Speak No Evil

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

COCKROACHES MUST HAVE EXCELLENT hearing ability, Paul thought. Despite the fact that he was encased in leather and practically buried under a lot of stuff, he’d understood everything that went on outside Amanda’s bag.

It had been easy for Paul to get into Amanda’s handbag. She’d put it on the floor next to her chair in Dr Paley’s office, and it had a drawstring fastening. Paul didn’t have any problem crawling in, and no one saw him. But now he had to make a fast decision. Remain in Amanda’s handbag, wedged between her make-up bag and her wallet? Or figure out a way to leave with Ken?

Amanda would be going back to school, and Paul was tempted to go along with her. He missed Madame, he wanted to see his classmates, to find out what they’d been up to. And to hear what they might say about him. Had they forgiven him, like Dr Paley said they would?

On the other hand, Ken was heading for police headquarters, where he’d be questioned about the bomb. And that could be very exciting.

Who should he choose? Who was more interesting? He could feel the bag moving. Amanda was about to get out of the police car. He quickly climbed out of her bag and dropped out. Then he scrambled across the back seat and climbed into the pocket of Ken’s jacket. Luckily, everyone was too distracted by what was going on to see the bug make his journey.

In the darkness of the pocket Paul couldn’t see anything, but he heard Jack the cop return to the car and start up the engine. There wasn’t much else to hear though. Jack didn’t say anything, and Ken was silent too. He was probably trying to come up with a way to explain how he knew about the bomb.

Paul recalled all those times in class when Ken said he thought his gift was worthless. He’d told Dr Paley that he didn’t get any pleasure from his gift. But he’d just saved the lives of a lot of people. Surely he must be feeling something, Paul thought.

He heard the car stop and the doors opening, and he felt Ken move. Then he heard the buzz of many conversations, phones ringing, people moving around. They must be in the police headquarters.

‘We’ll go into my office,’ Jack said.

He heard a door close, and then it was quiet.

‘Sit down, Ken,’ the police officer said. ‘Now, tell me what happened back there.’

‘I didn’t have anything to do with that bomb,’ Ken said.

‘But you knew where it was,’ Jack declared.

‘Yes. Well, no. I mean, I just sort of guessed.’

‘That’s not true, Ken. You were very precise about the location.’

Ken said nothing. Paul heard the rustle of papers, and then Jack spoke again.

‘Did you know this Mr Patterson? Arnold Patterson?’

‘Is that the man who jumped out of the building?’ Ken asked.

‘Yes. Isn’t the name familiar to you?’

‘No.’

‘You don’t know him?’

‘No. Well, not exactly.’

‘Explain what you mean, Ken.’ The police officer’s tone wasn’t harsh, but it was clear that he was determined to get an answer.

For a few seconds, Ken was silent. Then he let out a long sigh. ‘I never actually met him. But. . he spoke to me.’

‘When?’

‘Today.’

‘He called you on the phone before he jumped out of the building?’

‘No. Not on the phone. And not before he jumped.’

Now Jack sounded exasperated. ‘Ken, you’re not making any sense.’

‘I heard him. After he jumped.’

‘I don’t understand. You weren’t anywhere near Patterson. And according to the investigator, he died on impact. He couldn’t have spoken to you after he jumped.’

‘He did,’ Ken said stubbornly.

‘Ken, tell me the truth!’

‘What’s the point?’ Ken cried out. ‘You won’t believe me.’

‘Try me,’ Jack said quietly.

There was a pause, and then Ken spoke in a dull, flat voice. ‘I hear dead people.’

‘What?’

‘Dead people talk to me.’

There was another pause. ‘I think you can come up with a better story than that, Ken.’

‘It’s true, I swear it!’

‘How does that happen, Ken?’

‘I’m not sure. I just hear them, in my head.’

‘So. . this wasn’t the first time?’

‘It started in September,’ Ken said. ‘I was on the football field, and I ran into my best friend. His name was Jack too. Jack Farrell.’

‘Go on.’

‘We were both knocked out. I recovered. Jack died.’

The pocket where Paul was resting must have been close to Jack’s heart. He could hear it beating faster.

‘After he died, Jack started talking to me.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He said he didn’t blame me for the accident. He asked me to look out for his girlfriend. He still talks to me once in a while. Mostly, he just wants to know what’s happening at school, what his pals are up to, that kind of thing. But then other dead people started talking to me too.’

‘What do they say to you?’

‘Sometimes they ask me for a favour. Mostly, they just want to talk.’

‘I see,’ Jack said.

‘You think I’m nuts, don’t you?’ Ken asked. ‘I’m not. But I don’t like hearing these voices. That’s what I was talking to Dr Paley about at Harmony House. He might be able to help me.’

‘So this is what that gifted class is all about,’ Jack remarked.

‘You know about the class?’

‘I knew Jenna was in it, and I suspected there was something unusual about her. What about your friend Amanda? Does she have a gift too?’

‘I’m not supposed to talk about it,’ Ken said.

‘That’s OK, you don’t have to tell me what their gifts are,’ Jack told him. ‘Everything’s starting to make sense now. This Patterson guy, he had regrets about leaving the bomb behind, so he told you where it could be found.’

‘Exactly,’ Ken said. ‘You really believe me? You understand?’

‘I won’t say I understand,’ Jack said carefully, ‘but there’s a lot in this world that can’t be explained. I try to keep an open mind. Yes, I believe you, Ken. That’s quite a gift you have.’

‘I don’t like it,’ Ken blurted out. ‘It’s creepy. Doctor Paley says maybe he can help me lose it.’

