The Case of the Diamond Dog Collar by Martha Freeman Read Free Book Online Page A

right?”
    Tessa nodded. “
Oh
, yeah.”
    â€œBut we can’t,” I said. “If the president’s kids start screaming in the middle of the night . . .”
    â€œGood point,” Tessa said. “So how ‘bout if we scream silently?”
    â€œPinky promise,” I said. We hooked our fingers.
    Tessa took a breath. “Here goes.” She put one of the diamonds next to her face, made her lips into an O again and exhaled. I leaned close, and together we looked.
    No fog.
    No fog?
    The diamond was real!
    We closed our eyes, we opened our mouths, we pumped our fists—and we screamed!
    Silently.
    To somebody watching, it would’ve looked like the sound was on mute.
    After that, Tessa and I took turns testing the other diamonds. And guess what? They were real, too. Every single one.
    Hooligan must have been super tired because Tessa and I sneaked the collar back onto his neck without waking him. After that, the two of us were so excited there was no way we could go back to sleep.
    So instead we brushed our teeth, washed our faces, got dressed, and made our beds. Ready to face the day, I looked at the clock on my bedside table.
    It was four in the morning!
    â€œNow what are we supposed to do?” I asked.
    â€œLet’s wake up Mom and Dad. This is big news!”
    I shook my head. “We can’t do that. Mom’s tired already, and she has a country to run.”
    â€œThen let’s look at your notes again,” Tessa said. “Now that we know it couldn’t have been ground up, we really have to find that diamond.”
    Instead of telling you every word Tessa and I said for the next three hours, I am going to summarize the important parts:
    â€¢ Sometimes diamonds are cut more than once.
    â€¢ Diamonds break compost grinders.
    â€¢ Famous diamonds are priceless and worthless.
    And
    â€¢ The diamonds on Hooligan’s collar test real.
    This brought up three fat questions:
    â€¢ Did the person/dog who sent the collar to Hooligan know it had real diamonds?
    â€¢ If yes, why had he/she lied?
    â€¢ And why was someone sending Hooligan diamonds at all?
    At seven, Granny came in to wake us. You can imagine the look on her face when she saw us up and dressed. “What in the world . . .?”
    â€œWell it
took
you long enough!” Tessa jumped off the sofa. “Come on. We have something to show you.”
    Shaking her head like we were crazy, Granny followed us into Hooligan’s room. All three of us knelt down. All three of us looked in his crate.
    All three of us saw it was empty!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

    â€œDOES what you want to show me have to do with Hooligan?” Granny asked.
    â€œ
Duh!
” Tessa said.
    â€œMr. Bryant took him out for a romp with Cottonball before Canine Class,” Granny said.
    â€œBut that doesn’t start for another hour!” Tessa said.
    Granny shrugged. “He said there was no traffic this morning so he got here early. Come on and eat your breakfast. What’s all the excitement anyway?”
    It seemed lame just to tell Granny the diamonds were real. We wanted to prove it. Tessa said, “If it’s okay, we’d rather tell you later.”
    â€œSuit yourselves,” said Granny. “But remember you’ve got church this morning—right after Canine Class.”
    On our way to the kitchen, Tessa tried to argue: “We have to interview Mr. Mormora after class! It’s really important!”
    Granny’s look said: Mr. Mormora can wait. God can’t.
    â€œOh,
fine
,” Tessa said.
    â€œMeanwhile,” Granny said brightly, “it’s time to name the canary.”
    It was Nate’s turn. And for once he had come to breakfast on time.
    â€œI propose ‘Serinus,’ ” he said.
    â€œSe-whatziss?” Tessa asked.
    â€œThe Latin name for canary is
Serinus canaria domestica
,” Nate said.
    Granny cut bagels in half