Free November Lake: Teenage Detective (The November Lake Mysteries) Book 1 by Jamie Drew Page B

and feeling angry with
myself for what I was about to say, I said, “Go on, then, tell
me.”
    “ It has something to do with a missing dog,” he said, sitting
forward in his chair, blue eyes sparkling.
    “ You’re kidding me, right?” I sighed.
    “ No, listen, you don’t understand,” he said, unable to contain
the evident excitement brimming inside him. “I met this woman last
night and…”
    “ Are you sure you want to be telling me this?” I cut
in.
    “ It’s not what you think,” he said with a shake of his head.
“After training school finished yesterday, and just wanting to
flake out on the sofa in front of the TV for the night, I went to
McDonald’s for my tea to save myself the hassle of cooking. Anyway,
I was sitting there working my way through my second cheeseburger
when I looked up and noticed this woman. She could’ve only been in
her mid-twenties and real pretty. But it wasn’t her prettiness that
caught my eye.”
    “ What then?” I asked, already intrigued.
    “ She was sitting all on her own, hands clasping a cup of tea
and crying,” Kale said. “I had never seen anyone look so sad. But
as I sat and watched her, I realised that it was more than just
sadness I could see on her face; it was fear. This lady was scared.
So finishing off the cheeseburger, I took my coffee and went over
to her table. I asked if she was okay. She looked so startled by my
sudden presence that I flashed her my badge and explained I was a
police officer. I asked if there was anything I could do to
help.
    “‘ The dog,’ she sobbed, bringing one hand up to her eyes as if
to mask her tears.
    “‘ What dog?’ I asked her.
    “‘ Gone,’ she whispered.
    “ I guessed she meant that she had lost her dog and that’s why
she was so upset,” Kale said. “But there was more to it than that.
Like I said, she seemed really scared.”
    “ What else did she say?” I asked Kale.
    “ Not much, she continued to sit and cry. Again I explained that
I was a police officer and could help her. I took one of my I.D.
cards out with my number on it and handed it to her. She took it.
Before I’d had the chance to explain that if she changed her mind
and wanted to call me to report her missing dog, she jumped and
fled into the night.”
    “ And is that it?” I asked, fearing that there was very little
of a mystery to solve without more information.
    “ Not quite,” Kale said. “As I lay watching TV last night, I got
a text message from her.”
    “ What did it say?” I said, almost springing out of my
chair.
    “ That she was scared of making an official report to the police
but would like my help,” Kale said. “I sent a text back explaining
that I had a friend who could help, too.”
    “ Me?” I asked.
    “ Yes,” Kale nodded. “I told her to come here this morning
at…”
    Before
Kale had a chance to finish, my doorbell rang for the second time
that morning.
    “ Sounds like your mystery woman has arrived,” I said, looking
at him.
    Kale
lingered at the top of the staircase, as I headed down to the front
door. A bedraggled-looking woman stood in the street outside. She
held in her hand a small overnight case. The hood of her coat was
up and the face staring from beneath it at me was tired looking,
yet pretty as Kale had described it to be.
    “ November Lake?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. I
detected a faint tremor in it. Kale had been right about the fear
in her eyes, too. “Your friend said it would be okay for me to call
by this morning. It is okay, isn’t it?”
    “ Of course,” I smiled. How could I turn someone away who looked
so fearful, back out into the rain? “Please come in. My friend Kale
is waiting upstairs.”
    “ Thank you,” the woman said meekly. She stepped into the hall
and I closed the front door. I led her upstairs and into my room,
where Kale was now waiting for us.
    “ Hello again,” he smiled at her, holding out his
hand.
    She
closed her long, slender