The Case of the Stolen Film (15 page)

He tried to demonstrate this with a fancy dance step but lost his footing, tripped on a leopard-skin rug and fell over with a THUD.

‘I think we'd better take you home,' said Miss Gilfeather, picking him off the floor and dragging him to the door. ‘Come along.'

‘See you all at the party tomorrow night,' said Chase.

‘Blimey,' said Archie once he was gone. ‘That was odd.'

‘You see?' said Petal. ‘I knew Chase would make it all better. The film will be great. I'll have to buy a new dress for the party, of course.'

‘But –' Holly's protest was cut short by a nudge in the ribs from Archie.

‘It's better than crying,' he muttered through his teeth. ‘See you at the party, Petal,' he said out loud.

‘I can't really see why you're invited. You were only
extras, after all,' she replied.

Archie yanked Holly out of the room before she could respond. Outside, Miss Gilfeather had just managed to shove Chase into the back of his car.

‘How is she?' asked Miss Gilfeather.

‘Back to normal,' replied Holly.

‘Oh,' said Miss Gilfeather. ‘Oh well, I suppose that's an improvement. Thank you.'

It was a long journey from the banks of the Outer Core to the surface but Dirk was glad to feel it getting cooler as he inspected his scorched belly in the diminishing orange glow of earthlight. It was blistered and blackened but it would heal more quickly than the terrible injuries Almaz and Elsinor had sustained during their exile.

He had left them on the beach waiting for Minertia to appear. He hadn't told them about her final confession. She had said the secret was just for him.

The rock pulled away above his head to reveal the early morning sky above. Dirk figured he must have been gone a couple of days. He was on a hill from
which he could see the outskirts of Los Angeles. He headed down the hill and travelled across rooftops but every flap of his wings hurt, so he found a truck going in the right direction, jumped on top and blended with it.

The book on the history of Sands Hall had given Dirk an idea but he wanted to give his wounds a little time to heal before putting his plan into action. Still avoiding Kitelsky and Putz, he steered clear of the Hollywood sign and, instead, found the cinema across the road from Sorrentino Solutions, where he connected to the phone line.

‘… I'm sorry, Mr Smith, Mr Sorrentino isn't in today,' Sandra was saying.

Dirk listened in to a few more calls but everyone got told the same thing. Sorrentino was out of town.

Only Mr Tanner, in amongst all the Mr Smiths, was told something different.

‘Mr Sorrentino left a message for you,' said Sandra. ‘He said to say that your problem will be solved tonight, sir.'

‘I see. Thank you,' said Mr Tanner.

Dirk disconnected from the phone and went to find Hunter and Frank. It took him a while to locate the yellow van but eventually he found it parked outside a
public library. Hunter was waiting beside it when Frank came running out, waving a piece of paper in the air, crying, ‘Man, I've got it! I've found it!'

‘Calm down, Frank. What are you talking about?' said Hunter.

‘The Turning Stone,' replied Frank. ‘I know where it is. Or at least I know where it was last seen. Look.'

Hunter took the piece of paper and read it then looked up at his colleague and said, ‘What's this from?'

‘It's a photocopy of an article published in the seventies.'

Hunter read aloud from the article. ‘“
The Stone was like a globe, perfectly smooth with a hole through the middle
.”'

‘Sounds right, right? You seen who wrote it?' said Frank. ‘And look what the article's called.'

‘“
The Summit of Skull Rock
”,' read Hunter. ‘What is that?'

‘I don't know but Buchanan's gonna like this,' replied Frank.

The two men got into the van and Dirk was about to follow when he felt a sharp pain in his tail.

He turned to see Kitelsky's claws around his tail, a bubbling noise coming from his throat.

‘So, you go sneakin' off without us, disappear for
days, then we find you here, sittin' lollin' in the sun. This ain't no vacation, Dilly.'

‘Yeah, we got scores to settle, Dilly,' said Putz, lifting his head above the sloping roof.

‘You spike-headed idiots!' hissed Dirk angrily. ‘I'm in the middle of the investigation.'

‘Yeah, so what you found out, then?' said Kitelsky.

‘The film was stolen by Mo Sorrentino,' he said.

‘Mo?' said Putz.

‘That's right. He runs a business in town, ruining people's lives. He was the one who sold the film.'

‘That no-good double-crosser!' said Kitelsky.

‘So where's the film now?' asked Putz.

‘It's with a human called Brant Buchanan but there are more important things to deal with first. Have you heard of Skull Rock?'

‘Sure. It's back in the desert,' said Kitelsky.

‘I need you to take me there,' said Dirk.

‘We'll take you there as soon as we have the film,' said Kitelsky.

‘That's right,' said Putz.

Dirk growled. If they hadn't been in the middle of the city, he would have roared fire in their faces. Dirk thought fast. He needed to check whether Hunter and Frank were right about the Turning Stone but he also
remembered how sure Minertia had sounded that it could not be found.

‘OK, here's the deal,' he said. ‘We'll go and get the film quickly then you take me to Skull Rock. OK?'

Kitelsky and Putz looked at each other and nodded.

‘Let's go get it, Dilly,' said Kitelsky.

Oh yes, I've already had lots of other roles offered,' Petal was saying to a circle of reporters. ‘Except they're all for parts playing, well, little girls. My agent thinks it very important that I don't get stereotyped at this stage in my career. That's the problem with Hollywood – everyone wants to put you in a box.'

‘I wish we could put her in a box,' said Archie.

‘And post it to the moon,' added Holly.

