“Well, maybe he thinks he’s too big to play,” said Matt pointedly. “He’s sixteen now.”
“Change Baby’s diaper!” said the other twin, poking Joe.
“Okay, Lily.” Joe sighed, peeling off the doll’s diaper.
“I’m Lolly!” The little girl scowled.
Meanwhile, Fizz was getting more and more agitated in Joe’s water bottle. “Ask them who killed me!” growled the fish. “Come on, Joe, do something!”
But before he could say anything, Lolly grabbed his hand. “Baby wants a bath!” She dragged him across to the wading pool. “Fill it up!” she demanded, pointing to a garden hose.
“Ow!” Joe felt something sharp prick his hand. He looked down. Billy was standing there.
“Did you just bite me?” said Joe, rubbing his hand. Then he felt a pinch on his left leg. “Hey!”
“Fill the pool!” said the pincher.
“All right, all right . . .” Joe glared at them both. “Matt, is it okay to put some water in the wading pool?”
“I think so. Not too much, though.”
Joe turned on the hose, and the water splashed into the pool. The children climbed in.
Suddenly, Fizz appeared among them, gliding around like a grumpy shark.
Joe glared at him. That was all he needed
!
One of the twins had found a bucket full of toys and was tipping them into the pool. Rubber ducks and plastic fish bobbed about in the water.
Joe turned off the hose and picked one up. “How about we play catch the goldfish?”
The children squealed, and made a dive for the floating fish.
“So, do these fish look like the ones in Dan’s room?” asked Joe, hoping to catch a guilty look on someone’s face.
Lily frowned. “I don’t know. We’re not allowed in Dan’s room.”
“What about you . . . um . . . Billy?” Joe asked the hand-biter. “Do you sometimes go and look at Dan’s goldfish?”
The little boy stuck his tongue out at Joe.
“Great,” Joe muttered. Then he bent down to speak to Fizz (pretending to fiddle with the hose, so no one would notice). “Are you sure you don’t remember anything about the person who flushed you? What about the hand that held the net? Was it big or small?”
“I told you, I couldn’t see anything!” growled the fish.
Joe groaned. How was he supposed to crack this case when his only witness was an undead goldfish?
“Hey, kids—want something to eat?” Uncle Frank came over carrying two serving dishes. “Fresh off the barbecue! We’ve got hot dogs, burgers, and tons of fish—”
“What?” Fizz said. “Did he say fish?”
“—tiger shrimp, sardines, mackerel . . . ,” said Uncle Frank proudly.
“Monster!” growled Fizz. And then suddenly he disappeared.
“More water!” wailed Lily.
Joe turned on the hose, but nothing came out. He peered inside, then gave it a shake, but still no water came out. “Something must be jamming it,” he said.
Uncle Frank, meanwhile, was still going on about his favorite fish to barbecue. “Look at those shrimp—don’t they look juicy! Go on, Joe, try one . . .”
Suddenly there was a loud POP, and Fizz burst out of the pipe, along with all the water that had built up behind him.
SKOOSH!!!!!!!! The hose whipped out of control, spraying water over all of them.
“Hey!” yelped Uncle Frank, trying to shield the food.
“Sorry, sorry!” said Joe, wrestling wildly with the twitching hose.
“Joe funny!” Lolly giggled.
“Daddy all wet.” Lily laughed.
And then all the children joined in—belly laughing hysterically and pointing at Uncle Frank and his soaking wet shirt.
“It serves him right,” said Fizz sulkily. “The man’s a monster!”
“You shouldn’t have done it!” whispered Joe. “He thought it was me screwing around with the hose. If you cause too much trouble, I won’t get to stay—then I won’t be able to find your killer!”
They were talking in the bathroom, out of the way of all the party guests.
“Are you sure you didn’t recognize any of the children?” asked Joe.
“No! I told you, I didn’t see who flushed me.”
“Then how can I help you?”
“That’s your problem!”
There was a rattle on the door. “Hurry up, Joe!” called Matt. “I’m bursting!”
