by Sally Gould
A painting! Could that be it? My mind raced. Surely not. I was just thinking that because Santo had told us about that big art robbery. Then I heard the men return the blanket and leave the room. I had to get back upstairs quick. But I just wanted to see if there were paintings in those tubes. Real quiet, I opened the door, stepped out into the light and tiptoed over to where the tubes sat. I pulled off the blanket and grabbed a tube. It had a screw top. I unscrewed it and noticed my hands were sweaty. There didn't seem to be anything in it. I put my hand in to make sure. It was empty! Were they all empty?
In the distance, I heard Charlie call out, "Max!"
"Far out." I screwed the top back on, returned the tube and put back the blanket the same way I'd found it. Real casual, I walked out. Charlie was at the other end of the hallway. He waved impatiently for me to be quick. I hurried and followed him up the stairs to where Santo waited. The filming had begun again.
"Sorry," I said to Santo, "la toilette."
He replied, "Now we go, so we don't get in the way."
We followed him back to where Luca waited on the police boat. Now I'd never get to check the other tubes. I sat down and thought and thought. Should I tell Santo and Luca what I'd seen? Would Charlie laugh at me? Would they all think I was a joke? Yeah, definitely.
Charlie would remind me for the rest of my life what an idiot I was. Dad would tell all his golfing buddies as though that story was the funniest thing that happened on the whole trip ... well ... besides the trick Santo played on us when we arrived at the hotel. Yeah, I'd already been mega-dumb. Mom and Dad liked to say, You can't always trust your bad feelings, Max!
I should forget it; it was probably nothing. Just my imagination.
I tuned in to Luca, who sounded like a tourist guide, telling us about every palace on the Grand Canal. I wasn't interested in different kinds of arches, windows and decorations. In between telling us about the palaces, Luca waved to almost every boat driver and gondolier on the canal. He was just like Santo. Lucky for us, he quickly worked out Charlie and me weren't into architecture.
He pointed to another palace. "Look. That is where the famous robbery took place."
Then I remembered what Santo had told us. You have to notice the detail that doesn't make sense.
My whole body tingled. I could feel goose bumps pop up on my arms. That was it! The silver tubes. How did they make sense? I took a couple of deep breaths. Would I risk being teased for the rest of my life? I tugged at Santo's shirt and said to Santo, Luca and Charlie, "I've got a detail that doesn't make sense."
"Si?"
Santo moved closer to hear. Luca slowed the boat. They were going to listen. I felt stupid, so I said real fast, "At the film set there were two men who gave me a bad feeling. In the room on the ground floor they'd covered seven silver tubes with a blanket. A rolled-up painting could fit inside a tube." I wouldn't tell them that I'd checked one tube and it was empty. "And I saw one of those men on the first floor fiddling with the corner of a painting. He stopped as soon as he saw me."
Now that I'd told them, my story sounded real dumb. I waited for them to laugh at me.
They didn't. Santo and Luca stared at each other with their mouths half-open.
7. THE BAD GUYS
Santo spoke real fast in Italian. Then he and Luca got excited and raised their voices. They waved their hands about like they were having an argument. I couldn't wait to learn Italian.
Then Santo got out his cell and made a call. Then he made another call. Charlie and me glanced at each other. I knew we were thinking the same thing. We were going to burst before they told us what was going on.
Finally, Santo got off the phone and switched to English. Real serious, he said to the three of us, "The agency that employs casual staff for the film set hired two new workers two weeks ago. They help with the props and sets." He sighed. "The successful art robbery that occurred at the other palace was in every newspaper and in all the media across Europe. All police forces across Europe have been put on alert for a copycat robbery. It's possible ..."
"Where next?" asked Luca.
Santo pointed back up the canal. "To the film set; we'll check the tubes ourselves."
Luca revved the boat, spun it round and took off.
Charlie and me looked at each other. He looked excited and not just because we were in a police boat zooming real fast down the Grand Canal. I was excited and worried. Would Santo and Luca let Charlie and me go with them? What if all the tubes were empty?
