‘Golly!’ said everyone.
‘Let me come too,’ said Pip.
‘No. Best for only one of us to go,’ said Fatty. ‘Give Mrs. Moon this message when she comes back, Pip - say that Mrs. Cockles rang up and said she had to go to her sister, who was upset because she’d had a nasty letter. Don’t let on that you know any more than that.’
‘Right,’ said Pip. ‘Well, you hop off now, Fatty, before old Goon gets going on the job. He’ll be round at Mrs. Cockles’s sister in no time, as soon as he hears about the letter.’
Fatty shot off. He knew where Willow Lane was. He found number 9 and went to the little front door. It was a dirty, untidy little place. He rapped on the wooden door.
‘Come in!’ called Mrs. Cockles’s voice. ‘Oh, it’s you, Master Frederick. Well, my sister says she won’t show you the letter. She says what’s in it isn’t for anyone to read but me and the police. And I won’t say but what she’s right, now I’ve read the letter properly.’
Fatty was most bitterly disappointed. ‘Oh, I say!’ he said. ‘You might just let me have a squint. I’ve seen all the others. Go on, be a sport and let me see it.’
Mrs. Cockles’s sister was a fat, untidy woman, who breathed very loudly through her mouth and talked through her nose.
‘’Taint fit for a child to read,’ she said. ‘It’s a right down spiteful letter, and not a word of truth in it, neither!’
‘I’m not a child!’ said Fatty, making himself as tall as he could. ‘You can trust me to read the letter and not say a word to anyone. I’m - er - I’m investigating the case, you see.’