“Look, we’ve got to go. Remember, no more silly stuff, okay?”
“Huh!” growled the fish as Joe flushed the toilet.
As soon as he opened the door, Matt rushed in. “Wait there for me, then we’ll go down and get a hot dog.”
“Or maybe some barbecued fish!” said Joe.
“I heard that,” growled Fizz.
Joe heard a shout . . .
“There he is!”
He turned to see the twins, and the rest of their gang, thundering up the stairs toward him.
“Joe, play with us now!” Lily grinned.
“What? Um . . . no . . .”
“Come and see my dollies,” said Lolly, taking Joe’s hand. The kids dragged and pushed him down the corridor, into the twins’ bedroom.
Joe blinked at the bright pink wallpaper. The curtains were pink, too. So was the carpet. And the two little beds had matching pink bedspreads, decorated with white stars.
“It’s very . . . um . . .”
“Pink?” Matt appeared in the doorway, chuckling.
“Hello, Matt!” Lolly beamed. “This is my new doll. Her name’s Rose. Let’s have a tea party . . .”
Joe felt his water bottle moving again. Fizz was back. But Joe had noticed something else—a book lying next to one of the beds. It had a smiling goldfish on the front cover: Little Bubble’s Big Adventure.
He was about to pick it up and take a look when Lily suddenly grabbed his hand.
“Let’s play hide-and-seek!”
“What? Okay.” That sounded slightly better than a doll’s tea party! “All right, Matt and I will count to twenty,” said Joe. “You guys go hide. Ready? One, two, three, four, five, six . . .”
He waited until all of the children had disappeared out of the room, then he stopped counting and collapsed on the bed. “Wow,” he said. “I thought Toby was hard work!”
Matt smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, they’re a handful. You can see why Dan stays in his room a lot.”
“Where is his room, anyway?”
“Down the hall.”
“Can we go and see him? I’d love to get a look at his killer fish!” said Joe.
“Huh!” muttered Fizz. “Those guys couldn’t kill a water flea!”
Joe ignored Fizz and said to Matt, “Come on, let’s give it a try!”
Matt looked doubtful. “He might not let us.”
Joe eventually persuaded Matt. They went to Dan’s room and banged on the door.
“Go away!” came the answer.
“Dan? It’s me, Matt . . .”
“Go away!”
Matt sighed. “See?”
“Tell him I want to see his fish, because I’m thinking of getting some.”
Matt shrugged. “Hey, Dan, my friend Joe’s here. He wants to see your fish tank—he’s thinking of getting one of his own.”
There was silence for a few seconds, then the door opened a crack and Dan peered out. He was tall with shaggy black hair and a grumpy expression.
“Are the twins with you?”
Matt shook his head.
“They think we’re playing hide-and-seek with them.” Joe grinned. “They’re hiding, but we’re not seeking!”
Dan smiled and opened the door a bit more. “Come in, before they hear you.”
&
nbsp; The room was dark—the curtains were pulled shut and the only lights were coming from a TV, which right now showed a video game on pause, and a large illuminated fish tank.
“Wow!” Joe breathed as he and Matt examined a detailed model of a spaceship.
Matt reached out to pick it up.
“Don’t touch anything!” hissed Dan, pushing his long, stringy hair out of his eyes.
“Sorry . . . ,” said Matt.
There were more models dotted around the room, along with piles of video games. In the corner stood an electric guitar and a dusty black amp. The walls were covered with movie and music posters, books and DVDs were piled on the bookcase, and a whole bunch of weird ornaments—a glowing skeleton, a green lava lamp, and a road sign saying NO EXIT—were scattered around the shelves.
“Wow!” said Joe. “I really like your room.”
The fish tank stood in the corner, glowing like an alien sea world. Joe peered in. There were several small goldfish swimming around, as well as a guppy. Two water snails were stuck to the glass. On the bottom was a model of a shipwreck and a small skull blowing air bubbles from its mouth.
“Your tank is awesome,” said Joe.
