The Trespasser's Unexpected Adventure: Middle School Books for Kids: The Mystery of the Shipwreck Pirates Gold [An exciting kids mystery book / adventure ... (Crime Stopper Kids Mystery Books 1) Read online

  This seemed to excite the police officers, who started talking search warrants. They took off in a hurry.

  They got word a few hours later that Mr Gomander could not be found. All the maps Meeka had seen were gone, plus most of the coins from the walls and other valuables in the house. He had done a runner, but the police were sure they would track him down. Logan wasn’t so certain. There was more to Mr Gomander than met the eye.

  By mid-afternoon, the last of the police finished their questioning and drove away from Steve and Abby’s, leaving everyone there feeling pretty flat and empty.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Tuesday Late Afternoon

  Everyone sat down to work out what to do next. Logan figured Jason and Lia would want to head home—after all, Logan’s home wasn’t exactly a superstar-quality residence.

  “We’ve had a great time staying here,” Lia started off.

  Logan rolled his eyes at the ceiling. Here she goes. It’ll be blah blah, have to get going, blah blah, shouldn’t impose and blah blah, I really miss my mansion, my butler and my servant who irons my shoelaces. He shook his head and let out a sigh.

  Lia looked straight at him. “You sure are in a mood, Logan Seagate. When Meeka pulls a face like that there’s only one thing to do.”

  Meeka’s smile stretched wide across the room. “Let’s go climbing!” she shouted.

  Logan scrunched up his face. “What?”

  Andrew looked out the window. “Here’s Jed now.”

  Nate ran over. “Come and see guys! There’s a flash Mercedes-Benz van pulled up. Some chauffeur-looking guy is hopping out!”

  Noise exploded in the room like a bomb going off.

  “Steve and Abby,” Jason said, sounding firm, like he was talking to a stuntperson who was refusing to jump off a building. “We’ve made some plans, so it’s no use you two arguing. You’re all coming with us, so you may as well go pack a few things. If you argue you’ll just make us late.”

  “He’s right,” said Lia. “We need to get out of Cawsand before the press figure out where we are. I’ve still got tomorrow off before I need to be back on the road on Thursday. I want to spend it with your family. But not here in Cawsand. Let’s go check out the climbing place in Edinburgh.”

  Abby’s mouth dropped open like the fairground clown again. “Edinburgh! How on earth will we get there?”

  Jason looked at Lia. “You tell her,” he said, smiling.

  Lia put her finger across her chin. “In our private jet.”

  Abby looked stunned. “I think I’m going to faint.” She shook her head, studied the ground for a half a minute, and then looked up, smiling.

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  After that, the day passed in a thrilling blur of excitement. The ride to the airport, the flight in the private jet with an air hostess who doubled as hairdresser and dealt to Logan’s checkerboard hair by giving him a trendy mohawk, the suite at the fanciest hotel in Edinburgh, the meal at the most exclusive restaurant, and the show at the theatre sitting in the best seats in the house.

  *****

  Wednesday

  The next morning they went to the climbing complex. It was fantastic! Lia booked out the whole place. They each had an instructor to themselves, and everyone had a blast. Even Abby and Lia had a go, though Lia wasn’t supposed to. If she hurt herself and had to cancel her tour she would be worse than up the creek without a paddle—she would be on the moon with no rocket back.

  Meeka smirked and whispered to Logan, “She’s bad like me. Doesn’t like to be told what to do.”

  Meeka and Logan had a great time racing each other up the trickiest routes. Everyone else finished, needing a break, but they kept going while the others watched from the cafe. Finally, they too succumbed to aching arms and legs, and joined the rest of the group.

  After lunch, Jason and Andrew took them all indoor go-karting, while Lia took Abby to the Royal Yacht Britannia. Lia wore a wig and big glasses, and looked completely different. Meeka looked at Logan.

  “Unco-nerdo!” they said in unison.

  “We’ll see who’s unco when I get to the go-karts later, you two.”

  Lia was right. After she returned and got into a go-kart, she zoomed past Logan and Meeka and finished way in front of them. Unbelievable! Jason would do anything for her—she must have had him rig her go-cart to get that far in front! That was so unfair!

