Laura Marlin Mysteries 1: Dead Man's Cove eBook (24 page)

‘Oh, please, Mr Gillbert,’ she said. ‘Just this once. You see, our housekeeper turned out to be a wanted criminal and my uncle is at Sennen Cove today helping the police smash a ring of fish-stealing thieves and there’s no one at home to take care of Skye. Anyway, he’s a changed dog since you last saw him. He’s a hero. He saved my friend, Tariq, and I from drowning in a smugglers’ tunnel after the gangsters who kidnapped us abandoned us there. He jumped down a mine shaft to rescue us . . .
’

‘Fine!’ cried Mr Gillbert, clutching his head. ‘It’s the last day of term and I can feel a migraine coming on. I simply do not have the energy to argue with you. I might tell you that if you applied the same level of inventiveness to your English essays, your grades would improve dramatically. Take your hairy mutt and sit quietly until your name is called. Today we’re discussing the assignment I gave you earlier in the term: “My Dream Job.” Remember that?’

Laura took the only seat remaining, one row from the back. Skye settled down at her feet. Almost at once, Kevin began pelting her with chocolate peanuts. The husky gave a bloodcurdling growl. The pelting ceased abruptly.

One by one, the children stood at the front of the class and described their dream job. Some wanted to be hairdressers, beauticians or firemen. Others wanted to be scientists or rich businessmen driving Ferraris. When it was Laura’s turn, she took Skye with her for moral support. He fixed his blue eyes on the class and regarded them regally.

Mr Gillbert glowered at the husky before saying: ‘Go ahead, Laura. Tell us what you’d like to do when you’re older. What’s your goal?’

Laura took a deep breath and said, ‘I want to be a famous detective. I want to hunt down international gangsters and bring them to justice.’

There was laughter in the class. Kevin Rutledge mimicked a girl’s voice: ‘I want to be a f-f-famous defective.’

‘That’s a very lofty ambition, Laura,’ said Mr Gillbert, ‘but I did stress that I wanted you to come up with a realistic job. Now there’s no reason at all why you couldn’t be a policewoman. That, I’m sure, is well within your capabilities. I can picture you handing out speeding fines, or fingerprinting burglars. But a detective is in a different league altogether. For a start, you have to have powers of deduction that are certainly not evident in your maths tests. It also helps to be methodical and you, I’ve observed, are quite messy.’

‘Plus you have to be strong and brave,’ Kevin called out. ‘Like me!’

‘I’ve seen detectives on TV and what they do is no fun at all,’ said Sabrina, a prim girl in the front row. ‘You have to follow bad people into dark, creepy places and escape if they try to kidnap you or kill you.’

‘Yeah,’ agreed Josh, ‘you have to be willing to risk your life to save others.’

‘And be supersmart at following clues,’ yelled someone else.

‘The point is, Laura, great detectives have to be mentally and physically equipped to outwit cunning and vicious criminals,’ Mr Gillbert concluded. ‘And from what I read in the newspapers, some of those criminals are quite ingenious.’

‘A brotherhood of monsters,’ murmured Laura.

‘Pardon?’ said Mr Gillbert.

Skye cocked his head at Laura and she reached down and rubbed him behind his ears, burying her fingers in his cloud-soft fur. His tail thumped hard on the classroom floor. Laura felt a rush of happiness so intense she could hardly contain herself. In her schoolbag was a new Matt Walker novel - a gift from her uncle. Inside it he’d written: ‘If you want to follow in Matt Walker’s footsteps when you’re older, you have my blessing.’ With her detective idol on her bookshelf and Calvin Redfern, Skye and Tariq on her side, anything was possible.

She gave a secret smile. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I can dream, can’t I?’

Look out for more mysteries with Laura Marlin in

KIDNAP IN THE CARIBBEAN

Coming in August 2011

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