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

open your eyes and see what I’m holding.”
    Feet braced for a fast take-off, I opened my eyes a smidgen. Then blinked and opened them wider. Jack was holding the head in one hand and the long black hair in the other.
    “It’s a wig on a dummy head,” he said, grinning. “How could you mistake that for a real head?”
    I gazed at the now bald plastic thing in Jack’s hand. Its glassy eyes had been painted on with what looked like blue enamel and its mouth with pink lipstick.
    “Well…it looked real in the shadows and I wasn’t going to walk across the room to check it out.” I paused as Jack carefully placed the dummy and the wig back on the dining-room table. “Did Tayla come with you?”
    “Yeah. She’s outside keeping the dog happy.” He pushed past me into the passage. “Now, let’s get out of here before the owner comes home. Being found inside someone’s house could be sort of embarrassing.” He made a face. “Not to mention illegal.”
    “This house belongs to Krystal Masters.”
    “Who’s she?”
    “The owner of the pink handkerchief.”
    Jack looked at me strangely. This wasn’t the time to fill him in so I said, “What’s Tayla doing with the dog?”
    “Feeding him a dinosaur bone,” said Jack. “We’d better hurry ’cos when that dog finishes eating he’ll be looking for a human leg.”
    Opening the front door a crack I could see the big grey monster crunching on a giant-sized marrow-bone as though it was made of marshmallow. He looked up and his mad yellow eyes stared into mine. He was obviously not sure whether to finish his snack or go for the main course.
    Me.
    That’s when a white van pulled up outside the house and a man and woman climbed out. Tayla took one horrified look in our direction and started jumping up and down. She’d drawn a game with yellow chalk on the pavement and was pretending to play hopscotch.
    “Quick! Out the back door.” Jack took off towards the back of the house leaving me still gaping at the white van. Didn’t the old guy next door say something about a white van outside the church hall?
    I shut the door, realized I didn’t have time to follow Jack, so snuck into the bedroom.
    Where to hide?
    I slid the wardrobe door open and stepped inside, pulling dresses and coats around me before closing it again—just as the front door opened.
    “You didn’t lock up this morning, Krystal.” It was a man’s voice, gruff and accusing.
    A woman’s voice answered. “Who’s going to burgle our house while Sweetums is on guard?”
    Sweetums? The dog’s name was Sweetums?
    “Ready for pizza?”
    “Hang on. Don’t start without me,” answered the woman, “I’m just going to put my coat away.”
    Coat—wardrobe!
    Oh no…
    Why didn’t I hide under the bed?
    Footsteps tapped their way into the room. I held my breath until dots appeared before my eyes. There was a shuffling sound like shoes being kicked off then soft footsteps heading toward the wardrobe.
    Would she be carrying a butcher’s knife? Would she grab a dagger off the wall and bury it in my chest?
    The wardrobe door slid open noiselessly. I swallowed hard, peeped around the skirt of a long red velvet dress and found myself gazing into the prettiest pixie-shaped face I’d ever seen.

Nine
    Krystal Masters couldn’t be a killer.
    She was a magician, a sorceress, or at the very least a fairy princess. How else could her chocolate cake, undoubtedly made from an enchanted magic recipe, melt in my mouth, touching and tantalizing every tingling taste bud before it slid smoothly down my throat?
    With a smile that started in her eyes and spread across her face she whisked the cake-dish under my nose again. “More cake, Chiana?”
    “Ooooh, yes!” I said, my self-control somersaulting straight out the window.
    Tayla and Jack were also munching magic cake. Well…Tayla was munching. Jack was shoveling the slices into his mouth like a cement-mixer laying a driveway.
    How come I was eating cake in