  Logan was going to give her a piece of his mind.

  She was so far ahead though that she had already started talking to Cole when Logan parked and made his way over to her.

  “I know you have difficulty with letting us in your world, Cole,” she was saying, “because our money and my fame worry you, so I’d like a chance to prove I’m something apart from that. How about we do a deal? Five laps. I win, you try and forget the fame stuff. You win ... I don’t know. You’re not going to win so we don’t have to think about that.” She grinned and held out her hand for Cole to shake.

  Logan came up to her right at that moment and stood, legs apart, hands on his hips. “Of course he won’t win! You’re nothing but a big fat cheat!”

  She dropped her hand, turned to him and fumed, “I am not!”

  She was too a cheat, and he was going to tell her. He opened his mouth, but she laughed and held up her hand for him to stop.

  “Logan, you know what I love about you?”

  What did she say?

  More important, what was she going to say?

  “It’s that you got to know me a little before you found out I came along with fame and money. You just see me as Meeka’s mum, and you treat me like any other mum, not like a superstar. Thank you. That’s the best gift I’ve had in a long time.” She gave him a big hug.

  “We should adopt him,” Meeka said, clutching her hands together and smiling.

  “’Fraid not, Meeka” Steve said. “He’s not available.”

  Abby smiled at Meeka. “We’re going to keep him.”

  “I don’t know, maybe we could negotiate.” Nate grinned. “How much would you be willing to pay for him? I can do you a deal and throw in our lawnmower as well.”

  Meeka’s smile didn’t hide her look of disappointment—maybe she meant it for real—maybe she really did want her parents to adopt him. What should Logan say? His words felt all muddled like a bowl of alphabet soup.

  He needed to tell her.

  “Meek,” he began, “I had a little sister once. Her name was Dominica. Same as you.”

  Meeka gasped.

  “She was killed in a car crash along with my mum. She was four and I was six. I’ve always thought I would like another little sister because I really wanted her back. But once people die, they don’t come back. No one can take her place, not even Poet. The other day, you said I was your best friend, and that’s what I need—another best friend besides Nate. You know, someone who prefers climbing and motorbikes to being a ninja. What d’ya say? Can you be my adrenaline buddy instead of my sister?”

  Meeka was wiping tears from her eyes. Jason stepped up and hugged Logan. “If we can’t adopt you as a brother for Meeka, we’ll just have to adopt the lot of you as some kind of family. Maybe nephews and nieces. How does that sound?”

  Cole interrupted. “Don’t make promises to Logan you can’t keep.”

  Steve put his hand on Cole’s shoulder, but Cole became even more agitated.

  “Jason, you’ve got to understand that when someone close to you dies, it’s like your heart’s been blown up as big as a balloon, and then someone reaches in, yanks it out, and throws a thousand darts at it till it’s ripped to shreds. And it takes a long time and a lot of love to put it all back together. Logan’s heart had no chance to heal while he was with his father. It’s only just beginning to get its shape back now, and it’s mostly stuck together with lots of pieces of sticky tape. I don’t want to see him hurt anymore, especially not by you promising a friendship you can’t deliver on.”

  Logan
looked at Cole, astounded. Cole loved him. He wanted to dance around Cole and chant, ‘Cole really loves me, Cole really loves me’. Obviously, he was way too mature for that sort of nonsense so instead he basked in the feeling of the sticky tape slipping off his heart as another piece was sewn permanently into place.

  There was a stunned silence. Cole turned around, leaned his forehead on Steve’s chest, and groaned. “Did I just lose my rag at Jason Whitley and Lia Castenada?”

  Abby came up beside him and put her arm round his shoulders.

  Steve smiled. “Yes, oh great patient one, you did.”

  “That’s extremely embarrassing, isn’t it? Can you please help me disappear?” he asked.

