Read Online Friday Barnes 2 by R. A. Spratt - Free Book Online

back to gazing at the ceiling. This was her second favourite pastime after sleeping.
    Friday tipped back her green pork-pie hat and looked at her new client. Trea Babcock was a slim brunette in third form. She was not terribly nice. She never would have spoken to Friday under normal circumstances. Friday was curious. ‘How can I help you?’ she asked.
    â€˜I loaned Jacinta, my roommate, my calculator and she won’t give it back,’ said Trea, clearly distressed.
    â€˜It’s just a calculator. Why don’t you buy another one?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜I don’t want to say,’ said Trea. ‘I don’t want to incriminate myself.’
    â€˜I’m not the police or the Headmaster,’ said Friday. ‘You can tell me.’
    â€˜The calculator’s a model that is unacceptable under the school’s anti-technology rules,’ said Trea. ‘It’s wi-fi capable. I can use it to shop online.’
    â€˜Your calculator can do online shopping?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜It’s quite handy,’ said Trea. ‘You can tally up the purchases as you shop.’
    â€˜So why not buy another one?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜Duh,’ said Trea, ‘because I’d have to get it smuggled in via the swamp. That’s how I got the last one in.’
    â€˜And how is that problematic?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜Pedro, our family gardener, refuses to paddle Daddy’s dingy into the swamp again,’ said Trea. ‘He fell overboard last time. Then made such a fuss because he couldn’t swim.’
    â€˜He could have drowned,’ said Friday.
    â€˜I suppose,’ said Trea. ‘But Mirabella Peterson’s maid was smuggling in her hair-curling tongs on that same night. She pulled him out and knew all about CPR so he was fine.’
    â€˜So why won’t Jacinta give your calculator back?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜She says she doesn’t have it,’ said Trea. ‘I lent it to her last Thursday because she was doing her calculus homework and her calculator’s battery had gone flat. But today when I asked for it back, she was so busydoing her art project she didn’t even look up. She just said, “Sorry I don’t have it.”’
    â€˜Then what did you say?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜Nothing,’ said Trea. ‘Jacinta put her earbuds back in and kept doing her sculpture. So I did what any roommate would do.’
    â€˜And what’s that?’ asked Friday. She was self-aware enough to know she did not think like a normal roommate.
    â€˜I rifled through her things when she left for ballet class,’ said Trea. ‘But I couldn’t find it anywhere.’
    â€˜Hmm,’ said Friday, ‘I see.’ She turned to where Melanie was lying in a deeply relaxed meditative state on the bed. ‘Melanie, snap out of it. We need to go and investigate the scene of the crime.’
    â€˜Okay,’ said Melanie. This was her response to most things, even when they clearly weren’t okay.
    Friday gathered her notebook and Melanie gathered her thoughts as they got ready to leave.
    â€˜So you agree it is a crime scene?’ said Trea excitedly. She was looking forward to an opportunity to denounce her roommate. She had three months’ worth of irritation built up about everything, from the way Jacinta left her dirty socks on the floor tothe way she snored like a chainsaw when she had a cold.
    â€˜We’ll see,’ said Friday.
    â€˜I know she’s still got it because Bronwyn Hanley saw Jacinta with it at lunchtime yesterday. She was in the library doing homework.’
    â€˜That can’t be right,’ said Melanie.
    â€˜What do you mean?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜Jacinta was at hockey practice at lunchtime yesterday,’ said Melanie. ‘I was sitting in the dining room, staring out the window. I could see her running.’
    â€˜Melly Pelly, you have a mind like a