How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini Read Online Free

though it was going to be just as good as day one!
    â€˜How are we going to do that if Dad won’t tell us?’
    â€˜We’ll investigate. Come on!’
    Caitlin reached for a lead. ‘OK. We could go and look at where it happened. Falcon needs a walk anyway.’
    At the sound of her name Falcon thumped her tail on the ground.
    â€˜Cool,’ Ali said. ‘Can I hold the lead?’
    .
    Outside, the mist of the night before had vanished. Now the sky was a crisp blue and the air tasted fresh. Ali let Falcon walk wherever she wanted to go. She kept her nose down, following some trail of her own.
    â€˜Look,’ Ali said after a few minutes of being pulled behind the dog. ‘She wants to go towards the river. She wants to investigate too.’
    â€˜She doesn’t need to investigate. She was there, remember? She knows what happened. She just can’t tell us, that’s all,’ Caitlin said.
    â€˜If only she could talk.’
    â€˜That would be weird.’
    â€˜Yes, OK, I suppose it would. We’ll just have to find the clues ourselves then,’ Ali said excitedly. ‘We’ll be like the Famous Five!’
    â€˜Yes. Except there’s only two of us.’
    â€˜Well, there was only four of them. But they counted the dog too, I think. So, with Falcon, there’s three of us. The Famous Three!’
    They had reached the lane where they had found Dave. Ali gave a short tug on the lead and Falcon stopped pulling. It looked different in the daylight. On one side of the lane there was a narrow strip of birch trees. On the other side, the back gardens of a row of terraces. None of it looked anywhere near as spooky as it had been last night. Ali felt a bit disappointed.
    â€˜So,’ he said, ‘the bad guys either came from the houses or from the footpath. We can’t go snooping round people’s yards. We should check out the footpath for clues!’
    â€˜What kind of clues?’ Caitlin asked.
    â€˜I don’t know. But I bet we recognise them when we see them. Come on.’
    Falcon trotted by his side as he ran to the footpath. Ali kept his eyes down on the ground, looking for anything that could lead them to the robbers, or gangsters, or . . . or . . . or pirates that had hurt Dave last night.
    Suddenly, there was a rustling noise in the bush behind him. A boy hurled himself out of the undergrowth. Ali just had time to notice red hair and a blue tracksuit before he fell backwards into the mud with the boy’s knee in his stomach.
    â€˜Gez! Get off him!’ Caitlin yelled. Falcon barked, then cowered behind Caitlin.
    â€˜Smashdown!’ the boy yelled in a fake American accent.
    â€˜Gez!’
    The boy grinned down at Ali. He had dark green eyes like a cat’s. Ali tried to breathe, but the boy’s weight pinned his chest. He wriggled angrily, upsetting the boy’s balance. With a quick twist Ali managed to slip his arm under the boy’s leg, then he heaved upwards. The boy tottered for a minute, then crashed down on his side. Ali was up on his feet in an instant. ‘Smashdown yourself!’ he said.
    â€˜Gez, you’re an idiot,’ Caitlin said.
    Gez got up off the ground, wiping a big muddy smear down the leg of his tracksuit. ‘You’re only saying that so he won’t guess you’ve got a crush on me.’
    â€˜No,’ Caitlin said firmly, ‘I said it because you are an idiot.’
    Gez grinned again. He reminded Ali of a rubber ball – no matter how you squished it, it just popped right back out again. ‘You’re new,’ Gez said.
    Ali nodded. He picked up Falcon’s lead.
    Gez looked at Caitlin. ‘You’re supposed to introduce us,’ he said.
    Caitlin rolled her eyes. ‘Well, I thought you already did that when you threw yourselves at each other. Gez, this is Ali. Ali, this is Gez. He’s in my class at school. Worse luck.’
    Gez ignored her. ‘You