CHAPTER 54
It was 8:00 a.m. in Park Road, and at Gordon’s Motor’s, Gordon was already in his office when Walid arrive. “Wally!” he shouted. “Come here.”
“Yes, Gord.”
“Sit. Interesting, huh?”
“You mean the things we found last night?”
“What else, Wally? We need to go inside again.”
“What now, Gord? It’s only eight o’clock.”
“I mean, tonight, Wally. I’ve been thinking. We need to photograph more and copy all the stuff on Khan’s computer. I reckon there is a lot more there than we saw. There were files that wouldn’t open, and how about his emails?”
“Roger has told Colin Asher, and Kevin sent them all the photographs.”
“Good,” Gordon said, but Walid could see he was thinking.
When Gordon was deep in thought, his knees started jigging up and down, just like Walid’s did.
“What did Colin Asher suggest? What are they going to do?”
“No idea, Gord. It was only a few hours ago.”
“Mmm. Remind me, Wally. What was your teacher’s name at Woodlands, the math teacher?”
“I didn’t go to school, Gord. I was in Syria.”
“Ah yes. Why do I always think you’ve been here for eighteen years?”
“Maybe it just feels like eighteen years, Gord. But Winston knows him. He calls him Willie.”
“Willie and Wally, huh? Reminds me of Pinky and Perky.”
“Who are they, Gord?”
“Parrots, Wally. One day, I’ll introduce you to Pinky. Perky died, and Pinky is a bit lonesome. Would you like to meet him, Wally? But what were we discussing? Oh yes, Mr. Willie.”
“It’s Wilkins, I think, Gord.”
“That’s him. Tommy Wilkins. Has he still got long hair, or has he lost it all?”
“He’s still got it. I met him at Winston’s place. He’s teaching him computer hacking.”
“Willie is who we need. Someone who does things for free after school,” Gordon said excitedly. “It was Kurt who recommended him to me, and Willie then called around after school and fixed this computer. That was two years ago. The computer’s still going. Willie didn’t charge a penny. Just accepted a cup of tea and a long chat about whether he could bring a group of boys here to look at a 1.6 litre Ford engine that was lying in pieces and if we could use the chain pulley to teach basic physics, geometry, and gears. ‘Great idea,’ I said. ‘I’ll provide some doughnuts and cans of coke. They’ll enjoy that.’”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. He called around a few days later and said he was fed up with the school’s health and safety regulations. They would need a full risk assessment and they’d have to wear goggles and helmets and yellow vests and I’d have to provide a list of hazards and that two kids had physical disabilities and the doughnuts had to be checked and that Coca-Cola was frowned on . . . and so it went on.
“We spent an hour discussing why some boys struggle at school, why university is a pointless and expensive waste of time, and why employers can’t find anyone to do a job like you do, Wally. Have you finished with that Fiat 500 manual by the way?”
Walid nodded. “Back on the shelf, Gord.”
“Good man. Call Winston, Wally. Get Willie’s phone number, and I’ll see if he’s free.”