Read Online Edgar Allan's Official Crime Investigation Notebook by Mary Amato - Free Book Online Page B

they usually lie down in wet grass.
    Edgar looked up. What Taz did next almost broke Edgar’s heart. He sat next to his dog in the soaking grass. Gently, he stroked his fur and said something that Edgar couldn’t hear.
    Edgar didn’t move a muscle.
    After another minute, it began to drizzle lightly again. Taz stood up and called Bandit’s name. Bandit turned his head to look at Taz, but he didn’t get up.
    Taz crouched down and tried to pick him up.
    Edgar almost couldn’t bear to watch. He wanted to help, but how could he?
    Taz went inside and got his older brother. Together they lifted Bandit up and managed to carry him into the house.
    Edgar gripped the handlebars of his bike, his face wet. He turned his bike around. And there, on her bike, was Destiny.
    He could tell by the look in her eyes that she had witnessed the whole scene with Taz and Bandit.
    â€œBandit has cancer,” she said. “He’s dying.”
    Edgar stood, holding onto his bike in the drizzle. “I know. I saw Taz reading about it on the computer. How did you find out?”
    â€œMy mom is friends with Taz’s mom,” she explained.
    They both looked at Taz’s house. The hood of Destiny’s red raincoat was up, her face serious and dark. “You left that poem in my cubby, didn’t you,” she said.
    A little jolt ran through Edgar. “How did you know?” he asked.
    â€œI recognized your handwriting.”
    He hadn’t thought of that.
    â€œAre you the thief?” she asked.
    â€œ
Me?
Why would you think that?”
    â€œBecause the thief leaves poems and because you always look suspicious and you write good poems, too.”
    Edgar felt himself blushing. “I thought
you
might be the thief.”
    â€œMe?” She smiled, one tooth missing on the side.
    â€œI thought Taz might be the thief, too,” Edgar said. “But I don’t think so anymore.”
    â€œI don’t think so either. Taz was upset when Slurpy disappeared, but he didn’t want to show it.” Destiny hesitated and looked again at Taz’s house. “We should do something for him.”
    Edgar agreed. “I thought about telling him I think he’s innocent. I thought that might make him feel better.”
    She parked her bike and pulled a notebook and pencil out of her backpack. “Let’s write him a poem. We’ll make it funny because Taz likes funny stuff. I write a line. You write a line,” Destiny said. “We have to make it quick or it’ll get too wet.”
    We know you’re not the thief.
    We know you’re not the robber.
    You’re just like us, a normal kid,
    Who likes to spit and slobber.
    As soon as Edgar wrote the last line, he wanted to kick himself. It was stupid. Destiny wouldn’t like the spit and slobber part. But she laughed. She ripped the page out of the notebook, folded it up, and handed it to him. “Quick. Put it in his mail slot.”
    â€œWhat if he hears me and looks out and sees us?”
    She put her backpack on. “We’ll make a getaway. I’ll hold your bike so it’s ready.”
    The mail slot was waiting. Edgar slipped the poem under his jacket to protect it from the rain, ran across the street, and popped it into the mail slot on Taz’s door. When he came back, he hopped on his bike and they both began to pedal like crazy. Side by side they rode for a block on the wet pavement as fast as they could. Edgar was running out of breath, but he had never felt so good. He looked over and Destiny was smiling. She felt good, too.
    They came to a fork in the road. Destiny lived to the right, and Edgar lived to the left.
    Far off, the sky rumbled.
    â€œSee you tomorrow, Edgar,” Destiny said.
    â€œYeah,” Edgar said.
    They each turned and rode home.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

    When Edgar walked in the back door his mother yelped. “You’re dripping wet, Edgar! Why didn’t you come