Sherlock Sam and the Comic Book Caper in New York

by A. J. Low

  “You’ve never liked her,” Dr Loughlin said.

  “Heroes don’t hide behind masks, Helen.”

  “Enough,” Dr Yeun said. “None of this is going to help us get the Hover Car back.”

  “We’ll need a complete list of every person who knew the car would be in San Diego,” I said. “We’ll have to question all of them.”

  “That’s basically everybody in this company,” Dr Yeun said, “but I’ll get you the list.”

  “Can you think of anybody outside the company who would have known?” Inspector Lestrade asked.

  “Or anybody who would have reason to steal the Hover Car?” I added.

  “Dr Sheila Loh,” Dr Loughlin said immediately. “She was working on a version of the Hover Car before her fall from grace, isn’t that right, Julie?”

  Dr Barrowman shifted her weight slightly and didn’t answer.

  “But she didn’t know we were working on the Hover Car, let alone when we were going to unveil it,” Dr Yeun said.

  “Actually…” Dr Barrowman said.

  “You told her?!” Dr Loughlin almost shouted.

  “We’ve been using part of her research for the Hover Car,” Dr Barrowman said. “Even though she no longer had any claim to it, I still thought it was the ethical thing to do. But she would never work with the Dark Defender. She was the one who took Dr Loh down.”

  “We’ll talk about this later, Julie,” Dr Yeun said. “But that is true. It was all over the news. The Dark Defender uncovered Dr Loh’s unethical practices in her pursuit of science.”

  “Was she experimenting on people?” Nazhar asked.

  “No, nothing that bad,” Dr Barrowman said. “But she had been ignoring pretty much all safety considerations, and had put the entire school at risk.”

  “The school?” Eliza asked.

  “She was a professor at New York University across town,” Dr Barrowman said. “I was a student of hers when the Dark Defender exposed her.”

  “How did the Dark Defender do that, exactly?” I asked.

  “She caught her red-handed during one of her dangerous experiments,” Dr Loughlin said. “The video was uploaded everywhere, and Dr Loh was an instant pariah in the scientific community.”

  “The Dark Defender destroyed Dr Loh’s career. She would never work with the Dark Defender, let alone be her,” Dr Barrowman said. “It couldn’t have been her.”

  “That may be, Dr Barrowman. But I would like to talk to her anyway. Anything is plausible at this stage in the investigation,” I said. “Would you mind telling us where we can find her?”

  “She’s teaching at a school uptown,” Dr Barrowman said after a moment of hesitation. “I’ll get you the address.” Dr Loughlin eyed Dr Barrowman suspiciously.

  “I’m sorry to have to ask this, but where were you both on Thursday?” Inspector Lestrade asked.

  The two young doctors looked at each other. “We were both on leave,” Dr Barrowman said. “Our project was across the country and we wanted to take a break.”

  “Can anyone account for your whereabouts?” Inspector Lestrade asked.

  They both shook their heads. “I needed to recharge from people,” Dr Loughlin said. Dr Barrowman nodded in agreement.

  “May I ask, Dr Loughlin, where did you get those bruises on your face?” I asked.

  She touched her face, surprised. “I had forgotten about those. I box at a YMCA uptown for fun.” She smiled and shadowboxed for us a bit, throwing a quick combo. Eliza looked impressed. “I picked it up a few years ago.”

  It was plausible, I thought. Everything was plausible.

  We took a quick tour of Yeun Technologies, and the three doctors pointed out everybody who had been working on the Hover Car.

  As we walked across the engineering department, a woman in overalls ran up to us and said, “Oh man, your robots are awesome! Have you ever thought of making them softer?”

  “This is Kari Love, one of my best engineers,” Dr Loughlin said. “She’s made space suits for NASA, costumes for Broadway and puppets for Sesame Street, and now she’s working on soft robot prototypes for us.”

  “What’s a ‘soft robot’?” Jimmy asked. “Is it a robot made out of soft things, or a robot with a nice personality? Watson’s neither at the moment.”

  I had to suppress a laugh.

