While they were eating they talked about Baker, his work, his recruitment and how he had been the only kid to actually make the grade, the only one to become a fully qualified Larva junior agent.
‘As I guess you already know,’ said SJ, turning to Ruby, ‘Baker was taken on a few years before the JSRP was set up. He was such a bright kid, and a good kid – by which I mean he had a sense of responsibility, strong moral compass, that sort of thing – basically an all-round nice person.’
‘Yep, he was one in a million you might say,’ agreed Blacker, reaching for a serviette and dabbing at a splash of soy sauce which was never going to come off his shirt. ‘But I think his brilliance sorta clouded Spectrum’s judgment, made them think it would be easy enough to find a whole troupe of children who could do just what he did.’
‘But they only abandoned the Larvae Programme when Casey Morgan went rogue?’ said Ruby. ‘Morgan was just one rotten apple, right?’
‘As I understand it, the cracks were beginning to show before that,’ said Blacker, reaching for the Singapore noodles. ‘I read that there were a lot of senior Spectrum staff who thought bringing kids into this business was a crazy idea, and when LB joined a few years on she absolutely refused to even consider hiring junior recruits.’
Yet, I’m here, thought Ruby, but what she said was, ‘OK, so what I don’t get is, what happened to these junior recruits once they stopped being junior recruits. I mean they were trained up as agents and space recruits and then they were returned to normal life. Wasn’t Spectrum worried they might blab?’ she asked.
SJ put down her chopsticks and took a gulp of water. ‘OK, so after the whole Casey Morgan incident, Spectrum realised the whole thing was a very bad idea. They disbanded the programme immediately, but before they sent the kids home, all memories relating to the JSRP were extracted and replaced with benign childhood memories; only then were the boys sent home to mommy and daddy, no harm done.’
‘Specific Memory Extraction?’ said Ruby.
‘That’s right,’ said SJ, ‘SME.’
‘But Baker didn’t undergo the SME?’ said Ruby.
‘No,’ said SJ, ‘because there was no need – Bradley was the only child recruit Spectrum retained from the training programme. He was older than the other boys and had been Larva for a number of years.’
‘And Morgan?’ asked Ruby.
‘Now here’s the thing: Casey Morgan ran,’ said SJ.
‘And Spectrum never caught up with him?’ asked Ruby. ‘I mean never?’
‘According to records he just seemed to disappear without a trace,’ said Blacker.
‘But how is that possible?’ asked Ruby.
‘Pinkerton had a theory on that,’ said SJ. ‘Most in HQ thought it was a little far-fetched, a little paranoid.’
‘Why?’ asked Ruby.
‘He was sure Morgan had sought out the Count, had become one of his apprentices,’ said SJ. ‘He was sure Morgan had completely reinvented himself – if this were true it would mean his own mother wouldn’t recognise him, not even if she shook him by the hand.’
‘And what do you think?’ asked Ruby.
SJ looked first at Blacker and then back at Ruby. ‘I’m beginning to come round to his point of view,’ she said.
‘So why did the professor quit working for Spectrum?’ asked Ruby.
‘There was a falling-out,’ explained SJ. ‘Pinkerton wanted SME used as a cure, that was the point for him. His vision was to research how harmful memories might be isolated and removed, so freeing victims of the trauma of crippling memories. He disagreed with Spectrum using SME on the kids – the youngest ones were ten – and he began to be troubled by the idea his pioneering work might be used unethically. Pinkerton thought this was like dipping a toe into something dangerous, he began to wonder what might happen if SME got into the wrong hands.’
‘So did he destroy his work?’ asked Ruby.
‘He told me that he hid it,’ said SJ. ‘He split the formula into two parts, one piece he gave to Baker and the other –’ she shrugged – ‘he never told me.’
‘Effectively, he stole the SME code,’ said Blacker.
‘Stole it?’ said Ruby. ‘But how could he steal it? He developed it after all.’
‘Technically, he developed it with Spectrum resources when he was on the Spectrum payroll, so it belonged to Spectrum,’ said SJ.
‘So you thought what Pinkerton did was wrong?’ asked Ruby.
