Free Lost in London by Cindy Callaghan

better,’ that’s what I always say.” She got her face very close to mine, looked me in the eye, and said, “OOOOH! I am so excited. After the picture maybe we can get manis. I really need one. Look.” She held out her hand with chipped black polish.
    “Ditto,” Gordo said. He held out his hand too, but he didn’t have chipped polish. “My cuticles are so bad.”
    “TD,” Ellie said about his nails. No one knew whatshe meant. “Total Disaster,” she explained to our questioning faces. “Duh.”
    “Not me,” Sam said. His nails were bitten as low as they could go.
    “That’s fine,” Caroline said. “You can work on the Pluto project while we’re mani-ing. We’ve totally got to stay on top of that. I swear if I get in trouble because of that rat, I can’t be responsible for what I’ll do to him.”
    Sam didn’t seem bothered by being told he’d be working on a research paper. He said, “This assignment isn’t hard. I don’t know why he can’t do it.”
    “Fab,” Caroline said. “Then everything is peachy. We’ll jet through the Tower, catch the zombie picture, and get manis.”
    “Sure,” I said, but honestly, I didn’t like the idea of rushing through the Tower of London to see a movie I could see at home, or rent on DVD. But getting my nails done sounded like a treat.
    As we walked to the car, Caroline added, “I would love to think of a way to get even with the Swine of Sweets for making us do his work for him.”
    No one commented that Caroline had said “us” even though she wasn’t doing anything for the Pluto project. I wondered about a way we could get our videos back and also make sure Sebastian got caught for cheating.Caroline would probably be psyched if I came up with a plan.
    Liam dropped us at the train station, and I followed the gang to the right platform.
    Suddenly Gordo stopped and pointed to a screen overhead. “Look at the telly,” he said.
    The reporter named Skye said, “As we reported earlier today, there was a break-in at Daphne’s, during which some sophisticated electronic equipment was stolen. After a thorough inventory, it was determined that the loss was greater than originally suspected. A selection of power tools was also taken. The combination of items leads authorities to believe the robbers may have been collecting tools necessary for other crimes.”
    “What exactly are the items that were stolen?” Cole asked.
    “That information hasn’t been released, Cole. But an interesting video has been attracting a lot of attention on the Internet. Let’s go to the clip.”
    They ran the video that Sebastian had uploaded of Caroline and me trying on shoes.
    “You can see by the date and time stamp that this video was taken at Daphne’s. No faces are visible in this clip, but the audio suggests it’s a local and an American girl.”
    Cole asked, “Are you saying these are the robbers?”
    “Authorities haven’t said that, but these girls were in the store after closing on the same night,” Skye said. “I know I’d like to be loose in Daphne’s after closing, Cole. Can you imagine?”
    “No I can’t, but I’d love it too. For now, let’s take a look at the weather.”
    “That blasted Sebastian!” Caroline said. “Look what he’s done. He’s tied us to this robbery.”
    “Was it heavy?” Ellie asked Caroline.
    “What?”
    “All that stuff?” Ellie asked. “Where did you put it?”
    “For the love of the queen! We. Didn’t. Steal. Anything!” Caroline barked.
    Ellie cowered a bit from the volume, then softly asked, “Are you sure?” Then, after seeing Caroline begin to boil red, loudly she said, “Never mind! I didn’t just say that. I swear, I didn’t. I heard it, so someone said something, but it wasn’t me. Maybe it was a ghost.”
    “Maybe we should go to the police,” I suggested, trying to take the heat off Ellie.
    “And tell them what, exactly? That we stayed in the store after closing and ran amok in every