Страница 11 из 42
And she said, “I gathered that.”
I said, “I thought you might ring the police.”
And she said, “Why on earth would I do that?”
And I said, “Because I was poking my nose into other people’s business and Father said I shouldn’t investigate who killed Wellington. And a policeman gave me a caution and if I get into trouble again it will be a lot worse because of the caution.”
Then the Indian lady behind the counter said to Mrs. Alexander, “Can I help you?” and Mrs. Alexander said she’d like a pint of milk and a packet of Jaffa cakes and I went out of the shop.
When I was outside the shop I saw that Mrs. Alexander’s dachshund was sitting on the pavement. It was wearing a little coat made out of tartan material, which is Scottish and check. She had tied its lead to the drainpipe next to the door. I like dogs, so I bent down and I said hello to her dog and it licked my hand. Its tongue was rough and wet and it liked the smell on my trousers and started sniffing them.
Then Mrs. Alexander came outside and said, “His name is Ivor.”
I didn’t say anything.
And Mrs. Alexander said, “You’re very shy, aren’t you, Christopher.”
And I said, “I’m not allowed to talk to you.”
And she said, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell the police and I’m not going to tell your father, because there’s nothing wrong with having a chat. Having a chat is just being friendly, isn’t it?”
I said, “I can’t do chatting.”
Then she said, “Do you like computers?”
And I said, “Yes. I like computers. I have a computer at home in my bedroom.”
And she said, “I know. I can see you sitting at your computer in your bedroom sometimes when I look across the street.”
Then she untied Ivor’s lead from the drainpipe.
I wasn’t going to say anything because I didn’t want to get into trouble.
Then I thought that this was a Super Good Day and something special hadn’t happened yet, so it was possible that talking to Mrs. Alexander was the special thing that was going to happen. And I thought that she might tell me something about Wellington or about Mr. Shears without me asking her, so that wouldn’t be breaking my promise.
So I said, “And I like maths and looking after Toby. And also I like outer space and I like being on my own.”
And she said, “I bet you’re very good at maths, aren’t you?”
And I said, “I am. I’m going to do my A-level maths next month. And I’m going to get an A grade.”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Really? A-level maths?”
I replied, “Yes. I don’t tell lies.”
And she said, “I apologize. I didn’t mean to suggest that you were lying. I just wondered if I heard you correctly. I’m a little deaf sometimes.”
And I said, “I remember. You told me.” And then I said, “I’m the first person to do an A level from my school because it’s a special school.”
And she said, “Well, I am very impressed. And I hope you do get an A.”
And I said, “I will.”
Then she said, “And the other thing I know about you is that your favorite color is not yellow.”
And I said, “No. And it’s not brown either. My favorite color is red. And metal color.”
Then Ivor did a poo and Mrs. Alexander picked it up with her hand inside a little plastic bag and then she turned the plastic bag inside out and tied a knot in the top so that the poo was all sealed up and she didn’t touch the poo with her hands.
And then I did some reasoning. I reasoned that Father had only made me do a promise about five things, which were:
Not to mention Mr. Shears’s name in our house
Not to go asking Mrs. Shears about who killed that bloody dog
Not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog
Not to go trespassing in other people’s gardens
To stop this ridiculous bloody detective game
And asking about Mr. Shears wasn’t any of these things.
And if you are a detective you have to Take Risks, and this was a Super Good Day, which meant it was a good day for Taking Risks, so I said, “Do you know Mr. Shears?” which was like chatting.
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Not really, no. I mean, I knew him well enough to say hello and talk to a little in the street, but I didn’t know much about him. I think he worked in a bank. The National Westminster. In town.”
And I said, “Father says that he is an evil man. Do you know why he said that? Is Mr. Shears an evil man?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Why are you asking me about Mr. Shears, Christopher?”
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to be investigating Wellington’s murder and that was the reason I was asking about Mr. Shears.
But Mrs. Alexander said, “Is this about Wellington?”
And I nodded because that didn’t count as being a detective.
Mrs. Alexander didn’t say anything. She walked to the little red box on a pole next to the gate to the park and she put Ivor’s poo into the box, which was a brown thing inside a red thing, which made my head feel fu
She sucked in a big breath and said, “Perhaps it would be best not to talk about these things, Christopher.”
And I asked, “Why not?”
And she said, “Because.” Then she stopped and decided to start saying a different sentence. “Because maybe your father is right and you shouldn’t go around asking questions about this.”
And I asked, “Why?”
And she said, “Because obviously he is going to find it quite upsetting.”
And I said, “Why is he going to find it upsetting?”
Then she sucked in another big breath and said, “Because… because I think you know why your father doesn’t like Mr. Shears very much.”
Then I asked, “Did Mr. Shears kill Mother?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Kill her?”
And I said, “Yes. Did he kill Mother?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “No. No. Of course he didn’t kill your mother.”
And I said, “But did he give her stress so that she died of a heart attack?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about, Christopher.”
And I said, “Or did he hurt her so that she had to go into hospital?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Did she have to go into hospital?”
And I said, “Yes. And it wasn’t very serious at first, but she had a heart attack when she was in hospital.”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Oh my goodness.”
I said, “And she died.”
And Mrs. Alexander said “Oh my goodness” again, and then she said, “Oh, Christopher, I am so, so sorry. I never realized.”
Then I asked her, “Why did you say ‘I think you know why your father doesn’t like Mr. Shears very much’?”
Mrs. Alexander put her hand over her mouth and said, “Oh dear, dear, dear.” But she didn’t answer my question.
So I asked her the same question again, because in a murder mystery novel when someone doesn’t want to answer a question it is because they are trying to keep a secret or trying to stop someone from getting into trouble, which means that the answers to those questions are the most important answers of all, and that is why the detective has to put that person under pressure.
But Mrs. Alexander still didn’t answer. Instead she asked me a question. She said, “So you don’t know?”
And I said, “Don’t know what?”
She replied, “Christopher, look, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this.” Then she said, “Perhaps we should take a little walk in the park together. This is not the place to be talking about this kind of thing.”
I was nervous. I did not know Mrs. Alexander. I knew that she was an old lady and that she liked dogs. But she was a stranger. And I never go into the park on my own because it is dangerous and people inject drugs behind the public toilets in the corner. I wanted to go home and go up to my room and feed Toby and practice some maths.