  “Cole, don’t be embarrassed,” Jason said. “You were right to be worried about how we could find time to keep our friendship going. Last night, after you’d all gone to bed the five of us—your parents, Andrew, me and Lia—spent a couple of hours hashing out how this whole friendship deal could come together. I think we came up with some pretty good ideas, so please stop worrying.”

  “That’s right, Cole,” Lia said. “After all you guys have done for us ... it’s like the pages in your book have been glued into ours. Or, maybe, your flowers are growing in our garden ... or, your kite’s tangled in our tree.”

  “Or better, your tree house is tangled in our tree,” said Meeka, her eyes gleaming.

  “Or, even better ... your Ferrari’s kept in our garage,” said Nate, his face hopeful.

  Jason snorted, reached over, messed up Nate’s hair then spoke to them all. “Don’t mind Lia. She sings love songs for a living—sometimes it turns her brain to mush.”

  He winked at Lia who smiled at him.

  Jason turned back to Cole. “I think what Lia is trying to say is that we’re serious about making our friendship work—it’s not an empty promise. We admire all of you, and we’d be honoured to be able to spend time with you.” He held out his hand for Cole to shake.

  Logan grinned as Cole shook Jason’s hand. Hopefully Cole would stop worrying now—he should have known he could depend on Steve and Abby to sort it out with Jason and Lia. Ever since Steve had found Poet and Cole in that container all those years ago, they’d been totally protective of them both. Just like they’d been with him.

  Poet came up and hugged Cole.

  “You okay now, twit-too?” she asked.

  Lia looked puzzled. “Twit-too?”

  Cole frowned. “It’s short for Wise Old Owl.”

  Lia and Jason looked at each other and laughed.

  Lia put her hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Twit-too, you still owe me a race. Are you in or not?”

  Cole looked at her for a few moments.

  “Eat my dust,” he called out as he raced to the go-kart, Lia close behind.

  *****

  Later that afternoon, Cole spoke with Logan alone, while they sat in the lounge.

  “Sorry Logan, for giving you such a hard time about the Castenada-Whitleys,” he said. “Seems I was wrong about them.”

  “You’re right about most things. Guess you can’t win them all,” Logan said, smiling at him.

  “I don’t know about being right about most things. After all, I sure didn’t pick Mr Gomander as a mastermind criminal.” He stopped and stared at Logan, his face screwed up. “Come to think of it, you always said there was something about him you didn’t like. How did you know that?”

  “He made me uneasy. I didn’t trust him. No real reason.” Logan looked down at his feet. Confession time. “Actually, I had the coin-smuggling thing worked out before I lost my bike, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. Guess I didn’t trust myself. I wish I had. If I’d said something, we could have skipped the whole being captured and almost killed thing.”

  “Don’t feel bad. I could’ve said something too. I just couldn’t believe it either. We all survived. But hey, it looks like your gut feeling is way more accurate than my way of checking out people. How about if you pay more attention to your instinct next time, I will too?”

  Logan gave a sigh of relief. “Okay, but don’t feel bad about Jason and Lia. I’m glad you didn’t trust them. Your balloon speech was out there brilliant. I’d of hated to miss out on that. Which, reminds me, I wanted to say something to you.”

  “What?”

  “I’m only going to say it once.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Logan paused and took a deep breath. “Thanks. I love you, too.”

  Cole looked at the ground, then looked up and smiled at Logan. “You’re all right, Logan Seagate. For a baby brother, that is.”

  “I’m not a baby!”

  “Yeah, well your head looks like a baby’s butt. Your mohawk is the crack.”

  Logan glared at him. Cole winked and punched him in the shoulder. Logan punched him back and they both burst out laughing.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Thursday

  “You never said lollapalooza once, Logan Seagate,” Meeka said.

  They were sitting in the Ferrari, waiting for Jason and Lia to finish saying goodbye to Steve and Abby. Andrew had already left in the Bug.

  “A couple of times I almost did, but you were having so much fun. When that waitress kept offering to get me stuff at the restaurant I wanted to scream. I tried to lollapalooza you but you had your face stuffed in a serviette so she wouldn’t hear you laugh.”

  “I think she really liked your haircut.”

