JANEY’S FIRST THOUGHT on waking is to see Mimi Bella, but Ally tells her that Micky and Bella have already gone to the police station to report the loss.
She heads next door instead, and finds that the other kids are already up. As they sit round the kitchen table eating breakfast they try to reconstruct what happened the previous night. Tich is sure she had the pendant round her neck when she got up to dance. It was when it was all over and Mimi was packing up her folding chair that she asked for it back — and it wasn’t there any more. Her voice is getting shaky and the others give up their questioning.
Mary gives Tich a hug. ‘There’s no point hanging around here with long faces,’ she tells the kids. ‘You’re going to run out of holidays soon. Why don’t you go crabbing like you said. I’ll cook them up as a treat for Mimi.’
The kids’ plan, before last night’s disaster, had been to ride down to the shack and have another go at the new song, and then head over to the mudflats when the tide was low enough to hunt for crabs. But Janey reckons that first they should go and search the Bay View again; they might have better luck in daylight.
At the hotel the door that leads out to the garden bar is locked. Luckily Jimmy spots Gus, the yardman with the dangling dreadlocks. Jimmy signs for Gus to open the door and all five of them burst through into the outside area. Gus holds up his hands. ‘Hey mon, slow down. I’m not supposed to let anyone out here.’
Jimmy tells him what they are there for while the others start their search. Gus puts aside his broom to join them. The garden bar is still littered with cans and other debris, and the chairs and tables are all over the place.
They work in pairs, full of hope at first. By the time Janey and Tich have scoured the flowerbeds though, it is looking grim. Janey kicks at a pile of empty cans and asks Gus, ‘Didn’t Big Al tell you to keep a lookout for it or anything?’
‘Nothin’ Janey.’
‘Dad told him last night. He asked him to tell all the staff, so they’d know whose it was if they found it.’
Gus shrugs. ‘He too busy that mon. He always thinkin’ where he gonna make his next million dollar. He got no time to worry about your poor old mimi.’
As if on cue, a voice booms down from above. ‘What you kids doing here?’
Janey looks up, and there is Big Al, looking down from his balcony. ‘We’re looking for Mimi Bella’s necklace. Has anyone handed it in?’
‘Nup.’
‘We’ve got to find it Bi—’ she stops and corrects herself, ‘— Mr Steer. It’s a family heirloom. Bella’s daddy gave it to her. She’s so upset.’
With Big Al silhouetted above her, Janey can’t see the way his eyes narrow for a moment before he shakes his head with a show of regret. ‘The staff would’ve found it by now if it was here.’
‘But Gus hasn’t cleaned up yet,’ Janey points out.
‘He should’ve,’ Big Al growls. ‘I’ll tell him to keep a look out.’
He puts on a friendly voice to wind things up. ‘It’s tough kids, but I’ve got to tell you, your granny’s seen the last of her necklace I reckon. Most likely thing is one of the crowd’s snaffled it.’
‘Stealed it you mean?’ says Tich, who has been clinging to the idea that the pendant will turn up. If someone has stolen it, she suddenly realises, they are not going to hand it over.
‘I reckon so, littl’un. You better clear off now. I’ve got guests trying to sleep in.’
Once Big Al has disappeared, the kids plead with Gus to be allowed to keep searching, but he reckons he’s in enough trouble already. He ushers them out, promising to keep looking and to spread the word amongst the staff.
As they make their way back to their bikes, Janey tries to comfort Tich, who is sniffing back tears again. ‘He doesn’t care, that Big Al, does he Janey,’ she pouts. ‘He bumped me over while I was dancing last night.’
‘What? Big Al was dancing?’ Janey exclaims in disbelief.
‘No, he was just going to the other side, I think. I dunno.’
The kids freewheel down Kennedy Hill, and head across to Mango Jack’s, searching their pockets to see if they have enough change for an ice cream before they head home.
Jimmy almost bumps into Kim coming out of the shop. Kim is in the same class as Jimmy and Janey at school, and fancies herself as a singer. She smiles, ‘Great gig last night Jimmy. Hey, you going in the talent quest — you’re cool on guitar.’
Janey brushes past but turns in the doorway of the shop, posing as she mimes behind Kim’s back, ‘You’re so cool on guitar.’ She disappears inside, leaving Jimmy unsure whether she was mocking Kim or teasing him. He smiles at Kim, tongue-tied.
‘What talent contest?’ asks Dancer.
‘Tomorrow afternoon, at Goolarri Radio,’ she tells him. ‘The winner gets played on air! It’ll be the last bit of fun before we go back to school on Tuesday.’
Kim is about to tell them more when Michael barges out of the shop. He snaps at Kim, ‘What are you wasting your time with that mob for?’
Before Kim can say anything, Janey has reappeared. ‘Who says she’s with us! If she’s dumb enough to hang out with you Jawbone, we don’t want her round.’
Buddy has been riding in circles, watching, waiting. He swerves just enough for his bike to clip Michael on the way. Michael starts in Buddy’s direction with clenched fists but Dancer steps into his path. The pair begin to push each other and it looks as if the previous night’s hostilities are about to resume when a car horn honks.
Georgie’s car is in the parking bay. The window slides down and Georgie leans out. ‘Come on Michael, I won’t have you fighting in the street.’ He gives the Jirroo kids a stare. ‘Some of us know better than that. I saw what you did, Buddy Jirroo.’
Michael jumps into the car, raising a finger at Dancer, Buddy and Janey before the window slides up. All three raise fingers back.
Janey turns on Kim. ‘Well? Are you hanging out with that jerk? Sure looked like it when I walked in.’
Kim looks down, daunted by Janey’s aggression. She mutters, ‘That’s my business.’
‘Huh,’ Janey snorts.
As they ride home Jimmy is fired up with the idea of going in the talent quest. He reckons they could win it with their tune if they work on the ending.
‘It’s just a tune Jimmy,’ is Janey’s cool response. ‘We haven’t got any lyrics for it yet.’
But he wants to do it as an instrumental, wants to go and practise. He is excited at the thought of getting played on Goolarri.
‘Some stupid talent quest isn’t what music making’s about. You should know that,’ Janey tells him. ‘Anyway, I thought we agreed to keep the band idea a secret until we get our act together. You can forget about that if we go in.’
Jimmy can’t work out why Janey is being so cranky, but he knows from experience that tackling her head-on is not likely to get anywhere.
‘Okay, okay,’ he says. ‘But let’s get down to the shack hey, like we planned, and have another practice. Then we can see what everyone reckons.’
‘All right,’ Janey agrees. ‘But don’t expect me to change my mind. And I’m going home first to see if they found out anything at the cop shop.’
Then Buddy throws another spanner in. He reckons he’s not doing any drumming until after they’ve gone crabbing. Jimmy groans. But he can’t defeat Buddy’s argument: the instruments will still be there later on, but the crabs won’t if they miss the tide.