Alice-Miranda to the Rescue Read online

  About the Book

  It’s the beginning of term and Alice-Miranda is delighted to be back at school. There is excitement in the air with the news of Miss Reedy and Mr Plumpton’s engagement and fast-approaching wedding. When a surprise arrival is added to the mix, both the students and teachers are thrown into a spin. Meanwhile, Caprice and Millie’s bickering reaches an all-time high and things look set to explode.

  Nearby, in Winchesterfield, there is plenty afoot with the village about to host Chudleigh’s, the country’s most prestigious dog show. Along with the event comes a series of bizarre characters. Could their strange behaviour be hiding something alarming? If so, Alice-Miranda will need to act quickly to save the day!

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  And Just in Case You’re Wondering …

  Cast of Characters

  About the Author

  Jacqueline Supoorts

  Books by Jacqueline Harvey

  Copyright Notice

  For Ian and Sandy, and Suzie the wonder dog, biter of meter men, collector of rubbish, swimmer extraordinaire and faithful family pet

  The tiny pup struggled to free himself from beneath his mother’s matted fur. She growled softly as he grazed a raw patch of her flea-bitten skin. In the corner of the enclosure, his six siblings lay entangled, shivering to keep warm. A sliver of light grew larger as the shed door scraped open and the silhouettes of two men appeared. One was tall and heavy-set, the other slightly built and rangy.

  Tails whumped on the bare concrete. Several of the creatures struggled to their feet, an as-yet-unextinguished hope in their eyes. The taller figure walked to a plastic tub at the end of the shed and prised open the lid. ‘Hurry up,’ he muttered, ‘we haven’t got all day.’

  ‘Why do I always have to get the bowls?’ the other lad griped.

  ‘Because I said, and I’m the oldest.’

  ‘You’re not the boss of me.’ The words flew out of the younger lad’s mouth before he had time to wish they hadn’t. Within seconds his brother was upon him, pummelling his ears before a swift kick to the shin sent him hopping about and moaning in pain. ‘I hate you,’ he hissed under his breath.

  The older fellow laughed and walked back to snatch up a small measuring cup. A few of the animals began to bark, their sharp hacks drowning out the high-pitched whimpers of many more. ‘Quiet down, you lot!’ he yelled.

  His brother limped along the row of cages, opening and closing the wire doors and piling putrid plastic dishes into a tower. At the far end, the curly caramel pup pushed his paw against the door. It opened just enough to get his foreleg through and then his head. He wriggled and squeezed and eventually tumbled out.

  He padded towards the open door, then stopped to glance back at his sleeping brothers and sisters, their barrel-like chests rising and falling with each breath. One of them flinched as if in the middle of a terrible dream. His mother mustered the energy to raise her head and looked at him with sad brown eyes. The pup let out a whine and turned back to the shed door. The canine chorus drowned out the sound of his skittering claws as he raced across the concrete to freedom.

  Alice-Miranda and Sloane waved goodbye to Millie as girls charged off all over the place to their second lesson of the day.

  ‘See you at morning tea,’ Millie shouted. ‘And good luck with the experiment. Don’t let Plumpy blow up the Science lab again.’ She jogged away in her PE kit, wielding a hockey stick by her side.

  Neither Alice-Miranda nor Sloane noticed the group of students walking just ahead of them and they certainly didn’t see the smile which had lit up one of the girls’ faces.

  Sloane groaned. ‘It’s probably about time, you know. Plumpy hasn’t blown anything up for ages.’

  ‘I think Mr Plumpton’s reputation for explosions has always been much worse than the reality,’ Alice-Miranda said as she bounced along beside her friend. ‘And you know it’s always an accident. He never means to.’

  ‘Good morning, you two,’ Miss Reedy greeted the pair as she caught up to them on the path. ‘Beautiful day, isn’t it?’

  A grey dawn had cleared to a dazzling blue sky with just the slightest breath of wind. The temperature was crisp but there was a promise of warmth in the day ahead.

  ‘It’s gorgeous,’ Alice-Miranda agreed.

  ‘Where are you both heading?’ the teacher asked.

  ‘I’ve got Maths and we’re doing really long division,’ Sloane said with a sigh.

  Miss Reedy frowned. ‘I hadn’t realised there was anything more complicated than ordinary long division.’

  ‘There’s not,’ Sloane said, grinning. ‘I’m just not a fan of any sort of division. Isn’t that what calculators were invented for?’

  Alice-Miranda giggled. ‘It’s Science for me and we’re doing an experiment but it’s a surprise.’

  The corners of Miss Reedy’s eyes crinkled into a smile and she glanced at the oval diamond on her left hand.

  Alice-Miranda noticed immediately what she was looking at. ‘It’s a stunning ring.’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ the woman said, her cheeks rising red. ‘I was beginning to wonder if Mr Plumpton was ever going to ask me. And then the ring almost went over the side of the hot-air balloon, and Josiah with it – I thought my heart was going to stop.’

