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- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Agent Zaiba Investigates
- Sprache: Englisch
Determined to be the world's greatest detective, Zaiba is always on the lookout for a crime to solve!When a new family moves to the village, Zaiba is intrigued to hear about the strange happenings in their home. Things go missing, objects are smashed and unfriendly messages are painted on the walls. There have always been rumours that the house is haunted, but is a ghost really causing all this trouble? Zaiba and her team are convinced that the culprit is very much alive – and won't stop until they get what they want…The third book in a fun, fresh and exciting new detective series, for readers not quite ready for Robin Stevens, Katherine Woodfine, HIGH RISE MYSTERY and NANCY DREW.
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Seitenzahl: 186
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
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To my wonderful friends, who always help me get in and out of trouble! Love you.
– AS
For those who go out and explore despite being afraid
– DS
With special thanks to Speckled Pen
Contents
1 WELCOME TO OAKWOOD MANOR
“This is Agent Zaiba. Detective’s log number five. The time is 17:00 hours. Location: Second-floor landing, Oakwood Manor. All entry points and emergency escapes have been located. Threat level remains low.”
Zaiba clicked off the voice recorder on her phone and tucked it back into her pocket. Gazing out of the windows on the landing, she surveyed the grounds of Oakwood Manor and squinted into the fog. Whenever she came to a new location, she always made a general observation – getting the layout of the land and possible escape routes firmly in her mind. Being a secret agent meant being thorough and dedicated, even when it seemed nothing 6was amiss. She may have come here to hang out in her new friend’s house, but an agent was never off the clock.
It was the first week of the autumn term and the days were starting to get shorter – darkness was already creeping in and they’d only got back from school an hour ago! The setting sun was casting long shadows against the high walls of the landing, and a slight chill in the air suddenly made Zaiba shiver.
“Zaiba! Have you finished your observations?” Poppy came running on to the landing, panting slightly. “Olivia said we can use her fossil-finding kit!”
Zaiba was relieved to see her best friend. “Yes, I’m all finished. Let’s get excavating!”
“Exca-what?” Poppy looked puzzled.
“It means uncovering things.”
Poppy laughed and poked Zaiba in the ribs. “You know all about uncovering things, Zai – especially mysteries!”
As the girls headed towards Olivia’s room, Zaiba thought how lucky they were to have been chosen to look after 7the new girl during her first week at their school. They’d discovered that Olivia was kind (she’d brought them treats when her parents cooked something amazing), interesting (Zaiba had learned that the very last word in the dictionary was Zyzzeva – the name for a South African weevil!) and funny (her jokes made even their teacher laugh). In short, she was a fabulous new friend! Maybe even a future member of the Snow Leopard Detective Agency UK branch, Zaiba thought as they walked into Olivia’s bedroom.
Olivia was setting up the fossil pit on the floor, kneeling down in the large tray, her soft red curls dangling round her face. The floor surrounding the tray was covered in sand.
A little bit of mess didn’t matter too much though as Olivia still hadn’t finished decorating her bedroom. There were squares of paint on the walls from where the Bookers had been trying out new paint and the carpet had been rolled up, exposing the bare floorboards. Olivia’s new bedframe hadn’t arrived, so she was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Looking around, Zaiba noted 8the size of the room. It was so big and echoey that you could hear every tiny sound, from the smallest scurrying of a mouse in the attic to the scraping of a branch against the window…
The Booker family had only moved here at the start of summer and they hadn’t got everything sorted yet, but they’d still managed to make it feel homely.
“I’ve set up the fossil-digging pit,” Olivia beamed as Zaiba and Poppy came to join her. “It’s just a big tray full of sand, but you can uncover some really good finds in it!”
Zaiba smiled at the way Olivia said ‘tray’. She had a slightly different accent, which Zaiba loved. As her dad, Hassan, always said: “Difference is what makes life exciting!” Olivia had moved to their town from another part of the country during the holidays, so until school had started she hadn’t had any friends to play with. It must have been lonely, but luckily Zaiba and Poppy were on hand now!
