“What’s going on? Is anyone hurt? I’m a doctor!” It was Dad, hurrying to the scene of the crime. The whole thing was exactly like something on TV! And we were up at our window watching it for real!
“Well, sir – if you’d be kind enough to look at this young fellow,” a policeman said.
We could see Dad checking the burglar by the light of the police torches.
“Hmm,” said Dad. “Broken ankle, I’d say. You’d be best off getting him to a hospital for an X-ray.” Then he suddenly leant forward, and peered at the burglar. “Hang on a moment. I know you! You were hanging around my surgery last week! And I saw you trying the car doors in the car park!”
The sergeant looked excited. “Could you swear to that, sir?”
“I certainly could,” Dad said. “But what’s going on? What are you all doing in my garden?”
I was dying to yell out that it was the burglar, and that we’d caught him – but I didn’t. Mum was out there now as well, and I thought it might be best if she explained things. I went on watching with the others.
At least, we went on watching for another minute, and then the light switched on behind us – and there was Emma.
No burglar could ever be as terrifying as Emma in a really furious mood – and this time she wasn’t just really furious. She was mega mega mega furious. She shouted and yelled and screamed at us, and called us all sorts of names. Molly couldn’t resist joining in, and every time Emma slowed down Molly would point out some other thing that we’d done – like the slimy wet patch on the carpet, or the broken lamp, or the cake crumbs everywhere, or the tape in her stereo.
We didn’t say anything. Emma wouldn’t have listened if we had.
Mum and Dad finally waved the police goodbye, and came back in. The burglar went off with the police in their car.
As soon as Mum was in earshot Emma started shrieking at her. “Come and look!” she yelled. “Come and see what they’ve done to my room! She knows she’s not allowed in here – and all her horrible little friends are here, too, and they’ve wrecked my room!”
Molly just stood there and sniggered.
Dad and Mum appeared in the doorway, and Dad put his arm round Emma’s shoulders – but he gave us a huge wink. “They’ll clear it all up in the morning,” he said. “I know they get daft ideas in their heads – and some are dafter than others – but tonight’s a little bit different. You see, your sister and her friends have caught a burglar!” And he gently shooed Emma and Molly away.
Well you’d think that we’d have got some kind of medal for catching a burglar, wouldn’t you? Or a reward. In all the books you read there are always huge rewards. But us? We ended up spending the next morning cleaning up Emma’s room!
We did get our picture in The Mercury though. A reporter came and took our photo all together, grinning like monkeys. He asked us if we often played at catching burglars and loads of other questions. Then of course we all got really excited about how we were going to become local celebrities, given special treatment wherever we went and generally made a fuss of, but when the paper came out it sounded as if we were about six. Emma and Molly teased me about it for ages.
Yes, Emma is finally speaking to me again. She even apologised for calling the others horrible! She’s OK really. She doesn’t hold grudges, unlike Molly. Mind you I do have to buy her a new lamp and pay to have the carpet cleaned. Mum’s taking the money out of my allowance – she said it was only fair.
We had to scrub the garden path, too. I thought the police might want to see all the footprints going up and down, but as Dad said, what was the point? They’d caught the burglar. So – it was soapy water and scrubbing brushes for the Sleepover Club. Actually, we had quite a lot of fun. It got very bubbly…
And at least we weren’t grounded, so we can have another sleepover really soon – I’ll look forward to seeing you there. I’ve got a feeling it may not be as eventful as Friday 13th was – but with the Sleepover Club you never can tell!
P.S. Just in case you were wondering, I’ve come back to tell you. Or maybe you’ve already guessed who switched on the tape – and gave the burglar the fright of his life? I didn’t. I couldn’t believe it when Frankie told me. It was Fliss! There may be some hope for her after all…
See ya!
Have you been invited to all these sleepovers?
The Sleepover Club at Frankie’s
The Sleepover Club at Lyndsey’s
The Sleepover Club at Felicity’s
The Sleepover Club at Rosie’s
The Sleepover Club at Kenny’s
Starring the Sleepover Club
The Sleepover Girls go Spice
The 24-Hour Sleepover Club
The Sleepover Club Sleeps Out
Happy Birthday Sleepover Club
Sleepover Girls on Horseback
Sleepover in Spain
Sleepover on Friday 13th
Sleepover Girls go Camping
Sleepover Girls go Detective
Sleepover Girls go Designer
The Sleepover Club Surfs the Net
Sleepover Girls on Screen
Sleepover Girls and Friends
Sleepover Girls on the Catwalk
The Sleepover Club Goes for Goal!
Sleepover Girls go Babysitting
Sleepover Girls go Snowboarding
Happy New Year, Sleepover Club!
Sleepover Club 2000
We Love You Sleepover Club
Vive le Sleepover Club!
Sleepover Club Eggstravaganza
Emergency Sleepover
Sleepover Girls on the Range
The Sleepover Club Bridesmaids
Sleepover Girls See Stars
Sleepover Club Blitz
Sleepover Girls in the Ring
Sari Sleepover
Merry Christmas Sleepover Club!
The Sleepover Club Down Under
Sleepover Girls go Splash!
Sleepover Girls go Karting
Sleepover Girls go Wild!
Sleepover Kit List
Sleeping bag
Pillow
Pujamas or a nightdress
Slippers
Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap etc
Towel
Teddy
A creepy story
Ghoulish food for a midnight feast
A torch
Hairbrush
Hair things like a bobble or hairband, if you need them
Clean knickers and socks
Sleepooer diary and membership card
Copyright
The Sleepover Club ® is a registered trademark
of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
First published in Great Britain by Collins in 1998
Collins is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,
77–85 Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
The HarperCollins website address is
www.harpercollins.co.uk
5 7 9 11 10 8 6
Text copyright © Louis Catt 1998
Original series characters, plotlines and settings © Rose Impey 1997
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN 9780007397754
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been inc
luded or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.
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