  “Let me show you!” Ms Love said, gesturing for us to follow her back to her work station. We looked at each other—we knew we were on a time-sensitive case, but this was an opportunity too fantastic to resist!

  “Look at this,” Ms Love said, pointing at a curious looking object on the table. “We’re making robots out of soft materials like cloth and rubber instead of hard materials like metals and hard plastics.”

  “Would-not-the-robot-then-be-more-susceptible-to-damage?” Watson asked.

  “Yes, but we don’t plan on using soft robots for hard labour,” she said. “More for medical use, or anything that has close contact with human bodies. A soft, pliable robot would be better for things like physiotherapy or prosthetics, for example.”

  “Depends-on-which-human-body-I-would-think,” Watson said. “I-have-found-it-is-better-to-be-made-out-of-metal-when-people-jump-on-you-and-expect-you-to-carry-them-on-your-back.”

  I glared at my robot.

  We waved goodbye to Ms Love and I thought about how amazing a job making robots would be. But then I thought about how my last robot turned out and decided against it.

  Dr Yeun gave us the final list of everyone who had worked on the Hover Car, and it was quite a long list, as she had told us. She then left together with Drs Loughlin and Barrowman, quietly reminding us that time was of the essence.

  “This is going to take forever,” I said, looking at the list. “Maybe we can start after lunch?”

  After lunch, despite the time constraints that we were facing, Dr Yeun called and asked us to postpone our questioning of the Yeun Technology staff until after we had run down other possible leads. She wanted to keep the knowledge of the theft as controlled as possible, and letting her entire company know would not help in the least. So we decided to chase down our other leads.

  Dr Sheila Loh was teaching at one of the private schools in uptown Manhattan. It was similar to the international schools back home, and I wondered if Luis had gone to one of these schools before Uncle Fidel and Auntie Maria Olga had moved to Singapore. Inspector Lestrade had left us to talk to a few contacts she had in the area. She said that they didn’t officially work for Interpol and wanted to keep their identities secret so she couldn’t bring us along. I completely understood—I knew all about Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Irregulars. In fact, I had some Irregulars of my own.

  “This is a pretty nice school,” Dad said, looking through one of the brochures. “They have some pretty advanced science courses, Sam. And a lot of art classes, Wendy.”

  “Is there something about our living arrangements you haven’t told me?” Mom asked, a smirk on her face.

  “No, no, of course not,” Dad said quickly. “I was just making observations.”

  “It’s just as well,” Mom said. “I don’t think we’d be able to afford this school, even if we both had three jobs.”

  “Master Sherlock, it is curious as to how Dr Loh obtained a job here when she had such a public downfall, is it not?” Moran asked.

  “I know someone influential on the school board.”

  We whirled around and saw a woman in a blue sweater over a white shirt and a pair of dark pants. She had a short, professional-looking haircut and appeared to be the same height as the three scientists from Yeun Technologies. Was there some kind of height requirement for people working on Hover Cars?

  “I apologise, Dr Loh,” Moran said. “I spoke out of turn.”

  “No, no, I should apologise for eavesdropping,” she said. “As I’m sure you’ve guessed, I am Sheila Loh. How may I help you?”

  Dr Yeun had given us permission to tell Dr Loh about the theft, though she hadn’t
been very happy about it. We introduced ourselves and told her everything we knew so far.

  “Oh, that’s terrible!” Dr Loh said. “I was so proud of Julie when she told me they’d actually got it to work.”

  “You were proud?” Nazhar asked. “We were led to believe you might be jealous.”

  “I would have been a few months ago,” Dr Loh said, “but not anymore. I’m grateful to the Dark Defender for exposing me. I can only imagine what else I might have done in my pursuit of fame and fortune. Though I must admit I do not like my new commute at all. I used to have a very nice apartment near New York University, but I lost it when I lost my job. I had to get a tiny, dingy apartment in Queens, and I have to travel an hour to and from here.”

  “So you’re not angry at her for destroying your career?” Eliza asked. “Not even a little bit?”

  “I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it, but no, I’m not angry.” Dr Loh looked thoughtful and tapped her chin. “I’m teaching kids now, and hopefully one of them will push humanity forward for the right reasons, and not the selfish reasons I used to have.”

