Alice-Miranda to the Rescue (10 page)

Alice-Miranda knocked gently on the door and waited a few moments before pushing it open. ‘Caprice, are you all right?' Alice-Miranda whispered. ‘I thought you might like to talk to someone about what happened this afternoon.'

The girl was lying on her bed and rolled over to face the wall. ‘Go away,' she ordered, her voice muffled beneath the covers.

Alice-Miranda closed the door behind her and sat down on the edge of Sloane's bed. She looked
around the immaculate space, which these days resembled a page from a catalogue. If nothing else, Sloane had certainly learned a lot about housekeeping from her room mate. ‘But I'm worried about you, and the other girls are too,' she said.

‘Sure they are,' Caprice huffed.

Alice-Miranda decided to try a different tack. ‘I'm so glad the puppy is okay. It would have been horrible if anything had happened to him.'

A small sob came from the other side of the room.

Alice-Miranda walked over and placed her hand on Caprice's shoulder. She could feel the girl's body shuddering. ‘Was there really someone up there?' Alice-Miranda asked. There was a long silence. ‘Please talk to me.'

Caprice's body tensed. ‘I don't want to! Just leave me alone.'

‘You have to tell the truth, Caprice,' Alice-Miranda said. ‘If you lie to the police you can get into serious trouble.'

The girl suddenly threw off the covers and sat up. ‘And wouldn't that just suit all of you? Millie is probably rubbing her hands together at the thought.'

‘That's not true,' Alice-Miranda said firmly. ‘But you know everyone would like you more if you didn't pick on her.'

Caprice looked away. ‘I don't pick on her.'

‘Well, why did you set her up to take the blame for the paint bombs?' Alice-Miranda said.

‘You don't know that.'

Alice-Miranda raised an eyebrow. ‘I haven't said anything to Miss Grimm, but there seemed to be a lot of curly caramel hairs on your wet uniform this morning. I'm sure you didn't start the fire on purpose, Caprice, but you really should own up.'

Caprice's jaw flapped open like a stunned carp. For once in her life she didn't know what to say.

‘All the girls are terrified there's a prowler on the school grounds and we won't have any freedom while Miss Grimm thinks someone is lurking about,' Alice-Miranda said. ‘It will make our preparations for the dog show awfully tricky.'

Caprice drew up her knees and hugged them to her chest. ‘It was an accident,' the girl said softly. ‘The puppy must have gone too close to the heater and the towels snagged on the coils. I was just trying to warm him up.'

Alice-Miranda's eyes widened. She never imagined Caprice would actually confess. ‘But why did you leave him there?' she asked.

‘He ran away and hid and I couldn't find him and then the smoke was getting thicker and I thought I was going to die.' Tears began to stream down the girl's face.

Alice-Miranda put her arm around Caprice's shoulders. ‘You have to tell Miss Grimm the truth.'

‘But she's going to be so angry,' Caprice blubbered. ‘And what if she calls my parents?'

‘Miss Grimm will be mad for a while but, believe me, she'll be happy that we don't have to be on the alert for an intruder,' Alice-Miranda assured her. ‘Where did you get the puppy?'

Caprice blinked her big blue eyes and snatched a tissue from the bedside table. She wiped away the tears. ‘I found him in the garden when I was on the way back from my singing lesson,' she explained. ‘I knew Miss Grimm would have called the dog catcher, so I thought about where I could hide him and the stable flat seemed the best place.'

‘Someone would have found him sooner or later,' Alice-Miranda said, smiling at the girl. ‘He would
have got bigger and noisier and I don't know how you were planning to feed him.'

Caprice shrugged. ‘I don't know either. It was a stupid idea.' She swallowed hard and looked Alice-Miranda in the eye. ‘Are you going to tell Mrs Howard?'

The girl shook her head.

‘Why not?'

‘Because you're going to tell her yourself.'

‘I don't know if I can,' Caprice said, her eyes awash with new tears.

Alice-Miranda patted the girl's hand. ‘You'll feel better once you get it off your chest.'

Caprice sniffed. ‘Will you come with me?' she asked.

Alice-Miranda smiled and nodded. She was pleased the girl wasn't concocting yet another lie to cover her tracks.

Caprice swivelled her feet to the ground and stood up. She pulled on her dressing-gown and found her slippers at the end of the bed.

