Zoe had a stack of board games and some glow-in-the-dark stickers to put on the ceiling of the tent. “This way, it’s like we are sleeping outside, but without the wild animals and bugs,” she explained.
Rani had brought nail polish and was proudly setting it out next to the quilt. She had special glitter that went on top of the polish and a small battery-powered fan to make it dry faster.
Soon they had a proper, cosy campsite full of sleepovery things to do.
Lottie waited until her friends had finished unpacking before reaching back into her own suitcase. Then, as Rani, Zoe, Ava and Isabel looked on, Lottie took out five torches, an ancient camera, two pieces of rope, four tins of cat food, a magnifying glass, a compass, three new toy mice filled with catnip, five water bottles, the photocopied sleepover plans and a stack of envelopes.
Lottie had not forgotten the real reason for the sleepover. She arranged all of her supplies on the quilt.
“What is the rope for?” asked Rani.
“In case we need to tie up a baddie,” said Lottie. “Or Lady Lovelypaws, if she keeps on running away. And the envelopes are in case we find clues.”
They were dividing up the torches when Mrs Peabody and Miss Moody appeared with big boxes of pizza.
“Let me just pop into the kitchen and get some plates,” said Mrs Peabody, but it turned out that there was no need: Lottie went to her suitcase and returned with paper plates, serviettes and plastic cutlery, although only Isabel and the grown-ups wanted knives and forks.
They had a pizza picnic on the quilt as the sun went down behind the playground trees. Colonel and Mrs Crunch appeared with a big tray of apple crumble for pudding. The dark school loomed large around them as the night set in, and the halls echoed with teatime chatter and the sound of giggling.
After dinner was finished and tidied away, and the Crunches had gone home to watch the evening news, it was time to get ready for bed. Even if bedtime was hours and hours away.
“Lottie, are those your pyjamas?” asked Ava, as they finished getting changed.
Lottie stood before them in black leggings, a black T-shirt and black plimsolls. She had a black cap on her head. The other four could hardly see her in the darkness of the hallway.
“Those are strange pyjamas,” agreed Isabel, turning a torch on Lottie. “You look like a burglar.”
“They aren’t pyjamas,” said Lottie. “This is what you wear to solve a mystery at night.”
“Oh,” said the other four together.
There was an awkward silence as Lottie looked around at her friends.
Isabel had brought pink flannel pyjamas with a matching robe and bunny slippers. Lottie frowned. Surely people solving a mystery didn’t wear fuzzy animals on their feet?
Ava was wearing a long white nightdress that nearly touched the floor. Lottie had never seen a detective who looked so much like a fairy-tale princess. This was not good.
Zoe had pyjamas with glow-in-the-dark stars on them. They were so bright that Zoe wouldn’t need a torch at all. So much for sneaking up on Lady Lovelypaws. At least, thought Lottie, they would be able to find Zoe in the dark.
Lottie had expected Rani to have some sensible, handed-down boy-pyjamas from her brothers, but that was not the case. Rani had on sparkly pink trousers and a top with a glittery unicorn jumping over a rainbow. She looked more ready for a disco than for solving a mystery. Lottie was pleased to see that Rani had put her trainers back on: at least one of them was prepared to chase Lady Lovelypaws if the investigation called for it.
“Are you in your pyjamas, girls?” asked Mrs Peabody. She had emerged from her office wearing her nightdress and robe, and fuzzy slippers that looked like the bunny parents of Isabel’s slippers. Mrs Peabody had curlers in her hair. Behind her, Miss Moody wore green pyjamas with sheep on them and thick socks on her feet.
“Shall we have a look for Lady Lovelypaws now?” the headmistress asked.
Lottie took out the official sleepover schedule. “It is too early for that,” she told them. “It’s time for ghost stories and popcorn!”
“You get started with the stories,” Miss Moody told them. “Mrs Peabody and I will get the popcorn going.” The teacher and the headmistress went off to the Rainbow Room, which held Crabtree School’s very own popcorn-making machine, just like the ones they have at the cinema.
“Do we have to have ghost stories?” asked Zoe, looking nervously at Ava. “Maybe we could skip that bit.”
