The Case of the Disappearing Corpse by June Whyte Page B

graveyard. The furniture consisted of a scarred table, an old metal filing cabinet, and three wooden chairs. Tayla, her arms and legs bound with rope, slumped in the chair nearest the door.
    “Tayla!” I cried, rushing forward. “Are you okay? Have they hurt you?”
    Her answer was too soft to hear. I’d never seen Tayla look so shocked. For a moment her eyes lit up when she saw me, then they went dull again.
    “Give me the microfilm,” Sam demanded, his expression ugly.
    “What if I lost it on the way over here?” My defiant mouth said these words while my heart skittered up into my throat.
    “Cha—give it to him. Please.”
    Sarah’s cry and Sam’s fist hit me in the face at the same time, sending me reeling against the corner of the table. Yellow stars swum before my eyes as I shook my head and wiped the blood from my mouth.
    “I’ll repeat it one more time, kid. And if I don’t get the right answer I’ll call Nick in here. He’ll shoot off all your fingers—one at a time.” He paused while my nervous fingers shook so hard I had trouble reaching for the string around my neck. “So what’s it to be?”
    I untied the string, put the pink handkerchief in my pocket and handed him the small cartridge. How I wished I’d never looked in Patsy’s pocket.
    The bones in my legs felt like they’d melted and were refusing to hold me up. I slumped onto one of the empty chairs and touched my sore mouth with the tip of one finger. I needed a plan.
    Sam pulled two lengths of rope from inside the filing cabinet. After tying Sarah to one chair he began attaching me to the other.
    “Can I ask you something, Sam?” I asked as he looped the rope around my wrists.
    His only answer was to pull the rope a fraction tighter.
    Call it stubbornness or confusion or just plain P.I. orneriness. I had to know. “Why did you shift Frank’s body?”
    “Dunno what ya talking about,” he grunted, bending to tie my ankles to the chair legs. “Now shut up or I’ll plug your mouth with a gag.”
    After tying the rope so tight it was digging into my flesh, he stood, flexed his fingers and looked around the room. Then he began to snigger.
    “Hey, look at that fierce guard dog of yours.”
    Leroy was under the table, stretched out on his back, legs in the air, fast asleep.
    “ Wooohooo! ” Sam sneered. “Ya dog’s got me trembling in me boots.” Still chuckling he left the room and shut the door behind him.
    All I could hear was the loud thumping of my heart, Leroy’s snores and the wailing sound of either a fire engine or an ambulance fading away in the distance.
    Already the ropes were biting into my skin. My shoulders were telling me they weren’t happy with the shape they’d been forced into behind the chair. And I felt so guilty about dragging Sarah and Tayla into this mess that I couldn’t look at them.
    Tasting blood, I licked my swollen lips and forced myself to speak.
    “Tayla, I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”
    She grunted.
    Taking that as “ apology accepted ,” I continued. “How did they trick you into coming here?”
    Tayla’s voice was so soft I had to strain to hear her. “Sam said he had something to show us and that you were already here waiting for me.”
    “How did he find you?”
    “I was coming out of the mall after school and he was waiting there in the van.” She sniffed loudly and looked ready to cry. “I can’t believe I was stupid enough to get in the van with him.”
    “You think you’re stupid. What about me? I let Sarah talk me into letting her come too. Now we’re all in the poo.”
    Sarah was sitting rigid in the chair opposite me, her face pale, her Princess-like hair in uncharacteristic tangles. She stuck out her lower lip.
    “I would’ve followed you anyway,” she said. “Why should you have all the adventures?”
    “Some adventure, eh?” I rolled my eyes at her.
    “Chiana,” she said, her voice barely a whisper, her lips trembling as her bravado began to fade.