Squishy Taylor and the Silver Suitcase Read online

  For Atticus, who wonders how everything works, and Calliope, who already plays at reading. For Haaken, who’s up for anything, and for Elka, who I adore.

  – Ailsa

  For Penny.

  – Ben

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Acknowledgements from the author

  Copyright Page

  The old university buildings near South Lawn are creepy in the evening light. They’re made from crooked stones and they cast long, black shadows.

  ‘Look, that door is half-open,’ I say.

  I sneak up to it with the twins, Jessie and Vee, right behind me. I push the door open and find a deserted corridor. The lights are off, so it’s pretty dark. Luckily there’s one high window letting in some dusty beams of light.

  ‘Ooooh,’ I say. ‘I wonder if it’s haunted?’

  I point to some awesome horror-movie-style cobwebs up near the ceiling.

  ‘This is a bit scary,’ Vee says. ‘We should go back.’ Vee’s not afraid of climbing up high, or landing on her head. But ghosts make her nervous.

  ‘I think it’s interesting,’ Jessie says. ‘I think this corridor might be where the DNA labs are.’

  Jessie and Vee are my bonus sisters. I call them that because it’s way better than calling them stepsisters. I live with them now, since I moved in with my dad and their mum, Alice.

  Tonight we’re at the university because Alice is working late. She’s teaching a summer subject and has lectures and tutorials every day this fortnight, all the way into the evening. That means we don’t get to have a summer holiday at all.

  Instead we have to spend hours hanging around at the university waiting for Alice to finish work. There’s nobody else to hang out with because Dad is doing a big landscaping job and Baby’s at family daycare.

  It’s the Christmas holidays so the university is mostly empty. Which actually makes it a bit more fun.

  ‘Come on,’ Jessie beckons, grinning and stepping out in front. It feels like the start of an adventure.

  Vee stays close to me. ‘I’m not sure about this, Squishy,’ she says.

  When she says Squishy, she’s talking to me. I’m Squishy Taylor. It’s what everyone calls me. There was a gangster called Squizzy Taylor. So even though it might not sound like it, Squishy is actually a super-tough name.

  Vee whispers, ‘Isn’t DNA what mad scientists use to create zombies?’

  Vee ‘accidentally’ watched a horror movie once, which is why she’s not so great with spooky things.

  ‘No!’ Jessie chuckles. ‘DNA is the tiny molecules that make living things.’

  Vee mutters, ‘Yeah, and mad scientists use it to create zombies.’

  The first door in the hallway has a little window in it. Jessie stands on tiptoe to peep in.

  ‘Oh, coooool,’ she says.

  I bob next to her, saying, ‘Let me see.’

  But she doesn’t answer because Vee grabs us both and says, ‘Shhh!’

  We all freeze.

  Footsteps. Around the corner but coming our way.

  ‘What do we do?’ whispers Vee. We aren’t supposed to be here. Alice thinks we’re doing cartwheels on the grass on South Lawn, but it’s so hot tonight. We got bored and went exploring.

  Whoever is coming will get us into trouble for sure. And this corridor is empty. There’s nowhere to hide. Unless…

  Jessie tries the door she’s been peeping through, and, like a miracle, it opens.

  ‘In here,’ Jessie says.

  The door creaks loudly as she pushes it, and the footsteps stop.

  Jessie and I are trying to hold back our giggles.

  ‘What was that?’ a man’s voice says.

  ‘Just the building creaking in the heat,’ a woman replies.

  The footsteps keep coming. We all squeeze in through Jessie’s door and she eases it closed behind us. The room is dark because the blinds are down. It’s full of machines like strange-looking microwaves and big computers. Lots of them are on, flashing lights and making a buzzing hum.

  Vee shuffles closer so her shoulder is touching mine.

  Jessie has her eye up to the window, looking back out to the corridor.

  ‘Who are they?’ I ask. ‘What can you see?’

  Suddenly she dives away from the window, grabbing both of us and pulling us backwards, away from the door and across the room. Vee squeals. I’m about to ask what Jessie is doing but then I see the door handle turn.

