The Alley

The Alley by Eleanor Estes

Book: The Alley by Eleanor Estes Read Free Book Online
Authors: Eleanor Estes
Tags: Ages 8 and up
Ads: Link
one—the day of the bullet-headed-man dog lover."
    "Oh, yes, Wags!" said June Arp accusingly. "Where was Wags during the burglary?"
    "Wags! Yes!" said Hugsy. "Where was she?"
    "Wait, can't you?" said Connie. "I'm coming to Wagsie. I'm getting to her right now."
    Connie's head swam as she tried to recall the steps that might have led up to the robbery. So she said, although there was silence, "Quiet, can't you? I can't think."
    Billy reminded her quietly—he knew how hard it was to tell such an important story in the right order—"You were on Wagsie. Why didn't she, well ... bark? And you also said something about a bullet-head..."
    "Oh, yes," said Connie. "Well, she probably did bark! She probably barked her head off—at first. You know that wonderful, deep, beautiful bark she has...? She doesn't bark often, but what a wonderful bark when she does!"
    "Then why didn't she bark that wonderful bark when burglars came?" asked Judy Fabadessa wonderingly. "She is an F.B.I. dog."
    "Was," said Connie, "as a puppy. But listen, can't you?" she said, for there was some murmuring among the others, too—"Yes, why," said some, "didn't Wags bite or at least scare the burglars, arouse the neighbors?" and many other comments of that sort.... "When Mama and I finally had the chance to get into the kitchen after the police—the first two and the second two, and the detective—had all left, there, under the table we saw—a bone!"
    "Bone!" exclaimed Billy. "What's strange about a bone?" But his eyes showed that he knew that what was coming was going to be good, and it was.
    "Yes, bone!" said Connie. "Under the kitchen table was a bone ... not one of Wagsie's real, right, regular old soup bones she keeps under there, but a strange bone that somebody, the burglar probably, must have given her. It was no bone of ours."
    "O-o-oh," said Hugsy. "I see it all now. They tempted her with a bone—to keep her quiet. That is why no one heard her."
    "And this bone," Connie went on, "may have had a sleeping potion on it. There might have been poison on it. We don't know, she might die yet. Papa's going to watch her carefully and take her to the vet's if she acts funny. But it might be a poison that takes a year to work; we don't know, we don't know. So Mama picked up that bone with a paper towel and threw it in the trash can..."
    "Threw the bone clue away!" shouted Billy. "Your mother is no better than the police, who didn't gather up the other clues. Do you think the bone is still in the garbage can?"
    "Sure," said Connie.
    "O-o-oh, ugh!" said Katy. She had been sitting on the garbage pail, and she leapt off as though the bone beneath might bite or poison her.
    "Good," said Billy quietly. "I'll get it out later."
    "Ugh," said Katy again. "Who would want to touch a dirty old burglar bone like that, poison on it and all?"
    "I would," said Billy.
    ("Ts," thought Connie proudly. "Billy is not afraid of anything. Not one thing. He's like Papa.") "I'll get it later," said Billy, "and put it with the rest of the clues."
    "What for?" asked June Arp.
    "You'll see," said Billy with a slow and meaningful nod of his head.
    "Now I get it; now I get it all!" said Hugsy. "Take the bone to the drugstore, see what sort of poison is on it, see who has bought that sort of poison."
    "You're brilliant," said Billy to Hugsy. He was a little put out because Hugsy had spilled the reason before he had.
    To clear the atmosphere, Connie said, "You know how greedy Wagsie is; she's always hungry ... always. She probably did bark her head off, but then the man ... oh, you see—it's all coming to me now—I bet the breaking-into-the-house burglar was the man that talked to Mama and me that day, the bullet-head man who said, 'Does this dog bite?' Remember? The day of de Gaulle and the lady with the loose stockings..."
    "And the beautiful-mansions man..." put in Billy.
    "Oh, they're all probably in cahoots," suggested Hugsy.
    "Oh, don't be silly," said Katy. Hugsy

Similar Books

Wild Honey

Veronica Sattler

Saul and Patsy

Charles Baxter

The Dolls

Kiki Sullivan