Mr. Whiskers and the Shenanigan Sisters by Wendelin Van Draanen

Author:Wendelin Van Draanen [Van Draanen, Wendelin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2023-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

I stretched up to lick her tears and tried to bark out an answer, but she was squirmin’ hard to break free and wasn’t reading me. And since I know how awful bein’ trapped and muzzled can feel, I gave up tryin’ to assure her and got to work on freeing her hands.

Not to brag or anything, but I’m a nip ’n’ gnaw expert. And since the zip tie around Jada’s wrists was nothing compared with a rope or a leash, I peeled back my lips and got down to business.

“That tickles!” Jada cried.

They don’t call me Mr. Whiskers for nothing! Heh-heh.

I kept on nippin’, and just as her hands snapped free, Misty and Zelda came scurryin’ in on a gust of whispers.

They stopped dead in their tracks. “Mr. Whiskers?” Misty gasped. “How did you—”

“Auntie Jada?” Zelda cried, beelinin’ toward us. “You’re tied up?”

“Oh, girls!” Jada said, rubbing her wrists. “Where on earth have you been?”

Misty and Zelda looked at each other like they were holdin’ butter.

“Uh…,” Zelda said.

“Walking around town?” Misty said.

My eyebrow twitched at Misty. She’d just pulled a truth-and-dodge—imprrrressive!

Then, while Zelda hurried to take off the belt around Jada, Misty grabbed some scissors and pulled a subject switcheroo. “Why was the front door wide open?” she asked Jada as she cut the ties around her ankles.

“They left in a big hurry,” Jada said, freeing one leg.

Zelda started to say, “Those fake—” but Misty cut in, “Who did? And why are you even in our apartment?”

“Cops! They had a search warrant! And badges!” Jada said. “But they weren’t actually cops!”

“So…what did they look like?” Zelda asked, playing dumb.

“Like cops!” Jada snapped. “Once I caught on, I took pictures of them, but they grabbed my phone and tied me up.” She stood. “What do you know about some old gold coins your father has?”

It was Misty’s turn to play dumb. “Gold coins?”

“Yes, gold coins. They tore the place apart looking for them.”

Misty and Zelda had a very heated but silent conversation while Jada was lookin’ away, and finally Zelda told Jada, “He never mentioned any coins.”

Wow. Another truth-and-dodge!

“Well,” Jada said, “I’m afraid…” But then her voice trailed off and her eyes went shifty.

“You’re afraid what?” Misty demanded.

“That your father really is in some deep…in some big trouble.”

“No kidding!” Zelda cried. “He’s been kidnapped. And now you’ve been tied up and our apartment has been ransacked! We need to call the police!”

“Right. Right,” Jada said, but there was something off about the way she said it.

Something foxy.

I wasn’t the only one who caught that. Misty zeroed in like a pointer huntin’ quail. “You did call them before, right? And they said they couldn’t get involved, right?”

“Of course!” Jada said, but I could smell the lie in it.

So could Misty. “Auntie Jada! What is going on?”

“Never mind, child. Never mind.” Jada hurried toward the apartment door. “Just stay here. Just stay here and don’t let anyone in. I’m going to talk to Tiana right now, and we’ll figure this out. We’ll figure it all out!”

When the door slammed closed, Zelda turned to Misty.

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