The Boy Detective Fails Read Online Free PDF

introduction of this, a new puzzle, the nearly knowable answer to the strange question lying somewhere before him—Billy finds his feet are moving. His tiny black-and-white notebook is out of his pocket and already he is writing. He hurries across the street and stands beside the girl, staring down at where she is looking. There, exactly as the girl has claimed, is a small, fawn-colored rabbit—but headless—the animal’s neck a disastrousb flood of blood and tendons, its great wound decorated with silver specks of small buzzing flies, two pairs of small ballerina slippers still on its feet.
    “What is the meaning of this?” Billy asks.
    “Its head isn’t on its body.”
    “Yes. Or so it would seem.”
    The boy detective is already investigating: measuring, tabulating, a black-and-white blueprint, a detailed diagram of the missing bunny head is already magically appearing at the end of his pencil. He introduces himself like this: “My name is Billy Argo. I am a detective.”
    “A detective?”
    “Yes. What is your name?”
    “Effie Mumford.” With that, she wipes her runny nose. Beside her, Gus, her brother, only squints suspiciously.
    “And what is his name?” Billy asks.
    “Gus Mumford. But he doesn’t speak.” “I see. And why not?”
    “His teacher won’t call on him in class. He writes notes, though.”
    The boy detective stares at the strange little dark-eyed boy, who passes him a small piece of white paper. It says: Hello stranger
    The boy detective nods at the note then asks: “When did you see this bunny last?”
    “I don’t know. Last night. Before I went to sleep,” Effie replies.
    “Is this a random occurrence or has anything like this ever happened to you before?”
    “Nope. No way. It’s a total surprise. It’s very surprising to me.”
    “As it should be.”
    “It’s pretty gross.”
    “Yes. Very gross, indeed.” The boy detective makes a note of this in his notepad: Very gross.
    The girl says: “I don’t think its head is up here. We’ve looked around the front of the house pretty good.”
    Gus Mumford hands the detective another note: Will you help us look?
    Billy nods, staring at the strange boy again.
    The three of them walk around the side of the brick building, searching in the dark green bushes, beneath the sturdy white porch, in the small gray alley. “Mr. Buttons!” the girl calls, slapping her leg. “Mr. Buttons!”
    “It is very unlikely that it will come when called now.”
    The boy detective and the girl stare at each other for a moment. They look behind two silver garbage cans, but to no avail. All they uncover is a sprung mousetrap and a withered corsage.
    In a moment, Mrs. Mumford comes to the door. She has short dark hair, blue eyes, and looks quite lovely in a navy dress with ruffles. She stares at the strange man on her front lawn. “May I help you?” she asks.
    “I’m a detective. I’m here to find out what happened to the bunny.”
    “Effie, I told you to please put Mr. Buttons in the trash.”
    “We are figuring out what happened to him, Mom,” Effie argues.
    “Well, don’t make a mess. We’re eating in a half hour.”
    “OK.”
    “That goes for you, too, Gus, dear.”
    Gus Mumford nods, hating to be reminded of anything he already knows. He holds up a note: Fine!
    “And no playing with chemicals, you two. I don’t want you playing around with chemicals again.”
    With that, Mrs. Mumford disappears, going back to her cleaning.
    The boy detective and the Mumford children stare down at the bunny’s headless body once more.
    “Now then, I will ask you this important question, Effie and Gus Mumford: Do you know anyone who would want to do this?”
    “Yes. Everybody, practically, of course.”
    “Why?”
    “Because they’re hateful. I get first place in everything at school and people hate me for it.”
    “Who hates you for it?”
    “Hateful people. The girls especially.”
    “They hate you for winning at