Goldwhiskers by Heather Vogel Frederick

Author:Heather Vogel Frederick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2007-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DAY TWO – TUESDAY 1530 HOURS

The lab at MICE-6 was bustling with activity. Along one counter (a rectangular building block covered with tinfoil) a pair of white lab mice analysed the golden whisker. One of them peered at it through a magnifying glass (foraged from the lens of a broken microscope) and offered comments to the other, who dutifully recorded them in a tiny notebook. Glory’s photographs were pinned to a scrap of corkboard above the counter. A cluster of field agents examined them, frowning and scribbling notes.

The door to the lab swung open, and Sir Edmund Hazelnut-Cadbury strode in. Glory was right behind him, along with Bubble and Squeak and Miss Honeyberry. ‘Well?’ the director of MICE-6 demanded.

The lab mouse who was examining the whisker looked up. He still clutched the magnifying glass in his paw, and he blinked at Sir Edmund through it, his pink eye disconcertingly huge. ‘There’s no doubt about it,’ he announced.

‘No doubt about what?’ barked Sir Edmund.

The lab mouse cleared his throat. ‘The classification,’ he squeaked. ‘It’s a rat whisker.’

A collective gasp went up from the other mice.

‘You’re sure?’ said Sir Edmund.

The lab mouse nodded. His huge pink eye nodded with him. ‘One hundred per cent. It’s a perfect match with these others we’ve collected in the past. Except, of course, for its colour. I’ve never seen a gold whisker before. But the hue appears to have been painted on. Nail polish, most likely.’

‘How odd,’ said Sir Edmund. He turned to the field agents standing by the corkboard. ‘And how about you lot – have you come to any conclusions?’

The mice consulted their notes. ‘Definitely a mouseling,’ said one.

‘Wasn’t working alone,’ said another. ‘Some of the marks stumped us for a moment, but now that we know the whisker was a rat’s, that explains it.’

‘Explains what?’ said Sir Edmund irritably.

The field agent pointed to one of Glory’s photos. ‘These marks here,’ he said. ‘The ones that look like long swishes. We originally thought they were just where the bag with the jewels in it was dragged through the dust, but that’s not it at all. They’re tail marks. Rat tail marks.’

‘So we have a boogeyrat, not a boogeymouse,’ said Glory softly.

Sir Edmund clapped his paws together. ‘Miss Honeyberry, get me yesterday’s surveillance footage from the Tower of London,’ he ordered. ‘Our fly-spy cams must have caught something.’

‘Yes, sir,’ said Miss Honeyberry.

Glory cringed. She knew all about fly-spy cams; one of her own recent disasters had been caught on film and had temporarily cost her her job. But Sir Edmund was right. MICE-6’s surveillance pilots were world-renowned for their diligence. If there were rats on the prowl, the cameras should have caught them.

‘And I want to speak to Julius on the double,’ said Sir Edmund.

‘Yes, sir,’ said Miss Honeyberry again, and scurried from the lab.

Glory glanced at the clock. Her colleagues at the Spy Mice Agency would be well into their workday back in Washington. Miss Honeyberry returned, wheeling in a toy circus-train car. Glory frowned.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.