Lula Does the Hula Read Online Free Page A

needles to crest the rise on the other side. I’d havebeen devastated if Grandma Bird’s witchy meeting place had been flattened. There’s definitely something about it that’s good for the soul – well, mine, anyway.
    A few minutes more of puffing and panting up the hill, and that’s where we hit a line of red and white tape, cordoning off Frey’s Dam. Through the trees we could just make out the glinting water, and with the rustling of leaves in the breeze came the sound of voices and radio transmitters.
    ‘Damn,’ said Alex. ‘They haven’t gone yet. There’s no way we’re going to be able to get down there. We’re going to have to come back tonight.’
    ‘No point,’ I replied, trying to get a better look through the trees. ‘Jack will be back by this afternoon.
With Jazz
.’ I couldn’t keep a snarky tone out of my voice when I said her name.
    ‘Aw!’ groaned Alex, ducking under the tape and sidling up to a big boulder. ‘I
soo
wanted to get him inside info! He would have loved some images of all this!’
    I crept up behind her, awed by the sight of every one of Hambledon’s police officers thronging the ground below. ‘What the hell’s going on?’ I whispered.
    ‘Dunno,’ murmured Alex. ‘Who’s that down there?’
    I crept up behind her to take a look. ‘Oh yeah, I see. It’s that homeless guy. Grandma Bird used to talk about him a lot. She saw him up here mostly – he doesn’t go into town.’
    ‘Parcel Brewster?’
    ‘Yep, that’s him. He looks really upset. I bet the police are saying he has to move out of his shack. It’s just there on the north ridge somewhere. Do you think it’s a crime scene?’
    ‘I have no idea. Geez, Tatty. Maybe someone’s died a violent death – held beneath the surface by a jealous husband mad with rage and –’ Alex looked at me sharply. ‘What?
What?
’
    I tried to stop laughing. I was not a rude girl. Usually. ‘Alex, you sound like a tabloid hack, not an investigative journalist.
Jealous husband mad with rage
.’ I got the giggles again and Alex punched me. ‘Sorry! Sorry! Come on, let’s get going.’
    Alex followed me without argument, but made up for her lack of conversation earlier. Sadly, it was all about me: ‘What’s with the
Jazz
attitude?’ she asked straight away.
    I blushed. ‘Sorry. That was really childish. I don’t know. Turns out your cousin Jack has spent the fortnight with the woman, plus he lives with her! Did you know that?’
    ‘Don’t let it bother you. Jack doesn’t
like
like her. He respects her commitment to journalism. She’s got amazing connections and the most fantastic zoom lens you ever saw.’
    ‘Oooh,’ I said. ‘
Zoom. Lens
.’
    Alex threw me a
come on you’re bigger than this
look and changed the subject. Kind of. ‘So we’ve been back at school two weeks, you’ve had your first kiss, refuting all those idiotswho thought you were terribly jinxed and would never be kissed . . .’
    ‘Yes,’ I said, smiling a little.
    ‘Yes, well, let’s just keep it refuted, yeah?’
    ‘Yeah,’ I agreed. Wholeheartedly.
    ‘Nothing happens to Jack.
Nothing
. And he has to stay your boyfriend for a while. Okay?’
    ‘Okay,’ I said meekly, though I didn’t feel very calm as an image of my boyfriend flashed into my head, leaving me breathless, and it wasn’t the running that did it: tall, very tall, and very, very handsome with thick floppy hair that was chopped short at the back, but which fell into his beautiful dark eyes; dark brows; general dark broodingness that had my pulse racing at all hours . . .
    Alex was saying something about Jazz being very attractive.
    ‘
What?
’ I demanded. ‘What are you saying? I thought you said Jack didn’t
like
like Jazz. What’s going on? What’s
really
going on? What have you heard?’
    My friend huffed impatiently. ‘Forget it! It’s no big deal! It’s just that Tam said she heard from Gianni Caruso – you know, the guy with the fingers