Dognapped! Read Online Free PDF Page B

important. Right?’
    The printer was quite chatty, and told me that he thought Fluffy had been kidnapped by an organised gang. ‘They find out who’s got valuable dogs and target them,’ he said. I pointed out that the gang wouldn’t know Fluffy was in the garden by herself, but he said they’d lie in wait and watch for days. ‘There’s big money to be made selling pedigree dogs on the black market,’ he said.
    I wasn’t sure I agreed with him, but I recorded the conversation anyway.
    We spent the next couple of hours distributing the flyers. Some of the local stores agreed to put them in their windows, while others stuck them on the wall inside. We left a couple in the library, and posted others through mailboxes. A lot of people stopped to talk and give us their theories on Fluffy’s disappearance. I couldn’t wait to get home and play back all the conversations to see if anything struck me as suspicious. It had been hard to think clearly with Max’s endless interruptions.
    As I approached Beachview, I could see Mr Winkleberry sitting in his car, engine running, and Gran about to get into the passenger seat.
    ‘Someone’s just phoned … they think they’ve just seen Fluffy by the harbour,’ Gran shouted to me.
    ‘Can I come?’ I asked. ‘I feel real bad about losing Fluffy; I want to be there when she’s found.’
    ‘And me,’ begged Max.
    ‘Get in then, quick, but not you Max, you’d best go straight home, your mother’s already been looking for you.’
    Max went to protest, but his mother came out and ordered him in. I put my bike in the front garden, got into the back of the car and we set off. But when we got to the harbour, there was no sign of Fluffy, or any other dog for that matter.
    ‘She must have wandered off somewhere,’ Gran said. ‘Oh, if only that woman had picked her up and brought her home.’
    Gran had brought Fluffy’s favourite squeaky toy with her and kept squeaking it so Fluffy would hear it and come running – but she didn’t.
    We looked around for hours. Finally, we went home, tired and exhausted.
    ‘I’m dying to put my feet up and have a cup of tea,’ Gran said, taking out her keys. As she opened the front door, we saw a white envelope lying on the mat. The words ‘Mrs Carter’ were written on it in big black capital letters.
    ‘Now who’s sent me a note at this time of night,’ Gran said, picking it up. She opened it up and pulled out a sheet of paper.
    ‘Oh my goodness!’ she gasped, her face white. ‘It says that if I want Fluffy back safe, I’ll have to pay £2,000.’

Chapter 7
Dead or Alive!
    ‘We’ll call the police immediately,’ Mr Winkleberry exclaimed. ‘I’m not letting them hold you to ransom like this!’
    ‘I can’t. It says that if I tell the police I’ll never see Fluffy alive again. Look.’ Gran held out the letter, her hand trembling.
    ‘Let me see, Gran.’ I said quickly. This was the first real piece of physical evidence we’d seen so far, so I wanted to study it carefully. I certainly didn’t want Gran and Mr Winkleberry making any rash decisions about calling the police or otherwise, until I’d had a chance to work out whether this was the work of Fluffy’s captor, or just someone trying to make some money out of Gran while she is desperate and vulnerable.
    I cleared my mind, took a deep breath and started reading:

    ‘Well, whoever it is, they don’t live very far from here. Or they’ve got an accomplice nearby,’ I said.
    ‘How do you know that?’
    ‘The letter’s been hand-delivered, Gran. Probably by the same person who sent us out on that wild goose chase down to the harbour.’
    ‘You mean someone just wanted to get us out of the way, so they could deliver the letter?’ Gran looked really upset. ‘How awful to think that someone local has kidnapped my precious little princess. They could be watching the house now, waiting to see what I’ll do.’
    ‘Well I think the letter is a fake and we should