The party was being held at World Studios on the set of Little Hope Village Hall. The wooden chairs had been cleared to one side and on the stage a jazz trio was playing far too quietly to be heard above the throng of people. Holly and Archie had spent a while
trying to spot famous people, but the novelty soon wore off when most of them were ‘that bloke from that thing about the big missile' or ‘that woman who played an alien in that film about the world blowing up'.

‘I'm starving,' said Archie. ‘We need to find some of those waiters with the food trays.'

On their way across the room they saw Miss Gilfeather talking to Chase Lampton. Her auburn hair was down around her shoulders and she was wearing a black silk dress.

‘Hello, Miss Gilfeather. You look nice,' said Holly.

‘Thank you, Holly. I feel sorry for those poor musicians on stage. I can't hear a note they're playing with all these awful film people talking,' she replied. She turned to Chase, who had slid his sunglasses into the pocket of his black suit jacket. ‘Now, Chase, I think you owe these two an apology.'

The director looked at them. ‘I'm very sorry for my shameful appearance yesterday. I was tired and drunk and there was no excuse for my behaviour.' He looked at Miss Gilfeather. ‘How was that?'

‘Very good. Holly and Archie, I hope you accept Mr Lampton's apology.'

They said they did and Holly said, ‘Petal seems to be back on form.'

‘Shallow waters are easily calmed,' said Miss Gilfeather. ‘Are you having a nice time?'

‘Yes, thanks,' said Archie and Holly. ‘We're off to find some food.'

‘If you see my son on your travels, can you ask him to come find me? It's almost speech time,' said Chase, as a passing waiter topped up his and Miss Gilfeather's champagne glasses.

Holly and Archie continued through the crowd.

‘There's Dante,' said Archie, ‘talking to that boy.'

Holly looked and saw Dante in a corner talking excitedly to a boy with dark greasy hair. The boy raised a hand and smoothed down his hair, edging away from the director's son while nervously glancing around.

‘It's Callum,' said Holly, making her way over.

‘Who?' said Archie.

‘Callum Thackley, the person Dante was supposed to be playing.'

‘Crazy Callum Thackley? I've got to meet him,' said Archie, walking over.

‘Don't call him that,' said Holly.

They reached the two boys and Callum's dark eyes flickered briefly to look at Holly. He edged away.

‘Hey, guys,' said Dante, ‘look who it is. I've been
working on my accent, not that it matters now we've wrapped, but I reckon I came pretty close, eh, Callum?'

Archie put out a hand but Callum let out a nervous giggle and shrank away. Dante laughed.

‘I really wish we'd met before I did the film,' he said, imitating Callum's movements.

‘Dante, your dad's looking for you. He said something about a speech,' said Holly.

‘Right. I'll see you later, Callum,' Dante said, slapping him on the shoulder.

Callum tensed up, smoothed down his hair and looked at the floor.

‘I love this guy,' said Dante, leaving to find his dad.

‘How are you, Callum?' said Holly.

He edged closer, still avoiding her gaze, and spoke quickly, breathlessly. ‘They say I'm making progress but only because I pretend that it's not true. I say I know the monsters are in my head because that's what they want to hear. I say I want to get better and I don't believe these things. But Callum lies. They are there, Holly knows. They are real, with real claws and real teeth and real flames and real anger. Soon everyone will know, won't they?'

Holly and Archie exchanged a glance.

‘Has he been in contact again?'

Callum didn't respond.

‘Vainclaw,' said Holly. ‘Has he spoken to you recently?'

‘Master is always there, in my head. He's always with me. Soon he'll come back for me.'

Something behind Holly made him stop talking. Holly and Archie turned round to find Brant Buchanan standing behind them.

‘Ah. I was hoping you'd get a chance to meet my house guest,' he said.

‘Callum's staying with you?' said Holly.

‘His father is an old friend of mine,' said Mr Buchanan, ‘and Callum's been through so much, I thought he deserved a holiday. You used to go to school together, didn't you? What an appropriate setting for a reunion.' He motioned to the film set. ‘I expect it brings back all sorts of memories.'

‘Excuse me, everyone,' a voice was saying through the microphone. The crowd fell quiet. Theo Leggett was standing on the stage, red-faced and nervously tapping his glass on the microphone. ‘Hi. Thanks. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to give you Chase Lampton, his son, Dante Lampton, and the leading lady herself, Petal Moses.'

The three of them walked on to the stage to applause. Petal was beaming with pride. Chase took the microphone. ‘Thanks, Theo.' He addressed the crowd. ‘My old man, Connor Lampton, used to say that making movies is like making a cake. All you need are the right ingredients, the right amount of time and a hungry audience. Well, for this particular cake we …'

The sound of a mobile phone ringing interrupted him.

‘… I'm sorry, that's mine,' said Chase, laughing. ‘I meant to turn it off. Just one second.' He pulled the phone from his jacket and answered it. ‘Hi, I'm kind of busy right now,' he said, winking at the crowd. The audience laughed too but Chase's face suddenly fell. ‘I see, right,' he said seriously, stepping back from the microphone, talking on the phone. For a moment no one was sure what to do. Petal and Dante stood grinning uncomfortably, glancing at Chase. The director returned to the microphone. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need for alarm but I need you all to leave the building as calmly as you can. There is no danger, but I've been informed that a fire has started in another part of the studio.' A concerned hum rose up in the hall. Chase raised his voice over it and said, ‘As I
say, nothing to worry about but studio regulations require that all hangars must be evacuated. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.'