  “Don’t be stupid. She was showing off to your mum. Doesn’t she ever get sick of people trying to impress her?”

  “Yep. That’s why she likes you so much. You’re the most unimpressive person known to mankind.”

  Logan laughed, letting that one slide by. He borrowed a word from Meeka and said, “It’s been an astounda-mungus brilliant time Meeka, but the bit I’ll remember most of all is when my sad dribbled out my toes. I still owe you a couple of splashes, so you better come back sometime so I can drench you thoroughly. What d’ya say?”

  She looked at him, the smile in her eyes reminding Logan of her dad. He was going to miss them all, even Lia, who’d proven she was so much more than a mere singer. Man, she was fast behind a wheel. Cole hadn’t stood a chance.

  “I reckon we need a couple of practices in my swimming pool. So maybe you should come up for a weekend or something before the next holidays.”

  “Of course, you would have a swimming pool. Don’t tell me it’s indoors.”

  “Yep, it’s huge and it’s heated. I practice rolling my kayak in it.”

  “Huh. I guess you have an even bigger one for actually swimming in.”

  “Twitiot. You’ll just have to come and see.”

  He sure hoped he would. Maybe they’d come pick him up in the jet again. Or the Bug. Now that would be fine-tuned fabulous!

  *****

  In the middle of the night Logan heard Poet stumble into the bedroom. Poor Nate. He was fast asleep. He probably had no new jokes even if Poet did manage to wake him up.

  Suddenly two big eyes appeared at the top of the ladder.

  “You awake?” Poet whispered.

  “Yep, but I dunno any jokes.” Logan sat up and leaned against the wall, and she climbed up and sat beside him.

  “Shame.”

  “But I have been thinking up a story for the last half an hour. It features a Bug, a platypus, two sticks of dynamite, and a peanut butter sandwich. Do you want to hear it?”

  “It doesn’t have any kissing, does it?”

  “Yuk, no,” Logan said, almost forgetting to whisper.

  *****

  Nate lay there, pretending to sleep as he listened to the story, finding it hard not to laugh aloud at the funny bits. As it came to the end he smiled to himself. It’d been a long time since the day he had dragged Logan out of Jake’s place. Finally, Nate could stop worrying. Logan had found his way home.

  A Special Offer to

  Thank You For Reading!

  Dear Reader

  I hope
you enjoyed The Trespasser’s Unexpected Adventure and getting to know Logan, his family and friends. They will all be back in Book Two, when Logan and his family will find out more about Meeka’s life. If you would like to, I need to ask you a favour—which is simply that I’d love for you to write a short Amazon review of The Trespasser’s Unexpected Adventure. Reviews make such a difference to other readers knowing whether they would like a book or not; so you, the reader have the power to make or break a book. If you have time, here’s a link to my author page, along with all my books on Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/karencossey. Just click on the link to The Trespasser’s Unexpected Adventure then scroll down to the Customer Reviews section. Click on the button “Write A Customer Review” and you’ll be taken to a page where you can share your thoughts.

  To thank you for reading, and for writing a review if you are so inclined, I would like to offer you my book “Cinderella Sarah: Bedtime Stories for Children, Fun Read Alouds and Short Stories For Kids” for free. It is written for younger readers, but I think if you are 9-12 you’ll find at least one short story to make you smile. If you were brought up on fairy tales, you’ll probably enjoy my favourite: “Grandma’s Muddled Magic” or “Sarah and the Prince”. There are other modern stories you might appreciate too, like “Rainy Day in Venice”, “Survival Class” or “The Bodyguard.” You can grab your pdf version for free from here: http://www.karencossey.com/childrens-books/short-stories-for-kids/.

  As an author, I love creating stories that you will enjoy reading and make you want to read more. So please tell me what you liked, what you loved, even what you hated. I’d love to hear from you. You can write me at [email protected], visit me on the web at www.karencossey.com or like me on facebook here: www.facebook.com/KarenCosseyAuthor. If you want to be the first to hear of the release of the next book in the series, you can subscribe to the Crime Stopper Kids newsletter (http://eepurl.com/bVlfDP) here.