Baker Street Academy: Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond Read online

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  First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 2016

  This electronic edition published by Scholastic Ltd, 2016

  Text copyright © Sam Hearn, 2016

  The right of Sam Hearn to be identified as the

  author of this work has been asserted by him.

  eISBN 978 1407 17024 4

  A CIP catalogue record for this work is available from the British Library.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues

  are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any

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  SHERLOCK HOLMES

  Big brain or big-head? We’ll see.

  Most likely to ... who knows?

  He’s such a mystery.

  JOHN WATSON

  The new kid in school. Loves

  writing, drawing, eating biscuits

  and drinking hot chocolate.

  Most likely to ... be a doctor –

  maybe!

  MARTHA HUDSON

  A class leader. Funny and super

  confident.

  Most likely to ... succeed at

  EVERYTHING!

  JAMES MORIARTY

  Sherlock’s nemesis... He’s

  annoying, selfish and always where

  you don’t want him to be.

  Most likely to ... take over the

  world.

  MARTIN & HENRY BAKER

  Twin brothers whose dad is a DI

  at Scotland Yard!

  Most likely to ... follow in their

  father’s footsteps and become

  a crime-fighting duo.

  DAZ

  Loses everything! Yes, everything.

  Most likely to ... become a life

  coach (when he finally sorts

  himself out).

  BART

  John’s old pal from primary

  school days. Fresh-faced, friendly

  and super cool.

  Most likely to ... become a

  graphic designer.

  MR GAPP

  The coolest teacher in the school.

  Making learning fun since FOR

  EVER!

  Most likely to ... go down in

  Baker Street history.

  BASKERVILLE

  The coolest doggy detective ever!

  He can sniff out a custard cream

  a mile off.

  Most likely to ... get belly rubs.

  London.

  Sherlock!

  Keep up,

  Watson!

  Sherlock!

  Typical Sherlock. He’s always

  a few steps ahead.

  Somewhere off

  Baker Street.

  Always chasing the

  next lead.

  I know,

  Baskerville

  I’m going as

  fast as I can.

  WOOF!

  Where are

  we going

  anyway?

  Trouble is, once Sherlock

  gets going, there’s just

  no stopping him.

  He’s like a bloodhound

  on a scent!

  You better

  stay here,

  Baskerville.

  Well, I don’t mind a bit

  of adventure. I mean,

  who would?

  You’ll see,

  Watson.

  I’m going

  where the

  clues lead...

  Where the

  adventure

  takes us...

  Now hurry

  up!

  Trouble is, once Sherlock

  gets going, there’s just

  no stopping him.

  I just had no idea how

  crazy it would be...

  Or what sort of trouble

  we’d end up in...

  THE GAME

  IS AFOOT!

  1

  1

  JOHN WATSON

  Likes: reading, writing, doodling.

  Wants to be a doctor. Maybe!

  Adventure… Craziness… Trouble… It wasn’t

  always like that though. At least not before I

  met Sherlock Homes, I mean. I should probably

  start somewhere near the beginning, otherwise

  this is going to get a bit confusing!

  My name’s John. John Watson. Yep, that’s

  me up there with the glasses and the goofy

  grin. To be honest, my first day at Baker

  Street Academy was a bit nerve-wracking!

  I’d been away for what seemed like my whole

  life, and I could only remember little bits and

  pieces from the last time I was in London and

  going to a proper school like this… But, yep,

  there I was, the completely, obviously sticking-

  out “new boy” with no friends – totally nervous,

  a little bit excited and to make it even worse…

  2

  Ah! John Watson.

  You’re rather late.

  We were expecting

  you this morning.

  Uh-oh! That’s Mrs Cavendish, my new head

  teacher. She seemed pretty annoyed with me.

  It’s probably not the best way to start my

  first day at a new school. Oops!

  I went bright red and got all

  embarrassed, but luckily Mrs

  Cavendish got nicer pretty

  quickly. She must have felt sorry

  for me or something.

  Mrs Cavendish introduced me

  to my new teacher, Ms DeRossi.