  “Are you working on any projects now?” Wendy asked.

  “No,” Dr Loh said, and I thought I saw a flash of something cross her face. “One of the conditions of my working here was that I was not allowed to do anymore research. Not on school grounds or anywhere else. Research will always be my first love, but I understand the school’s position, and I’m grateful they gave me a chance.”

  “If you are not allowed to do any research then why are you at school on a Saturday?” Inspector Lestrade asked.

  “The robotics club is meeting today,” Dr Loh said. “And anyway, the paperwork is never-ending.” She held up a stack of students’ homework.

  “One last question, Dr Loh,” I said. “Where were you last Thursday?”

  “I had caught one of those obnoxious summer bugs, and was out Thursday and Friday,” she said. “That’s why I have so much marking to do today.”

  We thanked Dr Loh for her time, and left the school grounds.

  “Is it odd that she seems so okay with her situation?” Eliza asked as we walked towards the subway station.

  “Yes, it is,” I said. “Her career was ruined only half a year ago.”

  “People can change,” Mom said. “But I do agree that seems pretty quick for such a change. If it were me, I would be incredibly angry.”

  “If it were you, you wouldn’t have done anything to endanger other people in the first place,” Wendy said, hugging Mom.

  “Where to next, Sherlock Sam?” Inspector Lestrade asked.

  “Let’s go to Midtown Comics,” I said. “In San Diego, Ku and Scott said that they were selling photo prints of the Dark Defender. Maybe Midtown has a way of getting in touch with her that Ku and Scott don’t know about.”

  “Okay, but we won’t be able to tell them anything about the Hover Car,” Dad said. “Dr Yeun only gave us permission to tell Dr Loh.”

  We took the subway downtown to Times Square, where Broadway met with 7th Avenue. It was an amazing sight.

  There were huge stores and restaurants in the heart of the district, including an M&Ms store and a huge Toys ‘R’ Us. There were billboards of every kind, advertising TV shows, food, clothes and movies. My favourite was the huge Cup O’Noodles light up display by the Japanese company Nissin. This was also the heart of the theatre district, and we could see tons of theatres staging plays and musicals, including Les Miserables, Hamilton, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked and many, many more.

  We walked down a few blocks to the corner of 40th Street and 7th Avenue, and saw Midtown Comics. It took over the second and third floors of the building, and you could see a lot of their merchandise through the bay windows.

  We walked up the narrow staircase (I grumbled about how no one in New York seemed to have a lift) and ended up in a large, spacious comic book store. The second floor had tons of new releases and back issues, as well as a large collection of graphic novels and collected editions. But I didn’t forget why we had come here until I saw that John Halson, the author of Indestructible Shapes, was holding a signing at the store! He was wearing a brown baseball cap and a Hawaiian shirt.

  I asked Mom and Dad if I could get his new book, The Scary Lumberjacks and the Wooden Creatures, and ask him to sign it. They agreed and I quickly got in line. I was nearly vibrating with excitement when it was my turn. I was last in line, so I was pretty sure I’d get more time to talk to him than the other people.

  “Hello, Mr Halson,” I said. “I’m a huge fan.”

  “Hey, you’re from Singapore!” he said, taking off his hat. “I’d recognise that accent anywhere. I have friends living there.” He wiped his bald head with a handkerchief, and then put his cap back on. “In fact, I got a letter from a student in Singapore once.”

  “That was my friend Luis!” I said, excited that he remembered. “He’ll be super happy to know you remembered.”

  “I’ve got a pretty good memory,” he said, tapping his head.

  “Sorry to bother you, boss, but Alfonso’s getting his lunch,” a young man said. He was wearing a dark blue Midtown Comics staff shirt. “Do you remember where we put the extra store comic book sleeves yesterday?”

  “No worries, Trenton,” Mr Halson said. “Have you checked with Lou? I think he found a place for them in the storeroom.”

  “Ah, right. Thanks.” Trenton walked away briskly. I saw him go upstairs.

  “‘Boss?” I asked.