Minutes later we re-entered The Cursed Mansion. Santo hadn't told us to stay on the boat, which was good. This time we went straight to the room with the silver tubes. My stomach somersaulted. Maybe Charlie and me should've stayed in the boat in case these guys were thieves and they had guns tucked into their socks?
The room was empty; my stomach settled down. I went straight over and lifted the blanket off the tubes. Each of us grabbed one. Of course, I didn't choose the one I knew was empty. I got my tube opened first. I thought my heart was about to explode through my chest as I stuck my hand in. I felt something rolled up inside.
"Here," I said to Santo, "can you pull it out?"
Very carefully, he pulled it out. No one spoke as he rolled it out. It was an old painting! I sucked in my breath, so relieved that I didn't look stupid. The painting was of a few people lounging round on the ground in a forest. Cupid hovered above them. Actually, I didn't think the picture was that great, but since it was old it was probably worth lots.
Luca turned to Santo, "Do you know this?"
Santo shook his head. "Let's assume it's priceless."
Just then we heard a noise. In a nanosecond, Charlie and me dived behind some furniture and hid. Santo and Luca were too slow. Two men strode in with long metal rods pointed at Santo and Luca. I stopped myself from gasping. Did they know Charlie and me were here as well? I held my breath.
One of the thieves whispered to Santo in Italian. Santo and Luca handed over the tubes. One of the men forced Santo and Luca into the storeroom, locked the door and slipped the key into his pocket. The two men didn't speak. They filled a soft black bag with the tubes and left. We waited till we could hear them go up the stairs before we left our hiding spot.
I whispered to Charlie, "The thieves have got the key."
"If Santo had a gun, he could blow off the door handle." He huffed. "If Santo were a real policeman, he'd carry a gun."
Through the door, we heard Santo say, "I heard that."
Then I remembered that time I picked the padlock of the shed at home, because Dad had locked my scooter in there as a punishment. "Let's find a paperclip."
Within a minute, we'd found a pile of papers and five paperclips. It'd been ages since I'd picked a lock. Before it'd taken me days to get the hang of picking padlocks. I breathed slowly and concentrated real hard. The first and second paperclips got wrecked. Charlie was annoyed - I could tell by the way he huffed and puffed. But I knew he couldn't say anything, because he was hopeless at picking locks. I'd tried to teach him, but he gave up and said only criminals needed to know that sort of stuff. Only criminals and a couple of Aussie boys who needed to save their dumb Italian policeman Uncle, who didn't carry a gun.
Santo and Luca tried to tell us to go and get help from André. Lucky we ignored them, because I had the door open in less time than it would've taken to find André and tell him what had happened.
Santo looked stunned as I opened the door. He looked from the paperclip I'd straightened to me and back to the paperclip, obviously unable to believe his eyes. Then he snapped into action. "Let's go!"
He ran out the door and to the police boat. Luca, Charlie and me followed. Actually, we had trouble keeping up with them. Maybe our Mr. Have-a-chat Uncle wasn't totally hopeless after all.
We all jumped on the boat. Santo got on the police radio and yelled into it. I noticed one of the bad guys up ahead, because of his green Save the Planet T-shirt. They were in a water taxi, but the guy with the Save th
e Whales T-shirt was driving. They must've wasted a bit of time trying to find a boat to steal. I yelled out to Luca and he revved the engine and took off. Charlie and me hung on tight.
I felt like I was going to throw up as Luca swerved in and out of the other boats on the canal. Soon all the boats were moving out of our way. It was unreal. Every single person in every boat on the Grand Canal was gawking at us. I felt like I was at the center of the universe.
Way up ahead I could see the water taxi. At first we narrowed the gap, but then the thieves saw us and so they did a sharp left turn down a narrow canal. Luca got the police siren blaring, and Santo kept yelling into the police radio. Then Luca made the same sharp left turn and somehow I lost my grip. I was hurled out of the boat, landing in the water with a crash.
