Half an hour later, the girls, Lucas, Hugh and Lawrence were ready to go to the park that Aki had told them about the day before.

‘Do you want us to check and make sure there are no photographers outside?’ Millie asked. She was worried that one of the policemen who drove them home the day before might have spilled the beans.

Lawrence looked at Hugh. ‘I think we should be okay, but just to be on the safe side, off you go.’

‘Don’t worry, Lawrence, I could be a private detective in my spare time,’ Millie said.

Jacinta snorted. ‘Since when?’

‘Well, who found Mr Parker and solved the mystery of Mayor Wiley and his dastardly plans for the gold mine last term?’ Millie challenged her.

‘Alice-Miranda, of course,’ Jacinta replied.

‘That’s not true, Jacinta. Millie and I worked together,’ the tiny child said.

‘See?’ Millie poked out her tongue.

The kids waved goodbye to Aki, found their shoes in the front hall and tumbled out onto the street.

‘Are you sure there won’t be any photographers lying in wait?’ Hugh asked his brother-in-law. He didn’t like the idea of sending the children outside to face them on their own.

Lawrence nodded. ‘Japan doesn’t have much of a paparazzi. Anyway, one call to the police and they’ll be gone, so there’s no need to worry. Let the kids think they’re on the hunt.’

‘You take the alley, Alice-Miranda,’ said Lucas, ‘and I’ll head up that way a little and make sure there are no long lenses hiding anywhere.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Jacinta smiled at the boy.

‘Yeah, okay,’ Lucas said.

‘I’m going with Alice-Miranda,’ Millie said, ‘because she and I are an awesome team.’ She made a monster face at Jacinta.

Lucas and Jacinta walked off in the opposite direction.

‘I think a month’s holiday with Jacinta is about four weeks too long,’ Millie grouched. ‘She’s really getting on my nerves and it’s so obvious that she thinks Lucas is her boyfriend.’

‘Just ignore her, Millie. You know she doesn’t really mean it,’ Alice-Miranda said soothingly.

‘Well, if she doesn’t mean it, then she shouldn’t say it.’

Although the three girls had enjoyed a wonderful time at the beach, Alice-Miranda could sense that, just occasionally, Millie and Jacinta needed a break from one another. While Jacinta had come a long way since her days as the school’s second-best tantrum thrower, she still had a prickly temper, which she liked to take out on Millie.

Alice-Miranda spotted a black sedan tucked in the end of the alleyway. It was facing towards them. ‘Oh, that doesn’t look promising,’ she said.

Millie peered down the alley too. ‘Do you think we should have a look?’

Alice-Miranda nodded.

The two girls walked towards the vehicle. The dark glass prevented them seeing any of the interior from this distance. But if they had been able to see inside, they’d have discovered a man in a black suit facing a small computer screen. The man’s eyelids drooped and his head jerked back as he tried to keep himself awake. His partner was taking altogether too long to fetch coffee after a long night of surveillance. On the screen, a red dot was flashing madly.