‘Where are you going?' Alice-Miranda asked, surprised by the girl's burst of energy.

‘To see Miss Grimm,' Caprice replied. ‘I'm not going to be able to sleep if I leave it until tomorrow,
and if I don't sleep I might get sick, which would be a total disaster. I always get throat problems when I'm stressed, plus I have a rehearsal with Mr Trout and Mr Lipp that I can't afford to miss.'

Caprice opened the door and turned to find Alice-Miranda still sitting on the bed. ‘Come on, slow coach, some of us have other things to do, you know.'

‘Sorry,' Alice-Miranda said, grinning as she got up and followed Caprice out of the room.

Cornelius Trout watched from the organ balcony upstairs, awaiting his cue from Miss Reedy, who always gave him a nod when the staff were gathered at the assembly-hall door. It was his prompt to commence the processional and the first song of the day. When the microphone crackled to life, he swivelled his head and was shocked to find the headmistress and her entourage already on stage.

Having spent the best part of an hour with Caprice and Alice-Miranda the night before, Ophelia
Grimm was determined that this was going to be the end of the drama and, frankly, she just wanted to get the whole thing over and done with. ‘Girls,' she began, ‘I am pleased to report that the issue of the trespasser has been resolved and you have absolutely nothing to worry about.' She cast a glare in Caprice's direction. ‘The fire was an unfortunate accident and, as I said yesterday, we must be thankful that no one was hurt. I'd ask that we now lay this incident to rest and I will have no further speculation about blame. We all make mistakes, and something that warms my heart is when people are mature enough to own up to them. Rest assured that there will be consequences for the girl responsible.'

Wild whispers filled the air until a stern tap from the headmistress's foot silenced them as swiftly as they had begun.

‘Now,' Miss Grimm continued, ‘I have some exciting news about the dog show and what is in store for us over the coming weeks. I hadn't quite realised the enormity of the event but I'm looking forward to everyone pitching in to help.'

Livinia Reedy's eye twitched. Despite the headmistress's assurances that the dog show would be over before the wedding began, she was nervous. These
things were unpredictable and she would have much preferred to have the day to herself. At least Ophelia had agreed to her request that Chudleigh's not be allowed to use the dining room or the chapel and that she and Josiah would not, under any circumstances, be on duty that day.

Ophelia Grimm was feeling somewhat overwhelmed herself, having been presented with the list of demands from Mrs Parker the previous evening. She had been livid upon discovering that Professor Winterbottom hadn't committed the boys to assist with the show until after being told Ophelia had already agreed to do so. When confronted about this, Myrtle replied that it surely didn't matter who'd offered to help first and that it was heartwarming to know both schools were so willing to be part of what was to be a monumental occasion. ‘Monumental' seemed appropriate, but ‘monstrous' was the word that kept flashing through Ophelia's mind.

Sloane raised her hand in the air.

The headmistress looked over and nodded. ‘Yes, Sloane?'

‘What happened to the puppy?' the girl asked.

‘Mrs Derby is looking after him until Dr Davidson returns from his holidays,' Ophelia replied.
‘And we'll be assigning some girls to put up posters of him around the village.' Onstage, sitting beside the Head Prefect, Livinia Reedy pursed her lips. The last thing they needed was a puppy to take care of as well as everything else that was going on.

‘What if no one claims him?' Millie asked.

‘I imagine we'll cross that bridge when we come to it,' the woman replied.

‘Could we keep him, Miss Grimm?' Mia said. ‘It would be lovely to have a school dog and we could all help to look after him.'

There was a murmur of agreement through the hall.

‘Let's not get ahead of ourselves, girls. We must do our best to find the puppy's owner. If no one comes forward after a reasonable amount of time, then I will think about it,' the woman said.

‘Yes!' the girls hissed while fists pumped around the room.

Alice-Miranda nudged Millie. ‘Miss Grimm thought he was adorable.'

‘Caprice will probably still think he belongs to her because she found him,' Millie grumbled.

‘I can't imagine it,' Alice-Miranda replied. She had watched the girl's torturous exchange with the
headmistress the night before, followed by Con stable Derby giving Caprice a stern talking-to about wasting police resources. ‘I suspect she might lay low for a little while.'

Caprice was sitting further along the row, her back straight like a soldier, looking as if there were a thousand things and nothing going through her head.