“Of course we have to have ghost stories,” said Lottie. “It’s all written down right here.” She waved the sleepover schedule about.
“It’s awfully dark in here,” said Rani. “Why don’t we turn some more lights on and then tell ghost stories?”
“That’s what the TORCHES are for, silly!” said Ava. “You need darkness for ghost stories, and then the torches make it even spookier.”
“We’ll waste the batteries,” said Zoe hopefully. “And we need the torches for later, when we look for Lady Lovelypaws. Oh well, I guess no ghost stories.” Zoe sounded delighted.
“Don’t worry,” said Lottie, taking five packets of extra batteries out of her suitcase. “I’ve already thought of that.”
There didn’t seem to be any other reason why they couldn’t have ghost stories, and so Ava, a torch lighting up her face, began.
“This story,” she said chillingly, “is called ‘The Little Kitten of Death’.”
“Stop!” screeched Zoe. “I already don’t like this one.”
“It’s not that scary,” said Ava. “But how about I call it, ‘The Little Ghost Kitten’ instead?”
Zoe didn’t look convinced, but Ava continued.
“A long, long time ago, in a big red school just like this one, in fact it was this one, there was a little girl called Mabel. Mabel loved her friends and her school and her very kind headmistress, who was called Lady Constance Hawthorne, just like the statue says.
“One night, Mabel was alone in this very hallway after an evening music lesson when she felt a tug at the back of her dress.
“Now this was the olden days, so Mabel wore long skirts with lots of lace. She thought she might have got her dress caught on something. But when she turned round, there was nothing there.
“She kept walking, but there it was again – Tug! Tug!”
In the darkness, Ava tugged on Zoe’s foot. Zoe screamed and smacked Ava’s hand. Rani pulled the quilt up over her head, whilst Isabel looked nervously round the dark hallway.
Only Lottie was not afraid. “Go on!” she told Ava. “Was it a ghost?”
Ava did go on, in her spookiest voice.
“Mabel turned again and, this time, she saw a fluffy white kitten near her shoe. She bent down to pick it up, but her hands went right through it!
“Suddenly, the kitten turned and ran up the stairs. Mabel knew that it was a ghost, but she was not afraid.”
“I am!” shrieked Zoe.
“It’s not THAT scary,” Lottie told Zoe crossly. “It’s only a kitten. A ghost kitten isn’t scary.”
Lottie probably should not have said that, because then Ava decided to make the story even scarier.
“Because she wasn’t a scaredy cat like Zoe, Mabel decided to follow the kitten. As she climbed the stairs – those very stairs right there – Mabel could hear a voice calling out: ‘Here, kitty-kitty-kitty… Here, kitty-kitty-kitty…’
“It was quiet at first, but as Mabel got closer to the Year Three classroom, the voice got louder. The classroom door was closed, and the kitten disappeared right through it.
“‘Here, kitty-kitty-kitty,’ called the voice.
“Mabel knew that the girls in her class had all gone home. She couldn’t imagine who could have been calling out, ‘Here, kitty-kitty,’ over and over again…
“Then there was a scratching on the bottom of the door, like the kitten wanted to get back out.”
Ava scratched her fingers on the floor and they all jumped, even Lottie.
“Mabel was very, very scared but she had to know who was in there.
“‘Here, kitty-kitty-kitty…’ went the voice. Mabel put her hand on the doorknob, and slowly, slowly she began to turn it, and—
“‘BOOOOOOO!’”
“AHHHHHH!” screamed Zoe, as Rani pulled at the quilt so hard that it toppled their camp. Nail polish and dolls went everywhere. Even Pip raised his head to see what all the commotion was about.
“Oh no!” shrieked Isabel. “Look, the popcorn!”
Miss Moody and Mrs Peabody had been on their way back to the hall with two huge bowls of popcorn, all that was left in the popcorn maker. The end of the ghost story and all the screaming had given them such a fright that they had dropped the popcorn all over the floor.
“I told you,” Zoe told Ava crossly as they scooped up dusty popcorn, “not to make it too scary! Now you’ve ruined our popcorn party.”
“I’m sorry,” said Ava. “I was only having fun. I never meant to hurt the popcorn. I just wanted to tell a good story.”
