How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini Read Free Page B

Caitlin replied.
    â€˜Ha ha, very funny.’
    â€˜No, really. None. None of them belong to us. I told you yesterday – Dad just looks after them when people are away, on holiday and stuff. We’re cheaper than kennels. And more fun too. Those two are Laurel and Hardy. Their owner’s coming back today.’
    â€˜So where’s Falcon’s owner?’
    â€˜Miss Osborne? She’s always on holiday. She’s got tonnes of money. She goes around in bright orange tops and zebra prints, stuff like that. She’s a bit weird.’ Caitlin shrugged. ‘We look after Falcon loads.’
    Ali smiled. How amazing was that, to go on holiday all the time? Perhaps Miss Osborne wasn’t just travelling, perhaps she was making discoveries. Perhaps she was, right now, this minute, discovering new species in the rainforest or tracking rare creatures across the plains.
    â€˜She’s in Spain just now,’ Caitlin said, cutting through his daydream.
    Oh, Spain, Ali thought. It was hardly the Amazon. Still, perhaps she was saving endangered lizards, or something.
    â€˜Why are you here, anyway?’ Caitlin frowned.
    Ali shook his head. He had never met anyone as rude as Caitlin before. After all, she had come round to their flat, practically in the middle of the night, and asked for their help and then, in the morning, it was as though they were strangers again! ‘I just came to see how your dad was, that’s all. Did he say what happened?’
    Caitlin bit her lower lip. ‘No, he wouldn’t tell me. He just kept saying that he was OK.’
    â€˜What do you think happened? Did he get sick and faint, or . . . or something?’
    â€˜No. He’s never sick. And he’d tell me if he was. I think someone hurt him. On purpose.’
    â€˜No! Really?’ Ali sat down on a beanbag, the beans sliding around beneath him. ‘Why? Does your dad have enemies?’
    â€˜No!’ Caitlin said frowning. ‘Well, no, not really. Some people gossip. But it’s not true what they say. I think it’s because of the way he looks.’
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    Caitlin looked at him as though he was daft. ‘I mean that people are thick. Just because Dad’s got tattoos and muscles, they all think he must be dodgy.’
    Ali thought about the way Dave looked, the tattoo, the gold tooth – he did look dodgy. ‘But wouldn’t he tell you if that’s what happened? Why would he keep it secret?’
    Caitlin shrugged. ‘Well, he likes to think he’s a hard man too. He isn’t – he’s sweet and kind. He’s a fluffy bunny really. But he thinks he has a reputation to keep up. It scares people off. I’ve told him he’ll never get a girlfriend if he keeps shutting people out, but he doesn’t listen to me.’
    Ali did his best to follow what Caitlin was saying. ‘So he doesn’t want you to know that someone beat him up? Because of his reputation?’
    Caitlin nodded. ‘I think so.’
    â€˜Is he a gangster?’ Ali asked warily.
    â€˜No! I’ve told you! Everyone thinks he is. But they’re just prejudiced. You must know what people are like. You look different too. Foreign.’
    â€˜I’m not foreign,’ Ali said, bristling. ‘I said. My grandpa came from India years and years and years ago. Mum was born here, and my dad comes from Glasgow. I haven’t got an accent! I speak just like you! I am not foreign!’
    â€˜OK.’ Caitlin grinned. ‘Don’t get your sari in a twist.’
    Ali laughed. He couldn’t help it. Caitlin was rude and prickly and difficult. But for some reason he liked her. She was funny.
    â€˜Who do you think did it?’ Ali asked.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Hurt your dad.’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ she said.
    â€˜We should find out,’ Ali said. He felt excited. This was a proper mystery. Day two at the flat looked as