Free Blue Lavender Girl by Judy May

better. I went out and gave Buddy one last hug before bedtime and explained why he had to sleepoutside and he licked my face as if to tell me everything was fine. He is braver than me. You have to be very brave to be happy I think.

DAY 24
    I had to cycle to the village for more dog food and I noticed that someone had fixed the door on the old warehouse. There was no time to investigate because I had a hungry dog waiting back at Aunt Maisie’s.
    My plan was to fill Buddy up so completely that he wouldn’t want to go snacking on Pie. Unfortunately this meant he couldn’t run as fast as usual and it took us forever to get to the Tea Palace (there, look at that, right name first time!).
    I held Buddy’s collar while he sniffed at Pie, who was being held by Jackson. They stayed sniffing at each other for a minute before Buddy gave Pie a lick and then barked at me as if to say he approved. As the day wore on, Buddy got so protective of Pie thatthe only one who can now get near the little bunny is Jackson, Buddy keeps the rest of us away from his new little pal.
    I could hear Jenny teasing Bob about his yawning. Jackson and I were prepping the chairs, and when he let out a huge yawn for the millionth time in five minutes, I said to him, ‘Come on, what’s going on at night? And you are a terrible liar so don’t even try it.’
    He glanced at Bob before coming clean.
    ‘OK, we might as well tell you. The other night on the way back from the Gate Lodge really late, we thought we saw someone running towards the Tea Palace.’
    ‘We ran after them,’ Bob continued, ‘But they were much faster than us. Which is how we know it wasn’t Mr Walsh. So for the past two nights we’ve been taking it in turns to wait up and see if someone shows.’
    Bob admitted that he fell asleep on his watch the first night, but that last night he did see someone at about one-thirty in the morning. He watched where the man went but he seemed to disappear around where the stone hut is.
    They looked completely wrecked so Jenny and Ioffered to meet them tonight, that way we can all hide in different parts of the Park and have more chance of catching him.
    It was time for a flapjack break, sitting on the cushions and things, and the guys fell asleep. We sneaked off and left a note in Jackson’s non-Pie pocket to tell them we’d meet them at midnight by the gates. I can’t wait!
    When I was cycling out of the Park with Buddy in tow, Mr Walsh was coming in. We said hello and he smiled and nodded back, so maybe he’s not so bad and we’re just making stuff up about him. What if that’s true, what if he’s just ordinary, like my dad, and we are such an ulcer that he’s stressed and mean whenever he sees us. He had white paint on his hands, so he must have started work on the east wing. That ‘win’’ stuff is so funny, it makes it sound like they live in an aeroplane.
    Aunt Maisie said I could stay over at Jenny’s tonight as long as she spoke to Nanny Gloria and cleared it with her first. I have collected black boots and trousers for me and Jenny to wear as night-camouflage and black sweaters and t-shirts for all of us. There you go, at least it’s good for something! I’m off now. I think it will be fun, muchbetter than hanging around town late at night staring at groups of guys and girls we hardly know. I wonder how Dee and Kira are doing. I wonder if Mum and Dad have done anything unforgivable to my bedroom.

DAY 25
    Last night at Jenny’s we did the real cliché thing of pretending we were tired early and going upstairs. We changed into the black clothes and got into bed and put the lights out. Jenny said that Nanny Gloria’s snoring is enough to register on some earthquake instruments two countries over. It was SO obvious as soon as she was sleeping.
    We couldn’t stop giggling all the way downstairs. Buddy couldn’t believe his luck when we came outside to the rug where we had tied him by his leash to wait for us.
    Jackson and Bob