think.â
Priorities
âYay!â shouted Brian. âChristmas worked.â
âWhat?â said Melody.
I pointed at my sign.âHe means my sign worked. And I havenât even put it in the front yard yet.â
âI wanted to hire you before I saw your sign,â said Jack.
âI did too,â said Melody.
âSee?â said Brian. âMagic.â
âOh yeah?â Jack touched the corner of my sign with his sneaker. âWhose case are you taking, Sly?â
This was tough.
Jack had brought me two cases in the past.
One was about Wish Fish, his Siamese fighting fish. The other was about soccer.
Melody had brought me two cases in the past. One was about Pong, her puppy. The other was about kicking.
They were both good clients.
I have two policies. First, I take only cases that are fun. Second, I take only cases a cat would care about. After all, my cat Taxi listens to me talk about cases. I donât want to bore her.
Taxi would like a case about Fluffy-Clarissa-Punky. Probably any cat would.
But Melody was my best friend. And danger should take priority. Plus, Taxi likes Melody.
âIâll take both,â I said.âBut Melodyâs first.â
Fishy
âNo fair,â said Jack. âI ... â He stopped and looked at Melody. His face turned pink and sappy. âAll right. But solve Melodyâs fast.â
This was a disturbing order. What if Melodyâs case was hard? âCases take as long as cases take,â I said.That sounded official.
âYou have one week,â said Jack. âMy cousins are coming Friday.â He dribbled his ball to the door. âWe want to play shuffleboard.â He went out.
Brian ran to the door. He shouted, âI want to play shuffleboard.â
âGreat idea,â Jack shouted back. âIâll see you Friday.â
Jack wanted Brian to come play shuffleboard? Brian?
Something fishy was going on.
âShut the door, Brian,â said Melody. âThe cold is coming in.â
Brian shut the door.
I turned to Melody. âStart at the beginning.â That was sleuth talk.
âI canât tell with you-know-who here.â Melody jerked her head toward Brian.
âTime to go, Brian.â I collected his crayons. It wasnât fair to send him home so fast. Heâd come only a little while ago. But business was business.
Brian rolled up his T. rex picture. He didnât even argue.
This was fishier than Jack inviting Brian for shuffleboard. âAre you feeling okay?â I asked.
âNo.â Brian stuck his finger in his mouth. He moved it around in there.
âWhatâs wrong?â
Brian dropped his hand. âI canât tell you.â
Brian told everyone everything. Something might really be wrong. Or maybe he was just echoing Melody.
I handed Brian his crayons.
He left.
âWhy couldnât you talk in front of Brian?â
âItâs scary,â said Melody.
Something dangerous and scary. I wasnât sure I wanted this case, after all. But I owed Melody a try. âWhatâs scary?â
âSee for yourself. Come home with me.â
Bushes
I followed Melody across Brianâs backyard.We ducked through the hedge into her yard.
Bushes run along the front of Melodyâs house. She stopped and held aside branches. âLook.â
I peeked past her arm. âI donât see anything.â
âLook down.â
It was dark back there. But I spied trash. A candy wrapper. A potato chip bag. Stuff like that.
Nothing dangerous or scary.
âSee?â said Melody. She was excited.
âTrash,â I said as nicely as I could.
âExactly,â said Melody.
This case was going nowhere. I cleared my throat. âWhy did you throw trash behind your bush?â
âDonât be dumb,â said Melody.âI didnât do it.â
âWho did?â
âThatâs the mystery. Someoneâs living in
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