Free Secrets at Silver Spires by Ann Bryant

sweatshirt.
    I’d searched again for the missing teardrop but it was obviously lost for good. I was really despairing about what to do until I came across Tony the following day and had the sudden idea of checking with him that the chandelier had actually been thrown away. There was a tiny chance, after all, that it might have been taken somewhere else. I mean it wasn’t the kind of thing you could just chuck out with the rubbish; you’d need to arrange for a special collection. Maybe it was being stored somewhere else, ready to be taken away.
    Grace and I had been swimming, but Grace had had to stay behind to talk to Mrs. Mellor, the PE teacher, about something. I was waiting outside for her when Tony walked past.
    â€œCan I ask you something?” I blurted out, before I could change my mind.
    He turned and grinned at me. “As long as it’s nothing to do with maths or English or anything.”
    â€œNo, it’s about…well, you know that room at Hazeldean next to the room where our cases and trunks are stored…”
    He stared up at the sky as though he was trying to think where I meant. “Yep, due for decorating, that one,” he said, nodding to himself.
    â€œAnd you know the chandelier in there…”
    â€œOh, you saw that, did you?” He grinned. “Naughty, naughty! Didn’t you read the notice on the door?”
    I felt myself blushing as I remembered that there had been words written on a sign on the door but I hadn’t tried to read them properly because it would have taken too long. I shook my head, feeling a fool and wondering what the words might have said.
    â€œ Strictly no admission ! Don’t think you could have failed to see that!” He was wagging his finger at me, but in a jokey way. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you off. ’Spect you were just curious…”
    At least he wasn’t cross, but I was cross with myself. I felt a complete idiot. My terrible reading had let me down yet again. I wasn’t sure whether to ask my question now, because a part of me wanted to just get away and put an end to this conversation. But, on the other hand, I’d started off by saying I had a question, so really I had to carry on. “I only poked my head round the door…but I was…wondering whether…er…you’ve actually chucked the chandelier away yet?”
    He looked at me as though I’d just sprouted a horn right in the middle of my forehead. “Chucked it away? Chucked it away! You’re kidding! That is one precious chandelier, you know. We stored it in there to make sure it was safe. It’s been taken away for restoration. It’s going to take pride of place in the main reception hall once they’ve got it back to how it was, with all those bits of glass in place and the whole thing gleaming like twinkle city!” He chuckled to himself, then shook his head as though I was a hopeless case. “Chucked it away !”
    I was suddenly finding it difficult to swallow. What had I done? I just didn’t seem to be able to get anything right. If I’d been able to read the sign I wouldn’t have even gone in the stupid room in the first place, but now it looked as though I was a thief as well! They’d get the chandelier to the restorers and find that there were eight pieces of glass missing. I couldn’t bear to think about it. I was desperate to ask Tony if they’d have any spare pieces, because I really needed to know whether I was going to be in trouble. But I couldn’t ask that question, could I? Or I’d be the – what do you call it in crime films? – yes, the prime suspect. That’s what I’d be. I felt my face turning pale.
    â€œWhat did you want to know for anyway?” asked Tony.
    How did I reply to that one? The truth was out of the question. I searched round desperately and my stupid brain actually managed to come up with