“It was a good story,” Lottie told her. “But what happened at the end?”
“What do you mean?” asked Ava. “I said ‘Boo’. That was the end.”
“But we have to know what happens,” said Lottie. “You can’t just end with Boo! Who was the voice? The voice behind the door?”
“Oh,” said Ava. “It was the ghost of Lady Constance Hawthorne, of course, calling out for Lady Lovelypaws’s great-great-great-great grandmother.”
Lottie nodded approvingly.
“That was way too scary,” said Zoe. “In my head I can still hear her calling, ‘Here, kitty, kitty!’” Zoe shivered in fear.
“Wait, listen!” cried Rani. “I hear it too!”
They all froze. Then suddenly Lottie ran to the front door. When she threw it open, she found Mrs Snoop on the front path.
“Just passing by,” Mrs Snoop said calmly, heading off down the street and calling “Here, kitty, kitty”, as she went.
“She was calling for Lady Lovelypaws,” said Rani. “She’s trying to catch her before we can!”
“Mrs Snoop is even scarier than the ghost story!” said Zoe, and her friends agreed.
“Maybe,” Isabel suggested as they scooped the last bit of popcorn into a bin, “we could string up this dirty popcorn and use it to decorate the tent? Like you do on a Christmas tree?”
It was indeed crafts time on the sleepover schedule. The girls tidied the campsite and made Isabel’s popcorn chains. Then Rani painted everyone’s toenails. Once they were dry, the friends put Ava’s dolls into their pyjamas and tucked them into bed in their little tent.
“What’s next?” asked Rani.
Lottie could hardly contain her excitement. “It must be nearly midnight,” she said. She looked around at her friends.
“The time has come to begin our search.”
It was, in fact, nine p.m., not midnight, according to the two watches that Zoe always wore. But it was dark enough that it felt like midnight, and they’d waited long enough to begin the hunt for the missing cat.
“Right,” Lottie ordered, looking at her notebook. “We need to search the school from top to bottom, inside and out.”
Mrs Peabody had insisted that the girls would need to be in bed (or in tent) before ten o’clock, so this did not leave Lottie and her team of detectives much time.
“We are going to split up,” Lottie told them, opening her notebook. “I have it all planned out. Isabel and Mrs Peabody will come with Pip and me to search the playground and downstairs. Rani, Ava, Zoe and Miss Moody will look for Lady Lovelypaws upstairs.”
“Why do we have to split up?” asked Zoe. “And why do I have to be with Ava? She’s just going to tell more scary stories.”
“People solving a mystery ALWAYS split up,” said Lottie crossly. “Haven’t you watched Scooby Doo? Ghosts are not real, anyway, and besides, you’ll have a grown-up with you. Miss Moody won’t let Ava scare you.”
Zoe reluctantly agreed.
“Hey!” said Rani. “How come you get to have all of the detective stuff? You have to share.” It didn’t seem fair: Lottie’s group had the dog detective and most of the supplies Lottie had brought.
“Oh, ALL RIGHT,” said Lottie. “Here, you take some rope and the camera.” Lottie handed Rani the ancient camera, which had been her dad’s when he was a little boy, and both parties set off on tiptoe.
“And remember,” called Lottie as they went. “No lights on! We don’t want to frighten Lady Lovelypaws away!”
“What about frightening me away?” asked Zoe. “Do we want to do that?”
“We definitely got the scarier bit of the school,” Rani whispered to Ava and Zoe as they made their way up to the first floor.
“It’s so quiet,” whispered Zoe. “It’s never this quiet during the day.” She shone her torch in every corner, in case Lady Lovelypaws was hiding there. Or in case something else was.
“QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!”
“Ahhhhh!” screamed Zoe, Ava and Rani together. Zoe jumped into Ava’s arms.
“Sorry,” said Miss Moody. “I’ve got a message.” She frowned at her phone in the darkness. “Oh dear. I need to call my flatmate. She’s lost her keys. Will you be OK for a bit, girls?” Miss Moody dashed back down the staircase.
“She probably doesn’t even have a flatmate,” said Zoe. “She’s scared!”
