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IN CHARGE

I decided that we should walk back into Water Wonderland through the front gate, as Nosy Nora would not expect that It was very quiet at the gate, with just a few bored- looking people lining up to get tickets Wanda hung back "They’ll see us, " she whispered "Who will?" "Whoever’s in the ticket office "

"There’s no one there, " I told her "Come on " "But people onder e’re walk- ing in without buying a ticket " "So what? They won’t say anything They’ll think we belong here We’ll just hold our heads up and ht past theood detective does not waste an opportu- nity to search a suspect’s preood to miss I pulled Wanda into the ticket office "Ara?" she wailed "About time, too, " said the man at the front of the line He had a baby strapped to his chest and a s her lollipop on his trousers He did not look happy "We want to buy some tickets

We’ve been waiting for hours " "What?" I said "Two adults and two children please, " snapped the man with the baby stuck to hi on to a buggy containing a chocolate- covered twin of the lollipop owner "We don’t do children’s tickets, " I told him, "as children are just as much of a nui- sance as adults More in fact That will be five tickets in all " "Five?" "Two adults, two kids, and one baby Two and two and one make five Where’s the ticket roll, Wanda?" Wanda was not being oldfish im- pression

"You can’t charge for a baby, " the man said "Yes we can Do you want to come in or not?" "No, " he snapped The next customers were two old ladies ere oldfish, found the ticket roll, and we sold them their tickets Then one of them said, "Mabel and I just love your fish and squid hats Do all the staff wear such wonder- ful hats?" "Only the ones in charge, " I told her Wanda gasped and dropped the ticket roll "I do hope you have soreat fish fans We have been looking for hats like these for years "

"You can buy these if you want to, " I told her "They are limited edition sale samples " "Really?" The old ladies looked thrilled "How ain "Stop it, Wanda, " I said, "and give me your hat " The two old ladies put on our crazy hats, which really suited the extreuise now, " said Wanda I sighed "Wanda Wizzard, " I said, "just think about it When Nosy Nora saith Sir Horace, e wearing?" "The usual stuff, " said Wanda, looking puz- zled "The usual stuff and the hats So ill she have noticed most--the usual stuff or the hats?" "The hats?" asked Wanda "So ill she have told Old Morris to look out for?" "The hats?" "And ill she be looking out for?" "The hats, " muttered Wanda

"But ill be wearing the hats?" "The old ladies Oh, " said Wanda "I see " I orking very hard at training Wanda Wizzard to be an efficient sidekick, but as you can see it could be tough going sometimes We sold ten more tickets and put the money in the cash box Then we had the place to ourselves It was time to search the sus- pect’s premises for the stolen property It was obvious, once you knew, that the ticket office was part of the old gatehouse The littlethat you sold the tickets through here the gatekeeper must have sat and checked everyone out I think the part where they poured boiling oil on anyone they didn’t like was at the top where all the ivy was growing

Any other time I would have liked to climb up the little spiral steps and had a look to see if there were any pots of oil left, but we had frogs to find The ticket office was really s bucket was not there But there was a little roo in it that looked --just the kind of place you would hide a bucket of frognapped frogs in fact There was Nosy Nora’s school coat, which is just like Wanda’s, there was Old Morris’s grubby over- coat, and then there was--a shark! So up a shark in the cloak- roo if you are helping out a busy detective who does not have ti--poked at the shark "It’s a shark suit, " she said "Look!" She heaved it off the hook and the shark suit fell right on top of her "Der-duet you!" said the Wanda-Shark "Snap snap snap!" "Sharks don’t go snap, " I told her "Only crocodiles go snap Take it off, Wanda " Wanda wriggled out from underneath the suit She looked very excited and her hair was sticking up like it does in thea detective, " she said "This is fun " "An assistant detective, " I corrected her "I think, Araminta, " said Wanda rather pompously, "that I am a real detective now " "I don’t think so, " I told her fir to do " "You’ve never done any training, so I don’t see why I have to " "Some people don’t need to Some people are just natural-born detectives, they can’t help it " "Well, since I have worked out a whole bunch of stuff about the shark, I think that makes me a real detective " "What stuff?" I asked warily

"For a start, that was not a real shark in the sea, it was Old Morris in the shark suit " "I was just about to say that " "Oh, but you didn’t say it, did you?"Wanda was getting irritating now "And you didn’t say why Old Morris swa everyone, did you?" "I don’t have to tell you all hed "That is one of the questions I want to ask Old Morris e arrest hi " "You don’t have to ask hi to tell you He went swi in a shark suit to scare everyone off the beach and into Water Wonderland

He scared us, and all those little kids, just so that he could sell lots of tickets for people to cos He is not nice " "He didn’t scare ht if you are trying to be a real detective " "I am a real detective, " said Wanda "And I think that froe " "What?" I was shocked It waslot attendant who gave Aunt Tabby a ticket last week: kind of sot-you- ha-ha at the same time "Look at the facts, Aras? No Have we rescued Sir Horace? No--" This was too much "That’s not true, " I told her "We did find the frogs " "But we didn’t rescue them, did we?" "No, but ill

And we did rescue Sir Horace He is quite safe in the ditch " But Wanda was not going to give up--I could tell by the fiendish gleam in her eye,which re wrong and she goes on forever until she finds out what it is "We may have rescued his suit of armor, " she said, "but Sir Horace is not inside it " "You don’t know that, you’re just--as that?" "What?" "So to change the subject, " said Wanda, and then she jumped "Someone just tapped me on the shoulder too, " she whispered

It was very spooky A ghostly breeze ruffled past and suddenly it felt as though so to us "Let’s get out of here, " whispered Wanda "This place is haunted " But after Wanda’s takeover bid for the Spookie Detective Agency I was not going to let on I was spooked too "No, it’s not, " I told her "Yes, it is, " cahostly voice "Miss Spookie, Miss Wizzard, I require your assis- tance, if you would be so kind "