Aaaargh, my head hurts!

What happened? Is it night already?

I must have dozed off in the middle of that last sentence.

Don’t worry, there wasn’t much left. Just “the very next day.”

I wonder what could have made me pass out like that. Too much chocolate? I have to admit: it wouldn’t be the first time.

Hmmm. I could have sworn I left those pages in a pile. What are they doing on the floor?

Has somebody else been here?

Hey, you don’t suppose…?

I wonder…

If a certain person or persons wanted to come in and read the pages on my desk while I was working, how would they do it? How would they get me out of the way? Might they slip me a sleeping pill—say, in a gift box full of chocolate?

What was that you said earlier? That the chocolate I received must be some kind of trick? Funny how positive you were about that. Almost like you knew something you weren’t telling me.

Not that I’m accusing you.

Or am I?

You know, people always warn children about taking candy from strange adults. But they never warn us adults about taking candy from strange children.

All those sweet-looking kids who sell boxes of candy bars on the street to help pay for their schooling—how do we know what’s in those bars? And don’t get me started on that nefarious institution designed to lure unsuspecting customers into buying mysterious frosted goodies: the bake sale.

Adults, be warned: if a child wanted to poison you it would be a piece of cake! Literally a piece of cake.

As for you, you’re showing yourself to be the worst kind of reader, aren’t you? The kind that skips ahead to the end to find out what happens without reading the whole book. The kind that stops at nothing to get what he wants.

The kind that stoops even to drugging the writer!

I should have you arrested.

OK. Maybe I should calm down. I’m getting ahead of myself. After all, I have no proof that you are the culprit. Not yet.

And I should consider you innocent until proven guilty, right?

In the meantime, consider yourself warned: I will get to the bottom of this. Whoever was in here rifling through my papers, I’m going to sniff him or her out if it’s the last thing I do.

Until then, back to the book.