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Jessie laughs. ‘We know Mr Hinkenbushel isn’t the bad guy.’
    Mina coughs, looking embarrassed. ‘Actually,’ she says, ‘it was me. I secretly took the vase to be valued, because I knew Harry was wrong. In the meantime I thought he’d quite like to be haunted –’
    Harry grins. ‘ Loved it ,’ he says. ‘And so, clearly, did these guys.’
    ‘We sorted it all out with the police on the first day,’ Mina explains. ‘I had no idea there was a whole other adventure going on until yesterday,’ she says to the grown-ups. Then she grins at us. ‘I’ll never try to keep a secret from you guys again.’
    I can’t tell if I’m disappointed that there’s no ghost, or pleased to be friends with a hacker. I can tell which one Jessie is. She’s already got a billion questions for Mina on the tip of her tongue. But there are more important things than that.
    ‘And now,’ I say, turning to Boring Lady, because I’m sure she will help us, ‘we have to return the stolen vase to China.’
    But Mina gets our attention with a shake of her head, half-laughing, half-disappointed. ‘It was a fake. Mum really did buy it from a two-dollar shop in the eighties,’ she says.
    Everybody laughs. Our adventure on the roof feels scary and exciting enough that I don’t even mind.
    Boring Lady pulls a huge red scarf from her handbag and passes it to Jessie. ‘From now on,’ she says, ‘any time you guys want to contact me, hang this in your window. I promise to look up at least three times a day.’
    Jessie and Vee say excited thank-yous, and Alice tries to tell her she doesn’t need to.
    Mina turns to Dad. ‘I can show you how to lock your iPad so it only accesses Skype,’ she says to him, but winking at me. ‘Then Squishy Taylor can call her Mama in private without getting into other kinds of trouble.’
    I suddenly realise something. ‘ Where’s Baby? ’ I ask.
    Dad and Alice turn to each other in horror.
    ‘He was asleep,’ Alice says at the same time Dad says, ‘We forgot him.’
    We all bolt for the stairs, with Alice and Dad leading the charge.
    Our apartment door is wide open. Standing in the middle of the kitchen, with Baby giggling and trying to poke out his eyes, is Mr Hinkenbushel.





Squishy Taylor and the Vase that Wasn’t
published in 2016 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
    This ebook is also available as a print edition in all good bookstores.
    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.
    A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.
    eISBN 9781743584026
    Text copyright © 2016 Ailsa Wild
Illustrations copyright © 2016 Ben Wood
Series design copyright © 2016 Hardie Grant Egmont
    Series design by Stephanie Spartels
Illustrations by Ben Wood
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