Lend a Helping Paw by Corrine Winters & Ruby Diamond

Author:Corrine Winters & Ruby Diamond [Winters, Corrine & Diamond, Ruby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: N29
Published: 2021-08-06T04:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Later that afternoon, they sat in Denny Campbell’s dim living room, while his mother glared at them from a nearby doorway. Both Angelica and Cary had sat down, but Mrs. Campbell—Clarissa—would not relax. She had not wanted to let them in, saying that her son had enough of the whole situation. Cary used all of his charm to convince her he only needed a few minutes.

“So, how did you feel about Maisie, Denny? I’ve heard only good things from you, but you did steal her ukulele.”

“Look,” Denny said, waving his hands a little. “That wasn’t my fault. I loved my lessons with her, she was a great teacher. I was totally bummed when she stopped the lessons, but really, I was just glad she didn’t come at me for stealing.”

“Okay,” Cary said, marking his notepad. “Let’s talk about the robbery. It’s a pretty extreme thing to do, especially if you really liked her.”

Clarissa shifted in the doorway. She looked ready to leap in and rescue her son if needed.

“I told you, it wasn’t my fault. The ghouls in The Hollow told me to do it.”

Angelica and Cary exchanged a shocked look.

“You’ve been to The Hollow?” Angelica asked, in a low voice.

“I didn’t know about it at the time,” Clarissa snapped. “He won’t be going there again.”

“Tell me more, Denny,” Cary said. “Why did you go, and what happened?”

“It was, like, about three months ago, I guess. I went with Kurt, Mrs. Pigeon’s son? Anyway, we were just walking around bored after school and Kurt got this idea to go to The Hollow. It was like once we thought of it, we couldn’t do anything else. We headed down there and straight away we got lost. I…”

“Go on, Denny,” Cary prompted.

“That’s just it,” he said, frowning. “I don’t remember. The mist was thick. I could barely see. I remember walking into the mist, and then… Nothing, just fog.

“The next thing I remember is coming out of the mist in the opposite direction, but I was tired, my clothes were rumpled, and I had some dead leaves and dirt on me.” Denny looked down and brushed the front of his shirt as if the dirt were still there.

“What do you think happened?” Cary asked. Denny shook his head.

“I don’t know. Really, I don’t. I just had this one thought—that I had to go home before Mom got worried. As I left the mist, I started to think about taking Maisie’s ukulele. Behind it all, there was a song…”

He lowered his head, rubbing his temples.

“There still is a song,” he whispered.

“What do you mean, Denny?” Angelica asked, reaching out to touch his arm.

“It’s stuck in my head. I can’t get it out. I told Maisie about it one day when we were practicing. She decided she had to go to The Hollow herself to see if the spirits would give her music, too.”

Angelica took a deep breath and leaned back. She didn’t like the information they were receiving about The Hollow. None of it added up to anything conclusive and it sure didn’t help them figure out who killed Maisie.

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