Read Online The Adventures of Jack Lime by James Leck - Free Book Online

“That’s it!” he yelled. “They’re after the scholarship! They want me to lose!” The cafeteria was dead quiet again. All eyes were on us.
    â€œTyrone,” I said, “why don’t we walk and talk.” We’d already drawn too much attention to ourselves. “If the person who has Carver knows we’re on to him,” I whispered on our way out, “Carver’s life might be in danger.”
    â€œI can’t believe I didn’t figure this out earlier!” Tyrone said once we were in the hall. He hit his forehead with an open hand. If he’d hit me like that, my head would have cracked open like an egg. “It’s got to be someone going after the scholarship.”
    â€œThere can’t be too many on that list,” I said. “Do you have anyone in mind?”
    â€œI don’t know … not really. I mean, I thought they were my friends.”
    â€œThere’s got to be someone who’s close to your grades who might want to take you out of the running.”
    â€œI never thought about someone doing that.”
    â€œThink,” I said. “Who’s your main competition?”
    â€œWell, there are only two people who are really close to me,” he said. “Walter Hampton and Polly Chew; they’ve both got averages in the high nineties.”
    â€œThen we just have to track them down and figure out if one of them has Carver. It’s a start.”
    â€œHow are we going to do that?” Tyrone asked. “Like you said, if they know we’re on to them, they might kill Carver.”
    â€œDo you have that picture of Carver they sent you?”
    He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me. I scanned the photo, looking for some kind of clue. Then it hit me. It was right in front of us, in black and white.
    â€œLook at the paper,” I said.
    â€œWhat?” he asked. “What am I looking for?”
    â€œThe bum who’s pulling this con job takes these snapshots of Carver so you know he’s alive the day he took the picture. The date’s right there, at the top of the page. But there’s something else at the top of the page,” I said, pointing at the paper.
    â€œ
The Daily Telegraph
,” he said.
    â€œThat’s right,” I said. “We just need to stake out Hampton and Chew and find out which one gets
The Daily Telegraph
.”
    â€œYou’re brilliant,” Tyrone said, patting me on the back so hard I thought he might have knocked a tooth loose.
    â€œI’ll take Hampton. You take Chew,” I said. “I figure the paper will get there around seven, so we should be in place by six-thirty, just to be on the safe side.”
    â€œThere’s a bit of a problem with that plan, Jack,” Tyrone said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI don’t get here until eight in the morning.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, ‘get here’?”
    â€œI don’t live here,” he said. “I live in the city. My dad works at Sam the Butcher’s on Main. We come in on the train every morning at eight.”
    â€œHuh? Really? I guess I thought everyone who went to Iona High lived here.”
    â€œNope,” he said, shaking his head. “There are a few of us who come in from the city. My dad heard about the Luxemcorp Prize at work, so he took me out of my school in the city and registered me for classes here so I’d have a shot at winning the scholarship.”
    â€œThat’s why I’ve never seen you around before.”
    â€œThis is my first year here.”
    â€œAnd that’s probably why you’ve got someone upset enough that they’re willing to kill Carver. They probably figured they had the scholarship wrapped up until Mr. Perfect-Grades-from-the-City showed up and spoiled their plans.”
    â€œProbably,” he said, nodding.
    â€œNow things are starting to make sense. Look, I’ve got some favors I can call in.