I SPY MEETS DADDY DEAREST

Annabelle Overhears a Dastardly Plot

A child’s garden of scandalous deeds

Photo by Europeana on Unsplash

Annabelle Adderley jerked awake. Was that a gunshot? The loud bang could have been the wind slamming a door somewhere in the old brick building, but there was no wind to speak of. And it was neither a dark nor stormy night, for a full moon shone through the louvered shutters, striping the attic room in shimmering bars of silver.

Where am I? Where are Mama and Papa? And Ferdie and Baby Jilly?

As her bare feet hit the icy, wooden floor, the events of the last few days came rushing back. Papa’s severed pinky in Mama’s porridge. The dead body in the kitchen garden. And Papa, found in Lawyer Wilberforce’s offices after being missing for a fortnight.

The sullen glow from the hearth spoke of a long-dead fire. And no coal scuttle in sight.

Annabelle spotted a shivering mound of blankets on the cot next to hers. Sucking its thumb and murmuring orders to Will, the Wonder Horse. Ahh, another mystery solved — there’s Ferdie.

Annabelle knew her mother must be nearby with Baby Jilly. Only Mama could have induced Ferdie to go to bed without waking half of Bailiwick with his howls of protest and pleas for “one-more-drink-of-water.”