Read Online Contact by Chris Morphew - Free Book Online Page A

…’
    â€˜What?’ I said.
    â€˜I’m just not sure it’s a smart move for you to keep spending so much time with them.’ He paused again, like he was choosing his words extremely carefully. ‘I don’t want to see you get into any trouble.’
    â€˜Right, because I never got into any trouble before they got here.’
    â€˜I mean real trouble,’ said Dad, a weird darkness creeping into his voice. It was like someone had just dumped ice down my back.
    â€˜Dad, c’mon, they’re not – Jordan and Luke just – They’re just curious, you know?’
    No! I thought, regretting the words as soon as they were out of my mouth.
    Dad took another step towards me. ‘Curious about what?’ he asked.
    â€˜Like … I don’t know,’ I said, brain screaming at me not to say anything else stupid. ‘It’s just, you know, they both just got here, and neither of their parents work in the Shackleton Building, so …’
    Dad folded his arms and turned his head up to the ceiling, like he was deciding on something.
    â€˜Tell you what,’ he said, suddenly normal again. ‘I’ve got to go into the office on Sunday to take care of a couple of things. Why don’t I take the three of you in with me? I’ll give you the grand tour and prove to your mates that they’ve got nothing to be curious about.’
    â€˜All right,’ I said, feeling nauseous. But what else was I meant to say? ‘Sure.’
    Dad reached around to clap me on the shoulder. ‘Great! All set, then. Listen mate, I’d better get back to work.’
    â€˜Uh-huh. Yeah, I’ve got some homework I should probably get onto,’ I lied.
    â€˜Good on you,’ said Dad. He held up his phone again. ‘Remember,’ he winked, dropping it into his pocket, ‘you never saw this.’
    â€˜Never saw what?’ I grinned, heading for the door.
    Dad sat back on the couch and reached for his laptop.
    I climbed up the stairs to my bedroom, head throbbing, and crashed onto my bed.
    I just wanted to sleep. I wanted to go to bed and sleep away the next eighty-three days and if the world ended, at least I wouldn’t have to watch my dad help make that happen.
    I pulled up the covers and rolled onto my side, staring across the room at the extra bookshelves that Dad put in the week before Mum and I arrived in Phoenix.
    Behind the windmill, I thought vaguely.
    And suddenly I was kicking the covers off and staggering out of bed and stumbling across to the other side of the room. I stuck both hands into the narrow gap between the bookcase and the wall, and started grabbing at the big wooden frame I’d hidden there.
    When Mum and I first got here, I’d come up to my room to find this stupid framed picture of a grassy field hanging on the wall. I wanted to get rid of it, but Mum had said not to throw it out, so I just shoved it down here behind the bookcase.
    I clawed the picture back out again and laid it on the carpet.
    A grassy field.
    A grassy field with a giant freaking windmill standing in the middle of it.
    You moron.
    How could I have wasted three days on this?
    I flipped the frame over and started prying open the little metal tab things holding the picture in place.
    Come on, Bill, you bloody maniac, give me something to work with here …
    I pulled back the last tab and lifted up the heavy sheet of cardboard at the back of the frame. And there it was.
    A print-out of an email, with six pages of photos underneath.
    And if I’d believed that decoding Crazy Bill’s clue would make me feel better about our chances of surviving this mess … I was even dumber than I thought.

Chapter 9
    S ATURDAY , M AY 23
82 DAYS
    I woke up to the sound of a fist banging against my bedroom door.
    Jordan, I thought. The photos – shouldn’t have yelled at her – Dad – Crazy Bill – so much blood – windmill – he