Alice-Miranda Shines Bright 8 Read Online Free PDF Page B

have been awake and just pretending to sleep. I mean, last time I was here I read a really funny part of Matilda and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud.’
    â€˜But you said that you could have sworn you saw him smile a couple of times,’ Sloane insisted. She was feeling very smug about her theory.
    Alice-Miranda thought about it. She had said that. If Mr Parker had been awake all this time then why hadn’t he just said so? And he took his food through a tube – she was quite sure that if he’d been awake he would love to have had something more substantial to eat.
    Millie must have been thinking the same thing. ‘But Mr Parker was hooked up to all that equipment.’
    â€˜How do you know that he was really hooked up?’ Sloane asked. She’d recently started reading a detective series and was enjoying channelling its heroine. ‘Did you ever see the needle in his arm or was there a plaster over it?’
    Millie hated to admit it but Sloane was right. They couldn’t know for sure without asking Nurse Raylene, and she seemed to be well and truly gone.
    Alice-Miranda had a strange feeling that there was more to Mr Parker’s disappearance than anyone knew.
    â€˜I still think we should get a search party together and have a proper look around the village and in the woods,’ Alice-Miranda suggested. It’s light for another few hours. Please let us help, Constable Derby.’
    â€˜I’ll phone the details into headquarters first, and then how about you girls go back to school and see who you can get together?’
    â€˜What about Wally Whitstable and the fellows over at Chesterfield Downs?’ Millie suggested.
    â€˜And Mr Munz and Otto at the store? Surely they could help?’ Alice-Miranda said.
    â€˜What about the boys? There’s a whole school of them on the other side of the village,’ Jacinta announced.
    â€˜You just want to see your boyfriend,’ Sloane teased.
    Jacinta opened her mouth but Alice-Miranda got in first.
    â€˜Please, Jacinta, Sloane, this is no time to argue.’
    â€˜Yeah, get over it, Sloane. Seriously, who cares if they like each other?’ Millie added.
    Jacinta wrinkled her nose at Sloane.
    Ambrosia Headlington-Bear reappeared in the kitchen. ‘What else can we do to help?’ she asked.
    â€˜I’m heading back to the station, but if it’s all right with you, Mrs Headlington-Bear, perhaps the girls could see who they can round up and we’ll meet at the showground in half an hour. I think we’re clutching at straws a little but the poor old boy has to be out there somewhere,’ the constable explained.
    â€˜What do you want me to do?’ Ambrosia asked.
    â€˜I think you should stay here with Mrs Parker. She shouldn’t be alone.’
    â€˜And then you’ll be here if Mr Parker or Nurse Raylene comes back,’ said Alice-Miranda.
    But at that moment none of the group thought that was very likely. It seemed that Reginald Parker had indeed made a run for it.
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    S tan Frost glanced at the clock above the doorway. It was almost time to put his dinner on; he made a mental note then looked over at the table.
    â€˜You still haven’t told me where you’ve been,’ he said.
    â€˜Home, of course,’ replied the other man, who was sitting at the table. He swivelled around and patted his knee. Maudie was the first to jump out of her bed near the back door and onto his lap. ‘Sorry Itch, you miss out this time.’ The little tan cocker spaniel lapped up the man’s attention. Itch opened one eye and closed it again.
    â€˜But that doesn’t explain anything,’ Stan insisted. At that moment, he wished he’d remembered to pay that last phone bill. The lack of a working telephone hadn’t worried him until now.
    He placed two cups of tea on the pine table.
    â€˜Have you got anything to eat?’ the fellow