Mumbersons and The Blood Secret, The Read Online Free PDF Page A

at the memory of what had happened at Mr Frizzer’s barbershop yesterday. The shop now had different sign on the door: Closed for a Fortnight . Puzzled, Billy stopped for a moment, and Olivia, who was texting and not looking where she was going, banged into him.
     
    ‘Watch out!’
     
    ‘Sorry. Just making some background notes. It’s what reporters do.’
     
    Billy shook his head and carried on running past the shops towards the hill that led up to the Factory, Olivia keeping up and texting at the same time. Billy wasn’t sure what he was going to say to his Dad about Olivia coming, though he had a good idea what his Dad’s reaction would be when he saw her. ‘I see you brought your shadow again,’ he’d mutter.
     
    They slowed down when they reached the bottom of Habitation Hill. It was the steepest street in Skittleton, and cable cars shuttled up and down the middle of it from early morning till late at night. Olivia was about to jump on the car that was ready to leave when Billy asked, ‘Have you got any money for the fare?’
     
    ‘No. You keep moving around the outside of the car so the ticket collector doesn’t catch up with you.’
     
    ‘That’s dishonest. I’ll pay.’ They sat on the outside seat. Stevedore, after a bit of noisy whimpering at being left behind, decided it was time to go home, and headed in that direction.
     
    As always there were skateboarders zipping back and forth in front of the cable car. They weren’t known as the Ninja Chickens for nothing. Olivia waved at one. ‘Hi, Liam!’ The boy, who was three or four years older than Billy, and more solidly built, grinned and waved back as he bounced his board over the tram tracks, missing the front of the car by inches.
     
    The car reached the top of the street in three minutes. Billy and Olivia jumped off before it stopped, earning them a telling off from the ticket collector.
     
    There were lights on in the Factory’s Extension building, because the evening shift had started work. Mr Khafoops would already be overseeing his staff. Like Billy’s Dad, he was in charge of about twenty men and women in the Innovation Unit. They dealt with special requests, jobs that weren’t routinely done in the main Factory. Each of these jobs had to be worked out in detail before they could start; sometimes they had to get the machine shops to make up new parts. Billy’s Dad was proud of the work they did. ‘It requires a lot of creative thinking,’ Jerry said. ‘We get orders from all over the country.’
     
    Billy and Olivia reached the Factory’s main gate, but there was no sign of Jerry. Strangely, there was no security guard on duty either. And more strangely still, the gate, with its Triple W Sisters logo - three Ws interwoven with an S - was wide open.
     
    Billy read the text again. Meet me at the Factory gates , it said. ‘Maybe he’s inside, in his car.’ They ran through the gate, which closed behind them, as though it had been waiting for them to come in. ‘Weird,’ said Olivia.
     
    Billy looked around the car park for his Dad’s blue Fiesta. Jerry, like Mr Khafoops, usually parked his car in the large area to the right, between the old building and the high brick wall that wound around the entire property. There were two or three dozen other cars there, but Billy couldn’t see his father’s anywhere.
     
    The Factory’s main building had originally been an extravagant three-storey mansion, a private house with dozens of rooms. It had been the talk of the town, because of the huge parties that were held there. But all good things come to an end. When the last remaining family member died, the mansion was sold, and eventually converted into the Factory. Most of the trees and bushes in the magnificent garden were uprooted, and the flower beds concreted over, to make way for car parks. Now the only flower beds were at the front steps of the old building. They contained ugly brown plants with long pointed leaves that