Chapter 10. Race in the park
"Awesome!" Liz said angrily, clutching at her side and gasping for breath. "Very successful visit. We can help Mr Adaskey to return his memory," she mimicked me. "Good idea, Elmo."
"Yeah. I doctor didn't seem to like our treatment," Nick shook his head.
"Don't tell me about the doctor," Tom said stubbornly. "I bit his arm. Strongly."
"What?" Richelle's eyes rounded. She was sitting on the grass next to Nick, irritatingly pulling dry leaves out of her hair.
Tom wiped the sweat from his forehaed. "I had no choice," he exclaimed, defending himself. "The doctor grabbed my shoulder and tried to haul me inside. I couldn't get free, his grip was too firm. And my own hands were busy. I was holding on to the window moulding. What else could I do to get free!? If I didn't bit him, he would drag me inside. It's a very strong man."
"Why the hell did you climb up there?" Sunny exploded. "Someone got inside, probably intending to hurt Mr Adaskey, then he leaped out of the window. Of course the doctor grabbed you. What did you expect him to do!?"
"Now I see his point," Tom agreed.
"There's a good rule, Tom," I said sententiously. "First think, then do. Not vice versa."
"Tom's a future geologist, not a future philosopher," Nick jeered. "There's no need for him to think. This doctor probably will have a full course of rabies vaccines," he snorted. "And he'll be right. Because normal people usually don't bite each other."
"I'd like to see what you'd do in that situation," Tom retorted. "Oh, anyway," he waved his hand. "The main thing is that we managed to run away from them. This time we've escaped troubles."
"I don't think so," Nick drawled. "I'm afraid they recognised us."
"That's it," I sighed. "They did recognise us. I heard the doctor exclaim "Egyptian again!" when he gripped Tom. So we didn't escape troubles at all, Tom. Quite the opposite."
"This doctor seemed to be a busy man," Liz said doubtfully. "Maybe he won't get stuck to such trifles."
"The question, Liz, is if he thinks that it's a trifle when Egyptians bite his arms," Nick raised one eyebrow.
"Oogh! Stop talking about it! Let's think who could get into Ross' room," Tom changed the subject.
"Whoever it was," Richelle muttered, "he came to finish his job. To kill Ross."
We all went silent and turned to her. She shrugged. "It's obvious."
"Who do you think it was?" Liz whispered.
"The same person, who tried to drown him in the bay two days ago," Richelle glanced at us pityingly.
"Rubbish," Tom waved her off. "Why kill Ross if he doesn't remember anything?"
"He doesn't remember anything now, but his memory can get back to him at any moment," I agreed with Richelle.
"But it means that this guy will return," Nick scowled. "He didn't finish with Mr Adaskey, otherwise the doctor and the others wouldn't run after us."
"We must do something!" Liz screamed. "They don't even realise the danger Mr Adaskey is in. They think that it was us who got in and tried to hurt him!"
Now when I realised that someone tried to kill Ross, I felt very uneasy. The others apparently felt the same. Because of us the police think that Urcho Kaleva Howshedied, an Egyptian boy, and his friends are the bad guys whereas the real criminal is free to go around the hospital, planning how to kill Mr Adaskey
"Listen," I said, trying to sound steadily. "Whoever it was, he won't come again today. It's too dangerous. But later he'll return to finish with him."
"Maybe that's why Mr Adaskey is so aggressive?" Liz suggested. "He doesn't remember what happened to him, but unconsciously realises that someone wants to hurt him."
"You think too much of him," Tom muttered. "I'd say that this Mr Adaskey doesn't realise anything at all. He's completely mad."
"You're wrong," Nick shook his head.
"Look at him!" Tom exclaimed with pathos, pointing at Nick. "Even when he has nothing to object, he argues with me all the same."
"When we visited Mr Adaskey last time, I noticed an interesting thing," Nick said, smiling mysteriously. "Liz and Sunny were the first to come into the room. Mr Adaskey calmly took their presence. He even smiled at the girls. But the boys and Mr Palmer made him mad in no time."
"And the doctor too. Mr Adaskey punched him in the eye," Tom added.
"And Sammie," I nodded. "And Henshaw."
"So," Nick went on. "It means that despite the loss of memory and deep mental shock, Mr Adaskey realises that a male person threatened his life."
"We should warn Miss Vortek," Liz sprang to her feet.