Dan bent down and looked in, too. “Yeah, the fish are cool. I used to have a goldfish called Fizz. I’d had him since I was nine. But he got eaten.”
“I didn’t!” growled Fizz, who had appeared inside the tank. He was floating around the place like a drill sergeant carrying out an inspection.
“It was weird that he got killed,” Dan continued. “He was always the boss of the tank. I thought he was tough as nails.”
“I am!” said Fizz hotly. He peered out of the tank at Dan’s room. “I liked it here,” he added miserably. “There was lots of stuff to look at. I used to watch TV with Dan—gangster films, monster movies, Jaws!”
“Hey, Dan, tell Joe what happened to Fizz,” said Matt.
“Well, I was away for a couple of days, camping with a friend. When I got home, Fizz was gone. One of the others had eaten him.”
“Ridiculous!” growled Fizz.
“Do you know which fish did it?” asked Joe. “I mean, which fish is the cannibal?”
THUD! Fizz banged his head against the glass in frustration. “I keep telling you, they’re not cannibals!”
Dan shrugged. “Nope. I’ve been watching the tank, but I haven’t seen anything.”
“Tell him what really happened, Joe,” yelled Fizz, pressing right up against the glass of the tank. “Come on! Now’s your chance!”
But before Joe could say anything, there was a sudden hammering on the door.
“Matt? Joe? Where are you?”
“The twins,” Matt said, groaning.
“You’ll have to go,” said Dan. “They’re not allowed in here.”
But it was too late. Lolly and Lily burst in, followed by the others.
“We found you!” squeaked Lolly. “We’ve been hiding for ages!”
“But you didn’t come and look for us!” added Lily, with a scowl.
“Everyone out!” shouted Dan as Henry picked up one of his models. “Hey—stop that!” he yelled at Franklin, who was pulling the strings on his guitar. Meanwhile, Billy and Emma had moved over to the fish tank. Emma was pulling faces at the fish, while Billy banged on the glass to scare them.
Joe looked at them both. Was one of them the killer? Joe could imagine Billy flushing a fish just for the fun of it.
“All of you, GET OUT!” Dan yelled.
As he headed for the door, Joe spotted a laptop on Dan’s desk. There was a webcam on top, which gave Joe an idea . . .
“Come and play on the slide!” Lily said to Joe, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him downstairs.
Joe was thinking about something else as he was dragged back out into the yard. If he could somehow stake out Dan’s room using his webcam, then maybe he could catch the fish killer in the act! He’d have to set a trap to tempt the killer to strike again . . . But Joe was sure he could think of some way to make that happen. All he had to do was persuade Dan to let them use the webcam without making him and Matt suspicious!
“Your turn on the slide!” said Lily, pushing Joe forward.
“I think I’m too big . . .” The slide was pink and plastic and barely came up to Joe’s waist.
“Here,” said Matt, handing Joe a paper plate with a hot dog on it. “Come and grab a seat.”
They sneaked away before the little kids could stop them.
Two smiling aunts made room for them at a table on the lawn. One had curly blond hair and a dress with red cherries on it. The other wore purple-rimmed glasses, large hoop earrings, and lots of jangly bangles.
“Joe, this is Aunt Sal and Aunt Tracey,” said Matt.
“Would you like some fruit punch?” asked Aunt Tracey. “It’s delicious!” A giant plastic jug in the middle of the table was filled with strawberries, cherries, and slices of lemon and lime, all bobbing around in lemonade.
“Yes, please,” said Matt.
“Thanks, that would be great,” said Joe.
Aunt Tracey poured them all a glass. And that was when Fizz reappeared—in Aunt Sal’s glass!
The fish glared out at Joe. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be sitting around. Have you forgotten what you’re here for?”
Joe frowned. He wished he could tell Fizz his stakeout plan for using the webcam to catch the fish killer in the act. But he couldn’t—not with people listening.
“So, Joe,” said Aunt Sal. “Do you have any hobbies?” She had picked up her glass now, and was holding it in one hand, swirling the ice and fruit—and goldfish!—around.
