The Key to Finding Jack by Ewa Jozefkowicz (i can read books TXT) 📗

prizes for – sci-fi, travel, romance and crime fiction, with first, second and third prizes for each. In between each category, we’ll hear readings from three famous children’s authors, who I’m sure you’ll all know and love.’

It was just my luck for crime to be the last category. But over the next hour I found that I was enjoying myself as I listened to the different authors reading their stories, and I almost forgot about being nervous.

When the third and second prizes in the crime categories were announced, I felt gutted that I hadn’t had a mention. There was no way that I would ever win it, but I had secretly hoped that I might have scraped third, or even second, place.

‘And the winner of this category is really not your usual crime fiction. It’s an entry that got the judges thinking because it’s a study of our personalities, a story about the importance of allowing others to be themselves and to do what they love. It’s entitled “The Case of the Beret and the Bell” and it’s by Felicity Chesterford. I strongly urge you to read it if you haven’t already.’

‘It’s you,’ said Jack ecstatically, nudging me in the ribs. He’d been home for over a month, and I still couldn’t get used to him being next to me. My fingers instinctively searched for the key around my neck, where it would now stay for ever. ‘You deserve it, Sergeant,’ Jack had said, giving me the key the night he arrived home, ‘in recognition of your outstanding work.’

‘And the first prize in this category is a family weekend away in a cottage in Torquay where the famous crime writer Agatha Christie wrote some of her stories. Is there anything you want to say, Felicity? What was it that inspired “The Case of the Beret and the Bell”?’

I froze. Why hadn’t I paid attention to what the previous winners had said? All I knew is that they seemed to have had a long list of people they wanted to thank. Many had notes which they whipped out especially. Unlike me, they must have thought that they had a good chance of winning.

But then Keira wolf-whistled and the sound somehow spurred me into action.

‘Thank you,’ I said, and I was surprised to find that I sounded much calmer than I felt. ‘I honestly didn’t expect to be at this event and I really, really didn’t expect to be up here on stage. It’s true that “The Case of the Beret and the Bell” isn’t a typical crime story, although it started out as one. My brother inspired me to change it into something a bit different. So now it’s more of a mystery about people… Because it turns out that even the people you think you know well can be a very cryptic puzzle. There are layers and sides to a person that you can’t uncover until you have the right clues. To solve somebody’s personal mystery takes a lot of work but you can discover brilliant things if you manage to crack it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy Lady Abigail’s search.’

And then the audience applauded, and I saw Mum and Dad looking chuffed, and Jack cheering with his arms raised high. As I walked down the steps towards them, my hands were no longer shaking. I put them in my pockets and felt the outline of Duncan’s note. I heard the echo of my own words in my head – ‘Even the people you know well can be a cryptic puzzle.’

I remembered that he had clapped along with everyone else when I’d been declared our class’s nominee for the Young Writers’ Awards and he looked like he genuinely wanted to congratulate me. He had even given me a hopeful look when I’d recently bumped into him in the locker room. At the time I’d thought he was being weird. I decided that I might invite him to the rooftop playground soon and have a proper conversation for the first time ever.

That night, we sat down on Jack’s bed under the skylight. He was still in his suit, and I was in the posh navy dress that I’d borrowed from Keira.

‘Were you scared up there on stage?’ he asked me.

‘Only for a moment. Once I got over the shock of how many people were in the audience, it was OK.’

‘You were amazing. And you’re a great detective, you know. A great writer, too. You never told me that you were into creative writing. Or is this something that you discovered more recently?’

‘No, I’ve loved it for ages. You know all the riddles that you told me? I wrote them down to use as ideas for stories in the future. I’m still planning to develop them into a story collection when I get the chance to write them. I’m not sure why I didn’t tell you. I suppose I wanted to write something that I was really proud of first. Otherwise they would be empty words…’

Jack sat up properly then and looked at me.

‘What you’ve just said – it’s how I’ve felt for as long as I can remember. I wanted to do something that I was proud of, you know – something impressive, that I could tell you and Mum and Dad, my plan for the rest of my life, or at least for the next few years.’

‘And do you know now?’

‘Well,’ he said, reaching up and opening the skylight. ‘I’m closer than I ever was. And as soon as I’m certain, you’ll be the first to know, I promise. I’m glad that we get to hang around for a bit longer before I go to uni. I know you’re thinking that it’ll be different after I go, and it will, but I’ll always come back. I don’t think I’d last too long in the field without my sergeant.’

He squeezed my hand and I knew that he was right. Things would be different, but maybe I was ready