The water was real cold. Far out, I'd freeze to death. I kept my legs moving and prayed that no sharks hung out in the Grand Canal.
7. BOAT CHASE ON THE GRAND CANAL
Luca spun the boat round and headed back toward me. Santo stuck his arm out and grabbed me while the boat was still moving. I felt like a stuntman as he hauled me over the side. That hurt my stomach, but I didn't complain. Charlie didn't tell me I was an idiot; instead he wrapped a towel around me.
Santo asked, "You swallow any water?"
I shook my head.
"Good," he managed to answer before he was back on the police radio again.
The boat sped up until we were going real fast again. Lucky the sun was warm and I dried out a bit. "Has anyone got a plan?" I asked Charlie.
He nodded toward Santo. "He's talking to the Carabinieri."
Wow, they could chase the bad guys in their boat and my story for school would be even more exciting.
Luca yanked the steering wheel right, and the boat did a sudden turn down a narrow canal. That time I managed to hang on. Then I saw the bad guys up ahead and we were getting closer. They saw us too. Lucky there weren't any other boats between us. Then the bad guy in the Save the Planet T-shirt rolled a metal drum off the back of his boat and it hit our boat with a thud. I jumped backward. The front of our boat jerked up out of the water, then crashed down and the boat kept going.
Charlie and I crouched down and glanced at each other. I whispered, "What if Santo and Luca catch them? They'll have to wrestle the bad guys to the ground. They aren't as young and fit as the bad guys."
"If Santo carried a gun like real policeman that wouldn't be a problem." Charlie rolled his eyes.
"We should tell Santo we've got junior black belts in taekwondo. We can help. Four against one." I imagined Charlie and me impressing Santo with our flying side kicks. Of course in real life the bad guys could probably pick us up and throw us over the side of the boat, but if I got a few bruises in a fight that would make my story for school even better.
Santo hadn't taken his eyes off the bad guys. Our boat took another sharp turn, which made me feel like throwing up. We were going so fast everything was a bit of a blur. The canals got narrower. Had Luca lost the thieves? I stood up straight again and Charlie did the same. There wasn't any sign of the water taxi.
"Luca is trying to cut off the their boat," Santo said to us.
Seconds after, we turned into another canal and I almost fainted. The bad guys' water taxi was facing us head on. It was as if we were about to play a serious game of Chicken on the canal.
Santo stood his ground, directly facing the guy wearing the Save the Planet T-shirt. Santo wasn't afraid; that was good. But the bad guy stood his ground as well and he didn't seem afraid either. That wasn't so good. I could barely breathe as I looked from Santo to the thief and back to Santo. No one moved.
The driver who was wearing the Save the Whales T-shirt began to reverse his boat, when a different siren sounded real close. Suddenly behind the water taxi was a boat full of Carabinieri with their machine guns by their sides. They didn't even bother pointing them at the two bad guys.
Charlie and me didn't need to speak Italian to know what was going on. The bad guys stared open-mouthed at the Carabinieri for seconds before it sank in that they were trapped. Slowly, they put their hands behind their heads and in no time the Carabinieri handcuffed them and took the black bag with the tubes inside.
Luca maneuvered the police boat alongside the bad guys' boat, and Santo and Luca stepped into the bad guys' boat to talk to the Carabinieri. They were chatting and laughing with one Carabiniere like they were at a football match. A couple of times, Santo turned and pointed to me. I guess he was telling the Carabiniere the whole story. Santo waved for us to join them and Luca got out his cell phone and took our photo with Santo and the Carabiniere. Then he took a photo of the bad guys.
Wow! Now I had evidence to show my class.
Another boat suddenly appeared from nowhere. There were two passengers - a bloke with a big camera and a lady who looked like a fashion model, but must've been a reporter because she had a microphone. After the cameraman got photos of the bad guys and the Carabinieri, the reporter asked Santo for an interview. Her high heels made it difficult to stand steady in the boat. We got in their boat and docked it, so we could stand on the sidewalk.