The girls set to work, picking up tiny trowels to begin sifting through the sand. 9
10“How do your parents like it here, Olivia?” Zaiba asked. She decided not to ask anything about the scurrying sounds – after all, she wouldn’t want them to think she was scared…
“They love the house and the woods around it! There’s still lots of building work to do though and they’re going to make some changes. They keep saying that the house is a diamond in the rough – whatever that means.”
Zaiba knew all about diamonds after she’d solved her first ever mystery at the Royal Star Hotel. That, coupled with her success of uncovering a poison plot at her school’s summer fete, had earned Zaiba her special agent stripes. It also definitely helped having Pakistan’s top agent as an auntie. Aunt Fouzia had allowed Zaiba, her little brother Ali and her best friend Poppy to run the Snow Leopard Detective Agency’s first overseas branch.
“Oh! I’ve found something!” Poppy squealed, clapping her hands.
“Here’s the brush, be gentle.” Olivia handed Poppy a wooden brush with long hairs and demonstrated how to push away the remaining dirt without harming the fossil. 11
“It’s a… It’s a…” Poppy squinted at the shape.
“Gastropod!” came a voice from behind the girls, making them jump.
Zaiba whirled round and saw her little brother pointing at the swirly shaped rock in the sand. “Ali, you shouldn’t just sneak up on people!” she said.
“Neither should you, Flora!” Olivia wagged her finger at her younger sister, who was hiding behind Ali. Flora also had ginger hair, though she had it cut into a wavy bob. Both girls had bright green eyes and round faces – Flora was basically a mini version of her sister.
“Looks like a marine gastropod to me,” Flora added, taking a closer look at the fossil. Even though she was only eight years old, Flora had an impressive range of knowledge – just like Ali! It wasn’t surprising that Ali and Flora had become firm friends. “But what’s that?”
Flora pointed at another lump in the sand, and just as her finger grazed the surface … it moved! 12
“A mouse!” The group screamed, running to the corners of the room.
There was a sudden pounding of footsteps and then Olivia and Flora’s mum, Courtney, appeared at the door, red-faced and breathless.
“What’s going on?” she panted. “I heard screaming!”
“There was a mouse, Mum!” Flora was horrified, and Zaiba had to admit her own heart was beating very fast.
“I think it’s scampered away into a little hole behind the cupboard.” Olivia had wriggled behind the wooden cupboard checking it out, which earned her a lot of bravery points in Zaiba’s opinion.
Courtney sighed and steadied herself against the doorframe. “Oh, just a mouse. We’ll have to put down some humane traps… I’m just glad it wasn’t the—” Courtney stopped herself. “Never mind. Tea will be ready soon, we’re having a pizza feast!”
Forcing a smile, she left the room and headed back down the squeaky stairs.
“Yes, pizza!” Poppy had quickly recovered from the shock of the mouse with the mention of one of her absolute favourite things – food! “Yum! I wonder if it’s a sourdough crust…” 13
Even though her foodie friend seemed happy enough, Zaiba knew something wasn’t right. A good detective could sense when there was mystery in the air.
“Is your mum OK, Olivia? She seemed really worried.” Zaiba knew to be delicate. When asking a potential source for information, you had to be careful not to push too hard.
Olivia’s expression darkened and she beckoned for them to come closer. Ali and Flora moved nearer too, huddling into a circle on the bare wood floor.
“Well,” Olivia whispered, “Mum told me not to mention it, but since you’re detectives, I don’t think you’ll be scared. After everything you’ve told me at school about the cases you’ve solved, I know you’ll be able to handle it.”
Zaiba’s heart began to beat a little faster. “Scared of what?”
Olivia and Flora exchanged a look.
“Mum thinks the house is haunted,” Flora said, rolling her eyes.
“I do too!” Olivia blurted out. Flora shot her older sister 14a stern glance, but Olivia carried on. “I mean, we’ve found plates smashed in the kitchen and a vase knocked on to the floor in the foyer, furniture has been moved around … even some of Mum’s jewellery has gone missing!”