"Don't worry about it, Liz," Nick drawled. "Miss Vortek must be already warned by the doctor."
"I can imagine what they told her," Richelle sighed.
"We should tell Miss Vortek everything," Liz repeated. "She must protect him. Post security near his door or something!"
"But we also will have to tell her what we found out during our investigation," Nick objected. "She'll find the picture and receive the reward."
"Who cares about the reward!?" Liz burst out. "Nick! We're speaking about Mr Adaskey's life! Don't you think it's more important than the reward?!"
Nick didn't answer, just raised one eyebrow and looked down his nose at her.
"There's no need to tell her everything," I interfered. "It will be enough if she knows that we saw someone in a balaclava, who leaped out of Mr Adaskey's window and disappeared in the bushes. Call her, Nick. We have no rights to conceal it. This information is very important."
Nick sighed and pulled out his mobile phone. He punched in the number of the Raven Hill police station and asked Miss Vortek. He told her about that guy. Then there was a long pause, while he listened. We crowded around, making signals at him, but he just waved us away impatiently. Finally he said goodbye and cut the connection.
"So?" we demanded.
"She'll set someone to protect Mr Adaskey," Nick replied. "She mentioned that she was afraid of something like that, but refused to say anything else. She said she was busy and had no time to talk."
"Okay. Ross'll be fine," Richelle muttered. "But what about us? I'm afraid even to think what she'll be told about us."
"Don't think then," Sunny advised. "As they say a man can die but once."
"Best regards to you, Sunny, from Howshedied," Nick grinned.
"While we're alive I suggest going for a little walk," I smiled.
We stood up and walked down the windy path that led to the park. When we reached the bushes, which separated the Glen from the park, we saw a guy walk along the path past us. He didn't see us. All of a sudden Richelle gasped and grabbed Nick's hand.
"It's Giovanni!" she hissed.
"Giovanni?" we stared at her. "Are you sure?"
"I spent a lot of time with Kelly and her boyfriend. So yes, I'm sure. It's him," Richelle glared at us.
"Let's follow him," I commanded. "But be quiet. Tom, especially it concerns you."
By that time the guy had gone quite far. We were about to run after him, when we heard a loud crackling noise of branches. We hardly managed to hide again. The Work Demons struggled through bushes onto the path. They looked attentively after Giovanni and followed him, from time to time hiding behind trees and bushes.
"They seem to suspect Giovanni too," Tom whispered.
"Let's go," I nodded. "But be careful. They shouldn't spot us."
We waited until the Work Demons went far enough and followed them, keeping well back.
Giovanni, meanwhile, had reached the central path of the park. The Work Demons walked after him, keeping distance. We went after the Work Demons, trying to be as quiet as possible so that they wouldn't notice us. Though there was no need to worry about being spotted. Wide backs of The Work Demons were visible even if we were quite far from them.
We reached the main path too. Now we all were on the straight, wide path, which led to the park entrance. (entrance to the park) The Work Demons and Giovanni were clearly visible now. Giovanni sauntered far ahead, his hands in his pockets. The Demons obviously relaxed. They strode along the path, loudly sneering, shoving and scuffling with each other as they always did. Their voices must have reached Giovanni's ears, because all of a sudden he looked back over his shoulder. His eyes fixed on six, big, sneering teenagers, who were walking close behind him. The guy turned away and walked faster. The Work Demons stopped grinning and hurried after him. We also had to quicken. Giovanni looked back again and accelerated even more. Then he broke into a run. quickened The Work Demons yelped and darted forward.
"Don't tell me that we're going to run again!" Tom groaned.
"Hurry up!" Sunny sprinted forward. We tried to catch up with her. Even Richelle. Giovanni and the Work Demons were already running quite far ahead.
"They show pretty good results in running,' Nick commented.
"We should show the same results," I panted.
It should be noted that Giovanni turned out to be a good runner. The Work Demons had to endeavour to keep up with him. Sunny was running in front of us close behind them. Nick, Liz and I were running after her. Tom and Richelle trudged somewhere behind us.
"This guy seems to be good at sport," Liz panted.
We rounded several old people, who were standing on the path and looking at us with interest. Mr Palmer senior was one of them.
"My young friends! Where are you running?" he shouted when we ran past them.
No one answered him. The old man joined the race. The scariest thing for this man was to miss an interesting event. That was why in spite of his eighty years and pretty corpulent stature, he managed to caught up with us.