  Then the secretary, Mrs

  Staveley, gave me some new

  workbooks to start me off

  in my studies. I thought Mrs

  Cavendish would send me

  straight to class after that,

  but instead she said that one

  of the other students was

  going to come and show me

  around a bit.

  “Ah, Martha, there you

  are. This is our new arrival,

  John Watson. I thought you

  might like to show him the

  ropes a bit today as he

  gets settled in.”

  - Knock, knock -

  (This is Martha. Confident smile and mischievous eyes.)

&n
bsp; Hi, John. Pleased

  to meet you!

  Welcome to

  Baker Street

  Academy.

  A good start, right? Yeah, I thought so too,

  but then she grinned cheekily

  and whispered, “Nice shade of

  red you’ve gone there!” Oh no.

  I’m doomed! This is going to be

  me every day for the rest of my

  life…

  Way to start

  your first day,

  John!

  Don’t they have

  alarm clocks

  where you come

  from? Hehe.

  S’all right, John, I’m just

  messing with you. Come on,

  I’ll take you to meet a good

  friend of mine.

  Hi, Amber!

  Hi,

  Martha!

  Cool. Good

  to meet you,

  John!

  I know, I know.

  I’ve always

  had a bit of

  a lateness

  problem.

  Mum’s always joking that I was late for my own

  birth, so I’m probably double doomed. What can

  I say?

  Martha smiled and gave me a friendly nudge, then

  we strolled our way through the school corridors.

  This is John.

  He’s new.

  All right,

  Martha?

  Hey,

  Martha!

  Coming

  for some

  lunch?

  How’s it

  going?

  Hey,

  Martha

  Hi, Emily.

  Hi, Daz.

  I’m good,

  thanks!

  “He’s always losing stuff,”

  whispered Martha as we

  passed them by. “It’s

  so funny!”

  I’m showing

  John around. I’ll

  catch you guys

  later.

  Martin and Henry

  are brothers. Their

  dad’s a policeman –

  Hi, Martin!

  Hi, Henry!

  like, some

  super-cool

  detective or

  something.

  7

  Cool. See

  you later

  then.

  Hello, Martha. Hello,

  John. Always nice

  to meet a new face

  at Baker Street

  Academy!

  I’ll look

  forward to

  seeing you in

  class, young

  man.

  Hey, Nisha! Hi, Ems!

  Nah, I’ll see you

  later.

  Oh, hi, Mr

  Gapp. This is

  John. He’s new

  here today.

  Just then, a cool-looking teacher came out of a

  classroom in front of us.

  “Always pays to be on the

  good side of the teachers,”

  added Martha as he walked

  away. “That’s Mr Gapp – he’s

  one of the best.”

  I’m on new-

  kid duties. This

  is John.

  Nice to

  meet you,

  John!

  8

  So Martha seems pretty cool! Even if she

  did like to make fun of me a bit! She’s totally

  funny and super confident, and from what I

  can tell, she knows pretty much everybody in

  the whole school, even the teachers!

  “Hey, there’s Bart,” Martha pointed at

  a fresh-faced boy heading our way.

  “Hi, Bart, this is John.”

  Oh, wow. Talk about weird! I can’t believe I

  (literally) bumped into somebody at school

  that I knew already! Bart was one of my best

  friends from when I was young. Martha really

  does know everybody!

  BART!!!

  JOHN!

  Bart! Wow, that’s amazing. I

  haven’t seen you since we were

  at Stamford Primary.

  SHERLOCK?

  Yep.

  ’Fraid so!

  Yeah! That’s a long story…

  Mum and Dad are doctors. Dad works in the

  armed forces, so we’ve moved around a lot!

  We’ve lived in all sorts of places – England,

  Scotland, Germany, Spain – I don’t remember

  all of them though. I was probably too young.

  I’ve just been in the Middle East, ’cos Dad was

  out in Afghanistan.

  I know! It’s crazy!

  Where have you been

  then, John? My mum said

  you’d moved away.

  Wow! Cool. So

  now you’re the

  new boy then?

  You’ll like it here. It’s

  pretty good fun at Baker

  Street Academy. Hey –

  talking of fun, have you

  met Sherlock yet?

