Read The Further Adventures of Jack Lime Online

Authors: James Leck

Tags: #Children's Fiction

The Further Adventures of Jack Lime (14 page)

Thursday, October 31,12:06 p.m.
Iona High, The Cafeteria

I finally tracked down Mariam Singh in the cafeteria during lunch. The place was swarming with kids dressed in their finest Halloween costumes, and she was standing near the back of the room handing a card to someone dressed up as a long-haired hippie. I waited for the hippie to leave and then made my move.

“Can you guess who I am, Jack?” she asked, when I stepped up to her.

She was wearing a blue dress with a white top, blue ankle socks, ruby red shoes and carrying a picnic basket that had a small black stuffed dog hanging over the edge. Under the dog the basket was filled with black envelopes.

“The Tin Man?”

“Jack!”

“The Cowardly Lion?”

“Some detective you are,” she said. “I'm Dorothy, and my little friend here is Toto,” she added, giving the stuffed dog a little scratch under his stuffed chin. “Mr. Snit wouldn't let me bring a real dog.”

“I've got a question for you —” I started, but she held up her hand to stop me.

“First things first, Jack. I've got a card for you. It's from a secret admirer.”

She rooted around in her basket and pulled out an envelope with my name scrawled across the front in white ink.

“Trick or treat!” she said, handing over the card. “And don't forget, you could send one, too. It only costs two dollars and all the proceeds go to a good cause!”

“I'll think about it,” I said, “but first I need to know who had the table next to the light switches at Comic-Con yesterday.”

“Gee, I don't know,” she said. “I'd have to check the Student Council records.”

“Where are those?” I asked. “Can you check now?”

“Sorry, Jack,” she said, smiling, “but I have to give out the rest of these cards first.”

Before I had a chance to say anything else, she skipped away, leaving me there holding my silly Halloween card.

I couldn't do anything without seeing those records, so I decided to grab something to eat. While I waited in line, I ripped open the envelope she'd handed me and took out the card. A smiling jack-o'-lantern was on the front underneath the words “Trick or Treat!” On the inside, a witch was flying on a broom in front of a crescent moon. One word had been written under the witch in large red letters — “HELP!” There was a key taped to the card under that urgent message. It had an orange plastic handle with the numbers 333 printed on one side and the letters ITS on the other. Everyone in town knew that ITS stood for Iona Train Station, and the 333 would've been the number of a locker you could rent for a quarter. I tucked the key in my pocket, cut out of line and went after Mariam. She was talking to someone dressed up like Frankenstein.

“Who sent me this card?” I asked, waving it in front of her.

“I don't know, Jack,” she said. “It's anonymous. And don't forget,” she added, before hustling away again, “you can send one, too! It only costs two dollars and it's for a good cause!”

That key didn't have anything to do with a good cause, and a little part of me wanted to toss it in the nearest garbage can and forget about the whole thing. But I'm a PI and I wouldn't be able to look at my handsome mug in the mirror if someone landed in a heap of trouble because I ignored a cry for help. Long story short, I decided to forget about lunch and Tyler's comic for a little while. Instead I headed down to the train station to find out what was behind door number 333.

Thursday, October 31, 12:31 p.m.
The Train Station, Locker 333

I walked into the train station, stopped and cased the joint. Other than a few men and women milling around, looking at cell phones and waiting for the next train, the place was empty. I headed for the lockers, stopped ten feet in front of them and looked around again. Something wasn't right. My gut was telling me to forget about the key and hustle back to school. I scanned the room one more time, slowly, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Everything looked absolutely hunky-dory, completely copacetic. I figured I was just being overly paranoid, so I pulled the key out of my pocket, stepped over to locker 333 and slipped it into the lock. All my highly tuned gumshoe instincts were screaming at me to make a run for it, but I ignored them and opened the locker. There was a large manila envelope sitting inside. I pulled it out and turned it over. There was nothing written on either side. So I ripped the top open, reached inside and pulled out a comic book, a Captain Marvel #146. The next thing I knew, Tyler was snatching the comic out of my hand and Sebastian Cain was sticking a camcorder in my face.

“Caught you red-handed, Lime!” Cain exclaimed.

“No wonder you couldn't find it,” Tyler barked. “You stole it!”

“Have you gone nutty, Tyler?” I said. “Why would I want to steal your comic?”

“I'll tell you why,” Cain said, still aiming the camcorder at me. “To drum up business for your detective agency!”

“That's crazy!” I said.

“Is it?” Cain smirked. “You know what I think is crazy? Some loser from Los Angeles, who can't help falling asleep, pretending to be a detective. There's only one hitch, though. What happens when there are no more mysteries to solve? I'll tell you what — you start committing the crimes yourself. Then you solve them and everyone thinks you're the hero.”

“You're not buying this hogwash, are you, Tyler?” I said, ignoring Cain.

