After tea Wren got out of washing dishes again, and bagged first bath, before taking himself off to bed for yet another early night. Air Cadets ran regular first aid courses, so Rhyllann knew that knitting bones did leach energy, though he felt Wren could make more of an effort to entertain their hostess. Dealing with the elderly was more Wren's style than Rhyllann's; he usually had a supply of never ending questions to ask the old folk.
Surfing the net was joyless with aunt Dottie looking over his shoulder, You Tube “Jackass” clips were definitely out. Several times during the evening Rhyllann thought the clock had stopped. By the time he climbed into bed, he felt exhausted with boredom. But he couldn’t sleep for fidgeting. Niggling away at the corners of his mind, was the thought of Wren’s notebook. Why hadn’t the little geek just handed it over to Mikey Stern? Although Wren loved complications. Unless he’d planned the whole charade purely to add weight to the false trail – but then …that would have meant deliberately involving gran, not to mention … Rhyllann's mind shied away, back to Stern junior and his friends. He should have told Crombie. Too late now. Crombie might even decide he’d deliberately kept quiet, and lock him up again. Rhyllann snorted; wondering how Crombie had ever made detective. Probably just barged his way into an executive office one day and refused to move.
Rhyllann’s imagination created a Neanderthal copper who solved crimes by using his primitive senses and slugging bad guys with an oversized club. At home he kept an unruly pet mammoth, which was forever annoying the neighbours. Feeling himself drifting off to sleep, he reminded himself one last time to get the truth from Wren. Tomorrow.
The small voice piped up again. Asking why Wren hadn’t just handed over his notebook with the false trail.
‘Shut up.’ He murmured. ‘How should I know?’ Anyhow, what did it matter now? They were in this together. Him and Geek Features against the world.
If Rhyllann had known the real reason for Crombie’s visit and extra patrols and police vigilance centred around Auntie Dottie’s house, he might not have been so blasé about taking on the world.