  Ha ha! Exactly! You

  should see what’s

  happening in the science

  room … Catch you guys

  later.

  Ha! No, he

  hasn’t. I’m

  saving the best

  bit till last.

  10

  “Who’s Sherlock?” I asked

  as we left Bart and carried

  on to wherever it was Martha

  was taking me.

  Yeah, I know… I thought Martha was talking to me

  there for a minute as well. But it turns out that

  the school even has a dog! How cool is that?!

  Martha said he belongs to the

  caretaker, Mr Musgrave, and

  his wife, but he’s allowed to go

  pretty much wherever he wants

  by the looks of it! Martha said

  she gets to take him for walks

  sometimes too.

  He’s the good friend of mine

  I mentioned – you’ll like him!

  Come on!

  Ahh. There’s a good boy!

  There’s a good good boy.

  Come on, Mr Furry Pants!

  Who’s a Mr Fluffy Trousers

  then?

  BASKERVILLE

  THIS IS

  We gave him a good fuss for a few minutes

  until he ran off woofing after some other dog

  adventure, then Martha took me along to the

  science block to meet this mysterious friend of

  hers…

  We’d barely got through the classroom door

  when a voice called out from the far side of

  the room...

  Martha!

  You’re just in time.

  WOOF!

  WOOF!

  12

  SHERLOCK GIVES A

  DEMONSTRATION

  2

  13

  Hi, Sherlock. Just in time

  for what?

  “Yes! Sherlock,

  this is J—”

  That’s exactly what I was thinking… As

  we walked into the science room I could barely

  see a thing, there was so much smoke and mist

  everywhere. An excited face appeared out of the

  haze and then the boy that it belonged to came

  running towards us waving a test tube in his hand.

  For this! I’ve

  done it.

  No, wait! Don’t tell me.

  J … James … no, John

  … Watson. Yes! How

  are you, John?

  It’s the

  perfect result.

  Oh, I see

  you’ve brought

  a friend with

  you…

  Ha! Never


  mind that. It’s

  obvious.

  I’m all right,

  thanks.

  Wait, hang on

  a minute – how

  did you know my

  name?!

  14

  Sherlock was smiling and

  looking me up and down

  like I was another science

  experiment.

  You had a long flight yesterday,

  I take it? Mmm-hmm. Plenty of

  time for writing and drawing

  in your journal. Had a bit of

  trouble finding us too, I see -

  the roadworks, I suppose. No

  wonder you were late today!

  So this is Sherlock, I thought to myself… Martha’s

  good friend and possibly some sort of super-

  brained mind reader! Something weird was going

  on here… Better just try to play it cool.

  “Er … yeah. Nice to

  meet you, Sherlock. Is

  that … blood?”

  I pointed to the test tube he was clutching. It

  had some suspicious dark crimson liquid in it.

  Sherlock’s face lit up and he burst out laughing.

  15

  Ah. Well, never mind.

  Hot chocolate’s more your thing,

  I see. Yes. And croissants. You’ve

  had two already this morning!

  Almond and chocolate.

  Ha ha! Blood! It’s mostly raspberry,

  John. That and a few other special

  ingredients. I’ve been working on

  the perfect base for an ice-cold

  treat. A bit of help from Mr Spice’s

  chemistry supplies and I’d say you

  won’t find a better smoothie this

  side of Oxford Street! Would you

  like to try?

  Martha started laughing too. That

  explained the room full of mist

  then! I wondered if this was

  what Martha meant when she

  said she was saving the best

  bit till last.

  “No, thanks,” I said

  nervously. “I’ve already had my

  breakfast.”

  Sherlock smiled, put the test tube

  down on the desk nearby

  and brushed his hands off.

  16

  And if I’m not mistaken,

  you are particularly fond

  of biscuits.

  Ha! Of

  course they

  do, John!

  Yes! Custard creams

  to be precise.

  Hey, that’s

  not fair!

  Everyone

  likes biscuits,

  don’t they?!

  Come on.

  All this talk

  of biscuits

  is making me