‘Morally I am in agreement with him. I think Spectrum’s use of SME was questionable,’ said SJ. ‘But, however you want to look at it, Pinkerton did remove something that did not belong to him.’
This discussion over, Ruby and Blacker cleared the table and SJ went down to check on Baker.
‘One thing I noticed from the files,’ said Ruby. ‘There were no girls recruited as Larvae candidates, not a one.’
‘Old-fashioned times,’ said Blacker. ‘There were no female field agents in the whole of HQ, not until LB arrived and shook things up.’
THE NEXT MORNING Ruby had breakfast with Bradley Baker, chatted about basketball, dogs, record collections, movies, hen of the woods, chicken of the woods, snow sports and breakfast preferences.
‘Of course you gotta have maple syrup, what’s a pancake without it?’ said Bradley.
‘That’s what I spend my life explaining to my mother,’ said Ruby.
‘I’ll have a word with her,’ said Bradley.
It was like a miracle: one week ago Bradley Baker, legendary agent and one-time hero had been dead; today he was alive and well and discussing pancakes in the Redfort family kitchen.
‘So who’s that guy?’ asked Del before Ruby had even had a chance to take her seat on the bus.
‘What guy?’ said Ruby.
‘That guy,’ said Mouse, pointing to the man on the sidewalk outside the Redfort house.
‘Oh, that guy,’ said Ruby.
They watched as Bradley Baker and Bug crossed the road.
‘Is he the new dog-walker?’ asked Mouse.
‘No,’ said Ruby, ‘that’s Hitch’s cousin, Mo, he’s staying with us for a couple of weeks.’
Ruby watched him from the window, turning her head as the bus passed by. He stopped when he reached Mrs Beesman and she saw him help the old lady manoeuvre her heavily laden shopping cart onto the sidewalk. Ruby wasn’t sure, but they actually seemed to be exchanging words. Now that was unusual, super unusual.
‘You have Bradley Baker living in your house?’ whispered Clancy in class. ‘Your actual house?’
‘Yeah,’ said Ruby, her voice hushed, ‘and no one’s to know, at least, no one’s to know his real name. He’s called Mo, not Bradley, OK?’
‘OK, but he’s alive? Bradley Baker’s alive?’ Clancy was flapping excitedly.
‘Would you quit flapping, Clance, he’s meant to be just some old cousin of Hitch’s.’
‘But really?’ said Clancy again. ‘He’s a-l-i-v-e?’
‘Well, yeah, Clance,’ hissed Ruby, ‘he’s not some sorta spectre, if that’s what you’re wondering.’
‘But how?’ said Clancy.
‘I’ll tell you later, but all you gotta know right now is that he’s called Mo Loveday and he’s Hitch’s cousin from Little Mountain Side.’
‘OK,’ said Clancy, ‘got it.’ Pause. ‘So why’s he staying with you?’
‘On account of the fungus poisoning,’ said Ruby.
‘He ate a toadstool? I thought he was some kind of fungus expert?’
‘No, not really!’ said Ruby.
‘He isn’t a fungus expert?’ said Clancy.
‘No, I mean yes! He is a fungus expert but he didn’t eat a toadstool, it’s just something Hitch told my mom to account for him needing to recuperate at our place.’
‘So what kind of toadstool did he not eat?’ asked Clancy.
‘A chicken of the woods,’ said Ruby.
‘But that’s a mushroom,’ said Clancy.
‘When did you g
et to be such an expert?’ asked Ruby.
‘I’ve been reading up on them,’ said Clancy.
‘Well, my mom has decided they are toadstools,’ said Ruby.
‘Oh,’ said Clancy, ‘I got it … I think.’
‘Good, so long as you don’t go around blabbing about Bradley Baker everything should be fine.’
‘What do you mean blab? When do I ever blab?’
‘Never, OK, don’t get your underwear in a bunch.’
‘So what happens next?’ asked Clancy.
‘There’s this whole debriefing thing, you know, to find out what Baker knows, or remembers he knows.’
‘Has he lost his memory?’ asked Clancy.
‘Yeah, but LB thinks there might be a way of restoring it, or at least part of it.’
‘Like with hypnosis?’ asked Clancy.
‘No … I mean well … I don’t actually know,’ said Ruby.
