The Case of the Disappearing Corpse by June Whyte Page A

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    “Hey, Tayla, look at this.” I dropped Patsy’s tracksuit pants on the floor and raced into the kitchen. “I think I’ve found what Frank was after.”
    While turning the fish fingers over with a fork Tayla glanced over her shoulder, frowning. “What is it?”
    “Not sure but it looks like a miniature film. Frank must have put it in Patsy’s pocket when he grabbed her in class. Whoever killed Frank must have been after this. ”
    “Throw it away then. If the killer wants that thing— we don’t!”
    After placing our newest piece of evidence on the table I dropped into a chair and took an excited breath. “Tayla, this is an important clue. Much better than the pink handkerchief. This is the break-through. If we can find out what’s on this film, we might crack the case.”
    “Or get our heads cracked.” Tayla heaped fish fingers onto three plates; put two on the table and one on the floor.
    “Wait till it cools down,” I warned Leroy as his mouth closed around the nearest fish-finger.
    “I don’t like this, Cha,” declared Tayla, her face going that funny chewing-gum color again. “We’re not acting in a movie here. If a killer stabs you with a knife in real life—it’s for keeps.”
    Woah!
    Sometimes Tayla gets too scary for her own good. Gives me the creeps. I shivered, then forced myself to concentrate on my newest hot clue.
    “Frank probably thought he could ask himself in for a cup of coffee and pick Patsy’s pocket while she was in the kitchen.”
    Tayla shook her head. “Can’t see Patsy asking him in. She said he was a sleaze. Perhaps he was going to force his way inside as soon as she opened the door.”
    “Or he might have been checking the place out meaning to break in later, didn’t know he was being followed, and got himself killed.” I crunched down on a lightly burned fish finger and ate without tasting it. “But why was he killed?”
    Tayla put down her knife and fork and frowned that wobbly frown she usually gets just before diving under her doona in fright. “Because the killer thought Frank had the film.”
    “Which means he’s still after it.”
    Tayla’s eyes glazed over. “And now we’ve got it.”
    “And keeping it.”
    I slipped the film from the table into my pocket, not letting her spook me out any more. I’d hit on something big here and wasn’t going to be talked out of using it.
    Tayla looked down at her plate, gulped and said, for the seventy-seventh time since we’d walked through the door. “We shouldn’t be here.”
    “Relax, Tay,” I said, in my most soothing voice. “We’ll be okay. No-one even knows we’re here.”
    “And that’s supposed to make me feel safer?”
    Ignoring the squeak in her voice, I grinned and reached for the pepper. “Isn’t this exciting? We’ve stumbled on the biggest clue yet.”
    “That’s not a clue—it’s a time-bomb. And you know it.”
    “Geez, Tay, chill out will you?”
    I sent her a full-on scowl and banged the pepper pot back on the table. My best friend was making me nervous.
    One…Tayla was right.
    And two…she was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and shiver.
    “Okay, let’s give Leroy a Tim Tam,” I suggested, changing the subject. “If he’s going to be our guard-dog we’ve got to keep his energy levels up. Make sure he stays a—”
    CRAAAAAAAAAASH
    My mouth remained open, then closed on a swallow that felt like a large cane-toad had somehow crawled down my throat and got stuck.
    Please let that be a stray cat knocking over a rubbish bin in the back yard.
    And not a very disturbed killer here to bump off a couple of nosy kids.

Eleven
    “What w-was th-that?” Tayla’s voice sounded as though it had been caught in a lemon squeezer.
    I didn’t waste my time pointing out that how the heck would I know—because I really didn’t want to know.
    Perhaps Tayla was right.
    Perhaps not letting anyone know we were at Patsy’s house hadn’t been one of my better