Mystery At Riddle Gully Read Online Free Page B

dashed out to help Mr McNutty. When she returned Pollo was hunched on the desk, staring at the floor, Bublé, on his perch, doing the same. ‘Come on you two,’ said Sherri. ‘It’s not the end of the world.’ She sat down next to Pollo.
    Pollo looked up. ‘I’m onto a really good story, Sherri. If I get to the bottom of it and put out a brilliant early edition it might be enough to win me that cadetship he was talking about. But now I have to waste my last ever Riddle Gully Gazette on a stupid apology he doesn’t deserve and that’ll make me look like I’ve done something wrong.’
    Sherri put her arm around Pollo’s shoulders. ‘Do your big story anyway,’ she said. ‘People won’t notice a boring old apology if the rest of the edition is a ripper. And, on the bright side, you’ve got another couple of leads to follow up now.’
    â€˜There’s that graffiti,’ said Pollo. ‘What’s the other one? You’re not thinking of Sergeant Butt’s stepson, I hope. I know I mentioned him the other day, but—’
    Sherri laughed. ‘No! Not him! Though it must be hard for the kid starting a new school halfway through term. No, I was thinking of what Mayor Bullock said.’ She took Bublé from his cage and raised him to eye-level. ‘How did that nasty old mayor put it, boy? “I’m not a man to let a little red tape get in the way.” Something like that, wasn’t it?’
    â€˜Red tape,’ said Pollo. ‘That’s all the boring stuff the authorities make people do, right?’
    â€˜All the checks and regulations, yes,’ said Sherri. ‘But it’s easy to forget that they’re mostly there for a good reason.’
    â€˜And Mayor Bullock thinks he’s above it all?’
    â€˜Said so himself.’
    Pollo pulled out her notepad and made a few halfhearted notes. ‘But even if I did manage to bring out a good edition,’ she sighed, ‘he’s just as likely to rubbish me to the editor-in-chief anyway. I’m never going to get that cadetship. There’s no point in even trying.’
    Sherri smoothed the feathers on Bublé’s back. ‘Whatwould your mum have said to that?’
    Pollo nibbled her thumbnail. It wasn’t just any old story that she was onto with this Viktor von Albericht. It could not only get her the job with a real newspaper—but it could make her famous! She looked up at Sherri and grinned. ‘I guess I’ll let the editor-in-chief make up his own mind about me.’
    â€˜That’s the spirit, kiddo,’ said Sherri, giving Pollo a squeeze. She returned Bublé to his cage. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’d kill for a cup of tea. Shall I make one for both of us and we can talk about something nice?’ She went to put the kettle on.
    Pollo sat thinking. Maybe she should ask Sherri over for dinner tonight? No, better to wait for a day when her dad had done something heroic with a sick animal. Besides, she had a certain stranger to tail.
    From the kitchen, Pollo heard Sherri humming a slow, smoochy song—something from her cruise-ship repertoire, she guessed. Sherri suddenly popped her head around the screen. ‘I know what we can talk about!’ she said with a giggle. ‘Viktor von Albericht! That was him on the telephone earlier. You can tell me why you’re so interested in him. I know he’s way too old for you, but he’s a bit of a dish, don’t you think?’

CHAPTER SEVEN

    Saturday 11:30
    â€˜What do you mean it’s a rather good likeness?’ The pitch of Angela’s voice climbed with each word. ‘Honestly, HB, how can you sit there and smile when some little brat has made you a laughing stock?’ She was striding around the kitchen picking up whatever items came into her reach—the salt shaker, the wet sponge, a pen, a banana—and banging