The Case of the Exploding Brains Read Online Free Page A

“Unless you count a quick toilet break.”
    “Quick? You were gone for over thirty minutes,” I say.
    “More like five.” Alexander stares at Shazia, Omar and Giles until they murmur in agreement.
    “We’ll go with the majority,” Aggressive Policeman says, scribbling in his notebook.
    “Why?” I protest. “Why go with the majority when the majority is wrong? Go with the person who’s right – me!” I add, in case that part’s not clear.
    Porter pulls my sleeve and murmurs under his breath, “He wasn’t in the toilet.”
    “Huh?”
    “I don’t know where Alexander was,” Porter whispers, “but he wasn’t in the toilet.”
    I try to share this important clue with Aggressive Policeman.
    CLUE 7
    Remarkable Student Alexander lied about where he went. And Shazia, Omar and Giles lied to cover up his lies.
    Aggressive Policeman isn’t interested. “What about Joe Slater? Was he, or was he not, close to the Moon Rock when it vanished?”
    I’d be more than happy for them to lock up Smokin’ Joe and throw away the key, so it’s hard to admit, “He was nowhere near it.”
    “That’s not what your friends think.” Aggressive Policeman scowls.
    “I saw Joe smash the glass,” Holly says apologetically.
    I nod. “But he was on the other side of the room when the Moon Rock disappeared.”
    “How can you be sure?” Aggressive Policeman glances at the wall clock, clearly keen to move things along.
    “Because I can picture it.” I close my eyes and visualise my last glimpse of the Moon Rock, less than a minute before Museum Curator Gnome announced its disappearance. Smokin’
Joe is at least ten metres away from the smashed display case.
    “What do you mean, ‘
picture
it’?” Aggressive Policeman snaps.
    “Know-All has a photographic memory,” Holly says. “She can remember everything she sees.”
    “Then she must have had her eyes closed,” Remarkable Student Shazia says. “Because Joe Slater was right next to that Moon Rock. I saw him.”
    Alexander, Giles and Omar nod in agreement.
    CLUE 8
    The Remarkable Students are claiming to have seen things they couldn’t have seen.
    “Great,” I mutter. “Another majority. I guess that means he must have been where they say he was.”
    Aggressive Policeman seems to think so. He notes it in his book and clicks the end of his pen, up and down, up and down, staring at me.
    “What?” I ask.
    “Why does your account differ from everyone else’s?”
    “Because everyone else is wrong?”
    “Are you saying your friends are lying?” Aggressive Policeman asks.
    “No. I’m saying the Remarkable Students are lying and my
friends
weren’t paying enough attention.”
    “Guilty as charged,” Holly admits.
    “Someone else must have seen what I saw,” I say. “What about the woman under the blanket?”
    “What woman under the blanket?” Aggressive Policeman flicks through his reports.
    Remarkable Student Alexander points at me and then twirls his fingers beside his head, making the universal sign for ‘crazy person’.
    Aggressive Policeman’s mouth tightens. “You do not want to play games with me, young lady.”
    “Absolutely not,” I agree. No way would I ever sit down to a game of Cluedo with Aggressive Policeman. He strikes me as a very bad loser.
    Aggressive Policeman scribbles something else in his notebook.
    “What are you writing?” I ask. “What have I done?”
    “Why don’t
you
tell
me
?” This seems to be Aggressive Policeman’s idea of sharp interrogation.
    “How can I tell you if I don’t know?”
    “What
do
you know?”
    “Lots of things. My sister’s right, I have a photographic memory. I can remember everything I’ve—”
    Aggressive Policeman raises his hand. “Not interested in your memory,” he says, “Tell me what you know about the Moon Rock.”
    “I wrote everything in my statement. If you read it properly, instead of ignoring it because it doesn’t match everyone else’s, you’ll