“Good riddance!” Zaiba waved her hand in the air.
Ali glanced around the packed room. “Did you know that roughly two thirds of journalists are men?” he said, sharing another of his facts.
Poppy raised her eyebrows, thinking. “If being a detective doesn’t work out, maybe I can be a journalist!”
Before Zaiba could say what a great idea that was, a reporter from Channel One Entertainment began the questions. “What inspired you to take this career move, Maysoon?” he asked.
“Well, there’s a little dog here with an expensive taste for organic dog treats and diamond collars,” she joked easily. Then she turned more serious. “Also, I wanted to push myself. To see what I am capable of doing, which turns out is a lot!”
The journalists laughed approvingly and Maysoon caught Zaiba’s eye across the room. She blew her a little kiss and Zaiba felt deep down that Maysoon was sending her the same message. You can be anything you want to be!
The questions went on and Aunt Fouzia came to join the three detectives-in-training at the back of the room. She leaned down and hugged Zaiba. Aunt Fouzia was dressed like a secret agent in a Bond film, in a floor-length black gown with diamond earrings.
“You’ve made me so very proud this weekend. Your eye for detail really shone through. You know, perhaps…” She cocked her head on one side, thinking, and Zaiba held her breath. Then she clapped her hands together. “Perhaps it’s time to open the first unofficial UK branch of the Snow Leopard Detective Agency.”
Zaiba and Poppy’s eyes grew wide. “Really?” they said in unison.
“Could I have a break first?” Ali groaned. “I’m not ready for any more spiders or small dark spaces.”
They giggled and Aunt Fouzia looked at Maysoon, speaking so easily in front of the crowd of people.
“If Maysoon can achieve her greatest ambitions, then why not you?” she said to Zaiba.
Sam came over to join her mum and looked down at her cousin. She was going to make the most beautiful bride ever. “I have every faith in you, Zaiba. You rescued my happiness this weekend and I can’t thank you enough.”
Zaiba felt so proud of herself. She’d gone from hiding beneath a table to solving the biggest crime to ever hit the Royal Star Hotel. All because her aunt had encouraged her. And, of course, her brother and her best friend had helped. They’d achieved so much together! Though she still wasn’t sure she should ever share the secret of climbing down the hotel trellis.
“Tut, tut, Samirah,” Aunt Fouzia corrected her, smiling down at her niece. “This isn’t just Zaiba any more.” The room stilled, and it was almost as though everyone was waiting to hear what she would say next. “This is Agent Zaiba now.”
Her family cheered and Zaiba glanced around, taking in the smiling faces. She’d done it, she’d actually done it! She’d become a detective, just like her aunt, and she hoped that – somewhere – her ammi felt proud. Zaiba felt as though she was floating on a cloud. But more than that, she felt a tingle of excitement pass over her. Poppy and Ali appeared either side of her and scooped her up in a hug. Then they pulled back and gazed into each other’s faces, their eyes shining bright.
“You know, guys,” Zaiba whispered. “This is just the beginning.”
“Totally!” Ali said.
Poppy gazed down at her dress. “You know, I’m going to have to invest in a whole new wardrobe. What do detectives wear?”
Zaiba laughed and dug her hand into her new handbag, pulling out her Eden Lockett book. She stroked a hand down the cover of Eden Lockett’s Detective Handbook. Maybe one day, books would be written about Agent Zaiba! She bit her lip, smiling to herself. Well, if she wanted that to happen, she’d just have to start solving more crimes…
My heart thumped, keeping time with my knuckles as they rapped against the wooden wall panelling.
Tap, tap, tap, thunk.
My knuckles stopped; my heart galloped faster. That part was hollow! I knew it!
The house was centuries old, just the kind of place where long-forgotten secrets lurked in nooks, crannies, chimneys and walls.
There must be a secret passage behind here. All the windows and doors had been locked when Lady Thornside’s diamond tiara had disappeared. No one had left the manor house since, which could only mean—
“Eden Lockett, why are you leaning against my walls?” came an imperious voice from behind me.
I wheeled around to find Lady Thornside peering at me, a mixture of curiosity and anger in her face.
You can’t shush a lady. But I put my finger to my lips, hoping she’d get the hint that this was a time to be quiet.
“Lady Thornside, I am investigating,” I whispered. “It’s very important that you leave me to it.”
She arched an eyebrow and nodded, whisking past me into her magnificent drawing room. I waited until the butler closed the ornate doors behind her.
Thank heavens. I turned back to my work. “If there’s a secret passage, there must be a secret way to get into it,” I muttered to myself. I prodded the panelling, searching for a button or a handle or something.
Nothing.
That’s when my knee brushed something on the wall – a very slight raised knot in the wood. I watched, my hand over my mouth, as the panelling creakily slid open.
There, behind the wall, was a hidden staircase. A shadowy, musty staircase, with footprints leading from step to step, up into the darkness.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside.
