Chapter 6

“Jennison, I am so going to kill you for this,” Violet muttered as she peered at me from the side with a piercing stare. But under the close surveillance of the stern police officers, I bit back the urge of replying ‘bring it on’.
After making a few phone calls, the other police officer finally trudged over and plopped into the cushioned seat. “Now will anyone care to tell me why you people were out driving in the middle of the night?” he queried as we probed each other to answer. Derek stated in a fake grown up voice, “We were hoping to get…” “Help from the police. We were driving here to report an incident of kidnapping,” I butted in before Derek could blurt out the truth that we wanted to get on National TV. Thanks to the fine work of the doctors we had visited before heading for the police station, my tongue was neatly stitched and good as new, allowing me to speak clearly. “You could have used another alternative and took public transport instead,” he offered. “Bus service ends at midnight and we simply couldn’t flag down any taxis,” I said indignantly.
“I believe you are just coming up with miserable excuses to cover up the fact that you people wanted to drive the car for fun,” the policeman remarked. I gritted my teeth and squirmed uncomfortably in my seat, “Those weren’t excuses! (Okay so they were excuses, but can’t they just lap the information up?) It was our friend who was kidnapped! (So that was officially a lie, but that was a white lie.) We found the need to inform you about it immediately!”
“In the first place why were you all out so late at night?” the policeman pondered. D**n it, I haven’t thought of an answer for that question. I rummaged through my numbskull hastily for some excuses. Got it! “Richard had invited us over to his house for a humongous birthday bash. He was celebrating his lunar birthday! Of course he had discussed it with his parents before they left for overseas. We celebrated until it was very late. Richard offered to walk us a little further least we got lost!” I uttered as Richard and Derek nodded in agreement.
Both policemen stared expressionless at each other for a brief couple of seconds before facing us. “In that case, supposing what you told us was true, could your describe the vehicle used for kidnapping and make our life less miserable and describe the person while you are at it?” one of them uttered. “He was carried away in a van,” I stated. “What about the kidnapper?” I feel a lump of saliva stuck in my throat. How on earth was I going to answer that question? I wasn’t the one who witnessed the incident! I should have dragged Jian Ming along.
“It was too dark, we couldn’t make out the colour of the clothes they were wearing but there were two of them and one was burly. The other one was short and stout,” Violet responded. I shot her a questioning glance but Violet said nothing. Shaking their heads, the constables dismissed us. The sinking feeling inside me told me that the police weren’t taking us seriously. They didn’t even request for the name of the kidnapped kid. Pushing the thought away, I turned to face Violet, “How did you know what Brian’s kidnapper looked like?”
*****
“Flip! Leave no page unturned,” I instructed as the noisy sound of newspapers rustling filled the air in the school canteen. Hastily, I turned the pages of the Today newspaper hoping to spot an article on our ruthless act yesterday. However our attempt was fruitless, no such article popped up anywhere. I sighed despondently, “Anyone spotted such an article?” Lin Fang, Yi Ying and Violet shook their heads glumly. “We have already searched The Straits Times, the Newpaper and Today, we even searched the Chinese newspapers, you don’t expect us to read the Tamil and the Malay newspapers right?” Lin Fang implored. “The police are hopeless, we should lodge a complain. We can’t keep coming up with the excuse that Brian is staying over at Richard’s place to do a project to his parents, can we?” Violet pointed out agreeing with Lin Fang’s query.
“Alright! I have decided to put Plan B into action!” I proclaimed as hundreds of curious faces whipped around to face us. “Shhhhsh…”Violet snapped softly, “We don’t want the whole school to know that we are secret agents!” I stiffened for a moment and swept my gaze over the baffled sea of heads and grinned sheepishly, “Please go back to what you were doing, I was just discussing about my homework.” With an audible sigh of boredom, everyone turned their probing gazes back to their food or homework.
“That’s a relief,” I muttered. “What’s not a relief is… WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY YOU HAVE A PLAN B?” Violet practically hollered. “We aren’t going to let the case rest anyway so obviously I have a Plan B,” I said in a matter-of-factly state. Violet pressed her palm against her forehead as if she was going to faint. “I swear you will be the death of me! First you drag me out on a midnight stake out and now you tell me it isn’t over,” she cried in utter disbelief. “Don’t worry, this time my plan will work for sure,” I pressed. Violet sighed and faced Lin Fang and Yi Ying, “It’s always when she says don’t worry when I worry the most.” Both of my friends coughed to suppress their giggles. “I heard that,” I scoffed, Lin Fang eyed me with utmost curiosity, “So what’s your plan?” My face brightened instantly, I could feel Violet tense with anxiety, a drum roll had also erupted from somewhere which I immediately identified it coming from Lin Fang. I hesitated for a moment and declared, “How about we go on strike?”