Read Online The Case of the Disappearing Corpse by June Whyte - Free Book Online

sank to the ground.
    I glanced across at Tayla. Her eyes were glazed over—probably in the hope that she wouldn’t see anything she didn’t want to see.
    Definitely no help there.
    Sweat beaded under my armpits as I reached out with the torch and nudged the shed door fully open.
    Oh gross!
    I stumbled backwards. Let out a scream. Or was that Tayla’s scream ringing in my ears?
    For there…stuck between the grass speckled lawnmower and the rusty hedge clippers was a stiff, much-the-worse-for-wear, track-suited body.
    Could it be Frank Skinner?

Twelve
    The voice in my head screamed, “Run! Run for your life!” But after my mistake with the plastic head and the wig, I had to check to see if the body in the shed was real and not a dummy.
    My hands were sweaty. My armpits, forehead, and body were hot—yet I felt icy cold. I could hear a loud rasping sound that seemed to be drowning out all other noises.
    It was my breathing.
    I clutched the torch more tightly and reached forward to give the dirty grey sneaker on the end of the closest leg a prod. From inside the shed a smell hit my nostrils. A bad, sickly smell, like rotten meat. I gagged. My hand shook so badly, the torch missed the sneaker. Instead it whacked the middle of the leg. Like a nightmare in slow motion I watched the corpse shudder then move toward me.
    I let out a scream but no sound came from my lips. I tried to run but my frozen brain wouldn’t send the message to my legs. I tried to close my eyes but they wouldn’t budge.
    A family of bull ants were eating the dead man’s face…
    Phaaaaaaaw. The fish-fingers I’d eaten for tea hurtled back out again, followed by mashed up Tim Tams and something green I must have eaten for breakfast.
    Within five minutes of ringing the police, half the Port Adelaide Police Department came crashing through the gate and into the backyard. From the kitchen Tayla and I heard them snapping out orders. “Stay where you are!” and “This is the Police!”
    Tayla and I sat hunched at the table in the kitchen sipping cups of cocoa and trying to pretend we were invisible.
    “How did you girls get in here?” asked a plain-clothes detective whose moustache kept bobbing up and down as he spoke.
    “A key,” Tayla whispered.
    The detective’s frown deepened.
    “Patsy gave us permission,” I hurried to explain before he whipped out his handcuffs. “She gave me the key so we could get inside and clean the house.”
    The detective shook his head then moved away to speak to another policeman who informed him the body was sealed off and ready for Forensics. The only familiar face in the room belonged to the junior constable. The constable with the dimple. The constable who’d done his best to stop me from invading the crime scene the day before.
    Unfortunately, Constable Nick Roberts wasn’t inclined to talk—except to ask how many sugars we took in our cocoa. He did smile at us once. Just a quick grin of recognition and then it was replaced by his normal starchy face.
    “Are you cold? Would either of you like a blanket?” asked Detective Moustache, almost as an after-thought.
    I shook my head and warmed my fingers by wrapping them around the hot mug cradled in my hands. A war-dance had started up inside my stomach. It was swirling and thumping and making loud rolling noises. Probably meant I still had a couple of fish-fingers left in there.
    “I said we shouldn’t come here,” Tayla mumbled from inside her mug.
    “Why not?” I could see the detective’s moustache actually shivering with eagerness as he turned to Tayla.
    “What my friend means is that it was a bit scary. You know what with Patsy finding the dead man here and his killer still on the loose.”
    I bent down and gave Leroy a gentle shove. He was asleep on my feet. “That’s why we brought our guard-dog with us.”
    “Right.” Moustache turned to the other detective. “Has anyone thought to ring the girls’ parents?”
    “Yes. They should be here