Big arms crossed and buzz cut gleaming silver under the fluoro light, Frank’s grey eyes bored into Andy across the interrogation-room table. His son now fully appreciated how intimidated suspects must feel in his dad’s presence. He felt as though he was shrinking under that hard cop stare.

‘Arrest us?’ Andy managed in a small voice. He felt as run down as his phone battery. ‘You’re, like, joking, right?’

Frank looked from his son to Dylan. Perspiration beaded the kid’s dark skin and his glasses were fogging up.

‘I’m sorry, boys,’ Frank said, ‘but I’m not.’

‘But why?’ Dylan asked. ‘They’re the ones blackmailing kids for money!’

‘Things aren’t always what they seem,’ Frank replied, sliding a folder across to them. ‘Take a look.’

The boys huddled together. Andy flipped the file open. Inside were envelopes held together with a rubber band.

‘These are what they were collecting!’ Andy said. ‘One of these envelopes had Ethan’s money in it.’

Frank let out a weary sigh. ‘Look inside any one of them.’

Dylan pulled the top envelope free. He slid out the contents. Instead of a bundle of cash, he held a rectangle of green paper. Beside him, Andy’s face was a mess of confusion as his eyes flicked across the white letters edged in black on the sheet.

‘“People pile in to ride the air, but underneath’s the place where”,’ Andy read. ‘Then there’s a bunch of numbers. Are they …?’

‘Coordinates,’ his father said.

‘What the heck does it mean?’ Andy asked.

‘It’s a clue in a game called Geo-Finding,’ Frank said. ‘People post an initial riddle on an online forum along with some coordinates. Geo-Finders go to that location. If they can work out the puzzle, they’ll find the next clue—which leads them to the next location. And so on.’

Dylan studied the riddle and its coordinates. ‘So, what is this pointing to?’

‘The coordinates are for the Santa Monica Pier Ferris wheel,’ said Frank. ‘But the rhyme is a play on words that tells you where to look.’ He pointed at the riddle on the paper. ‘See here, “pile in”, like “pylon”? The next envelope was taped to a pylon underneath the boardwalk.’

Andy frowned so hard it hurt. Dylan pulled out another yellow envelope. Same green rectangle, another rhyming riddle printed in white letters with black borders.

‘“High up above the smog and cars, is the best place in Hollywood to see the stars”.’ he read. ‘“Rest your feet and take a seat!” Thirty-four point one one eight six degrees north …’

Andy couldn’t get his head around any of this. But what he was hearing still made him feel sick to the stomach.

‘“People gather from all around in the dead centre of town. You won’t waste hours if you check the flowers”,’ Dylan read from another green rectangle before rattling off more coordinates.

Andy let out a groan. Now he understood. Those were riddles pointing to Griffith Observatory and Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

He shook his head. ‘Dad, Bald Guy and Beard Dude must’ve put these green paper clues in after they took the money out. You know, to use as a cover story!’

Dylan clicked his fingers. ‘That’s it! Detective Freeman, that has to be what happened.’

Frank shook his head. ‘These men have been Geo-Finders for years. I’ve spent half the day checking their stories. You couldn’t have picked two more upstanding citizens to accuse of intimidation and extortion. Larry Baker, your “Beard Dude”, teaches English at Beverly Hills High. Tony Jackson, “Bald Guy”, is the reverend at St Mark’s in Inglewood.’

The boys swapped mortified looks. They had accused a teacher and a pastor in a Scoop story already seen by one million people? This was a disaster! And Felix Scott himself had endorsed the story in a tweet.

Frank slid another piece of paper out from the folder. The boys forced themselves to look at it. It was a police incident report from officers who attended a call at Hollywood Forever Cemetery the previous evening.

‘Larry and Tony’s story checks out. They phoned us to report vandals.’

‘Vandals?’ Andy gulped.

‘Apparently you boys smashed a statue at the cemetery.

That wasn’t in your Scoop video, was it?’

‘No, no,’ Dylan said, shaking his head. ‘But it was an accident.’

Frank frowned. ‘You did run off, though?’

‘Because they chased us!’ Andy said. ‘We thought they knew we had busted them!

‘I don’t understand,’ he continued, rubbing his jaw. ‘Ethan told me he was being threatened. That he had to drop the money at the Griffith Observatory. Dad, you’ve seen the video!’

Frank slid a photo from the folder. It was a still from the Scoop video, showing Ethan, with his mop of red hair and nerd glasses. ‘That could be a wig and those spectacles could be fake,’ he said. ‘We have no idea what he really looks like, do we? This guy, without a surname, whose phone is disconnected.’

Andy fumed. His dad was right. He’d been so eager to believe that he hadn’t for a moment questioned whether Ethan was for real.

With a nod, Andy pulled out his wallet and fanned out a few ten-dollar bills. Their green colour, white lettering and black edging were similar to the envelope clues.

‘From a distance, it looked like Bald Guy and Beard Dude were retrieving cash,’ Andy said. ‘Ethan must have switched the envelopes—no wonder he didn’t want me to open it!’

Dylan nodded. ‘Mate, I reckon you and I were—’

‘Set up,’ Andy finished.

Andy’s shoulders slumped. Dylan blew a frustrated breath at the ceiling.

Frank rubbed his whiskery cheek. ‘You’ve made some enemies with Scoop, son, and what better way to discredit you than by getting you to fall for a hoax?’

Andy had to admit that was possible. ‘So what now? Are you really going to arrest us both?’

Frank held up a finger. ‘I didn’t say I was arresting you. I said I’d have to arrest you if you don’t do exactly as I say.’

The boys saw a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

‘So,’ Andy ventured, ‘what do we have to do?’

Frank cracked his knuckles, stared from his son to Dylan and then back to Andy. ‘Boys,’ he said, ‘you’re not going to like this one bit.’