The Dyslexic Detective

Chapter 14

At first, hyped up and out of control, I ran really fast. I burned down the lane and into the housing estate. Then I used the alleys to zig-zag through the estate at a slower pace. When I was about to emerge onto the road, I ducked behind a row of garages and stopped.

I needed to get to the Community Centre before it got dark. That was on the other side of town, perhaps three miles away. My dad, and possibly the police, would be out looking for me. So I didn't want to walk along the pavement. I couldn't risk standing at a bus stop either. There was no option but to pick my way carefully using back streets and waste ground.

Looking back, I can't believe I did what I did. I should have stayed, pleaded my innocence and tried to persuade my dad to take me to the Centre. We could have looked for the vital clue together. Now it really did look as if I were guilty. My parents would be bitterly disappointed in me and desperate with worry. Still, I was pretty sure I'd figured out what Jack kept hidden in the pendant. To find it would be my revenge.

It took me nearly two hours to reach the Community Centre. When I got there, the light was already fading. My luck wasn't in either. There was some event going on and the car park was full. That meant I couldn't carry out my search straight away. I'd be very conspicuous if I did. A teenage boy alone at that time of day without a coat and sneaking around parked cars would have attracted attention. So I waited, crouching behind the low wall, keeping an eye out for police cars and my dad's taxi.

After half an hour or so, people started emerging from the Centre. They got into their cars and drove off. By then I was cold and hungry. Also I'd begun to lose confidence in finding what I was looking for. It was something small, dropped over a week ago.

A police car came down the road and I ducked down. It cruised passed slowly. The policeman in the passenger seat was scanning the pavement rather than watching the traffic. I was certain he was looking for me. I made sure the patrol car was long gone before I broke cover and started searching the car park.

I searched systematically, starting near the outer wall. I walked slowly up, scanning the tarmac, turned, stepped sideways a metre and walked slowly down. Sometimes I had to get on my belly to look underneath a car.

There wasn't much to see: a few cigarette butts, some chewing gum wrappers, discarded receipt slips from the bar, a five pence piece. I had the dreadful thought that perhaps the car park has been swept since last week. Only at the very end, when I was searching the along the wall of the Centre itself, did I see what I was looking for. A very small memory stick. A memory stick which, if my deductions were correct, contained video footage of the SlamFunk Crew in action.

A door opened and two people walked out of the Centre. I put the stick in my pocket and darted back over the wall. I wished I'd taken my coat when I ran out of the school. I should have remembered to grab my mobile at least.

I crept home under cover of darkness, keeping to shortcuts and alleyways on the edge of town. At every corner I paused to check the way ahead. When I had to go down a street, I slunk along the dark side like a fox. Constant detours meant progress was slow but I was taking no chances. By now Jack would be out of school and looking for me.

As I walked, words, phrases, whole speeches flowed through my mind. If I was right about what I had in my pocket, Jack was finished. No one would believe a word he said. In the time it took to watch a couple of short clips of film, I'd go from being the accused to being a hero.

About half a mile from home I caught sight of a figure at the far end of a street. It was a guy in a hoodie sitting on a bike. There was something about him I didn't like. He was positioned too deliberately and sitting too still. Only the tip of his front wheel emerged into the streetlamp's circle of light.