Edie Amelia and the Runcible River Fever Read Online Free PDF

detective, aren’t you?’ she said. The vet’s eyes twinkled. Edie thought how much nicer she looked when she wasn’t frowning or glaring. Doctor Stuart seemed to mull something over.
    â€˜Listen,’ she said, putting down Mister’s file. ‘There is something small you could do for me, in which case I’d be happy to waive my fee.’
    â€˜What is it?’ said Edie.
    â€˜Let’s call it some careful observation of your next-door neighbour.’
    â€˜What?’ said Edie. ‘The Blank Mar—er, I mean, Adam Halloween?’
    â€˜He loves his junk with a passion, does Adam,’ said the vet, ever so softly.
    â€˜I know,’ said Edie. ‘I helped him tidy his shed.’
    â€˜Indeed,’ Doctor Stuart said. ‘You know, Adam and I agreed to meet here early this morning.’
    â€˜Really?’ said Edie.
    â€˜But before we could discuss some . . . matters of a personal nature, I had to attend to an urgent call regarding a sick camel at the refuge. As a favour, I asked Adam to watch over the surgery for me until I returned. When I arrived at the refuge, Doctor Dogwatch informed me he hadn’t called for backup at all. It seemed the whole thing had been a hoax.’
    Edie jotted down the details in her notebook.
    â€˜When I got back to the surgery I found Adam gone and some valuable items missing as well. Twelve rolls of catgut thread, one enormous canister of highly flammablepropane and two canisters of oxygen had just, poof, disappeared,’ she said, pointing at the empty spaces on the shelves of the surgery. ‘And along with them a blowtorch, a key and one of my microscopes. They’re expensive items, most of them dangerous, and when put together they can be lethal. Boom!’ She mimicked an explosion.
    â€˜Adam Halloween wouldn’t steal from you!’ cried Edie. ‘He’d never blow anything up, either. It’s my dad who goes in for that sort of lark!’
    â€˜But you can see why I’m suspicious. All I’m asking, in return for those eye drops and some follow-up consultations, is this: that you observe the goings-on next door. See if you can track down my missing items and then write a report for me. Think of it as your first paid detective job,’ she said. Her expression turned serious. ‘It’s really in the interests of everybody’s safety. I can’t bear to think of the police arresting Adam, but he’ll leave me no choice if he has, in fact, committed a crime. Against me, of all people! Think about it,’ said the vet, reaching intoa plastic bag under the table and handing Mister not one but three treats.
    Edie finished writing down Doctor Stuart’s missing items and studied the list carefully. She walked over to the shelf and inspected the area from which the items had gone missing. A strand of something auburn caught her eye and she carefully removed it with her tweezers and deposited it in an evidence bag. It looked familiar somehow. Edie looked back at the list. She was beginning to see a pattern, a riddle wanting to be solved.

    â€˜I’ll do it,’ Edie said.
    The vet reached forward and shook her hand with her long elegant fingers.
    â€˜Goodness,’ she said. ‘I’m neglecting the patient.’ She put four drops in Mister’s eye, covered it with a handsome black eye patch and lowered him to the floor.
    As Edie pushed the heavy pram home she had a brainwave. She needed to see her father as soon as possible.

The Flan Plan versus Operation Blank Marauder

    E die left the pram at the front door and scrambled up the spiral staircase to her room. She needed to think fast. She now had two cases to solve and it was going to take every ounce of rational thought to juggle them both.
    â€˜Why on earth is Mister wearing an eyepatch?’ Cinnamon called from the bottom of the spiral staircase.
    Edie tried thinking on her feet. ‘Um