Poppy gasped in horror and Zaiba’s mind was racing a mile a minute. She knew she’d felt a strange atmosphere here! Despite the obvious worry, Zaiba couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved that her detective instincts were still strong.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Zaiba asked. She liked Olivia’s family and it seemed that all this drama was making Courtney super stressed.
“Not unless you know how to stop the ghosts being so troublesome,” Olivia said gravely. “I heard an old lady in the village shop talking about how this house was used for injured World War One soldiers to recover in.”
Flora stood up and brushed the sand from her denim skirt. “For goodness’ sake, Liv. It’s not a ghost!” She looked at Ali and shrugged. “They’re just accidents.”
Ali nodded in agreement. “From a scientific point of view, there is absolutely no hard evidence to prove 15that ghosts exist.”
“As a detective, Zaiba, you must trust the science?” Flora appealed to Zaiba.
Zaiba took in the collection of faces looking at her. “I can’t come to a conclusion until I’ve made a thorough investigation.” She crossed her arms to show Ali and Flora she meant business and Poppy crossed hers too in support.
Now it was Ali’s turn to roll his eyes. “But Zaiba—”
“But nothing! I’ve heard too many ghost stories from our Pakistani family at parties about evil jinn… Why would so many people make something like that up? Aunt Fouzia even said she saw a jinn when she was a little girl. It stole a banana from her kitchen table! Aunt Fouzia wouldn’t lie to me.”
“Is a jinn like a ghost?” Olivia asked, anxiously looking round the room for any lurking shadows.
“Basically.” Zaiba nodded. “They can be good or bad, helpful or mischievous. But even if these events aren’t caused by a ghost, we simply have to investigate. Flora could be right. Maybe they are accidents.” She paused. 16“And maybe they aren’t. What do you think, Pops?”
Poppy was chewing her nails, so Zaiba could tell she was frightened. Poppy didn’t ruin her manicure for just anything! She thought for a little while and then took a deep breath, drawing herself up tall. “I think it’s our duty to figure this out! Does this mean the Snow Leopard Detective Agency UK have their next case?”
Olivia’s eyes widened in anticipation and Zaiba knew what she had to do.
“Olivia, we would like to investigate the case of your haunted house.”
Olivia threw her arms round Poppy and Zaiba in a big hug. “Oh, thank you, thank you! I like it here. I don’t want my mum to get so scared that we have to move. Even Dad’s been getting a little bit freaked out…”
Ali cleared his throat. “In the interests of scientific balance, I’d like to help with the investigation too.”
“Me too!” Flora said, then quickly added, “If you’ll let me.”
“Of course!” Poppy smiled. “And Olivia too.”
“The more brains the better.” Zaiba agreed. “I’m sure 17there’s a logical explanation to all this.” Though she still felt uneasy in her tummy, as if she was trying to convince herself more than the others. “But when can we begin the investigation? My dad is coming to pick us up after dinner.”
Olivia thought for a while, her green eyes focusing in concentration. She clicked her fingers. “I know! My parents are having a housewarming party tomorrow. Why don’t you and your parents come too? You can sleep over and we can start looking for clues.”
“Perfect!” Zaiba nodded. “If you’re sure your mum won’t mind. Ali, you and I will get our equipment ready at home. Poppy, do you still have that copy of Eden Lockett’s The Haunting of Hay Hall I lent you? There are some useful notes from my ammi in it that we might need.”
Eden Lockett was Zaiba and Poppy’s favourite author – a real-life detective who wrote about the mysteries she solved in a series of books. Zaiba had inherited a huge collection of Eden Lockett books from her birth mum who had gone missing years ago. Bit by bit, Zaiba was piecing together the mystery of who her ammi was by 18reading notes she had left in the margins of the books. Zaiba had only just learned that her ammi and Aunt Fouzia had set up the Snow Leopard Detective Agency in Karachi together! Detecting ran in Zaiba’s blood.
