Free Dognapped! by Karen King

bag, and asked Gran if she had any leaflets about local attractions. ‘I’m going home on Saturday and I’ve hardly done any sight-seeing,’ she said. ‘I’ve been on the beach every day but I’m sure there must be plenty more to see.’
    ‘I usually leave a pile of brochures in the hall, but I’ve been a bit distracted lately, what with poor Fluffy going missing,’ Gran said. ‘I think I’ve got some in the drawer here, I’ll just check.’ She opened the kitchen drawer and rummaged through it.
    ‘Is there still no news about Fluffy?’ Emily asked in a concerned voice.
    ‘I’m afraid not,’ Gran said sadly.
    I motioned to Max that I was going upstairs. I needed him to follow me and keep an eye out.
    Emily’s door was half-open and I could see the patchwork bag on her bed. ‘Keep watch at the door and cough if you hear Emily coming,’ I told Max.
    I pushed open the door, ran over to the bed and picked up the bag. It was almost empty. Just a couple of magazines and a purse. I peered inside for small white dog hairs. None. I picked it up to check for a doggy smell.
    ‘What are you doing here, young man?’
    I jumped as Mr McFarlane’s voice boomed in the hall outside. He was standing in the doorway talking to Max. Any minute now he was going to glance around and see me looking in Emily’s bag. I threw the bag on the bed, dropped to my knees and peered at the carpet.
    ‘And what are you doing in there, Amy?’ Mr McFarlane demanded.
    I looked up to see him glaring at me.
    ‘Are you sure you saw a spider in here?’ I asked Max, desperately hoping he’d be quick-thinking enough to play along.
    He was. ‘Yes, it was about to run under the bed.’ He pointed. ‘Look, there it is, by your knee.’ He gave a little scream for effect.
    I picked up one of Emily’s shoes and pretended to swat the troublesome spider.
    ‘Did you get it?’ Max pleaded, convincingly.
    ‘Get what?’ Emily was now standing in the doorway too.
    ‘I saw a big black spider scuttle into your room and Amy went in to get it,’ Max explained.
    Emily screamed and clasped her hand over her mouth. ‘It hasn’t crawled into my bed has it? Tell me it hasn’t crawled into my bed.’
    ‘No, it’s okay. I hit it with your shoe.’ I upturned the shoe and looked at the sole. ‘Ew, it’s a bit splattered. Anyone got a tissue?’
    ‘You mean you killed it?’ Emily looked horrified.
    ‘I’m really sorry, but it went to run under your bed and I just grabbed the nearest thing I could find to hit it with.’
    ‘Here you are,’ Max had fetched some bathroom tissue to keep the story going.
    ‘Thanks.’ I wiped the imaginary splattered spider from the sole of the shoe, then put the shoe back down on the floor. I crumpled the tissue in my hand and walked out of the bedroom.
    ‘I’m petrified of spiders. Thank goodness you spotted it. I do wish you hadn’t killed it though,’ she added.
    I went to the bathroom and flushed away the tissue, then gestured to Max to follow me.
    ‘Did you get a chance to find anything in Emily’s bag?’ he asked as soon as we were in my room with the door firmly closed.
    ‘Nothing to show that Fluffy had been in the bag, but I did find this.’ I held out a train ticket.
    ‘What, for Tuesday?’ Max gasped.
    ‘No, the ticket is for yesterday. But, it proves that Emily uses the train. And she has a big patchwork bag, so we need to consider her as a suspect too.’

Chapter 13
Suspect Everyone
    ‘I don’t get it. If Emily was the one who stole Fluffy, where’s she taken her to?’ Max asked. ‘And why would she steal her anyway? She’s potty about animals.’
    ‘Maybe that’s why. She loves Fluffy so much, that she wants to keep her. It’s possible.’
    ‘Then why didn’t she steal her next Saturday when she goes home?’
    ‘Er … Let me think. Fluffy goes missing just as animal-mad Emily leaves. Now, I wonder who could have taken her?’
    Max scowled. ‘There’s no need to be sarky.