Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey

Laura cried. “I don’t want to see that! How would
that
help?”
    â€œNo offense, but if you’re worried about getting caught, you should lower your voice,” I suggested, pressing my shoulder against the window I’d selected. “And why didn’t you wear black, like I told you to? Did you really have to promote breast cancer awareness
tonight?
” Inexplicably, Laura was wearing a pink T-shirt to a felony. “You know I’m committed to curing every kind of cancer, but seriously . . . tonight?”
    â€œI didn’t really think we’d do this!” She sounded close to panicked as I gave the window a shove—and it rose a few inches, like I’d expected. Nobody in Honeywell locked windows during the warm months. “I thought you’d chicken out. You don’t generally do things that require moving around, or even standing up, you know. I see you in gym class!”
    â€œWell, that’s all changing.” I rammed my shoulder against the old wooden frame again. Just a few more inches, and I’d be able to push Laura—who was even smaller than me—through the gap. “You are in the presence of a new Millicent . . .”
    I’d intended to say my full name—Millicent Marie Ostermeyer—but all at once, the window yielded about six inches, so I nearly lost my footing on the slippery grass, and the next thing I knew . . .
    We could actually
get
in.

Chapter 13
    â€œYou don’t think there’s a body in here, too, do you?” Laura asked, sounding even more worried than before. “It really smells in here!”
    At least, I thought she sounded worried. It was difficult to hear her, since her head was in Coach Killdare’s kitchen and her butt was facing me.
    â€œI doubt Mr. Killdare was much for potpourri,” I pointed out, although I had to admit that I was also a little put off by the strange stink coming out of our teacher’s house. An odor that was definitely not the stench of death, yet somehow familiar. “Just wriggle in,” I urged. “Then unlock the door, okay?”
    Laura continued to delay. “I don’t understand why you get to just walk in, while I have to do this . . .”
    She was starting to complain, but was cut short as she dropped all the way into the kitchen, hitting the floor with a thud. At which point she screamed at the top of her lungs, then cried, way too loudly for a covert operation, “Millie . . . Something is
licking me!
”

Chapter 14
    â€œIt’s creepy in here,” Laura whined, sticking too close to me in the dark kitchen. She looked down at her feet, where a long shadow loomed. “And that
thing
keeps following us.”
    â€œI knew I recognized that stench,” I said, bending down to pet the ugliest basset hound I’d ever seen. It was so hideous that it crossed the line into being
awesome,
and I wanted to take it home, name it something like Chumley, feed it Slim Jims, and make it my permanent trademark sidekick who went with me everywhere. I rumpled Chum’s already wrinkled head. “My Aunt Inez had a dog just like you, and her house always stank, too.” I realized that was insulting and added, “Don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault. It’s a hound thing.”
    â€œCan we get on with this?” Laura urged. “Before we get caught?”
    â€œYeah, yeah, okay.” I started to move around the room, appraising everything with the beam of a flashlight I’d actually had the foresight to bring.
    â€œWhat are we even looking for?” Laura asked. “And don’t say mildew. Or clues.”
    Darn it.
I had been about to utter that second word, because I still wasn’t sure what I’d expected to find in Mr. Killdare’s house.
    Certainly not the greatest dog ever . 
.
 . Yes, you are, Chumley! Yes, you are!
    â€œWill you leave that smelly