‘I wonder if Miss Grimm is going to let me off gardening duty,' Millie whispered.

Alice-Miranda shrugged. ‘I'm not sure. Caprice didn't own up to having planted the paint bombs.'

‘I suppose that would have been too much to hope for,' Millie said. ‘What's her punishment?'

The headmistress's voice boomed into the microphone. ‘What matters is that the puppy is being properly cared for. Now, girls, I'm going to put volunteer sheets up on the noticeboard outside the dining room at morning tea time. There are lots of different things you can help with, so please make sure that you add your name to at least three different activities and we'll announce after school which of those you'll be assisting with.'

‘Tell me later,' Millie mouthed.

Alice-Miranda wasn't sure if she should divulge the girl's punishment, seeing as though it required
Millie and Caprice to work together over the weekend. It sounded like Caprice was going to be busy every weekend for the rest of the term. Miss Grimm's first reaction had been to ban her from competing in the National Eisteddfod, which Caprice had begged her to reconsider. In the end, the pair had come to an agreement involving considerable garden duties and mucking out the stables under Charlie's strict supervision. There was no weekend television and no outings either, so she was pretty much under lock and key. When Miss Grimm told the girl that her parents would have to be informed, Alice-Miranda thought the exchange would descend into chaos, but surprisingly Caprice didn't object too loudly.

‘I hope Miss Grimm's got a pooper-scooper group. I'll be putting Caprice's name at the top of that list,' Millie said, grinning slyly.

Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘No, you won't.'

Millie rolled her eyes. ‘But you know I want to.'

The second half of the week passed quickly without any more nasty dramas. There was great excitement about the dog show as well as extra rehearsals for the Winchester-Fayle Singers for their performance at Miss Reedy and Mr Plumpton's wedding. The children had been surprised to learn that Chudleigh's was to be held on the same weekend as the wedding and wondered why Miss Grimm had agreed to it, but it was too late to change anything. Preparations for both events were in full swing. There were
workmen measuring up for marquees and Charlie Weatherly had hired additional manpower to help mark out the parking areas and to clip and snip the gardens to their absolute best. Miss Reedy seemed to be forever dashing from one place to the next with a thick folder in her arms, which Millie nicknamed the Wedding Bible. When it went missing after lunch on Wednesday, you'd have thought she'd lost the crown jewels. Fortunately, it was found among a pile of dirty laundry, although how it got there was anyone's guess.

Alice-Miranda, Millie and Sloane had put their names down to work as ushers at Chudleigh's as well as volunteering to work on food stalls and the cleaning crew. When the various teams were decided, the girls had all wound up on different activities. Sloane was assigned to cleaning, Millie was on food duty and Alice-Miranda was to be an usher. They hadn't seen Jacinta all week and wondered what she and the girls from Caledonia Manor had been allocated.

During all of this, Caprice kept her head down in classes and quietly went about her after-school activities, avoiding everyone as best she could. Alice-Miranda was pleased to see the girl taking her punishment on the chin, though Caprice still hadn't owned up to the paint bombs, which meant Millie
was still on gardening duty all day Saturday and Sunday. Mr Charles had already told the girl he was negotiating with the headmistress to give her an early mark on Sunday afternoon.

On Friday night the girls from Caledonia Manor joined the rest of the school for a special dinner. Millie took the opportunity to regale Jacinta with the news of the week, albeit quietly, as she didn't want Miss Grimm or any of the other teachers to hear her. Alice-Miranda had asked Caprice if she wanted to sit with them, but the girl had taken herself off to sit with Mr Trout and some of the younger students.

‘So where's the puppy now?' Jacinta asked.

‘Mrs Derby has been looking after him during the day in her office, but she and Constable Derby have gone away for the weekend, so Miss Grimm's got him,' Millie said.

‘Really? Is he here?' The girl looked at the head table, where Miss Grimm was sitting with Miss Reedy and Mr Plumpton.

‘I don't think so,' Millie replied.

‘There he is!' Sloane pointed at the door as Mr Grump walked in, carrying the bundle of curls in his arms. The pup was wearing a bright red collar
with a matching lead. ‘So much for not getting too attached to the little guy.'

The headmistress's husband walked past the girls, who all cooed at the puppy.

‘Isn't he sweet, Mr Grump?' Alice-Miranda sighed. She broke off a small piece of naan bread and offered it to the pup, who gobbled it down.

