Time Rocks

  *

  It’s Wednesday. Jack never showed up, so I had to tell them. That's why I’ve been at Amesbury police station. It looks more like a Travelodge than a cop shop. They had me in there all day. I was questioned for hours. My dad had to take a day off work to be with me. He was furious, as if it was my fault.

  The police took my mobile. I haven’t got it back yet. I didn’t tell them I’ve already emailed the pics to my friend Chloe. The police were OK. They just asked me the same boring questions all the time. One kept bringing us tea and pulling faces behind the detectives. He was nice.

  There’s definitely something iffy about the thing Jack found. It’s got them all popping. Of course, they wouldn’t tell us what it was. Later though, the nice cop told us about it, but off the record. He said it had come off a jet fighter. He said they’d been looking for it for weeks. You see, the military do manoeuvres and shoot their guns on Salisbury plain near Stonehenge. Evidently, this thing had fallen off a plane during one of their little practice wars. I just hope it’s not radioactive or something.

  Don’t you hate it when people won’t tell you things?

  Afterwards, my dad said I should finish the week at the dig and try to forget about Jack. The police dropped me back at Stonehenge so that my dad could drive straight up home. My mother was worried. She always is. She said somebody was spying on our house. She’s paranoid my mum. I shouldn’t say that, should I? I’ll probably cross it out. But she hates CCTV cameras. I mean, what’s that all about? Who cares? I think she’s just a tiny-teeny bit screwy. I probably better cross that bit out too.

  Late that night, two men turned up at the camper van. I was in bed. They showed me Government ID cards and said I had to sign a paper, The Official Secrets Act. I signed it and they went away, but they were creepy. One of the Bristol students, her name is Samantha, she’s really nice, she called them Spooks when I told her.

  Jack didn’t show up again and the week has ended without him. The beardies took us all for a farewell meal at a pub. We had a good laugh. The professor was quite touched when one of our lot stood up and thanked him and everybody for being nice to us and giving us such a great time. Everybody cheered. Nobody mentioned Jack. It was all too weird.

  That creep from the Mackenzie Carmichael Foundation wasn’t there, thank goodness. I expect she was hanging upside down in a cave somewhere. She’d been missing all day. I was glad of it. She was always spying on me. I think the professor was pleased to see the back of her too.