“There's nothing to buy, Limey,” Cain added. “I bumped into Tyler last night walking down Main Street, and he told me you dropped his case. I smelled a rat, so I offered my own investigative services. And I don't charge my clients favors. I do this for free, because there's nothing better than taking down the bad guys at Iona High, is there?”

“Nice try, Cain,” I started, “but I couldn't have stolen Tyler's comic, and I have an airtight alibi to prove it.”

“Oh yeah? What's your excuse?”

“I was here,” I said, “on a case.”

“Sure,” Cain said, “and who were you working for, Santa Claus? The Tooth Fairy?”

“A kid named Jake Clam,” I said. “No, wait, Jake Clum … no, no, Jake Clim. Jake Clim, that's it.”

“Are you sure that's it?” Cain said with a chuckle. “Because it kind of sounds made up to me. What do you think, Tyler?”

“Yeah,” Tyler rumbled, grabbing me by the collar, “it sounds real made up.”

“Plus,” I added, “stealing that comic was a two-man job.”

“Huh?” Tyler said.

“Listen to me, Tyler,” I said, “there's no way one person could've turned out the lights, grabbed your comic and made it back to the doors in ten seconds. Somebody else had to be working the lights.”

“That's not proof you didn't do it!” Cain said, lowering the camcorder.

“But it's a fact,” I said to Tyler. “You solve a mystery with facts, and as soon as I find out who had the table next to the light switches in the gym, I'll be one step closer to finding out who did this to you.”

“I already solved the mystery, Lime! Tyler has his comic book back. Now you're just playing mind games with us,” Cain said, turning the camcorder off. “I told you he'd try to lie his way out of this.”

“I'm going to smash you, Lime!” Tyler growled.

“Fine, forget about the lights for now,” I said. “I wouldn't want you guys to hurt your brains thinking too hard, but I can show you Jake Clim. He'll vouch for me and that won't strain your IQ at all.”

“We'll give you until the end of the day, Lime,” Cain said, smirking. “You bring your little friend Jake to the front of the school by three-thirty or Tyler here is going to bust you up real good. You got that?”

“I want to bust him up right now,” Tyler snarled.

“Trust me, it'll be more fun later, with a crowd watching,” Cain said.

“You got till three-thirty, punchy,” Tyler said, letting me go and following Cain toward the doors.

“You can thank me for finding your lousy comic some other time, Tyler!” I yelled.

Tyler stopped and turned with a crazy look in his eyes. I thought he was going to charge at me, but Cain whispered something in his ear and they both ended up laughing their way out of the train station. That was fine by me. I had other things to worry about. I needed to track down Jake Clim, and I had to do it quick, fast, in a hurry.

Thursday, October 31, 12:51 p.m.
2 Pluto Court, Iona High

I booked it back to school and ran around asking anyone and everyone if they knew a kid named Jake Clim. Nobody'd ever heard of him, and I was heading for the office to ask Van Kramp to look him up in the official database when Max Thorn stepped in front of me.

“Whoa there, Sarge, you look like a man in trouble.”

“You ever heard of a kid by the name of Jake Clim? Small, blond, blue eyes.”

“Negative on that, Lime,” he said.

“Well, I need you to track him down, Max.”

“You came to the right person for a manhunt,” Max said, rubbing his hands together. “If there's a Jake Clim in this building, Sarge, I'll bring him to you, even if it means getting a little rough.”

“I don't think you'll need to bother with the rough stuff, Max. He's too scrawny to put up much of a fight.”

“Just the same,” Max said, giving me his best salute, “I'm ready to do whatever it takes.”

“If you find him, bring me the intel ASAP, got it?”

“Affirmative.”

“And, Max, I need him by three-thirty or there's going to be trouble in paradise.”

Max nodded and shot off down the hall while I made a beeline for the main office.

Van Kramp wasn't sitting behind his desk when I got there, so I marched down to see Snit. The door was open, and Snit and Van Kramp were standing behind his desk staring at one of two computer monitors.

“Excuse me,” I said, standing in the doorway, “I'm looking for a student named Jake Clim.”

“Go, Jack,” Snit said, waving me out without looking away from one of the monitors. There was a low mumbling buzz coming out of it, like a hundred people all speaking at once.

“Do you know a student named Jake Clim?” I said. “I found a binder that belongs to him and I'd like to return it.”

“Go, Jack!” Snit said, looking up from the monitor. “Go!”

That's when the bell rang.

“Please, I'm looking for Jake Clim. I want to return his binder. Do you know him?”

“Leave it on my desk,” Van Kramp said. “I'll deal with it later.”

“I'd like to give it back to him myself,” I said.

“Jack,” Snit said, looking back at the monitor, “I'm going to count to three. If you're not gone by the time I finish, I'm going to lock you in the suspension room for the afternoon.”

“Thanks for your help,” I grumbled as I walked away. I couldn't risk being locked under glass for the afternoon, not with Jake Clim out there somewhere, so I headed for class and tried to think of my next move.

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