Mystery At Riddle Gully by Jen Banyard Read Free Book Online

Shorn Connery trotted up to join her, lupin leaves streaked across his nose. She picked up the trailing end of his rope, barely noticing he was there.
    They rounded a bend and Pollo saw something that lifted her mood considerably. Up ahead was the boy from earlier—Sergeant Butt’s stepson—only this time he was on the track, his back towards her. In his hands he held a length of heavy timber and, to Pollo’s delight, he was swinging it lustily, aiming blow after blow at the pickets of his own fence.
    Her backup story just got better and better! Dropping Shorn Connery’s rope, she snuck up behind him. As he was about to swing, she tapped him on the shoulder.
    â€˜Hi there!’
    Will wheeled around, dropping the plank and reeling backwards. As he stumbled, a big grey thing shot out of nowhere, catching him behind the knees. His arms windmilled but he kept tumbling. For a split-second he sat on something tickly that wriggled out from under him. He toppled backwards, cracking and snapping twigs as he crashed down into the prickly scrub.
    He opened his eyes and looked up into a set of dirty Y-shaped nostrils. Glassy yellow eyes with horizontal pupil slits stared down at him. Ears at right angles to a long nose took turns to twitch.
    He shook his head. Was he delirious?
    The animal curled back its lips, baring grass-covered teeth. Baa-aa-aah!
    Maybe he’d wake up and find that this day had all been a giant nightmare. He pinched himself but nothing changed. In fact, things were worse. A girl dressed like a burglar was now bending over him, offering him her hand. He got the strong impression she was trying not to laugh.
    Ignoring her hand, he tried to lever himself out of his prickle bush. But with every twitch thorns found a new bit of flesh to jab. Swallowing his pride, he reached up.
    The girl hoisted him to his feet and watched him pluck thorns from his legs and arms. She cleared herthroat. ‘I guess it’s one of those one-thing-leading-to-another types of situations,’ she said.
    Will grunted. ‘What’s that s’posed to mean?’
    â€˜Let me guess,’ said the girl, pulling out a notepad and pencil. ‘You’re trying to make a hole in the fence?’
    â€˜Why would I be doing a dumb thing like that?’ said Will, colour rising in his cheeks.
    â€˜Because you told your stepdad, who happens to be a police sergeant, that there was a hole in the fence, when it would appear to most observers—’ here she took a step backwards and glanced up and down the fence ‘—that there isn’t, in fact, any such thing.’
    â€˜How would you know what I told my stepfather? Unless you were—’
    â€˜Eavesdropping. You’ve got it, though I like to think of it as making the most of all of my senses.’ The girl stepped forward and offered her hand. ‘Sorry, I should introduce myself. I’m Pollo di Nozi—supersleuth and editor of the Riddle Gully Gazette.’
    Will scowled at Pollo’s hand. What was it his footy coach used to say? Attack was the best form of defence! ‘Pollo?’ he said with a smirk. ‘That’s a weird name. It means chicken in Italian, doesn’t it? I had pollo-something at a restaurant. Are you a scaredy-cat, or something?’
    Scaredy-cat? Was that the best he could do?
    The girl gritted her teeth. ‘Pollo’s short for Apollonia, if you must know. After my dad’s mum. What you eat at restaurants is your business.’
    Will gave up. He wasn’t up for a tussle in his current state. He scuffed the dirt. ‘What’s with the sheep?’
    â€˜This here’s Shorn Connery—you know, like the original James Bond, Secret Agent 007. Only instead of S-E-A-N, it’s S-H-O-R-N—because he’s a sheep! Get it? My Aunty Giulia named him. She said it was a good name for any pet of mine because I was always spying on people. Still am.’
    Will grunted.