by Holly Bell
Emma Saves the Day
published in 2013 by
Chirpy Bird, an imprint of Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.
A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.
eISBN: 9781743580318
Text and design copyright © 2013 Hardie Grant Egmont
Illustration copyright © 2013 Forever Clover Pty Ltd
With thanks to Jaclyn Crupi.
Illustrations by Elizabeth Botté
Design by Julie Thompson
Text design and typesetting by Ektavo
Forever Clover is a registered trademark of Forever Clover Pty Ltd.
www.foreverclover.com.au
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Emma stomped across the quarry. Her curly red hair was a tangled mess and flew wildly behind her. Usually, Emma didn’t like to have a hair out of place – but today she didn’t care.
Emma was running late to meet her friends Abbey, Kate, Matilda, Maddie and Olivia at the clubhouse. The clubhouse was an old mining shed that they’d found dug into the walls of the quarry. The six girls were the only ones who knew it was there.
The sight of the flowers and clovers in the old quarry reminded Emma of the day, long ago, when she had found the four-leaf clover.
A clover with four leaves is rare, and finding one made the girls feel lucky and special. After that, they’d all decided to wear a four-leaf clover charm as a symbol of their friendship. After all, best friends are like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.
The girls always joked about who’d seen the four-leaf clover first. The others all insisted that they had, but Emma just smiled – she knew it had been her.
Usually this memory made Emma feel happy, but today she was too angry. She needed to talk to her friends!
Emma brushed aside the bushes that hid the entrance to the clubhouse. ‘You’ll never guess what’s happened,’ she said as she barged through the door.
The five girls turned to look at Emma. Their smiles disappeared as they saw her wild hair and grumpy expression.
‘What’s wrong, Emma?’ Kate asked as she put her arm around her.
The words rushed out. ‘We just heard from the Lifesaving Club that Mum’s painting has gone missing,’ Emma said, her voice wobbly.
‘That’s terrible!’ Kate said, horrified.
The two girls were best friends, and Kate knew how important that picture was to Emma. It was a painting by Emma’s mum of a little girl playing with her dog at Davey’s Bay beach. The little girl was Emma, and the dog was her golden retriever, Asha.
Emma’s mum was an artist. She was always having exhibitions at the local gallery, and she sold lots of paintings. But Emma loved this one and she’d begged her mum not to sell it – even though lots of people wanted to buy it.
So Emma’s mum had loaned it to the Davey’s Bay Lifesaving Club instead. That way, they could see the painting whenever they were there. Then one day, when Emma was old enough, she’d be allowed to have it for her own house.
‘What do you mean, gone missing?’ Matilda asked. ‘Did they lose it?’
‘No. They think somebody stole it,’ said Emma angrily.
‘Well, we’ll just have to find out who,’ Kate said firmly.
Emma squeezed her bestie’s hand. Even though she was quiet sometimes, Kate always knew exactly what to do.
‘I was hoping you would say that,’ Emma said. ‘I have a plan, and I need your help!’
Emma looked around the clubhouse at her friends. They all smiled at her, ready to help.
‘OK, so this is what I know so far,’ Emma began. ‘The painting went missing on Saturday afternoon, because Bob was sure it was there in the morning.’
‘Wait, who’s Bob?’ Abbey asked.
‘Bob who runs the Lifesaving Club,’ Kate said.
Emma nodded. ‘The painting is small, so it could easily fit into a backpack. We don’t know who took it or why,’ she added. ‘But it’s our job to find it and bring it back.’
‘How do we do that?’ Maddie asked.
‘Well, I’m not entirely sure,’ admitted Emma. ‘I know where to start, though.’
While her mum was talking to Bob about the painting, Emma had picked up the club’s logbook and flipped through the pages. Every member had to write their name in the book when they arrived, and sign out when they left. Emma had made a list of everyone who was there on Saturday afternoon.
Emma pulled out the list and showed it to the girls. ‘I think we should speak to these people and see if they know anything about the missing painting.’
‘Wait – you don’t think someone from Davey’s Bay took the painting, do you?’ Kate asked, her voice low.
Davey’s Bay was a small town, and Emma couldn’t think of anyone who’d have taken it. But she couldn’t rule it out, either. ‘I don’t know,’ she said.
The girls were silent.
‘But somebody did,’ Emma continued. ‘And the people on this list might know who it was. Let’s meet tomorrow after school at Olivia’s mum’s cafe. I’ll bring the list of people and we can decide who should speak to who.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ Matilda said. ‘Cheer up, Emma. We’ll find it.’
‘I hope so,’ Emma said sadly.
The next morning, Emma sat hunched over her cereal bowl.
‘Emma, are you OK?’ asked her mum.
‘Yeah,’ Emma replied quietly. ‘I just wish I knew where the painting was.’
‘We all do, sweetheart,’ her mum said. ‘Try not to let it get to you. I can always do a new painting for the club.’
‘It won’t be the same,’ Emma said. ‘Besides, that painting was supposed to be mine one day.’
‘I know, love,’ said her mum. ‘I know.’
