Space Detectives by Mark Powers

Author:Mark Powers
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526603296
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

‘A box of Pokeweed’s Perfect Pastries, Mr MacGillicuddy,’ answered the receptionist. ‘We thought it would be nice if visitors could have a pastry while they’re waiting for their meetings.’

With a huge claw, the tiger swept the box from the desk, scattering its contents all over the floor. Immediately, a fleet of tiny cleaner robots appeared and began to vacuum up the mess.

‘Pokeweed’s Perfect Pastries?’ roared the tiger. ‘What’s wrong with FluffyCorp Tasty-Pastries? Can’t we at least offer people one of our own products?’

‘We tried that,’ said the receptionist, ‘but people prefer Pokeweed’s. They say they taste much nicer.’

‘What?’ roared the tiger. ‘Ridiculous!’ It leaned in close to the receptionist so that its massive fang-filled mouth was mere centimetres from the receptionist’s face. ‘FluffyCorp products are always best!’ it growled menacingly. ‘The next time I see a box of Pokeweed’s so-called perfect pastries in here, I shall be a very, very angry tiger indeed. Understood?’

The receptionist nodded dumbly.

Brushing flour from her apron, Isabella Pokeweed led Ethan through the kitchen and into a poky living room filled with old, worn-looking furniture.

‘Is Daphne about?’ asked Ethan, glancing around. ‘Are we OK to talk privately?’

‘She’ s just popped out to the hypermarket to buy some currants, so we should be fine for a little while,’ said Isabella.

‘I need to ask you some more questions.’

‘Of course,’ said the old woman with a dimpled smile. ‘Anything to help. Have a seat. I’ll make us a nice pot of tea.’

She shuffled out again.

Ethan sat down heavily on to the saggy sofa. He noticed a large framed photo on the mantelpiece. He stood up to examine it and found it showed Isabella and Daphne in their kitchen wearing chef’s hats. Daphne was smiling sweetly and looked nothing like the sort of person who would want to inflict unwanted extra limbs on strangers.

But then Ethan guessed that was why you could never tell who the bad guy was going to be. That was also what made detective work so difficult.

The photo frame was resting on a slip of shiny paper. With a quick check to make sure Isabella was still in the other room, Ethan slid out the slip of paper and held it up to the light.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.