The Midnight Foxes. Sarah Lean

fetch the washing.

      The makeshift washing line was looped through pulley-wheels tied between a pillar on the porch and a tree, sagging in the middle where the children could reach. Tiger pegged May Days’ shirts and trousers and also a pair of her own tiger-striped socks she’d worn the previous day. With the magnifying glass, Tom inspected the swirls of the skin on his fingertips and then a builder’s footprint on the ground.

      “You’re not helping much,” Tiger said.

      “I’m looking for clues,” Tom said, “but I’m also thinking that what we need is a detective office.” They’d wanted to find a den the last time they visited, but hadn’t succeeded.

      “Good idea! But what we need first are some detective rules!” said Tiger.

      On her notepad, Tiger wrote:

      But so far they hadn’t found any clues and therefore had nothing to write down. What questions did they need to ask?

      Tiger and Tom sat on the lawn and rubbed their chins, but the only question they could think of so far was: where is Holly? They definitely needed to be smarter than this to be detectives.

      Tiger squeezed her eyes tight to see if that would help while Tom scanned a bare patch of freshly dug earth with the magnifying glass. “Look! I’ve found a paw print!” he said.

      “Let me see!” said Tiger, peering closely at the mark in the soil. “It looks like a cat paw print! Our first piece of evidence that Holly has been here.”

      Tiger drew a copy of the print on the notepad and Tom poked the ground with his pencil, digging to see what else was there.

      “Tiger,” said Tom slowly, “I think I’ve found another clue.”

      “For finding Holly?” Tiger said.

      “No, but it might be a strange scientific discovery instead.”

      Tiger and Tom peered at the moony-coloured shape through the magnifier.

      Tom dug away more earth with his pencil and they stared at each other with wide eyes. What Tom had found felt cool and smooth, rounded at one end and pointier at the other. It was an egg. They were sure that birds laid eggs in nests, but this one seemed to have grown in the ground!

      “We might have another case already,” said Tom.

      Together they walked slowly back to the house, with Tiger holding the egg carefully in her hands.

      May Days climbed down from the scaffolding as the builders were ready to pack up for the day and go home.

      “Oh,” she said, seeing the egg. “Is it time for tea, detectives?”

      The children explained where they’d found the egg and they all went to the kitchen. Tiger and Tom stared at the evidence, now nestled on the table in a towel to stop it rolling away. They examined it all over with the magnifying glass, but there were no more clues or paw prints.

      May Days suggested the children write down a list of animals that they knew laid eggs. Tiger was impressed with Tom’s confident guesses.

      May Days went through the list and Tiger crossed off the wrong guesses and made some notes.

      “If it was a chicken egg from the shops, it would have a little lion and date printed on it,” said May Days. “But I declare that it is definitely a chicken egg.”