Emma knew her mum was trying to make her feel better by offering to do another painting. But she wasn’t ready to give up on the old one just yet.
Emma arrived at school as the bell rang, and ran into her classroom.
‘Settle down everyone,’ Miss Michaels said, as Emma took her seat. ‘We have a new student joining us. This is Riya. Her family is new to Davey’s Bay, so please make her feel welcome.’
Riya stood at the front of the class. She was looking nervously at the floor.
Emma tried to catch her eye. When she couldn’t, she called out, ‘There’s a spare desk next to me.’
‘Great, thanks Emma. Riya, take a seat,’ Miss Michaels said.
Riya tripped just as she made it to the desk. She fell into the chair next to Emma.
‘Hi, I’m Emma,’ she whispered to Riya, as Miss Michaels started to mark the roll.
Riya gave a small smile. Her hair had fallen in front of her face and she seemed happy to hide behind it.
‘I can show you around school if you like,’ Emma said. ‘And I could show you around Davey’s Bay, too. It’s a great town. Or it usually is, anyway. Something terrible happened last weekend. A painting was stolen from the Lifesaving Club. But apart from that, it’s a great town.’
Emma realised she was rambling and Riya hadn’t said a word. In fact, Riya’s cheeks
had turned a tomato shade of red.
‘Sorry, I’m a bit of a chatterbox,’ Emma said quickly. ‘That’s what everyone tells me, anyway. My best friend Kate is much quieter. You should meet her too. We’re going to the cafe after school, actually – you should come!’
‘Um, OK,’ Riya said quietly as Miss Michaels shushed the class for lessons.
Emma, Kate, Abbey, Matilda, Olivia and Maddie chatted non-stop as they walked down the hill to the cafe.
Emma kept trying to include Riya in the conversation, but the new girl seemed happiest just listening.
The girls said hello to Olivia’s mum and then settled into their favourite booth at the cafe. They all ordered fruit smoothies, except for Riya who asked for a lemonade.
‘Are you guys ready to go over the plan?’ Emma asked.
‘You should tell Riya about your mum’s painting being stolen first,’ Kate suggested.
‘It was your mum’s painting that was stolen?’ Riya asked suddenly. She had a funny look on her face.
‘Yeah,’ Emma said, shaking her head. ‘I really loved it.’
‘Don’t worry, we’ll get it back,’ Abbey said reassuringly.
Emma squeezed her hand. She had such thoughtful friends.
‘OK, let’s go over what we know,’ Emma said firmly, sliding the list of names across the table. She was starting to feel like a real detective!
‘Mum’s painting was stolen on Saturday. And we have the names of everyone who was at the club that afternoon. They’re our suspects.’
Olivia picked up the list uncertainly. ‘We know all these people, Emma,’ she said. ‘They go to our school.’
It was hard for Emma to think that any of them had stolen the painting. ‘But we can still talk to them and ask if they saw anything,’ she said. ‘They might have information.’
Matilda nodded. ‘How about we break into groups and split up the list of people to talk to? If we get to school early tomorrow, we could find them all before class.’
‘Good idea,’ Emma said, and pulled her pink notebook out of her bag. ‘I wrote down some questions that we should ask. Also, I found a website that had tips on how to tell if somebody is lying! It’s pretty interesting stuff. Look, I printed it out.’
Abbey, Kate, Matilda, Maddie and Olivia all leant in to read. Apparently when people lied, they wouldn’t look you in the eye, or they’d scratch their nose or behind their ear. The website had said they might also get defensive, or try to change the subject.
Suddenly, Riya pushed her chair back from the table. ‘I’m going to the bathroom,’ she said.
Emma watched her run off. Riya doesn’t seem to like us that much, she thought.
‘Let’s get started, Forever Clover girls,’ Abbey said, rubbing her hands together.
Emma and Kate met early the next day. They stood by the front gate at school, waiting for the kids on their list to arrive.
They had four names on their list. Robbie from the year above, Ava from the year below, and Nina and Julian from their grade. According to the logbook, they’d all been at the club with their families on Saturday – but none of them had seen anyone steal the painting.
‘None of them looked guilty, either,’ Emma said to Kate, feeling disappointed. ‘Everyone was just as upset as we are about the painting going missing.’
‘Let’s see how the others went,’ Kate said, patting her arm.
As the first bell rang, they saw Riya being dropped off by her dad.
‘Hey, Riya! Over here!’ Emma shouted.
Riya went red when she saw them. She walked over, swinging her backpack and looking at her shoes. ‘Hi,’ she said quietly.
Emma suddenly smelled something odd. ‘Can you smell … bananas?’ she asked, and pulled a funny face.
‘I can’t smell anything with my hay-fever,’ Kate said with a shrug. ‘Come on, let’s go before the second bell rings.’
The three girls walked into school together. When they arrived at their classroom, Emma tried to introduce Riya to some of the other people in their class. Riya hardly said a word to them, though. She seemed quieter than ever.
As Miss Michaels started marking the roll, Emma leant over and invited Riya to sit with them at lunchtime.
‘No, thank you,’ Riya whispered. ‘I have to go to the library.’