Charlie and me stood close to Santo, but since he and the reporter were chattering in Italian we didn't understand a word. Santo pointed to me and the reporter gave me a smile. Not long after that, one of the Carabiniere came over in his boat and called Santo and Luca over.
The reporter turned to Charlie and me. She switched to perfect English and asked Charlie, "Could you please tell me what part you played in these dramatic events and what you witnessed?"
That always happened; because Charlie is older and taller, adults always talk to him when they want information.
Luckily, Charlie slapped me on the shoulder and told her that I was the one who'd noticed the details that didn't make sense and she should talk to me. Sometimes Charlie could be a really good brother.
The reporter stuck the microphone in front of my face and asked my name.
"Max McLean," I said. "Charlie and me are from Australia and the policeman you were talking to is our uncle. He told us that policemen need to look for the detail that doesn't make sense. Santo took us to The Cursed Mansion on the Grand Canal to meet the film director, André, and to see some filming. When we had a look over the mansion, I saw one of the bad guys and I got a bad feeling." Then I told her about the details that didn't make sense.
The whole time I was telling her the story she was nodding and encouraging me to keep talking, like this was the best story she'd ever heard. I even told her the bit about me falling out of the boat. If she thought I was a hopeless case because I couldn't hold on, she didn't say so. When I'd finished, she asked Charlie and me about our trip to Italy and told us we'd have to return again soon. The guy with the camera took about ten photos of Charlie and me.
Then he and the reporter zoomed off in their boat and the boatload of Carabiniere zoomed off in their boat with the bad guys. Two of the Carabiniere took the water taxi that the bad guys had stolen and zoomed away. Luca and Santo joined me and Charlie on the sidewalk.
"Well, Max," said Santo as he shook my hand, "you got your real bad guys, real crime and real action. I expect the owner of The Cursed Mansion is very happy that you noticed the detail that didn't make sense."
We all laughed.
9. THE MAX STORY
Two weeks later, I sat in my usual spot at the back of the class next to Thomo and Chook. Everyone, other than me and Arabella, who was telling us about winning a horse-jumping competition, had given their TRUE or FALSE story. No one had a story half as exciting as mine. The strange thing was that at the end of every story, everyone else in the class had correctly guessed whether the story was true or false. I think that was because we all knew each other so well.
Chook had told the class that he went to North Queensland in the holidays and he cut his foot on coral and he had to go hospital to make sure it wouldn't get infected. Big deal. If you're going to tell a false story, I reck
on you should come up with something better than that. No one believed him, even though it could've happened. Why? Because everyone has known Chook since our first year of school and when he tells a lie, his mouth twists up on one side. It always has. The truth was that his older sister cut her foot on coral and had to go to hospital.
I was worried. Would the class be able to tell if I was telling the truth or not, just because they'd known me for so long?
When Arabella finished, the whole class agreed she was telling the truth. Most weekends she went in horse competitions and she was good at winning. She owned three horses and there was a special room in her house for all her blue ribbons and trophies. And, of course, we were right, she'd won another competition.
Then Mrs. Kingston, my teacher, looked straight at me. "Max, your turn."
I stood and made my way to the front of the class with the large yellow envelope in my hand. The envelope contained the evidence. I smiled at everyone before I began. "You all know that I went to Italy in the holidays, so my mom could meet her relatives again. Her cousin lives in Venice and she's married to a policeman. His name is Santo. Charlie and me got to hang out with him while he was on duty."
A couple of my classmates groaned. They already reckoned this story was going to be one of my made up 'Max stories'.
"Well this story is about that Venetian job. Do you sometimes know that something bad is about to happen? Like when you kick the football and it's heading straight for the window of the library. Or when you've left your project on the dining-room table and the next time you see it it's in your dog's mouth." I didn't tell them that I'd been praying the whole time I was in Venice that I'd get a bad feeling.
