Treasure Hunt (3 page)

She lets out her last little breath of air and sits up again. When she opens her eyes, Noah is standing next to the bath in his underpants. He has his yellow rubber duck in his hands.

‘My turn!’ he says. ‘My turn for bath now!’

Billie grins and dabs some bath foam on his nose. ‘OK, Nozy, I’m getting out now. Go and tell Dad I’m finished and he can put you in the bath.’

Billie puts her pyjamas on and pads downstairs. Her mother is stirring something on the stove that smells delicious.

‘Yum!’ says Billie. ‘What’s for dinner?’

‘Minestrone soup with garlic bread,’ her mum says, smiling. ‘But it’s a little way off yet. You can play outside for bit if you like and I’ll call you when it’s ready.’

Billie opens the back door. She stands on the back steps and looks out over the garden towards the big apple tree. The sun is setting and flickers of light
shimmer
through the leaves and
dance
across the grass. In a month or so the big green leaves will turn golden and fall to the ground.

Then the Secret Mystery Club’s headquarters will no longer be hidden.

Gosh, it won’t be the same then!
Billie thinks.
Trees are very good at hiding things.

Suddenly this gives her an idea. A super-dooper idea! She dashes down the back steps and squeezes through the hole in the fence into Jack’s garden. ‘Jack! Jack!’ she yells. ‘I think I know where the ime-tay apsule-cay is hidden!’

‘We have to go now!’ Billie begs. ‘Come on! It’s still light. We’ll just run to the school
quickly
and be back before our parents even notice!’

Jack is sitting on the back deck surrounded by a model city he has made out of matchboxes.

He had just begun putting Lego people around his city when Billie came
bursting
through the side fence. Billie can see he is excited by her news but he doesn’t really want to go anywhere right now.

‘But you’re in your pyjamas,’ Jack says, picking up a little house that has just fallen over. ‘Can’t we just wait til tomorrow?’

Billie shakes her head. ‘No! I have a feeling Edwina knows something. If we don’t hurry she might find the time capsule before us!

I’m sure it’s in the old peppercorn tree somewhere,’ she says urgently. ‘Or buried underneath it. That tree would be as old as the school. It’s the perfect place to hide something! I really have a good feeling about this. Come with me just quickly? Please? Pretty please?’

Jack looks towards the back door of his house, then at Billie again. He shakes his head. ‘We’re having dinner soon, Billie.’

Billie frowns. ‘You’re no fun, Jack!’ she says. ‘This could be our biggest discovery ever and you just want to sit here and play with your Lego? Well, fine. I’ll go by myself then!’

She stomps away and then runs down the side of the house and into the street.

The sun has slipped a little bit lower and the sky is beginning to blush pink.
I’ll only be ten minutes,
she thinks.
No-one will even notice I’m gone.

Billie runs to the school at the end of her street. When she reaches the school gate she pulls at it. It’s locked. Billie hangs her head, feeling disappointed.

She knows that she should just go home and look tomorrow. But now she feels absolutely sure the time capsule is hidden in the tree somewhere. She can see the old peppercorn tree through the iron gate, standing like a big,
shaggy
monster in the middle of the playground.

Billie looks up at the gate. It is tall but she is sure she could climb it. Does she
dare
?

As she is trying to decide, she hears a voice from behind her. ‘Hi, Billie.’

Billie’s heart leaps in her chest. She spins around. It’s Edwina.

‘What are you doing here?’ Billie asks.

Edwina shrugs. ‘I told you. I can see the whole school from my bedroom window. I saw you try the gate, so I came to talk to you.’

‘What do you want?’ Billie frowns. ‘Why do you keep following me?’

Edwina smiles mysteriously. ‘I know what you’re looking for, Billie. And I can help you find it.’

‘What do you mean?’ Billie splutters. She pretends she has no idea what Edwina is talking about, but her cheeks burn
hot.
‘I’m not looking for anything.’

‘Oh well,’ Edwina says, turning away from Billie. ‘I guess you won’t want to see what I have, then.’

‘Wait!’ Billie calls out after her. ‘What is it?’

Edwina stops. ‘First, you have to tell me what you’re looking for,’ she says. ‘Then, if I help you find it, you have to let me join your club.’

Billie feels her heart start to beat faster. ‘What club? I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Her voice comes out high and squeaky.

Edwina pauses and smiles at Billie.

‘You’re not the only detectives in this school, you know.’ She turns around and walks away. ‘If you want the clue to uncover your mystery, come and find me.’

Billie stands on the footpath, staring after Edwina. She knows she really should go home. She’s not sure what time it is but when she looks up at the sky she can see one, two, three pale stars have appeared. Billie is not allowed out after dark.

But it’s not dark yet.
Billie tells herself.
And I’ll only be a few more minutes. I have to find out what Edwina knows! I can’t go home now!

She takes a big breath and runs after Edwina. She catches up just as Edwina reaches her front door.

‘Wait!’ she says. ‘We’re looking for a time capsule. Mrs Singh told us about it. But you have to promise not to tell anyone I told you. My friends would kill me!’

Edwina smiles. ‘I knew it! I heard you talking in Mrs Singh’s office.’

‘What? You were listening to us?’ Billie says, crossly.

Edwina
blushes
a little. ‘Only because I needed to, to solve the mystery,’ she says. ‘Sometimes detectives have to do that, right?’

Billie is still a bit cross, but Edwina has a point. After all, the SMC has had to listen at doors before too!

‘I have something in my bedroom that I think will help you find the time capsule,’ says Edwina. ‘Come with me!’

Billie follows her into her house. She can hear a TV playing loudly and someone talking at the end of the hallway. Edwina leads her into the first bedroom on the left. She points at her window. It has a clear view across to the school grounds.

‘Wow! You can see everything from here!’ Billie says, amazed.

‘It’s a good spot for spying,’ Edwina says
cheekily.
‘I’m a spy as well as a detective.’

‘Me too!’ says Billie. ‘Alex says they’re not the same thing but I think,
really
? What’s the difference?’

‘Right!’ Edwina grins. Billie grins back.

Edwina opens a drawer in her desk and pulls out a rolled up piece of paper.

‘What’s that?’ Billie asks.

‘This,’ Edwina says
dramatically
, ‘is the clue you’ve been looking for.’

Billie hovers next to Edwina as she unrolls the paper. ‘Is it a map?’ Billie asks. ‘Of a building?’

‘Not just any building,’ Edwina says. ‘The
school
building. This is a photocopy of the original plans. Look, it says here: 1923. The school is nearly a hundred years old. Can you believe it?’

‘Wow!’ Billie says. ‘That’s older than my Nanna. And she’s old!’ Then she frowns. ‘Mrs Singh told us that the plans were lost ages ago, though. How did you find them?’

‘My mum’s an architect,’ Edwina says. ‘She was in charge of renovating the school before I was born. The plans must have been lost then, but luckily Mum found this copy when she was tidying out her office the other day. She thought I’d find them interesting.

And when I overheard Mrs Singh telling you about the time capsule, I knew I had the perfect clue to help solve the mystery!’

While she is talking, Edwina unrolls the map across her desk. She and Billie lean over it, staring down at the pale lines on the page.

‘That’s the front entrance to the school,’ says Edwina, pointing. ‘And there’s the main corridor.’

Billie nods. She finds the map a bit hard to read.