‘Yes, except that he just chewed my slippers,' the man said, ruffling the puppy's ears. The creature growled playfully and nipped at his fingers.

‘He's very small,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘Yes,' Mr Grump replied. ‘Dr Davidson was concerned about his age when he checked him over before jetting off on holiday. Apparently, this one's too young to be away from his mother and there were signs of malnutrition. Good news is, I think he's gained quite a bit of weight over the past few days,' Mr Grump said. ‘His soft paw pads were cut to shreds too – he's obviously walked some distance to get here.'

‘That's awful, and his poor mother,' Alice-Miranda said with a frown.

‘Yes, we suspect he might have escaped from somewhere,' the man said.

‘Maybe he was dumped,' Millie suggested. ‘People do that, you know. Mummy sees it quite often in her surgery.'

Jacinta shook her head. ‘What sort of person could leave that gorgeous pup by the side of the road? People like that don't deserve to have pets.'

‘Mrs Derby took the most adorable picture of him for the posters we're putting up in the village tomorrow,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘Yes, I know a couple of people who are going to find it very hard to say goodbye to him when the time comes,' Mr Grump nodded in the direction of his wife.

‘
You
and Miss Grimm,' Millie said cheekily.

‘No,
Mrs Derby
and Miss Grimm,' the man replied. ‘Oh, and I will just a smidge, unless he keeps eating my shoes.'

The man said goodbye and walked over to join his wife, who'd brought the puppy's basket with her from the office. Silence descended over the table as the girls got to grips with the delicious curry Mrs Smith had made.

‘What's everyone doing for the dog show?' Jacinta asked, snapping a pappadum in half.

The girls talked over the top of one another, explaining what they'd been assigned.

‘What about you?' Alice-Miranda asked.

‘I'm ushering, so we'll be together,' Jacinta replied. ‘Mummy told me Nosey Parker's up to ninety about the whole thing. And we've got new neighbours at the end of the road who breed dogs. Mummy's having a welcome barbecue for them tomorrow night and you're all invited.'

Millie's face dropped. ‘I doubt I'll be allowed to go.'

‘We can ask,' Alice-Miranda said. ‘And if you can't, I'll stay here with you.'

Millie grinned at her friend. ‘Thanks but you don't have to.'

‘Isn't Ursula looking after us this weekend because Howie's going to see her sister?' Sloane said.

‘Oh yeah,' Millie said, perking up. ‘Ursula's a big fan of Monopoly, so if I'm not allowed to go out, we can revisit the Grimthorpe House Monopoly Championships.'

‘Do you want to come and help us put up the posters around the village in the morning?' Alice-Miranda asked Jacinta.

‘I would but I have training,' the girl replied. ‘I've got the National Gymnastics Championships coming up and at the moment I don't think I'll even qualify.'

‘Of course you will,' Sloane said. ‘You're amazing.'

Jacinta shook her head and frowned. ‘I used to be, before I broke my toe in Paris. Since then I just can't seem to get it together. My coach also says it might be because I'm having a growth spurt. I don't know … sometimes I think that maybe I'm growing out of gymnastics, although I don't want to give it up completely.'

‘Maybe you should try acrobatics for a change,' Sloane said. ‘I saw this incredible video of some acrobats who could pretty much turn themselves inside out. My muscles hurt just from watching them.'

Jacinta nodded. ‘That sounds interesting. I mean, gymnastics is great but there are loads of other things I'd like to do too.'

‘Like meeting up with your boyfriend,' Millie teased.

Jacinta rolled her eyes and poked out her tongue.

‘Speaking of Lucas, have you seen him this week?' Alice-Miranda asked.

Jacinta shook her head. ‘No, but he and Sep are coming to the barbecue tomorrow night.'

‘Good. I want to show him some pictures Aunt Charlotte sent me of the twins,' Alice-Miranda said.
‘He's the most adorable big brother. Mummy told me that he's started reading books to them on the phone every night and, even though they're just babies, their eyes get really big and they make all sorts of funny excited noises when he appears on the screen.'

Millie snorted and almost sent a chilli up her nose. ‘That's what happens to Jacinta when she sees him too,' she joked, and all the girls burst out laughing.

‘Very funny,' Jacinta said, trying to look cross. After a few seconds she broke into a huge grin. ‘He really is going to be the best father ever,' she sighed.