Wild Stories 2- Unexplained Happenings

Chapter Twelve: Intrigue

"Hush. Though, you have made me less homesick." She admitted with a small grin as he laughed. "You," she said, pointing at Jack with a pillow. "When did you learn how to play the violin and when did you decide to use it for evil?"

He glanced away with a shy smile. "About 10, I think. A lady at my synagogue taught me. And in response to your second question, just now." He added, looking at Wild who grinned back at him.

Till grumbled at them before an evil expression crossed her face. brightening. "Hey, my sister's name is Maggie. Oh you've given me a great idea."

Wild lingered outside of the room impatiently as Jack and Till got dressed, eager to investigate Mary's room again. When they finally opened the door he grinned at them and bounded off, pursued by amused companions. Till waved them goodbye at the back door, wandering off to find some appropriately thick gloves and collect a sample of the slime for the coroner.

Wild and Jack made their way down the little dirt path together, both resolutely not thinking about that morning. Or the little gravel path that led to the vibrant sea in their shared dream...

With her father's permission, Wild opened the door to Mary's room and led Jack inside, smiling as he considered the room with the same appreciation that Wild had shown it.

Wild sat on her bed and stared at the collection of notes pinned to the wall. They really were hung rather oddly, and it was bugging him.

He looked at one section of cards in particular, four notecards hung vertically.

Then he made a manly exclamation, (which was in fact a yelp) and raced downstairs, pausing halfway.

"Pull yourself together Wild. This man is grieving, he does not need you bouncing around and gushing about how absolutely brilliant his daughter is.

But oh, she's wonderful.

I didn't actually decode the message did I?"

He murmured to himself, walking back up the stairs.

He patted all over himself for writing equipment, and finding some he sat down to work.

Jack had been watching this whole time in mild amusement. "What is it?"

"She's good, she's really, really good. Mary left a message in Morse code on her corkboard."

"I- what?"

"I was wondering why some of the cards were vertical and some were horizontal, and then it hit me." Wild got up to point at them.

"Dots and dashes, it's Morse code. The vertical note cards are dots and the horizontal ones are dashes.

And every little group of notecards is a word. So if you read it like that, it reads 'Three, seven, light, h.'

I don't exactly know what that means but you know. Isn't it cool?!"

"That's amazing." Jack breathes.

"Right?"

"Light h.... That means lighthouse doesn't it?"

"Yes, probably. But what does 3,7 mean?" Wild asked, narrowing his eyes at the note cards like it would give him the answers.

"I don't know. Let's leave a message for Till and head to the lighthouse to find out. Where is she anyway?"

"I think she's collecting a sample of that slime, to take it to the coroner." Wild replied, smiling as Jack looked very pensively at the wall.

"Hmm."

"Yes?"

"I don't know. I feel like there's something in that." Jack frowned for a few moments more, before clicking his tongue and giving up.

"I'll figure it out."

He caught Wild staring at him and gave him an questioning look. Wild shook his head, trying to hide his smile.

"Come on. Lighthouse."

They walked to the car, Jack getting in on the passenger's side. Wild put the key in the ignition and started to pull off.

Jack slumped beside the window and looked at the scenery all around them, the pale trees looming above. It reminded him of that night, the night when he saw a glowing figure dashing through the woods.

He gasped and turned to Wild. "Oh, stop the car! This is so idiotic but I think I've got it."

"Oh yeah?" Said Wild, glancing at him.

"Yeah. You see, the Flower family made their money in the watch industry? So..." Jack made hand movements until he could remember how to English.

"Their watches had luminescent paint on it. A paint that glowed green, with radium."

"So they'd have access to a glowing substance." Wild said slowly as Jack nodded enthusiastically at him.

"That creature you saw in the woods, was it glowing green?"

"Yup, exactly like the paint."

"So, wait, it's the Flowers running around dressed like aliens and leaving alien goo everywhere! But why?" Wild asked, perplexed, before shaking his head like the answer was obvious. "Or course, business. If there are alien sightings then people come in to investigate, though I don't know who would do that." He said coyly.

"It whips up the rumours, and helps the hotel business. Those paint companies are doing poorly because the paint is poisoning the women working at the company, so the Flower family needs the money.

And if Susie was complaining about poor payment, then the extra money from the alien tourism would assuage her concerns and maybe call Mary off the investigation."

"But why would they want to call Mary off? Bad for business maybe, they don't want her discovering small things that they're doing wrong?"

"Or, they don't want her finding one very big thing." Wild said, moving as though to put the car in drive.

"Wait! Oh, sorry. I wanted to use the phone to tell Till to ask after radium in the paint. Or goo, if we're wrong." Jack said sheepishly.

"Alright then." Wild put his hands in his lap and looked over at Jack who was taking a deep breath and staring off into the distance with some concern.

"You don't want to go in, do you?"

"I mean, no." Jack said, looking at him. "I don't...I hate talking to people. Especially on the phone." He added, rubbing his face.

"You seem alright talking to me."

"Well... that's you." Jack said, not meeting his eye.

"What's different about me?" Wild asked with a small grin.

Jack smiled and shrugged. "Erm, I don't really know. Radium?"

"Right, sorry. Rather time sensitive innit?"

Jack stepped out of the car and gave him an awkward wave before heading back to the hotel.

Wild adjusted the rearview mirror and watched him go with a dopey smile on his face. He rubbed his eyes and slid down in the seat.

"Pull yourself together mate. But he's so- no. Stop it. You remember what happened last time." He told himself, pointing firmly at his reflection.

"No more falling love with people. Or crushing on them. At least he isn't queer..." he trailed off doubtfully.

He sighed and put his head on the steering wheel, and rested there in defeat. Maybe everything would be okay. Maybe they could just be normal friends. Maybe-

"Hello!"

"Ah!" He tried to glare at Jack who was grinning at him through the window.

"You. Get in." Jack's grin widened, if that were possible, and he walked around the car to slip in beside Wild.

"Let's go see what Mary left." He said excitedly, as Wild cast him another fond look and pulled away from the hotel.