  The owners of those footsteps are coming in here.

  There’s a sliding door behind us and Jessie is tugging at it. It’s not opening.

  ‘It’s bolted!’ I whisper.

  She pulls the bolt back and hauls us inside but there’s no time to even close the door properly.

  The light flicks on, bright and fluorescent. We’re crouched in the shadows but if they look in the right direction they’ll spot us in a second. I’m half sitting on Jessie, squashing her against the wall. We’re both shaking with laughter and Vee is mashed up against us. We’re in some kind of storeroom.

  Luckily the people are too busy talking to notice us.

  ‘This lab has all the good gear,’ a man with a growly voice says.

  ‘Nice work getting us in here,’ a woman says. I can see her ripped blue jeans and red sneakers.

  ‘It wasn’t me, it was The Partnership,’ Growly Voice grunts.

  ‘Ah yes, The Partnership,’ Red Sneakers says, like it’s something big and important. She swings a silver suitcase up onto the bench.

  ‘Did you bring the samples?’ Growly Voice asks.

  ‘What do think is in the suitcase?’ Red Sneakers replies.

  Growly Voice has a scraggly, half-grown beard and they’re both wearing T-shirts that aren’t tucked in.

  They seem really dodgy. Their T-shirts are creased and their hair is messy. They’ve snuck into a university when there’s no one else around. I bet ‘The Partnership’ is some kind of criminal gang. They’re talking about ‘good gear’ and ‘getting in here’, like they’re on a heist.

  Also they’re in a science laboratory without wearing lab coats. So they’re obviously not meant to be here.

  The trouble is, we’re not meant to be here either. And there’s no way to leave without them seeing us. My leg is starting to cramp and I don’t know how long I can keep my giggles in.

  We need to get out. Before we get busted.

  Growly Voice and Red Sneakers are turning on a machine on the other side of the room. Their silver suitcase is gleaming on the bench in front of us.

  I can feel Vee’s breath in my ear and my legs are starting to hurt.

  If these two are as dodgy as they seem, we really don’t want them to catch us. We’re witnesses to whatever crime they’re about to commit.

  I try to subtly jiggle my cramping leg to stop it hurting. It bumps a metal shelf, which makes a pinging noise.

  Red Sneakers and Growly Voice both jump and spin around.

  ‘What was that?’ Red Sneakers asks, sounding nervous.

  Jessie pinches me, hard. We all stop breathing.

  Red Sneakers and Growly Voice are really still. I imagine them listening to us. The fact that they’re so jumpy makes me think they really must be dodgy.

  Finally Growly Voice says, ‘It was nothing. Let’s get back to wo
rk.’

  There’s noises like glass tinkling on metal and then someone typing. We stay as quiet as we can.

  ‘How’s that going?’ Red Sneakers asks, eventually.

  ‘Nearly done,’ Growly Voice replies. ‘Hey, did you sort out the thing at the museum?’

  ‘Yes, but we can’t get in there until the day after tomorrow.’

  ‘Right,’ growls Growly Voice. ‘OK, I’ve set this up, it just needs to run for a while.’

  ‘Coffee?’ suggests Red Sneakers.

  They walk straight to the door, flick off the light and leave the room.

  ‘Phew,’ sighs Jessie, as the door creaks closed.

  ‘Give them a minute to get out of the building,’ I say to Vee, who looks like she’s ready to bolt.

  While we’re waiting, Jessie examines the silver suitcase and then the machine they turned on. It’s a shiny metal box with a computer built into one side and a window into it, like our oven. We look in and watch a robotic arm move across rows of tiny test tubes.

  ‘I think it’s for finding out DNA,’ she says. ‘This equipment must be expensive.’

  ‘Why would you find out DNA?’ I ask.

  ‘Well,’ Jessie says, ‘heaps of reasons, like for medicine and stuff. But also, detectives use it, because every person and animal has their own special DNA. So it’s like a fingerprint, only better because you can get more information.’

  ‘Fingerprints,’ I say. ‘Cool.’ Detectives are cool. I’m a pretty awesome detective. One time I caught a diamond smuggler, and another time I proved that a movie star was innocent when everybody thought she was guilty.

