The Crown of Venice Page 6

  The previous week, he had taken a videoconference course in Subterfuge and Escapes, a discipline detailing techniques for getting oneself off the hook using only talent and whatever tools were at hand. The instructor for the course, codename GC43, was nicknamed MacGyver in honor of the famous television series.

  Dash had subsequently thrown himself headlong into the study of electronics and a frenzy of new projects. With the radio dismantled, Dash’s main task for today was to record the notes from his electric guitar directly onto his computer using wiring of his own invention. He completed the final steps and hoisted up his gleaming red guitar by the neck, adopting a rock-star pose.

  He inserted the plug into the computer. Squinting at his monitor to check the frequencies, he positioned his hands on the strings and launched into a Led Zeppelin solo.

  SBRANGGGGGG!!!

  The speakers let out a noise so loud that it made the glass in his fifteenth-floor windows vibrate. The shock wave threw the slender boy across the room, and a stunned expression covered his face. “I for-forgot to unplug the st-stereo system!” he exclaimed to himself.

  As if that weren’t enough, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded, followed by a panicked shout. He had frightened the other inhabitants of Baker Place nearly to death!

  “I have to do something!” he cried, pushing a mess of electronics under the table. “If they figure out it was me, I’m done for!”

  He covered the jumbled pile with a sheet, barely a moment before there was a knock at the door.

  “Dash Mistery!” someone called. “It was you—that noise came from in there!”

  “Get out here and face the music!” someone added.

  Judging from the angry voices, it seemed that a line of protestors had filled the hallway.

  Dash ran his hands through his disheveled hair and approached the door with cautious steps. “Who is it?” he asked innocently.

  A chorus of complaints sounded from outside. Dash released the security chain and peered out just enough to see at least twenty people crowded near his door. He gulped. “Did you feel that terrible earthquake, too?” he asked. “It’s all over the news . . .”

  “Don’t mess around with us!” shouted the landlord of the building, a gray-haired lawyer wearing a suit of the same color. “You’re in enough trouble as it is!” He waved a piece of paper under Dash’s nose. It could only be an eviction notice. “This is the last straw, Mr. Mistery,” he added sternly.

  Dash’s legs turned to jelly. “But, I–I—” he stammered. “I didn’t do anything!”

  “The electric guitar!” interrupted the neighbor from the apartment directly below, a woman with a shrill voice who worked in finance. “I heard that demonic instrument just before the alarm went off!”

  “I wasn’t playing a guitar. I don’t even own one, trust me!”

  More complaints erupted. “He’s telling lies! The regulations prohibit musical instruments! Evict him!” shouted a chorus of the elegant building’s tenants.

  “We need proof,” the landlord interrupted, trying to calm tempers. “Let me in, Mr. Mistery. I would like to see for myself that you don’t have a guitar.”

  “Um . . . of course . . . come in.”

  The man entered and inspected the room with hawklike eyes. “Where is it hidden?” he growled. “Under the sheet?”

  The young detective shrugged. “Take a look, if you like. It’s just a bunch of circuits and other equipment. I work with advanced electronics,” he said with indifference, reclining on the sofa. The soft cushions hid the shape of the guitar.

  The search continued for several long minutes, but in the end the landlord had to give up. “Very well, Mr. Mistery,” he declared in disappointment. “Without the offending item, I can’t evict you.”

  “What did I tell you?” Dash grinned, gesturing toward the door from his spot on the couch. Just then, the EyeNet began flashing furiously. It was his school signaling that he had a new mission!

  Dash grabbed the EyeNet, threw on a jacket, and slipped out past the other tenants who were still grumbling on the crowded landing. He pulled the door tightly closed behind him and ran for the elevator.

  As he reached the elevator, the he checked the EyeNet screen. “An investigation in Kenya?” he shrieked.

  Fortunately for him, he knew exactly where to find his cousin and incomparable companion in adventure, Agatha Mistery.