Free Sly the Sleuth and the Food Mysteries by Donna Jo Napoli Page A

think.”

Priorities
    â€œYay!” shouted Brian. “Christmas worked.”
    â€œWhat?” said Melody.
    I pointed at my sign.“He means my sign worked. And I haven’t even put it in the front yard yet.”
    â€œI wanted to hire you before I saw your sign,” said Jack.
    â€œI did too,” said Melody.
    â€œSee?” said Brian. “Magic.”
    â€œOh yeah?” Jack touched the corner of my sign with his sneaker. “Whose case are you taking, Sly?”
    This was tough.
    Jack had brought me two cases in the past.
    One was about Wish Fish, his Siamese fighting fish. The other was about soccer.
    Melody had brought me two cases in the past. One was about Pong, her puppy. The other was about kicking.
    They were both good clients.
    I have two policies. First, I take only cases that are fun. Second, I take only cases a cat would care about. After all, my cat Taxi listens to me talk about cases. I don’t want to bore her.
    Taxi would like a case about Fluffy-Clarissa-Punky. Probably any cat would.

    But Melody was my best friend. And danger should take priority. Plus, Taxi likes Melody.
    â€œI’ll take both,” I said.“But Melody’s first.”

Fishy
    â€œNo fair,” said Jack. “I ... ” He stopped and looked at Melody. His face turned pink and sappy. “All right. But solve Melody’s fast.”
    This was a disturbing order. What if Melody’s case was hard? “Cases take as long as cases take,” I said.That sounded official.
    â€œYou have one week,” said Jack. “My cousins are coming Friday.” He dribbled his ball to the door. “We want to play shuffleboard.” He went out.
    Brian ran to the door. He shouted, “I want to play shuffleboard.”
    â€œGreat idea,” Jack shouted back. “I’ll see you Friday.”
    Jack wanted Brian to come play shuffleboard? Brian?
    Something fishy was going on.
    â€œShut the door, Brian,” said Melody. “The cold is coming in.”
    Brian shut the door.
    I turned to Melody. “Start at the beginning.” That was sleuth talk.
    â€œI can’t tell with you-know-who here.” Melody jerked her head toward Brian.
    â€œTime to go, Brian.” I collected his crayons. It wasn’t fair to send him home so fast. He’d come only a little while ago. But business was business.
    Brian rolled up his T. rex picture. He didn’t even argue.
    This was fishier than Jack inviting Brian for shuffleboard. “Are you feeling okay?” I asked.
    â€œNo.” Brian stuck his finger in his mouth. He moved it around in there.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    Brian dropped his hand. “I can’t tell you.”
    Brian told everyone everything. Something might really be wrong. Or maybe he was just echoing Melody.
    I handed Brian his crayons.
    He left.
    â€œWhy couldn’t you talk in front of Brian?”
    â€œIt’s scary,” said Melody.
    Something dangerous and scary. I wasn’t sure I wanted this case, after all. But I owed Melody a try. “What’s scary?”
    â€œSee for yourself. Come home with me.”

Bushes
    I followed Melody across Brian’s backyard.We ducked through the hedge into her yard.
    Bushes run along the front of Melody’s house. She stopped and held aside branches. “Look.”

    I peeked past her arm. “I don’t see anything.”
    â€œLook down.”
    It was dark back there. But I spied trash. A candy wrapper. A potato chip bag. Stuff like that.
    Nothing dangerous or scary.
    â€œSee?” said Melody. She was excited.
    â€œTrash,” I said as nicely as I could.
    â€œExactly,” said Melody.
    This case was going nowhere. I cleared my throat. “Why did you throw trash behind your bush?”
    â€œDon’t be dumb,” said Melody.“I didn’t do it.”
    â€œWho did?”
    â€œThat’s the mystery. Someone’s living in