  ‘This lab would cost sooo much money to set up,’ Jessie says, her eyes flicking around the room.

  But even if they do cool things, the machines don’t look that interesting.

  ‘Come on, Jessie,’ Vee finally begs. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Jessie drags herself away and I creak open the door. There’s nobody in the corridor and it’s easy to get out again. We head back to the shady corner of South Lawn where Alice left us.

  It’s hot. Even though it’s after six o’clock at night.

  Other kids are going to the beach for the summer and we have to stay home and not have any fun at all. Just lie on the grass on South Lawn trying to cool off under the trees.

  I stretch out. At least something fun happened, even if it wasn’t a beach trip.

  ‘What do you reckon that dodgy duo were doing?’ I ask, tugging at a little green stem.

  ‘The Dodgy Duo,’ Vee repeats, laughing. It’s a good name for them.

  ‘My guess is they were extracting the DNA from those samples,’ Jessie replies.

  She might as well have said, ‘Gobbledeegoobledeesplat,’ and I would have had a better chance of understanding her.

  But understanding Jessie is not the point.

  ‘Don’t you reckon they were seriously dodgy?’ I ask. ‘Like they really weren’t meant to be there?’

  Vee rolls over from where she’s been looking up at the leaves. ‘Maybe they were secretly creating some kind of brain-eating zombie,’ she says.

  Trust Vee to come up with some creepy theory that couldn’t possibly be true. One time she thought there was a ghost in our apartment building. She’s just not very realistic.

  ‘I think they’ve broken in to steal some of the expensive scientific equipment,’ I say, thinking about their scruffy T-shirts.

  Jessie laughs. ‘Why would they go out for a coffee in the middle of a burglary?’ she asks.

  OK. Maybe she’s right. But they did seem dodgy.

  ‘I wonder what The Partnership really is,’ I say.

  ‘And what was in the silver suitcase?’ Vee asks.

  ‘Did you hear them say they were going to the museum the day after tomorrow?’ I ask. ‘We should go too, and spy on them.’

  Just then, I look up from our little corner and see them, the Dodgy Duo. They’re carrying take-away coffee cups and walking up the path over at the far end of South Lawn.

  And, in the distance, someone is chasing them.

  ‘Hey!’ says Vee, ‘isn’t that –’

  ‘That looks like –’ Jessie says, at the same time.

  Then we all say together, ‘Mr Hinkenbushel!’

  Mr Hinkenbushel is our next-door neighbour and the crankiest man in the universe. He’s also an undercover policeman. We used to hate him because he was so mean to us, but then we helped him solve some mysteries so we know he’s not officially a Bad Guy.

  He jogs up behind the Dodgy Duo, shouting. They spin to face him. Growly Voice turns so fast, he spills his coffee.

  Mr Hinkenbushel yells at both of them. We can’t hear the words, but the shouty tones are drifting over the grass. Even from here you can see his face is all pinched up and red. I bet he’s spitting at them too. He always spits when he shouts. I know, because he’s shouted at us a lot.

  ‘I was right!’ I say. ‘The Dodgy Duo really are dodgy.’

  Vee grins. ‘And Mr Hinkenbushel just caught them red-handed.’

  ‘Red-faced more like,’ Jessie says and we all laugh, looking at Mr Hinkenbushel’s capsicum-coloured cheeks.

  ‘Let’s creep up and find out what he’s saying,’ I suggest.

  Just then, Alice walks up beside us with her briefcase. ‘Hi there, you lot. Time to head home,’ she says.

  Darn. The tram is the opposite of where I want to walk right now. As I follow Alice out of the university, I look over my shoulder at Mr Hinkenbushel and the Dodgy Duo.

  A real-life arrest, and we don’t get to watch it. I wish I knew what he was arresting them for.

  The next day Dad is home so we don’t have to wait around at the university for Alice.

  ‘All right you lot,’ Dad announces while I flip crepes. ‘It’s a zoo day.’

  ‘Wooo!’ I shout, tossing a crepe in the air and almost dropping it on the floor. Even though I wish we were going to the beach for a whole week, a day at the zoo is actually pretty cool.

