Dognapped! Read Online Free Page B

down I saw an old lady, tall and sparrow-thin, carrying a black refuse sack over to the green bin near the back gate. She must be one of the Arnold sisters that Max had told me about. I wondered how good her eyesight was because if she turned around, there was no way she could miss me dangling from her neighbour’s drainpipe, unless she was half-blind. I didn’t dare climb back down, out of sight, in case the drainpipe clanged and gave me away. So I kept still, hardly daring to breath, hoping she wouldn’t turn around and see me.
    ‘Ethel!’
    Just my luck! The other sister had come out now. She was like a puffed out version of the first one; same features, just rounder. ‘Ethel’ turned around to face her sister.
    Don’t look over here, I begged silently. Please don’t look over here!
    ‘Hurry up Ethel, your tea is getting cold,’ ‘round’ sister said.
    Ethel dumped the sack into the bin and hobbled back into the house.
    Phew! I climbed up to the open window as quick as I could and scrambled through, almost knocking over a statue of a woman holding a parasol. I moved the figure along the sill a bit and stepped down into a rather old-fashioned bedroom with huge oak wardrobes and a massive wooden bed covered with a floral quilt. That was a close call. Now to find Fluffy and get out of here before Mrs Brewson gets back.
    I opened the bedroom door and headed across the landing, listening carefully for any sound that would alert me to where Fluffy was being kept. I noticed a faint doggy-like whimpering downstairs and the pad of pawsteps along the hall.
    ‘Fluffy!’ I called, hurrying to the stairs.
    ‘Woof! Woof!’
    Hang on, that bark was a bit loud for Fluffy.
    ‘GRRR!’ A huge, brown, very unfriendly looking pit bull terrier, that definitely wasn’t Fluffy, bounded up the stairs towards me, growling and snarling. I turned around and bolted back to the bedroom, the dog snapping at my heels. How I managed to get inside and slam the door shut before it took a chunk out of me, I’ll never know. I leant against the closed door, my heart pounding as the dog hurled itself at it, trying to open it with brute force. Boy, that was close!
    Then three shrill whistles pierced the air.
    Oh no, Max was warning me that Mrs Brewson was on her way back. I had to get out of here! I ran over to the window and looked out, dropping to my knees when I saw the Arnold sisters in their back garden again. To my horror, I heard the front door open as Mrs Brewson came in. The dog careered down the stairs to greet her. I was trapped!
    Think, Amy, think. I told myself. What would Vince Bronson do? He always told Mac that there was a way out of every situation.
    I quickly poked my head up to look out of the window again. Although the Arnold sisters were there, they weren’t facing this way. Dare I risk it?
    I saw Max running along the path at the back of the houses, probably coming to check that I’d got out in time. I stood up and pointed down to the Arnold sisters. He was quick on the uptake, I’ll give him that, because he immediately knocked on their back gate and called to them. ‘Round Sister’ opened the gate, ‘Sparrow Sister’ was close behind her.
    ‘Sorry to disturb you,’ I heard Max say loudly, ‘but I wonder if you’ve heard that Auntie Sue’s dog, Fluffy, has gone missing.’
    ‘What? That lovely little white thing?’ Sparrow Sister gasped.
    Max nodded and started telling them all about it. I just hoped he could keep them talking long enough for me to make my escape. I scrambled out, forgetting about the statue. I caught it with my foot and sent it flying out of the window. Luckily, Max saw what had happened and started coughing loudly to try to cover the SMASH as the figure hit the ground below and broke into pieces. I shinned down the drainpipe, jumping off as I came to the wobbly part that clanged. My landing was softened by a bushy plant, but I still came down on my backside with a bump. I’d just got to