Free Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks Page A

sneaky little outcast.
    Thaddeus surveyed him with a detached, appraising expression.
    "You have the face for it," he went on. "An innocent face. Not all of us are so fortunate. If you said that you'd never let food pass your lips, I'd almost believe it." Seeing Cadel's troubled look, he narrowed his eyes. "What I told you about never taking people at face value, Cadel, applies just as much to words. Words don't really have fixed definitions. You'll find that out as you grow older. The word
liar
isn't as straightforward as it sounds." Once again, he turned to his draft questions. "Now," he said, "we might throw in a few multiple-choice questions here. Just to relax 'em. What do you think?"
    Much to Cadel's surprise, Partner Post attracted more male than female clients. This meant that he was forced to impersonate a lot of women, and he found it very difficult indeed. Women's magazines proved helpful, as did some of the novels he borrowed from the library. He also eavesdropped on the twelfth-grade girls, who talked ceaselessly about boys, movies, music, and clothes. He would copy down what they said, then use some of it in what he privately called his "smoochy" emails. Because he was so small and quiet, he was usually able to listen in without being noticed.
    After a while, he even became quite attached to some of the twelfth-grade girls. He couldn't help it. Most of them were stupid, and a few were quite cruel, but two, at least, were bright, and nice, and pretty. Ayesha wanted to be a musician (she played the viola) and had long, smooth dark hair, a vivid, intense face, and an eccentric taste in clothes. Rhiannon was different; she was freckled and witty, with a bubbling laugh, generous curves, and a razor-sharp mind when it came to puns, insults, and one-liners. She was also very good at foreign languages, having mastered at least three.
    Cadel admired both these girls. When he tried to talk to them, however, he didn't know what to say. Ayesha was often so distracted that she hardly registered his attempts to make conversation. She was always running off to rehearsals, or arguing with someone about Greenpeace, or scribbling frantically away in a notebook with a worn leather binding. Rhiannon was less busy, but she was always surrounded by a circle of laughing friends. She was hugely popular because she was so funny—and sometimes she was funny at other people's expense.
    This became horribly clear to Cadel one day when he was in the library at lunchtime. It was a sunny day, and the windows were open; a soft breeze carried the sound of distant shouts and squeals from the playground into the dim corner where Cadel was sitting. Then, to his surprise, he heard Rhiannon's voice. He realized that she was perched on a bench just beneath the library window, talking to her friends Seth, Sally, and Caitlin. They were talking about a classic German film called
M,
and Rhiannon was impersonating an old movie actor called Peter Lorre. She was an excellent mimic, on top of everything else.
    "But it was a silent film," Caitlin objected. "Peter Lorre didn't talk in that film."
    "Jesus, didn't he?" Rhiannon retorted. "Then I guess it must have been the voices in my head. Come to think of it, they
were
telling me to 'kill, kill, kill.' Naturally, I assumed it was Peter Lorre."
    "Peter Lorre went to Hollywood, you dong," Seth pointed out wearily, addressing himself to Caitlin. "He was in lots of films. That's why most of us know what he sounded like."
    "Well,
I've
never seen him," said Caitlin. "What's he been in, anyway?"
    "
Arsenic and Old Lace,
" Rhiannon replied promptly.
    "Never heard of it."
    "You've never heard of anything," Seth sighed.
    "You know who he reminds me of? Peter Lorre?" Rhiannon suddenly remarked. "I was watching that film, and you know who I thought of? Cadel Piggott."
    Cadel's heart skipped a beat as a burst of laughter greeted this comment.
    "Cadel
Piggott?
" Sally exclaimed. "No."
    "They don't look anything like each