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

started to wonder if Carver was worth it. Thirty-five grand could buy a lot of hamsters, even after all the other expenses of getting a high-class education. I found Tyrone standing alone in the science hallway, staring at pictures of the illustrious winners of Iona High’s Science Fair, past and present.
    â€œIs your handsome mug going to be hanging up there soon?” I asked, trying to sound positive.
    â€œDid you find out who it is? Is it Polly?” he said, ignoring me.
    I shook my head. “We struck out. They both get
The Daily Telegraph
.”
    â€œOh,” he said, turning back to the pictures. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s not worth it.”
    â€œI was thinking the same thing,” I said, feeling relieved. “After all, you can get another hamster.”
    Tyrone whirled around, grabbed me by my collar and lifted me off the ground. “My mother gave me that hamster three years ago. She died two weeks later. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a hamster alive for three years?
Do you
?”
    To be honest, at that moment, I didn’t really care how hard it was to keep a hamster alive for three years. I was more concerned with keeping myself out of a coffin for three more seconds.
    â€œIt was a stupid suggestion,” I said.
    â€œIt was,” Tyrone said, and then he lowered me back to the ground. “It was a very stupid suggestion. I was talking about the scholarship, not Carver. So what are we going to do now?”
    I didn’t know what I was going to do now. Chew and Hampton were just two possible suspects. It could have been anyone who was interested in winning the Luxemcorp Prize. Or it could have been anyone who didn’t want Tyrone to win the prize. I was getting nowhere fast.
    â€œI guess I can see why they’d be mad at me,” he mumbled, more to the wall of pictures than to me.
    I followed his gaze. All the people in the pictures were smiling back at us without a care in the world. There was Amelia Freeman dressed in a white lab coat and holding a beaker full of blue stuff. Next to her was Glenn Paterson standing beside a bubbling barrel of red goo. Then there was David Philips holding a blowtorch and laughing, and next to him was Ralph Hampton squirting some kind of liquid out of a syringe. Wait a minute. There was Ralph Hampton squirting some kind of liquid out of a syringe. Ralph Hampton; the same Ralph Hampton I watched fall on his face that morning. There was no doubt about that sharp honker of his. You could slice tomatoes on that thing. Under his picture was a small gold engraving that read:
First Prize — Grade 12 Science Fair — Awarded to Ralph Hampton
. So Ralphy had graduated from Iona High two years ago. Fireworks went off in my head. Connections were being made. Things were starting to make sense.
    â€œI have to go,” I said, yanking the picture off the wall.
    Wednesday, June 4, 8:26 a.m.
Iona High, The Guidance Office
    Ms. Mickle knew everyone who had passed through Iona High’s front doors since it had opened twelve years ago. She was wearing a long, puffy yellow skirt, a red sweater and two giant orange hoop earrings. Her curly gray hair was going in eight directions at once.
    â€œMs. Mickle,” I said, holding up the picture, “do you know this guy?”
    â€œWell if it isn’t Jack Lime. Come in, come in,” she said, tapping a chair next to her. “You haven’t been in recently. You know that Dr. Potter recommended you see me every week.”
    â€œBeen busy,” I said. “And I’m in a bit of a rush. I just wanted to know if you knew Ralph Hampton.”
    â€œI heard you had some problems yesterday with an assignment you lost in the garbage?” she said, looking concerned.
    â€œI found what I was looking for,” I said. “Please, Ms. Mickle, do you know Ralph Hampton?”
    â€œRalph Hampton?” she said, as if it was the first time I’d