  “Apart from being a semi-popular author in the US and Singapore, I’m also one of the store managers here,” he said.

  “Oh, then I have some non-book related questions for you.” I ran back to the Supper Club to tell them, while Mr Halson helped some of the other employees clear up after his own signing.

  When he was done, I explained who we were and that we were interested in finding the Dark Defender.

  “Well, I think you’re on the wrong coast for that,” he said. “She was in San Diego on Thursday, so she might still be over there.”

  “How do you get all the photos of her that you sell?” Wendy asked.

  “One of the employees is a very talented photographer, and she’s been able to get all these amazing shots.”

  “A-photographer-you-say?” Watson said.

  “Yeah, her name’s Laura Hudson and she goes to NYU.”

  “NYU, you say?” Eliza said.

  “Yeah, but she’s on vacation,” Mr Halson said. “For the con in San Diego, actually.”

  “San Diego, you say?” Nazhar said.

  “Yeah, but Laura’s somehow been able to snag a photo of the Dark Defender nearly every time she’s showed up.”

  “Every time, you say?” Moran said.

  “Yeah, she’s made enough money from selling her photos to Midtown and to various news outlets that she wanted to take a little break.”

  “A little break, you say?” Jimmy said. “Wait, I think I did it wrong.”

  “Thank you very much for your time, Mr Halson,” I said.

  “All my friends call me Hal,” he said.

  “Okay… Hal.” I almost swooned, though that may have been from lack of food.

  We left Midtown Comics with a promise to ourselves to come back once we had solved the case, and went to a small deli on the ground floor. We ordered some real New York sandwiches (mine was a turkey, ham and cheese on a roll with lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayonnaise), and sat in two of the booths in the back.

  “Do you think this Laura could be the Dark Defender?” Nazhar asked.

  “If that’s true, then she’s Spider-Man,” I said.

  “Oh!” Jimmy said. “Because she would be taking pictures of herself to sell, like Peter Parker did! He took photos of himself as Spider-Man and sold them to the Daily Bugle!”

  “And she’s an NYU student, where the Dark Defender exposed Dr Loh a few months ago.”

  “And she was in San Diego for the convention,” Inspector Les
trade said.

  “But if she’s still on holiday, we won’t be able to talk to her,” Eliza said.

  “No, but we might still be able to find out more about her anyway,” I said.

  “How so, Sam?” Mom asked.

  “If Laura has taken a photograph of the Dark Defender almost every time she’s seen in public, we should be able to find out all the locations using the news.”

  “We’ll need the Internet for that,” Dad said.

  “The New York Public Library has free Internet for anybody to use,” Nazhar said.

  “How do you know that?” Wendy asked.

  Nazhar pulled out a New York City guide from his backpack. “I bought this at the airport and hid it from you guys.” He smiled happily.

  “To-the-library,” Watson said.

  “Wait,” I said. “I might want another sandwich. A Reuben, perhaps.”

  The New York Public Library on 5th Avenue is an iconic building that has an imposing presence. The front steps leading up to the library is a popular spot for New Yorkers to sit and grab a sandwich and for tourists to pose for photographs, oftentimes to the irritation of the New Yorkers trying to grab a peaceful lunch.

  “Wow! Look at those stone lions,” Jimmy exclaimed, pointing at two large stone lions that lay on pedestals that bracketed the front stairs.

  “They are the official Library Lions, Jimmy,” Nazhar said, his nose once again comfortably buried in a guide book. “They’re called Patience and Fortitude.”

  “Quite perfect names for literary lions,” Dad said, nodding his head sagely.

  “Oh no,” Nazhar said suddenly.

  We all turned to look at him.

  “It says here that we need a library card to use the computers at the library!” Nazhar continued. “I must have missed that when I read this portion the last time!”

  “All-is-lost-then. Let-us-head-back-to-the-hotel-for-a-nap,” Watson said, earning himself a glare from just about everyone except Moran.

  “It’s fine, Nazhar,” Eliza said, reading over his shoulder. “It also says that there are guest computers on the fourth floor that we can use, but those are for 30-minute slots only.”