Remi and Amadeus slumped on the cushions in their dressing-room marquee. Remi and Amadeus slumped on the cushions in their dressing-room marquee.

‘We’ve got to get the tracker back from Viktor before the launch starts,’ said Fizz, jumping out of the gym bag, ‘or Sergeant Stern won’t be able to follow me to the kidnapper’s hideout.’

‘But how?’ said Remi, raising her eyebrows. ‘We’re not allowed out of our dressing room until the launch, and Viktor’s marquee is strictly out of bounds. If Cynthia sees us, she’ll go ballistic.’

Fizz paced the floor. ‘What we need is someone to keep Cynthia occupied while we sneak into Viktor’s marquee to the get the tracker back.’

‘I’ll go,’ said Amadeus, standing up straight. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘An urgent wardrobe malfunction should do the trick,’ said Fizz, biting a hole in Amadeus’s bandanna. ‘That should keep Cynthia busy.’

‘I’m on it!’ said Amadeus, bounding out of the marquee to find Cynthia.

‘Let’s go,’ barked Fizz. ‘We don’t have much time.’ Fizz and Remi snuck out the back of their dressing room.

‘Viktor’s marquee is the yellow one,’ said Fizz, racing over and wriggling his head under the canvas.

Inside, Viktor had a laptop computer on his desk, and the walls of the tent were lined with graphs and pie charts showing sales figures and profit margins. Viktor was deep in conversation with a muscular man with a broad nose and a neck as thick as a tree trunk. Fizz and Remi stayed low.

‘You know what to do, Cadmus,’ said Viktor, looking at the charts.

Cadmus nodded.

‘Three more ought to do the trick,’ said Viktor. ‘And a big one, too, for broad market appeal.’

Viktor handed Cadmus a vial of white powder and a plate of food.

‘Use plenty this time,’ he said. ‘You want them out cold. Go to their dressing room now and make sure you’re not seen.’

Cadmus walked towards the marquee door, then stopped abruptly.

‘What do you want me to do with them?’ he grunted.

‘You can dump them, all of them… tonight!’

Cadmus pushed open the tent flaps roughly and left. Fizz and Remi pulled their heads back from under the marquee.

‘Did you hear that?’ said Fizz.

‘What do you think they were talking about? Three more what ought to do what trick?’ said Remi, pricking her ears. ‘And what was he going to dump?’

‘I don’t know, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ said Fizz. ‘Whatever they’re up to, it has something to do with our dressing rooms. Come on, I want to find out what’s going on.’

Fizz and Remi snuck along the line of marquees and back into their dressing room.

‘I can’t see Cadmus anywhere and there’s nothing out of place,’ said Remi, flopping onto a cushion.

Fizz’s chest fell. Everything was in the same place except for three slices of bacon cake placed on the floor. Fizz’s stomach grumbled. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

‘Catering must have delivered the cake as a pre-launch snack,’ said Remi.

Just then, Amadeus burst back into the

tent. He was wearing a new bandanna and grinning from ear to ear.

‘You should have seen Cynthia’s face when she saw the hole in the bandanna,’ said Amadeus. ‘She was so mad I thought she was going to lay an egg!’

Amadeus spied the bacon cake and wolfed down a slice. Then he stumbled across the dressing room and flopped onto a cushion.

‘I hope Amadeus isn’t going to be that clumsy on the catwalk,’ said Fizz. ‘We are supposed to be models.’

‘Five minutes until launch,’ called Cynthia from outside.

‘We’d better go back and get the tracker,’ said Remi, taking a bite of bacon cake.

Fizz nodded, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. He thought about Viktor’s strange conversation with Cadmus, and Crystal’s half-eaten slice of bacon cake with white liver sprinkles, just like the one in front of him.

Remi gave a big yawn as Fizz took a bite of cake.

‘Does this bacon cake taste weird to you?’ asked Fizz.

Remi didn’t answer.

Fizz felt dizzy and his legs began to wobble.

‘Oh no,’ said Fizz, as the clues fell into place. ‘The Handbag Dognapper is Viktor Shrill and…you.’

Fizz fell to the floor, as Cadmus flipped Remi over his shoulder and scooped Amadeus into his arms.