  The child smiled. ‘Thankfully, it didn’t and Mr Plumpton’s safe and now you have the most exciting engagement story I’ve ever heard.’

  Livinia Reedy beamed. ‘That’s true. I can only hope the wedding is less eventful.’

  ‘How come it’s so soon?’ Sloane asked. ‘I thought weddings took ages to organise.’

  Miss Reedy nodded. ‘Mr Plumpton has a surprise arranged for our honeymoon and we have to go away on a particular date or we’ll miss it. He says it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event, so Miss Grimm has granted us special leave during term.’

  ‘I wonder what it is.’ Sloane wrinkled her nose and thought for a moment. ‘Probably some boring Science thing.’

  Alice-Miranda nudged her friend. ‘It sounds like it will be unforgettable.’

  ‘No offence, Miss Reedy,’ Sloane said quickly. ‘It’s just that seeing the migration of the bandy-footed bongo bird isn’t what I’d want to be doing on my honeymoon.’

  Livinia Reedy’s smile faltered slightly. ‘Has Mr Plumpton said something to you?’ she asked the girl.

  ‘I’m sure Sloane just made that up,’ Alice-Miranda giggled.

  S
loane grinned and shrugged. ‘I was only guessing. I’m sure it will be way more exciting than that, like swimming with giant snapping turtles or –’

  ‘Is everything organised, Miss Reedy?’ Alice-Miranda asked, thinking it best to step in.

  ‘Almost.’ The woman bit her lip. ‘I think Mrs Smith has the menu in hand and I’ve booked the minister and the school chapel. But I’ve still got to sort out the cake and the decorations for the dining room and the chapel, not to mention the flowers – heavens, now that I think about it, there’s still plenty to do.’

  The woman’s breathing had become shallow and she seemed to be gasping for air.

  ‘Are you all right, Miss Reedy?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

  The teacher clutched the folder she was carrying to her chest and exhaled. ‘Yes, I’m fine,’ she replied unconvincingly.

  ‘What about your dress?’ Sloane asked.

  ‘Oh, I’ve had that for over a year now,’ Miss Reedy replied.

  Sloane did the calculations in her head. ‘But you didn’t even know that Mr P liked you until we went to Paris,’ she pointed out.

  The woman blushed. ‘Did I say a year? I meant a month, silly me. Oh dear, look at the time. Must be off.’ Livinia Reedy raced down the path towards the main building.

  Sloane chuckled. ‘She’s so had that dress for a year.’

  ‘Well, I don’t care if she’s had it for ten years, I’m just glad they finally realised how much they love each other. It’s going to be a beautiful wedding,’ Alice-Miranda said. She held open the door as they filed into a long corridor teeming with girls rushing to their lessons.

  ‘I’ll see you at morning tea,’ Sloane said, turning in to her classroom.

  Alice-Miranda gave her a wave and walked to the end of the hall, where she could see Mr Plumpton through the laboratory windows. Half-a-dozen large red balloons bobbed against the ceiling while the man was busy filling another from a gas cylinder. The girls had all retrieved their white lab coats and protective glasses from the storeroom next door and were patiently waiting for their teacher. He looked up and beckoned for them to enter.

  ‘Hello everyone, I’m just about ready,’ Mr Plumpton said as he tied off the last balloon and released it into the air. As always, he was wearing his white lab coat over the top of his short-sleeved shirt and tie, shorts and long socks. He had his safety glasses on too.

  ‘Is it your birthday, sir?’ one of the girls called out.

  ‘Not today, Paige, but I think you’re going to find our lesson very exciting nonetheless.’ He clapped his hands together. ‘Now, who can tell me which gas is lighter than air?’

  Hands shot up around the room. The teacher pointed at a girl in the back row.

  ‘Helium. That’s why the balloons are floating,’ she said confidently.

  ‘Yes, Mimi, that’s true, but there’s another gas that’s even lighter than helium,’ the man replied.

  Alice-Miranda raised her hand and he pointed her way. ‘Hydrogen,’ she said. ‘It’s far more dangerous too. In the early twentieth century, inventors built huge airships and they used hydrogen to power them until there was a terrible tragedy involving a ship called the Hindenburg. It was coming in to land in New Jersey all the way from Germany when it caught fire and lots of people died. And that’s why they stopped using hydrogen in airships.’

  ‘My goodness, Alice-Miranda, that’s an excellent account of what happened. Now, girls, I thought you might like to see for yourselves the dangers of hydrogen gases.’ The teacher picked up a long taper, like the sort used to light a barbecue or a gas cooker. ‘Who wants to come up and help?’

  There was a chorus of shouts and a sea of waving hands. The teacher selected seven girls, who quickly made their way to the front and collected their tapers.

  ‘Isn’t it a bit dangerous, sir?’ a small girl called from the middle of the room.

  ‘No, it’s exciting!’ Mr Plumpton fizzed. ‘On the count of three, light your tapers. ‘One, two, three!’

