The Great Ice-Cream Heist Read Online Free Page A

dry them, she opened the back door.
    â€˜What do you think you’re doing? You gave me the fright of my life!’
    Jamie grinned. ‘More interesting than the washing-up though, wasn’t it?’
    Eva pulled her cardigan round her. Now that the sun had gone down, the summer air was colder. ‘You shouldn’t do that to people. You’ll scare someone to death one day and that will be manslaughter. Or even murder!’
    â€˜Don’t get upset – it was only a joke.’
    â€˜Well, it wasn’t funny. What are you doing out here anyway? How did you get into our garden?’
    â€˜Easy.’ Jamie stepped back from the doorway on to the uneven concrete path. He spun on his heel and pointed to the battered old shed at the bottom. ‘Our shed is right next to yours on the other side of the fence. I climbed over.’
    Eva stepped out of the kitchen after him. She closed the door behind her. It was best if Dad didn’t know Jamie was here. She thought about her double reflection in the window again.
    â€˜I noticed it a while ago,’ he said quietly. ‘I thought it would be easy to get into your garden from ours without going round to the front door. Do you want to see?’
    She glanced back at the house. The kitchen was still empty. ‘OK, but just for a minute.’
    They moved through the twilight. The purple shades were turning navy, and the sky above them was a smear of jam and orange juice.
    Jamie moved towards the shed. It had been there for as long as Eva could remember. It had been painted once, but now the paint fell off in big scabs. Dad dragged a lawnmower out a few times a year, but otherwise no one went into it any more.
    â€˜I used to play in here, when I was really little,’ Eva said softly.
    â€˜Yeah?’
    â€˜It was a den. Sort of. Mum made cushions and things for me to sit on.’
    Jamie stepped up on to a pile of abandoned wood, then pulled himself on to the roof. Eva followed. She’d climbed more in the last two days than she had in all of the last two years put together.
    The roof of the shed was rough, like black sandpaper. Tufts of moss grew like continents on a map. Jamie stepped across the narrow gap that separated his shed roof from hers.
    â€˜Oh,’ she said. ‘Weird.’ Looking at her house from this angle, she almost didn’t recognise it. Her bedroom window was lit and it cast a soft glow down the back wall, like candlelight. The garden looked like it was hiding secrets – fairies or elves tucked into the rambling leaves of plants. She could almost hear them whispering mysterious spells and incantations. If Jamie turned into a frog right now, she wouldn’t have been at all surprised. Well, maybe just a little bit. She felt a shiver of excitement. The gap between the sheds was dark and damp. A really skinny ogre could make a home there. Eva stepped across the space and hoped that no clawed arm shot up and grabbed her ankle.
    She arrived on the other side without a monster attached.
    â€˜This is your den, isn’t it? On the roof? I’ve seen you lying here,’ she said to Jamie.
    â€˜I guess. I like it up here. I get some peace.’
    â€˜I suppose you need it,’ she said cautiously.
    â€˜Why? What’s that supposed to mean?’ Jamie’s scowl was easy to see despite the dusk.
    â€˜Nothing.’ Eva held up her palms. ‘I just meant that it does seem a bit . . . loud in your house. You might need to find somewhere quiet sometimes. That’s all.’
    Jamie’s angry expression melted into a grin. ‘It does get noisy, doesn’t it?’
    He sat down on the mossy roof. Eva joined him.
    It felt magical. Up above the gardens, hidden away in the fading light. If they stayed really still, they might see the night creatures coming out – the goblins and sprites. Or at least the hedgehogs.
    â€˜It’s my brothers, mostly,’ Jamie said, breaking