‘Do you think they have this kinda time-machine chair like in that film, you know, where the guy gets transported back into all his different memories?’ suggested Clancy.
‘No, Clance, I don’t,’ said Ruby. ‘Like I said, I don’t know how it works but I’m pretty sure there won’t be some special chair.’
‘So who administers the memory serum?’
‘What memory serum?’ said Ruby. ‘Actually, forget I asked. I have no idea how any of this works but that doesn’t matter because SJ does.’
‘She’s the scientific one?’ asked Clancy.
‘Well, if you’re getting technical then yeah, she’s the scientific one.’
It was after school and Ruby was sitting up in her room reading through notebooks 400–450. She had discovered a lot of interesting things, but nothing that could be considered useful to this case.
There was a knock at the door. ‘Who is it?’ called Ruby.
‘It’s me,’ said Baker.
‘Come in,’ she said. She forgot about the notebooks spread out across the desk.
‘What are they?’ he asked.
She hesitated a second. ‘I make notes,’ she replied. ‘Jot down things that I see – anything really.’
He nodded. ‘Good idea,’ he said, ‘I mean even the mundane can tell a story, right?’
‘Right …’ said Ruby slowly.
He looked at her. ‘Look Ruby, I know I don’t have much in the memory bank but why don’t you try and catch me up to speed on things; who knows,’ he said, tapping his head, ‘something might flicker on in there – worth a try, you think?’
‘Uh huh,’ said Ruby, ‘anything’s worth a try.’
‘So start at the start,’ said Baker. ‘How did this all begin?’
‘With the Jade Buddha of Khotan,’ said Ruby. ‘It was missing for a long time, around a thousand years to be approximate, until it was recently rediscovered encased in a block of ice somewhere north of Alaska.’
‘I read about that,’ said Baker. ‘So who found it?’
‘Enrico Gonzales, the curator of the City Museum,’ said Ruby.
‘He found it by accident or was he looking for it?’
‘An anonymous donor sponsored the search. It took years to find it.’
‘I heard it was quite the artefact, most beautiful thing since sliced bread.’
‘You could say that,’ said Ruby.
‘People do seem to rave about its eyes; gems, aren’t they?’
‘Rubies,’ said Ruby.
‘Almost made me want to drive into the city so I could take a look, and I’m telling you, I never come to the city, not unless I absolutely have to.’
‘Well, you certainly missed something,’ said Ruby. ‘Not just the Buddha, you missed the explosion at the bank and the museum break-in and quite a few wannabe murderers too.’
‘That’s exactly why I avoid coming into Twinford,’ said Baker.
‘Yeah, well, most of the time that doesn’t happen,’ said Ruby.
‘So who was responsible for all this mayhem?’ asked Baker.
‘They call him the Count,’ said Ruby. ‘Real name, Victor von Leyden.’
She went to her desk and took out the movie encyclopedia Frederick Lutz had loaned her.
‘Here,’ she said, ‘this is him.’
Bradley Baker leaned forward in his chair. He looked at the picture for three long minutes before announcing, ‘I know this man. I remember him.’
‘Of all the people to remember,’ said Ruby, ‘you remember him?’
Baker frowned. ‘Yeah, I’m getting that.’ He looked at Ruby. ‘He’s a killer, right?’
‘Killer is a nice word for what he is,’ said Ruby. ‘I believe he tried to murder you one time.’
‘Did he?’
‘He tried,’ said Ruby, ‘but you got away. He’s just not a nice guy. I mean he attempted to bury me in sand once, and paralysed me with jellyfish venom another, and I’ll never forget the giant octopus incident …’
‘I’ll bet not,’ said Baker.
‘What I now know for sure,’ said Ruby, ‘is that that night back at the City Museum wasn’t about stealing the Buddha. I’m not saying that wasn’t a part of it, but there was a bigger prize.’
‘How do you mean?’ said Baker.
‘Well, if it was all about acquiring the Buddha then why would the Count waste time looking into its eyes?’
‘He got distracted, maybe?’ suggested Baker. ‘The myth of the Buddha is something that has perplexed a lot of people down the centuries. What is it they say about that Buddha? Look into its eyes at midnight and double your wisdom and halve your age.’