"Young people," he panted as he ran. "I beg you! Tell me where all these people are running."
"Forward," Nick replied briefly.
"But where?" Mr Palmer asked again.
"Ask the leader," Nick suggested.
"The leader is too far," Mr Palmer hopelessly waved his hand and stopped, obviously intending to give up. But a second later we could see with our own eyes that a chance can play a very significant role in sportsmen's destiny. Mr Palmer's wife appeared in our way.
"Paul!" she yelled. "Paul! Stop! You're forbidden to run! Think about your heart! Stop, Paul, I'm telling you!"
She grabbed her husband's jacket, but he wriggled free. The next moment he lunged forward so fast as though all of a sudden he got magic seven-league boots.
"I told you to stop, Paul!" Mrs Palmer yelled menacingly. "Otherwise I'll tell Sammie about it!"
But Mr Palmer already managed to overtake us.
"Jane will kill me if she catches me," he said confidently, running past us. His wife darted after him. She was running worse than her husband, but all the same pretty fast.
"They'll run us to death today," Tom complained as we ran. "This day is going to be the last day of my life. We'll die and won't see our reward. What an irony!"
No one answered him. Even Sunny seemed to be close to exhaustion. Mrs Palmer was already running in front of us, waving her arms and shouting warnings to her husband.
I heard barking. Liz's dog Christo was bounding towards us, gaily barking. Pete and Jason, Liz and Richelle's brothers, who probably had been walking him, trailed behind.
"Where are you all running?" they shouted.
Liz just waved them off. The boys and loudly barking Christo ran after us, asking us what was going on.
Giovanni looked back again and saw that many people of different ages and a dog were running after him. Expression of pure terror crossed his face. He dashed forward.
It was nearly dinner-time. There were a lot of people in the park. Craigend residents went out to breathe some fresh air before meal. Young women were walking with their children. Old people were sitting on benches or playing with their grandchildren. So the participants of this weird race didn't have lack of watchers.
"It must be a marathon of different generations," I heard one woman say to her friend.
"See, darling," said another man. "The old generation shows a good example to the youth."
"You're right," a woman answered. "Look at old Paul and his wife. They're in a perfect shape. "
"They probably jog every day. See? Soon they will catch up with those six big boys," the man pointed out.
"I can't run anymore," Richelle groaned, and clutching at her side, lowered on the nearest bench. Pete, Jason and Christo also gave up and stopped.
The rest of us went on running, though we also felt at the last gasp. Only Nick found strengths to sing "Their comrades brave were falling as they rushed into the fray".
No one reacted to his remark though. Giovanni had already run through the park entrance and tore up Craigend road. We, The Work Demons, Mr Palmer and his wife went on running.
"You go home," Sunny shouted cheerfully to us and tore forward even faster than ever. "I'll call you later."
She didn't have to ask twice. Heavily panting, Nick, Tom, Liz and I stopped.
"I'm exhausted," Tom moaned, lowering down on the grass.
"You're not alone," Nick didn't feel better. He bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath.
Liz silently leant across a tree trunk and closed her eyes.
I heard loud voices from behind and looked back over my shoulder. A large delegation of old people was going towards us, waving their arms and excitedly talking.
"Hey, stood up," I commanded. I had a sharp pain in my side, but there was no time to get rid of it.
"I'm not able to move," Tom shook his head.
"You have to. Stand up and go," I said severely. "Don't you understand that if they catch up with us, we won't get rid of them till the evening?!"
I helped Liz to her feet and hauled her towards the park gates. Tom and Nick, with many sighs and groans struggled to their feet and limped after us. We ran through the gates, turned into a small street and separated. Nick trudged to seek Richelle. Tom, Liz and I went home to prepare for the tests.
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When I finally trudged home and felt native walls, I sank into a chair and closed my eyes. I was totally exhausted. Dad came out of the kitchen wiping his hands with a towel.
"Are you okay?" he asked anxiously. "You look…tired."
"Unexpected training in jogging," I sighed.
"Oh," he grinned. "Have you found out anything about the stolen picture?"
"Nothing interesting," I sighed. "Sometimes it seems to me that this time the Work Demons are more successful than we are."
"Competition is a good thing for you," dad pointed out, smiling.
"Competition or not, I have to prepare for the tests," I said, standing up. "Tomorrow is the last day of the term. After that we'll be able to devote ourselves to the investigation."