“Don’t worry, Olivia and Flora. We’re on the case. Together we can solve this!” Zaiba put her hand in the middle of the circle and, one by one, her friends placed their hands on top. “What shall we say on three?”
Ali’s eyes lit up and there was a cheeky smile on his face. “I know!
“One…
“Two…
“Three…
“Boo!”
2 PREPPING FOR THE POLTERGEIST
It was Saturday morning and Zaiba woke up with a sense of purpose (and just the slightest tummy ache from all the pizza they’d eaten last night).
She glanced over at the shiny white desk in the corner of her bedroom with the matching white leather swivel chair. She’d asked for the desk as a birthday present since she knew how important it was for a detective to have a place to organize her case files. With the colour-coded files and stationery trays, the desk had become the perfect headquarters for the Snow Leopard Detective Agency UK! Together with Poppy and Ali, they had come up with their own logo and used cardboard and craft 20paper to make a sign, which they hung over the desk. It was a snow leopard’s face in profile, mouth open in a roar, against a black background. Underneath they had stuck on the letters S.L.D.A. UK (since the agency name was too long to write out in full).
To keep a record of the cases they’d cracked so far, Zaiba had pinned up a large corkboard behind her desk. Stuck in with a gold pin was a piece of bunting from the cake-baking tent at her school’s summer fete, where Zaiba and the team had discovered who had baked a poisoned cupcake! Next to it was the map from the Royal Star Hotel, where they’d solved the case of the missing diamond dog collar.
Now Zaiba smiled. When she’d shown the desk and sign to Aunt Fouzia during a video call, her aunt had said it looked just as professional as the desk she had in her office in Karachi.
Pushing back her Eden Lockett bed sheets, decorated 21in tiny footprints and a large magnifying glass, Zaiba stretched and brushed her wavy hair from her eyes. Straightening out her pastel blue nightgown, she swung her legs out of bed and walked over to her desk. She wanted to admire the folder she had made one more time before breakfast. Even though it had been late when Zaiba finally got up to her room last night, she wanted to be ready for the investigation today. She’d found a brand-new laminated black folder and stuck a label down the side, writing in clear capitals: THE HAUNTED HOUSE, OAKWOOD MANOR. It had a section for evidence, notes and transcripts of the voice recordings she would take on her phone. It was perfect.
“Zaiba! Are you up? Poppy will be here soon!” called Zaiba’s stepmum, Jessica. A faint hiss of frying butter let Zaiba know that Jessica was making her favourite breakfast – blueberry pancakes! Just what a young detective needed to prepare for a long day of investigating.
Zaiba quickly popped into the bathroom, kicking Ali out for taking too long.
“I want to look smart for the party!” he complained. 22“I need five more minutes!”
“You’ll need longer than that to make this look smart,” Zaiba teased, ruffling Ali’s long curly fringe.
After a quick shower, Zaiba was standing in front of her wardrobe trying to decide what to wear for the party later. It was impossible to choose from the tangle of clothes in her cupboard. Luckily her own personal stylist came running up the stairs. On Saturday mornings, Poppy’s mum Emma played netball with her friends, so Poppy had come over early to help prepare for the investigation with Ali and Zaiba.
“That dark orange shalwar kameez!” Poppy pointed at the tunic hanging in Zaiba’s wardrobe. “That colour is really in this season.”
Zaiba pulled it out and held it up to her, looking in the mirror. “We are going to a party, and I trust you on anything to do with fashion!”
Poppy straightened her own forest-green skirt and T-shirt in the mirror. Zaiba pulled on some jeans and a jumper and packed the shalwar kameez away for later.
Poppy showed her how to roll it up so it wouldn’t crease. “My mum taught me this trick. It’s how I’ve packed my party dress into my bag for later,” she explained.
“Are you decent?” Ali said, knocking at the door and 23shielding his hands with his eyes.