Emma was running out of ideas. Maybe Riya didn’t want to make new friends.
‘What are you wearing, Maddie?’ Abbey asked incredulously at lunchtime.
‘It’s my undercover outfit,’ Maddie said, shooting her a fake stern look. She flipped the black hood of her jumper over her head, trying not to giggle.
‘She wore it the whole time we were speaking to people about the painting,’ Olivia laughed. ‘I think she’s seen too many detective movies.’
The girls all laughed too. Emma joined in, but she couldn’t help looking over her shoulder again. She’d had the odd feeling all lunchtime that she was being followed. There was nobody there, though.
I must have seen too many movies, too, she thought with a shrug.
‘You OK, Emma?’ Kate asked her bestie.
‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ Emma said, shaking her head. When she looked behind her again, she saw Riya now standing a few feet away from their bench. She was holding her lunch. Maybe she’d decided to join them after all.
Emma waved, but Riya quickly turned on her heels and headed the other way.
‘That was weird,’ Matilda said, watching her go. ‘Did you two have a fight?’
‘No,’ Emma said, confused.
Then the bell rang for the end of lunch, and they gathered up their rubbish before heading back. They’d barely had time to talk about the other girls’ lists of suspects.
‘Let’s meet at the clubhouse later,’ said Emma. ‘We can fill each other in then.’ She couldn’t wait to hear what the others had found out.
The six girls walked across the clover fields and through the quarry after school. They chattered away excitedly.
Emma was still feeling sad about the painting, but she had to admit that she was sort of enjoying playing detective.
The friends were close to the clubhouse when Emma heard footsteps behind them. She swung around to see Riya standing on the path.
‘Riya, what are you doing here?’ Emma asked, glancing at the bushes to make sure their clubhouse couldn’t be seen.
Kate, Abbey, Matilda, Olivia and Maddie all stopped too, staring at Riya.
‘Well, I, um,’ Riya stammered. ‘I wanted to … to tell you … Never mind.’ Then she turned and ran back up the quarry path.
‘What was that all about?’ Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘I have no idea,’ Emma said.
‘We need to be careful and make sure nobody else follows us here,’ Kate said, looking worried.
The other girls nodded in agreement. They did a quick check to make sure the coast was clear, and then they opened the clubhouse door. Their secret was still safe.
‘Who wants to report first?’ Emma asked, once they were all settled inside.
‘We will,’ Olivia volunteered for her and Maddie. ‘Although we don’t really have anything to report. Nobody on our list knew anything about the painting.’
‘Yeah, and most of them even offered to help with the search,’ Maddie said. ‘So I don’t think they stole it.’
‘Same with us,’ Abbey said. ‘Nobody showed any of the guilty signs from that list, Emma.’
‘OK,’ Emma said, with a sigh. ‘I mean, I guess it’s a good thing that none of them stole the painting, but we’re still no closer to finding it.’
Then Kate snapped her fingers. ‘Hang on a minute,’ she said. ‘We have a list of every member who was at the club on Saturday. But what about non-members? They sign a completely different logbook!’
Emma realised she was right. ‘That’s true! And I’ve just remembered – Bob said that he took a family on a tour that afternoon. He said they were new in town.’
Th
e Forever Clover girls looked at each other. Emma knew they were all thinking the same thing. Riya’s family had arrived just that week.
Kate shot Emma a look. ‘Maybe we should talk to Riya,’ she said quietly. ‘She might know something.’
Emma bit her lip. ‘Wouldn’t she have said something if she did?’
‘It’s worth a shot,’ Kate said.
Emma nodded. ‘I guess you’re right.’
The next morning, Emma and Kate waited at the front of the school for Riya.
‘Hey,’ Emma said as Riya stepped out of her dad’s car. Riya smiled a half-smile.
Emma’s detective senses whirred into gear. She always seems kind of nervous when she sees me, she thought.
The three girls walked inside together. Emma and Kate chatted about their plans for the weekend. But as they got closer to Riya’s locker, they started their questions about the painting.
‘Hey Riya, didn’t you take a tour of the Lifesaving Club on Saturday?’ Kate asked.
‘Um, yeah,’ Riya said.
Emma noted that she didn’t make eye contact. ‘We’re still looking for my mum’s painting,’ she said carefully. ‘I was wondering if you saw it during your tour?’
‘I don’t remember,’ Riya said quickly, nervously scratching behind her ear. ‘Look, I don’t know anything about the painting. We’ve got maths first, haven’t we?’
Riya turned to open her locker. As she did, the smell of banana filled the air.
Kate exchanged a look with Emma. Riya was showing the signs of someone who was lying!
Just then, Emma caught a glimpse of something in Riya’s locker. Just as she realised what it was, Riya slammed the locker shut.
‘Bye!’ Riya said quickly, and ran off down the hallway. The smell of banana hung in the air.
Emma turned to Kate, horrified. ‘Riya has the painting!’ she whispered. ‘It’s in her locker.’
Kate was aghast. ‘Oh no! What should we do?’ she asked.
‘We’ll take her to see the principal and get the painting back!’ Emma replied as she took off after Riya.