‘Well, it was certainly useful in this case,’ Jack remarked. ‘Of course, I’ll have to come up with some sort of explanation for my fellow officers. They might not be quite so willing to believe in gifts like this.’

‘Maybe you could say I found a note that Mr Patterson left behind,’ Ken suggested.

‘Mm, that’s not a bad idea. All right, Ken, you can go now. I’ll have an officer take you back to school.’

Paul was pleased. Now he’d be able to see what was going on in the gifted class too. On the way to Meadowbrook, he pondered what he’d learned that day.

Ken was a hero, he thought. He used his gift, and he told the police where to find the bomb. Without Ken’s help, the bomb might never have been found. It could have exploded and killed who knew how many people?

Amanda had been a hero too. Paul had heard the story she told Dr Paley in the office, about the hitchhiker. He’d heard everything else they talked about too. Ken and Amanda. . They had powerful gifts! Why did they want to lose them? He just didn’t understand.

When they got back to Meadowbrook, Ken went to the administrative office to explain his absence. He was told to wait, and Paul worried that he wouldn’t get to attend the gifted class after all.

‘Amanda! What are you doing here?’

‘I just wanted to see if you were back. What happened?’

There was another voice. ‘You may come in now, Ken. Amanda, what are you doing here?’

‘Uh, just — uh, nothing.’

‘Then get right back to class.’ Then there was a gasp. ‘What’s that?’

‘What’s what?’ Amanda asked.

‘I thought I saw a bug. It’s gone now. Come in, Ken.’

Back in Amanda’s handbag, Paul found a comfortable spot in an open packet of tissues. There wasn’t much to listen to as Amanda went to her usual classes. She talked to her friends, but she didn’t even mention the events of the morning. She couldn’t, of course. Paul remembered how many times Madame told the class they shouldn’t talk about their gifts to people who wouldn’t understand. It gave him a thrill to think that this advice now applied to him too.

But Amanda’s conversations were so boring. He had to listen to her talk about some dumb TV show she had watched the night before, a sale at a shoe shop, someone’s new handbag that was only a replica of a famous designer bag. And in the canteen, she made a huge fuss over chipping a fingernail. None of this made any sense to him at all.

He was getting hungry. He poked around through the contents of Amanda’s bag, and saw that most of the things weren’t any more interesting than her conversations. He got a little case of lipgloss open with his nose. It smelt like raspberries, but when he licked the gooey pink stuff, it wasn’t very tasty. A small bottle of scent smelt nice, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get the top off, and the liquid inside would probably taste disgusting.

He lucked out when he found a granola bar. Working on the paper for some time, he finally managed to make a tiny tear in the wrapper. Amanda wouldn’t be too happy when she took out her bar and found it had been nibbled by a bug, but he couldn’t help himself. After satisfying his hunger, he curled up in a silky scarf and went to sleep.

He woke up at the perfect time. Through the handbag, he heard another familiar voice.

‘Good afternoon, class. Where’s Ken?’

He heard Amanda speak. ‘He’s in the office, Madame. You won’t believe what happened to us!’

Paul listened to Amanda tell the story of the man who committed suicide and the bomb he left behind.

‘Oh my,’ Madame murmured. ‘How did Ken explain to the police why he knew where the bomb was?’

‘I don’t know,’ Amanda replied.

‘And what were you and Ken doing there?’

Uh-oh, Paul thought. She can’t tell Madame they were consulting Dr Paley. He needed to help her out, provide a distraction. And he knew exactly how he could do it.

He crept out of her bag and started crawling up her leg. As he expected, Amanda let out an ear-piercing shriek and leaped out of her chair. Paul dropped to the floor and scurried away before Amanda could step on him.

‘It’s a cockroach! There are cockroaches in my bag!’

Somebody picked up a book and threw it at him. Paul dodged it and frantically searched the floorboards for a hole to crawl into. Then it dawned on him that here was the perfect opportunity to introduce his gift to the class. He shifted back to his human form.

‘Carter!’ Madame gasped. The rest of the class stared at him in stunned silence. The unfamiliar attention unnerved him, and it took a lot of effort to formulate any words. They came out as ‘I haff uh giff’, but he was pretty sure they got the meaning.

Madame gazed at him in wonderment. ‘So I see,’ she said.

There was a short rap on the classroom door, and then the door opened. Dr Paley walked in.

‘Excuse me for interrupting your class, Madame,’ he said. ‘Ah, Paul. I thought I might find you here.’

Madame’s eyes darted back and forth between the boy and the doctor. ‘Paul?’

‘That’s his real name, the name he was given at birth,’ Dr Paley said. ‘We’re not sure about his surname, so we’re calling him Paul Carter.’

‘Paul Carter,’ Madame repeated. ‘Well. We’re pleased to have you back here, Paul.’

‘I’m afraid he can’t stay,’ Dr Paley said. ‘As you can see, Paul has made a lot of progress. He’s recovered his memory, and he’s beginning to speak.’

‘And he has a gift,’ Madame added.

‘Yes, Paul is a shape-shifter. But he still requires some counselling and therapy before he can be released from Harmony House. You’ll have to come along with me, Paul’

Paul looked at Madame beseechingly, and Madame smiled but shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, Paul. We’re all very excited about this, and we look forward to having you back, but you’ll have to leave with Doctor Paley now.’

Paul understood. As he walked to the door with the doctor, he looked at his classmates. Tracey and Emily smiled at him. Most of the others were looking at him in a friendly way too. Only Jenna was frowning.

And Amanda, who had emptied the contents of her handbag on her desk, was clearly upset. ‘He nibbled at my granola bar, Madame! That’s gross!’