Key Lardo by Bruce Hale

Author:Bruce Hale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Fifteen minutes later, we slipped through the tall grass of the backyard into my own private think tank. The home office sits behind the bamboo, cleverly disguised as a refrigerator box.

Gotta keep those bad guys guessing.

Natalie and I unloaded an armful of potato-bug crisps, gypsy moth brownies, deep-fried dragonfly livers, and sow-bug soda.

That was for me. She had an apple.

Halfway through the snacks, my brain started firing on all cylinders.

“Okay, let’s think who could’ve made James Bland disappear,” I said, munching a brownie.

“Well, a celebrity stalker, for starters,” said Natalie.

“Mmm, or maybe an enemy who followed him from his old school.”

She cocked her head. “But why would his old enemy frame you?”

“Good point.” I mused while rummaging in the potato-bug crisps. “Aha!”

“You got the suspect?” asked Natalie.

I drew my hand from the bag. “Nope, the prize—a decoder ring.”

“Get serious, Chet.”

Suddenly, it hit me. “Hey, I know who made the penguin vanish.”

“Who?”

“Bland himself.”

Natalie rapped on my head. “Hello,” she said. “Anybody home? Why would James make himself disappear?”

I upended the bag into my mouth and swallowed the last of the crisps. “Because he wanted to get back at me.”

“But he found Connie,” said Natalie. “He’s got the upper hand. You should be wanting to get back at him.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Natalie rose and paced the length of the box. “No, I’m betting it’s Connie’s kidnappers. The cases are connected somehow.”

“So if we find out who snatched the sparrow—”

“We’ll know who pinched the penguin,” Natalie said.

I looked at her openmouthed in admiration. “Birdie, you’re pretty sharp,” I said. “Remind me to start paying you more.”

“But Chet, you don’t pay me anything.”

“Then it should be easy to pay you more, shouldn’t it?”

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