Contents

One: A Near Miss

Two: Gran's Gold Sovereign

Three: Grisly Beginnings

Four: A Gruesome Journey

Five: An Unfortunate Discovery

Six: The Legend of Reverend Bentley-Brewster

Seven: The Rock Bun Incident

Eight: The Mystery of the Hidden Treasure

Nine: The ‘Phantom Horseman’

Ten: Grounded!

Eleven: Daisy Disappears

Twelve: The Secret of Thundercliff Bay

Thirteen: Nathan Comes a Cropper

Fourteen: Stranded!

Fifteen: The Truth About Mr Risley-Newsome

Sixteen: Dominic Goes Forth

Epilogue

One

A Near Miss

‘Dominic Dowson!’ snapped Mr Merriman. ‘You can be the most disorganized, disruptive and downright dangerous pupil I have ever had the misfortune to come across in my thirty years of teaching.’

Dominic, a small boy with a crown of close-cropped ginger hair, a face full of freckles and large wide eyes, peered up at the headteacher with a sad expression.

‘And then at other times, you can be the most polite, pleasant, good-humoured and generous boy,’ continued the headteacher, gripping the end of his desk so hard that his knuckles turned white. ‘I just do not understand you. I cannot work you out. You are a complete enigma.’ Mr Merriman shook his head dramatically. ‘Do you know what an enigma is?’

Dominic stared up blankly. ‘Is it an extinct South American bird with brightly-coloured feathers, sir?’

‘No, it is not an extinct South American bird with brightly-coloured feathers,’ groaned the headteacher, looking into the shiny innocent face before him.

Dominic noticed that the headteacher's face had turned a deep shade of red and his bald head was now pimpled with perspiration. His eyes seemed to be popping out like those on the picture of the chameleon on his classroom wall.

‘An enigma is a conundrum, a puzzle, a perplexity, a riddle, something that cannot be understood, an unfathomable mystery.’ Mr Merriman never used one word when several would do. He was one of those people Dominic's gran described as ‘liking the sound of his own voice’. He was certainly getting into his stride now. ‘And you are an enigma, Dominic, a human enigma,’ continued the headteacher.

‘Yes, sir,’ said the boy quietly, still staring heavenwards. He felt it best to say very little under the circumstances. He had been in the headteacher's room too many times to remember and knew that the best course of action was to stay silent and look as sad and sorry as possible. He wanted to tell Mr Merriman what had happened, how it really was not his fault, how he was only trying to be helpful, but he knew it would only make matters worse.

‘One minute you are as good as gold and as nice as pie and the next minute you are up to your neck in hot water.’ He also liked using expressions, did Mr Merriman. He was famous for them, in fact, and sometimes Dominic would count the number he could get in at assembly. The record was eighteen. ‘Are you listening to what I'm saying, Dominic?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Because that's another of your problems. Head in the clouds, feet off the ground. Not listening to what people say.’

‘Pardon, sir?’

‘Do you see what I mean?’ exclaimed Mr Merriman, slapping his hand flat on the desk top and making Dominic jump. ‘You don't listen! It goes in one ear and out the other.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Every day this week you have been in my room to be hauled over the coals for getting into some mischief or being involved in some mishap – by Miss Pruitt, your form tutor; Mrs Simmonite, the cook; Mr Leech, the caretaker; Mrs Wellbeloved, the lollipop lady. The list goes on and on, doesn't it, like a never-ending saga of woe and worry, misery and misfortune?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘On Monday it was the window and your incredible excuse: “I was just walking past it and it just sort of fell out”.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘How can a window-pane just fall out? There was glass everywhere. Then, on Tuesday, the hamster escaped and you just happened to be the last one to have your hand in his cage. Mrs Simmonite is still suffering from shock at finding a rodent in the salad bowl, and Mrs Rashid has not been back to work since.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘And I was given yet another of your grossly improbable explanations – that the hamster might have managed to flick up the catch by himself by watching how humans do it.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Then, on Wednesday, it was the fire extinguisher and an equally preposterous explanation that it could have been an earth tremor. You just happened to be walking past it, when it leapt off the wall. How you managed to knock it off in the first place is beyond me. The floor was covered in foam. It