. He found a table and the two of them sat down.
There was something weird about this scene, but it took me a sec to figure out what it was.
Then I saw it. They were sitting at the exact table that Jordan had been fixated on yesterday.
I whirled around to face her. ‘How did you know?’
‘Know what?’ said Jordan.
‘C’mon,’ said Luke, ‘let’s go talk to him.’
‘Hang on, we don’t want to scare him off,’ said Jordan. ‘Let’s go in and get food first.’
‘But what if he leaves?’ said Luke.
‘Tell you what,’ I said, ‘why don’t you keep an eye on Reeve while we go in and get the food?’
Luke shot me one of his disdainful glances, but didn’t argue.
In a few minutes, we were back outside with a big pile of chips and some drinks. Reeve and his kid hadn’t gone anywhere, and the table next to him – the same one we’d been sitting at yesterday – was free.
Jordan led the way to the empty table. Reeve saw us coming. His hand froze halfway to his mouth.
‘Relax,’ said Jordan, sitting with her back to him, ‘we’re just getting something to eat.’
Luke and I sat down, and Jordan motioned at us to start eating.
‘While we’re here, though,’ she went on in an undertone, still not looking at Reeve, ‘I’ve got a couple of quick questions for you.’
Reeve’s son rolled his toy car around the table, completely oblivious.
‘We were wondering about those metal security doors,’ said Jordan, when Reeve didn’t answer. ‘You know, the ones with no handles that you need a key card to –’
‘Look guys,’ said Reeve, twisting around, ‘I’m just trying to spend some time with my son on my afternoon off, all right? I don’t want any trouble.’
‘And we don’t want to give you any,’ said Jordan calmly, still not looking at him. ‘But this is important. Now turn around and stop acting so suspicious.’
I shovelled chips into my mouth to hide a smirk.
Reeve looked out across the street, probably making sure we were clear of any other security.
‘I don’t know what those doors are for,’ he said. ‘That’s all top-level stuff.’
‘Could you find out for us?’ asked Luke. ‘That information has to be somewhere, right?’
‘I already told you kids, I can’t get involved. I’ve got my family to think about. And you guys shouldn’t get caught up in all this either.’
‘You really think it’s that simple?’ I said. ‘We’re all caught up in it, whether we like it or not. If you knew what was really going on in this place –’
‘I know enough to know it’s way over my head,’ said Reeve. ‘And even if I wanted to help you, there’s no way I could get my hands on that kind of info. That stuff’s stored in Aaron Ketterley’s office.’
‘Where’s that?’ said Jordan.
‘In his house,’ said Reeve, ‘behind one of those metal doors.’
‘Let’s say the door wasn’t a problem,’ said Jordan. ‘I mean, theoretically. Then what?’
‘You’d have the security on the house to deal with, and Ketterley himself, and even if you did get in –’ He stopped short, shaking his head again. ‘Listen, I can’t do this. I’m sorry. Just let it go, all right?’
‘Officer Reeve, please,’ said Jordan, ‘there must be something you can tell us.’
Reeve ignored her and stood up to leave. ‘Come on, mate,’ he said, bending down and letting his son climb up onto his back, ‘let’s go to the park.’
‘You think you’re the only one with a family to think about?’ Luke called after him.
But Reeve didn’t want to hear it. He emptied his tray into the bin and walked away without looking back.