  I help pack Baby’s nappy bag and extra snacks because he gets hungry quicker than normal humans. Baby is Dad and Alice’s baby. That means he’s my half-brother because we have the same dad but different mums. My mum is in Geneva, which is on the other side of the world. She’s doing a big job at the United Nations but I Skype her every day and she’ll come home really soon.

  ‘Let’s goooo!’ I call, pushing Baby’s pram out the door and leaving the others to follow.

  We pass Mr Hinkenbushel’s door and I remember him yelling at the Dodgy Duo. I think about knocking and asking what crime they’ve committed, and how long they will go to prison for. But I don’t because he would probably shout at me. Not that I care but it might make Baby cry.

  We catch the tram to the zoo. Jessie, Vee and I take it in turns to be lions and elephants for Baby, standing in front of his pram. He giggles. Baby has the cutest giggle in the universe.

  Vee does a really loud lion. It scares Baby. It also scares the lady in the seat behind Baby. They both jump and give a little scream and then Baby starts crying hard.

  Luckily the zoo is the next stop and we all pile out of the tram. I help Dad with the pram on the steps. Baby stops crying because of the sudden hot wind. He likes it when the world around him changes.

  Once Dad has paid, he turns to us. ‘So, where shall we go first?’

  ‘The monkeys!’ Vee and I say at the same time.

  ‘I’d like to listen to the zookeeper talk about endangered species,’ Jessie says, pointing to a blackboard that shows all today’s events.

  This is classic Jessie. The other things on the list include Lion Feeding and Snake Handling. Trust Jessie to choose the most nerdilicious topic.

  Luckily Dad knows us well enough to make it work. ‘That talk isn’t for an hour,’ he says. ‘Let’s go check out the monkeys, and then grab ice-creams before the zookeeper talk.’

  Everyone agrees to that.

  There are so many different kind
s of monkeys and they are all so cool. I wish I had a tail that swung me across trees like that. I wish I had clever monkey toes and could hang upside down. I love watching them leap massive distances like they aren’t scared for a monkey-second that they’re going to fall on their heads and die.

  When Dad says it’s time to get ice-creams already, I almost don’t want to stop watching the monkeys.

  But then. Ice-creams.

  We settle in a semicircle of seats around the zookeeper. She’s got her hair neatly tied back and her zoo shirt tucked in. She’s the opposite of the Dodgy Duo, with their crumply T-shirts and scraggly hair.

  At first I don’t listen because I’m too obsessed with my ice-cream. It’s melting, and I’m trying to catch all the drips with my tongue. When Dad isn’t looking I feed some to Baby, even though he’s not supposed to have sugar. He bounces a little happy-dance in the pram and waves his fat arms around. It makes me giggle.

  ‘Shhh,’ Jessie says. ‘This is going to be interesting. Look.’

  The zookeeper has gone out for a moment. When she comes back she’s got a black cockatoo sitting on her wrist.

  ‘This is Zora,’ the zookeeper says.

  The bird is ginormous. Way bigger than they look when they’re high in the sky.

  ‘Isn’t she beautiful?’ the zookeeper asks us.

  She is beautiful. Her glossy feathers are shiny blue-black and her eyes seems so bright.

  I can’t help calling out, ‘How do you make her stay on your wrist?’

  Dad nudges me. ‘Squishy, shhh. She said she’d do questions at the end.’

  But the zookeeper smiles at me. ‘Zora was found with a broken leg when she was quite a young bird. That meant she couldn’t survive in the wild. The zookeepers taught her how to perch and she grew up here. She’s part of our captive breeding program.’

  The zookeeper pulls out something from a bag tied to her belt and throws it in front of Zora. Zora snatches it out of midair and eats it, like a dog being fed a treat.

  The zookeeper says lots of other things about breeding and releasing animals in the wild, but I’m just watching Zora.

  I feel sad that she’s perched there on the zookeeper’s arm instead of flying with a whole flock of other black cockatoos. It doesn’t seem fair and I don’t care about what else the zookeeper is saying.