  The girls ignited their flames and reached them up to a balloon. There was a series of explosions followed by a shower of sticky red powder. Several of the girls screamed in horror while others stood rooted to the spot, wondering whether the red shower was intentional or not.

  Mr Plumpton wiped the top of his head and stared at his blood-red palms. ‘That wasn’t meant to happen,’ he muttered.

  There was a hiss as the overhead fire sprinklers sputtered to life, spraying water across the room and sending rivers of red trickling all over the girls and the classroom.

  ‘Everyone out!’ the man shouted.

  Teachers and students who had heard the commotion spilled from their classrooms and into the corridor, eager to see what was going on.

  ‘It looks like a crime scene, sir!’ a girl exclaimed.

  Mr Plumpton raced to a control panel and turned the sprinklers off before staggering outside. ‘Calm down, everyone, we’re all right,’ he shouted, unaware that he resembled an axe murderer. He tried to wipe the paint from his safety goggles, which only made it worse. ‘Go back inside, the rest of you. There’s nothing to see here.’

  Mimi examined her hands. ‘What is it?’

  ‘It looks like powdered dye,’ Alice-Miranda said, rubbing the substance between her fingers. ‘When it gets wet it stains everything.’

  One of the girls glanced around at the streaky crew. ‘I think we might need new lab coats, Mr Plumpton.’

  The teacher grimaced. Mrs Howard was going to have a fit. She complained enough as it was about having to wash their lab coats every couple of weeks. ‘Whoever thought this was funny is going to be very sorry.’ The man rubbed his brow, smearing red all over the front of his bald head. ‘Come along, girls. We need to get this place cleaned up.’

  The children followed him back inside. Alice-Miranda grabbed a roll of paper towels and began to distribute sheets to the girls. She glanced up and saw Caprice Radford standing in the hallway, staring into the room. The smile on her face was troubling, to say the least.

  Sloane Sykes slid into the chair beside Millie and placed a steaming mug of hot chocolate on the table. ‘I just heard what happened in Science,’ she said, looking at Alice-Miranda gleefully.

  ‘You mean Plumpy’s modern art lesson,’ Millie said. Judging from the whispers and giggles around the room, everyone else was talking about it as well.

  Alice-Miranda’s face was blotted with red, which no amount of scrubbing had been able to remove.

  ‘I told you it was about time he blew something up again, but he’s outdone himself today,’ Sloane said, rubbing her hands together.

  Millie nodded towards the doorway. ‘Look, here he comes.’

  Mr Plumpton entered the dining room with Miss Grimm by his side. He was still wearing his lab coat and his entire head was now stained red. The headmistress’s high heels tapped across the timber floor as she marched to the podium at the end of the room. Mr Plumpton followed her onto the stage. From the shocked expression on Miss Reedy’s face, she hadn’t yet seen the results of the prank on her fiancé, either.

  ‘I give you Detective Grimm and Exhibit A,’ Millie whispered in a deep voice. Sloane giggled.

  Ophelia Grimm switched on the microphone, which emitted a high-pitched screech. Everyone in the room winced. ‘Good morning, girls and staff. I hope you’ve all enjoyed Mrs Smith’s delicious carrot cake this morning.’ Ophelia looked over and nodded at the cook, who was standing at the servery. ‘Because I can tell you I think it is definitely one of her best.’

  Doreen Smith smiled at the headmistress uncertainly, wondering exactly what she’d done to deserve this morning’s accolades.

  ‘I think we should all stand and give Mrs Smith a huge round of applause.’ Ophelia Grimm began to clap as chairs scraped on the floor and the girls rose to their feet. It wasn’t long before they were stamping and cheering, and Mrs Smith’s nervous smile grew into a wide grin. ‘Thank you, girls, please sit down,’ Miss Grimm directed.
/>   ‘What was that for?’ Millie eyed the headmistress suspiciously. ‘And why is she just leaving Mr Plumpton standing there like some creepy art exhibit?’

  The girls exchanged quizzical looks.

  ‘I suspect that by now most of you will have heard about the unfortunate incident in the Science laboratory during our second lesson this morning. It seems that someone thought it funny to fill the balloons Mr Plumpton was using for an experiment with red dye, which is now all over Mr Plumpton, the lab and every girl in the class. I don’t know why anyone would do such a thing, but they are very fortunate that no one was injured.’ Ophelia Grimm was curious as to why the man had thought it was a good idea to simultaneously light up seven hydrogen balloons in the first place, but she decided to speak to him about that later.

  Mr Plumpton pirouetted so that the girls could see every inch of the damage.

  Alice-Miranda glanced across the dining room at Caprice, who was sitting with the Head Prefect, Sofia Ridout, and blinking innocently.

  Ophelia Grimm paused for a moment, then turned her attention back to the cook. ‘Excuse me, Mrs Smith, what have you got on the menu for lunch today?’

  Doreen Smith frowned. ‘Lasagne and salad with treacle pudding for dessert, which reminds me, I’d best pop out and get the pudding started.’

  Miss Grimm smiled sweetly. ‘Yes, don’t let me keep you.’