‘But the thing is, he wasn’t just looking into its eyes,’ said Ruby, ‘he was really looking into its eyes, with a little infrared light thing, and he didn’t just happen to have a little infrared light tool on him, he knew what he was doing here.’
‘OK, so what was he doing?’ asked Baker.
Ruby took a deep breath. ‘OK,’ she said, ‘I think he had been hired, commissioned, instructed, whatever to find something and he was insuring himself against the worst-case scenario that his plan to steal the artefact failed.’
‘In other words, the objective of the whole operation was to read the eyes,’ said Baker. ‘That was the prize?’
‘Yeah,’ said Ruby. ‘The icing on the cake would have been to walk away with the Buddha itself.’
‘So you concluded the Count is working for someone else?’ asked Baker.
‘I know that now, but I didn’t know it at the time,’ said Ruby.
‘What does Hitch think about that?’ asked Baker.
‘That it’s perplexing because the Count has always been independent.’
‘Not an evil genius for hire, you mean?’ said Baker.
‘No,’ said Ruby. ‘Hitch says the Count has always committed crimes purely for the pleasure of it.’ She paused. ‘Well, that and his weakness for souvenirs.’
‘What kind of souvenirs?’
‘You know, priceless treasures like eighth-century Buddhas, eighteenth-century ruby necklaces, twentieth-century invisibility skins,’ explained Ruby. ‘So what I’m thinking is: why is this master villain spending his precious time helping some other villain do their dirty work? He doesn’t need money.’
‘Sounds like someone has something over him,’ said Baker. ‘Either this person is blackmailing him – unlikely in the circumstances – or a lot more likely they have something he wants and the only way to get it is by doing as he’s told.’
‘That’s the conclusion I came to,’ said Ruby. ‘Oh, and there’s one other thing: Homer Pinkerton used to work with the Count, a long time ago when the Count was in the movie business.’
‘Is that so …’ pondered Baker. He was quiet for minute before he looked up and said, ‘So what else you got?’
And so one by one they went through each and every crime, examining every little piece of evidence. Until they had it all written up and spread out on the floor.
THREE HOURS LATER, Ruby was vaguely aware of the ring
on the doorbell and the footsteps on the stairs, but her mind was focused on the task in front of her and she only really came to when she heard Clancy’s voice.
‘Rube, it’s me.’ He stuck his head around the door. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Of course.’
He stepped into the room, being careful not to stand on the arrangement of coloured cards spread out across the floor.
‘I called you about ten million times.’
‘I unplugged the phone.’
He looked around her room at the many telephones.
‘What, all of them?’
‘Yeah, I needed to concentrate.’
‘What are you doing?’ asked Clancy. He was staring down at all the cards, which he now saw were covered in typewritten notes. As he stood looking, so Ruby continued to move them as if trying to find an order to a puzzle that she did not understand.
‘Bradley and I are trying to figure how they connect,’ said Ruby. ‘I’ve been talking him through the events of the past ten months. Boy, is he a quick learner.’
‘I guess he would be,’ said Clancy. ‘So are you getting anywhere?’ he asked.
‘Yes and no,’ said Ruby. ‘You see, there has to be a connection between the Jade Buddha and the truth serum and the cyan scent and the key-tag and the snake lady, but so far we can’t see what it might be.’
‘So what did Bradley say about the key-tag?’
‘That’s one of the many memories that hasn’t drifted back yet,’ said Ruby. ‘But I asked LB about it and she told me the reason she held on to that tag all these years is because it was found not so far from the crash site by one of the clearance crew. Baker’s fingerprints were all over it.’
‘Had she ever seen it before?’ he asked.
‘Uh uh, turns out you were right about that – it wasn’t that she was sentimental about it, because it had belonged to Baker. It was important because it was the last thing he’d touched.’
‘But no one knows what it is?’ asked Clancy.
‘No,’ said Ruby, ‘no one knows.’
Clancy looked around. ‘So where is Bradley?’
‘He’s gone to Penny’s Books,’ said Ruby. She was still looking down at the cards. ‘The truth serum, I understand. It’s like we discussed. It’s useful: you can get a very unblabby person to talk with a truth serum.’