Can you spot one key difference between how Eden opens the secret to door to her staircase and Zaiba finds her own secret set of steps?
Being the world’s best detective takes lots of practise!
See how good your memory is…
Practise your observation skills with your friends. Collect about twenty objects – the more random the better! – and give your friends thirty seconds to look at them. Once the time is up, cover the objects. Each person has two minutes to write down as many of the objects as they can remember.
How did they do? Now it’s someone else’s turn to choose the objects!
Make your own fingerprinting kit!
To make a fingerprinting kit you will need:
- clear tape
- flour
- a paintbrush
- white paper
- a pencil
Practise taking fingerprints by finding a flat surface (with fingerprints on!). Brush the flour on to the surface so it covers the fingerprints then gently blow off any extra flour. Stick some clear tape over the flour and you’ll have collected a potentially useful clue!
You can also take fingerprints from potential suspects! On a piece of paper, colour in a patch with a pencil. Ask your suspect to rub their finger hard on the pencil marking then place their finger on to the sticky side of some clear tape. Gently lift their finger off the tape and stick the tape to a plain piece of paper. Compare it to any fingerprints you found at the scene of the crime!
If you’re working on a top-secret investigation, you’ll need to use code to communicate with your fellow detectives. Here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Reverse words – by reversing the letters and the order of the words, you can confuse anyone trying to intercept your message! Can you work out what this says?
STNIRPTOOF EHT WOLLOF
2. PigPen – each letter corresponds to the part of the grid it is found in. What does this message tell us to do?
3. Morse code is an established form of communication using dots and dashes. It is especially useful as you can write it, or use sounds or light to make it!
INVENT YOUR OWN CODE!
Use a grid like the one below to create symbols to represent different numbers, letters and punctuation. Make sure your symbols and drawings are simple and easy to reproduce so everyone in your team can use it.
Aunt Fouzia swears that an agent never shares her secrets, but we have a few just for you! Did you know…
The first Snow Leopard D
etective Agency was set up in Karachi, Pakistan, by Aunt Fouzia and Zaiba’s ammi in 1999. For years the sisters helped a range of clients. Now Aunt Fouzia is the lone head detective.
Aunt Fouzia has become a legend for cracking all sorts of cases, including crimes that involved a prime minister, a famous Bollywood actress and even the Karachi Stock Exchange!
Snow leopards are rare big cats which can be spotted (if you’re lucky) roaming the mountains of Pakistan. Snow leopards are feisty, great at camouflaging themselves and love exploring even the harshest of environments – just like the very best detectives!
Aunt Fouzia’s brain works best when she drinks lots of tea. Her record is ten cups of chai in one day!
Now the new unofficial UK branch of the Snow Leopard Detective Agency is up and running, with their first case solved! Will Zaiba, Poppy and Ali let any other agents into their top-secret organisation?
Can you sort fact from fiction with these Mehndi party questions?
1. Mehndi parties only happen in Pakistan.
False! Mehndi parties originated in South Asia. But as people have migrated across the globe, you can find people celebrating them all over the world. You might also hear a Mehndi party called a henna party. In Pakistan it is called the Rasm-e-heena.
2. The Mehndi party takes place before the wedding.
True! Pakistani weddings are made up of several ceremonies. The Mehndi party usually takes place a few days before the wedding ceremony which is called the Shaadi.
3. Only women are allowed at a Mehndi party.
False! Traditionally, Mehndi celebrations were held for women but nowadays everyone gets together to celebrate!
4. Henna is a type of food.
False! Henna is the coloured paste applied to the bride and groom’s skin in intricate designs. Henna is the English word for Mehndi.
5. Henna paste is a reddish-brown colour.
True! Henna is made from the leaves of a henna plant, crushed up and formed into a paste. When it dries it turns a dark brown colour on the skin.
Annabelle Sami is a writer and performer. She grew up next to the sea on the south coast of the UK and moved to London, where she now lives, for university. At Queen Mary University she had an amazing time studying English Literature and Drama, finally graduating with an MA in English Literature.
When she isn’t writing she enjoys playing saxophone in a band with her friends, performing live art and swimming in the sea!
Originally from Romania, Daniela now lives and works in Cambridge and is completing a master’s degree in children’s book illustrations at the Cambridge School of Art.
Her passion has always been children’s illustration and she loves to draw kids, cats, plants, girls in cool outfits and cute little objects! Creating a magical mix of the ordinary and extraordinary Daniela loves to highlight subtle detail and find beauty in everyday life.
STRIPES PUBLISHING LIMITED
An imprint of the Little Tiger Group
1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
www.littletiger.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by Stripes Publishing Limited in 2020
Text copyright © Speckled Pen Limited, 2020
Illustrations copyright © Daniela Sosa, 2020
eISBN: 978–1–78895–261–3
The right of Speckled Pen Limited and Daniela Sosa to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition, being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
www.littletiger.co.uk
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