“Yes, come in,” Zaiba laughed. “And don’t forget I used to help Mum bathe you when you were a baby.”
Ali stuck his tongue out. “Don’t remind me! Now where are we with preparations for investigation ‘Prove Ghosts Aren’t Real’?”
“Ali, keep an open mind. A good detective weighs up all the options. That’s Eden Lockett’s golden rule number three.”
Zaiba patted the overnight bag she’d packed specially for the occasion. Aside from her party dress and all her regular sleepover essentials, it also contained her Eden Lockett binoculars, a notepad and pen, tape measure, a torch, a first-aid kit and some rope. After she’d had to scale a wall in her first investigation, she thought it was better to be safe than sorry! “We’re all set. There’s just one thing left to do.”
24Down in the kitchen, where a big plate of pancakes with blueberries and syrup was waiting, Jessica had set up her laptop for Zaiba, Ali and Poppy to video call one of Zaiba’s favourite people in the whole world – her cousin, Samirah.
Sam was a junior doctor, recently married to Tanvir (#SamTan forever), and Aunt Fouzia’s daughter. She was like a big sister to Zaiba. Sam had texted Zaiba’s dad Hassan that morning to say she had exciting news to share, and Zaiba was desperate to find out what it was.
“So, my budding detectives! How are you today?” Sam asked, her beautiful smile filling the computer screen.
Ali, Zaiba and Poppy started to babble at the same time.
“There’s a ghost at Oakwood Manor!”
“We’re starting a new investigation—”
“—prove once and for all that there’s a logical explanation!”
Sam took a big breath in, her eyes darting around the screen as she tried to keep track of who was talking. She held up her hands. “Wow! Hold on, hold on. This is a lot 25to take in.” She grinned. “And I haven’t even told you my news yet!”
Suddenly a new face appeared on the screen, blocking out Sam with a dazzling smile.
“Aunt Fouzia!” Zaiba, Ali and Poppy chorused. It was their favourite detective auntie!
Aunt Fouzia waved at them. “That’s right, sweeties! I flew all the way from Karachi to surprise you.” She winked before Sam pushed her back out of the way.
“Ammi, that isn’t the surprise, remember?” Sam looked exasperated although she couldn’t help chuckling. “Can you guys figure out what it is? You’re all such brilliant detectives.”
Poppy had a go first. “Is it that Aunt Fouzia has brought us some delicious sweets back from Pakistan?”
Zaiba rolled her eyes. Poppy’s first thoughts were almost always food-related.
Sam shook her head. “Nope! Try again.”
Poppy slumped on her stool but Ali’s hand shot into the air. “Is it that you’re on the brink of a ground-breaking new scientific discovery in the world of 26medicine?” His eyes shone, thinking of the possibilities.
“Not quite. Sorry, Ali.” Sam winked. “Zaiba?”
Zaiba bit her lip and thought hard. She was sure she knew what the news was, but she didn’t know if it was rude to say.
“Well, Sam… I have noticed that you’ve not been running like you used to. You don’t eat eggs any more and when we went for your birthday dinner you made sure all the meat was cooked really well. Plus you’ve been wearing baggier clothes than usual. So, are you having a baby?”
Sam clapped her hands together. “You really are a brilliant detective, Zaiba. I should have known you’d guess. Yes, I’m pregnant!”
“And I’m going to be a grandma!” Aunt Fouzia called happily from off-screen.
All three of them cheered and Poppy burst out in a round of applause. Jessica and Hassan, who were sitting at the other end of the table, smiled knowingly at each other.
Why is it that grown-ups just seem to know things sometimes? Zaiba thought. But that didn’t stop her from being thrilled at Sam’s news … and that she’d got to show 27off her detective skills in front of Aunt Fouzia.
“So, your aunt Fouzia is staying with me until the baby arrives!” Sam explained.
“Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!” Poppy sang. “Think of all the cute baby outfits we can get for her.”
“We don’t know if it’s a girl yet, Poppy,” Aunt Fouzia said from off-camera.