“Um, well . . . ,” Joe stuttered. He couldn’t stop staring at her glass. “I like soccer . . .”
“Oh, I love sports, too,” said Aunt Sal, giving her glass another swirl.
Fizz clunked his head on an ice cube, then exploded at Joe: “So . . . you’ve given up! You won’t help me, eh? Changed your mind, have you? Well, watch this . . .”
Joe watched in horror as a long string of fish poop appeared in Aunt Sal’s glass.
“Do you have any other interests, Joe?” asked Aunt Tracey, taking a sip from her glass.
“He’s nuts about animals,” said Matt.
“Really? Me too!” Aunt Sal smiled. “I’m especially fond of parrots. What about you, Joe? What are your favorite animals?”
But Joe couldn’t speak. His eyes were fixed on Aunt Sal’s glass. Please don’t drink it, he thought.
“Joe’s interested in all sorts of animals,” said Matt pointedly. Joe knew that Matt had been getting a bit sick of his odd behavior, which was entirely because of the undead pets—although Matt didn’t know that! “He likes hamsters, cats, dogs . . . and fish, too,” Matt added. “We’ve just been looking at Dan’s goldfish.”
“Oh, I heard about them. Turned cannibal, haven’t they!” said Aunt Sal. Then she went to take a drink.
“No!” yelped Joe. “There’s something in your glass—I think it’s a fly!”
“What?” Aunt Sal peered into her cup. “I don’t see anything.”
“Can I have a look?” Joe took the drink from her and glared at Fizz, who was still swishing about inside the glass. “Yeah, there it is,” he said. “Should I pour it out for you?”
Before Aunt Sal could answer, Joe emptied the glass into a nearby flowerpot. Fizz instantly vanished, reappearing seconds later in Aunt Tracey’s glass.
“Shall I poop in here, too?” he asked menacingly. “I will unless you get back to looking for my killer!”
“Look!” said Joe. “There’s Dan!” And as Matt and the aunts turned to look, Joe switched drinks with Aunt Tracey, so he now had the fish glass.
“Very clever,” Fizz said with a growl. “But I can play this game all day!”
/> And he instantly vanished out of the glass in Joe’s hand and reappeared inside Matt’s drink.
Joe wished a zombie cat would appear and gobble up Fizz! That would fix him!
“Dan, over here!” called Aunt Sal, giving her nephew a wave.
Dan came over with an enormous plate of food and sat down next to Joe.
“We haven’t seen much of you today,” said Aunt Tracey.
Dan shrugged moodily, taking a bite of his burger.
Joe turned to Dan. “Hey, Dan, I was thinking . . . If you want to find out which fish in the tank is the cannibal, maybe we could organize a stakeout . . .”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, how about we set up your webcam and point it at the fish tank, to monitor it.”
“Waste of time,” muttered Dan. “I’ve been watching them for days, and nothing’s happened. And anyway, I’m going out with my friends soon.”
“Well, Matt and I could do it. We wouldn’t even have to go in your room. The camera’s wireless, isn’t it? We could take the laptop somewhere else and watch the fish tank from there . . .”
“What are you talking about?” said Matt, who’d been chatting to one of his aunts.
“I was just saying we could spy on Dan’s fish for him,” explained Joe. “Using his webcam and his laptop—so we can spot the killer fish.”
“I’m in!” Matt grinned. “We’d be like a real surveillance team.”
Dan didn’t look excited. “I don’t know . . . I don’t like people messing with my stuff.”
Then Joe had an idea. “Well, it would also be a great way to make sure no one touches any of your stuff . . .”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if we set up the camera in the right place, we would also be able to see if anyone comes into your room.”
Just at that moment, there was a loud wail from the sandbox.
“Looks like Franklin’s hit Billy with the spade again!” said Aunt Sal.
Aunt Tracey sighed. “They’re such monkeys, those two!”
Matt looked at Dan. “Do you want those kids messing with your stuff?”
Goldfish from Beyond the Grave #4 Page 3