“Come on,” said Rani. “Let’s hurry up and get this over with so we can have our midnight feast.”
At the top of the stairs, they paused outside the door to the Year Three classroom. It was closed. They all stared at the doorknob.
They listened for scratching.
“Come on,” said Ava finally. “It was just a story.”
“So you don’t believe in ghosts, either?” asked Rani.
“Of course I believe in ghosts,” replied Ava. “But I made that story up. There are no ghosts in the Year Three classroom. Ghosts like scarier places, like attics and cupboards.”
Zoe and Rani gulped together. They pushed open the door to the Year Three classroom.
Ava was right: there were no ghosts in Year Three. All was quiet. Through the windows they could see Crabtree Park. In the dim glow of the street lamps, a few dogs were getting their last evening walks.
There was no trace of Lady Lovelypaws anywhere.
Together the three searched the Years Four, Five and Six classrooms. In Year Six they had a good snoop round, to see what the school’s eldest girls got up to. The empty desks seemed a bit ghostly without their occupants, but there were no actual ghosts present, nor were there any cats. Rani took a few photos with Lottie’s camera so that they would remember what Year Six looked like, and then they moved on.
“What’s behind there?” asked Rani, pointing to a narrow door at the end of the corridor.
“I don’t know,” said Ava. “Maybe it’s a cupboard?”
“Or an attic,” whispered Zoe.
The three of them stood there, frozen.
“You like ghosts,” Zoe finally told Ava. “You go first.”
“But there could be spiders in there,” said Ava. “Or bats or rats.”
“I’m not afraid of spiders,” said Rani, helpfully. “I’ll go first, but if there are ghosts I get to be the first one out.”
That seemed fair. Rani opened the door, which creaked like it hadn’t been used in ages. The girls found that it did lead to a small cupboard, which was empty except for a wooden ladder covered in cobwebs. It led up through a large hole in the ceiling.
“It’s a cupboard AND an attic,” Ava told Zoe, as Rani began climbing. “Definitely full of ghosts!”
“Wow,” gasped Rani, as first her torch and then her feet disappeared through the hole. “You have to see this!”
With sweaty palms and hearts racing, Ava and Zoe followed her.
When they were all in the attic, their torches lit up the treasures around them. The attic was packed full of hundreds of
years of Crabtree School history. Big dusty blackboards, trunks of old-fashioned dresses, piles of old toys and stacks and stacks of musty old textbooks lined the floor and walls.
“Look,” said Rani, pointing to an old-fashioned machine with a big horn coming out of it. “That’s a gramophone. They used it to listen to music in the olden days! I saw one in a museum.”
Zoe got down on her knees to inspect some black-and-white photographs of girls in long skirts. None of them were smiling, which seemed sad. Then she flipped through an old lesson book. Eliza Smith, 1872, read the name written on the inside cover. Eliza Smith had good handwriting.
Rani looked through the dusty dresses. She put on a wide hat with a net that covered her face.
“Look at this,” said Ava, picking up a small bundle. Rani shone her torch on it. Cradled in Ava’s arms was a doll, wearing a grey lacy dress that must have once been white. The doll had golden curls that felt like real hair, and her head was made of china. Ava tipped the doll forward and her glassy eyes opened.
“She’s a bit scary,” Rani said. “Are those teeth?”
Zoe came in for a closer look. “They are teeth!” she said. “They look like fangs.”
Ava set the doll carefully back in its rusty metal buggy, but none of them could stop staring at its teeth. They were properly scary.
“We should take some photos,” Ava told Rani nervously. “Lottie and Isabel will be sad they missed this!”
But just as the camera made its first click, the legs gave out on the ancient doll’s buggy and it crashed to the ground.
“What was that?!” shrieked Rani.
“Heeeellllppppp!” screamed Zoe at the top of her lungs. “Help! Somebody help us!” Zoe was hysterical.
“Shhhhhhhh!” whispered Ava, as the three of them huddled together. “It’s OK! It was just the doll’s buggy.”
“We broke it,” said Rani sadly. “I hope the doll doesn’t get angry.” They spent ages trying to mend the doll’s buggy but it kept coming apart in their hands.
The Case of the Missing Cat Page 3