Friday looked about at the school buildings and was pleasantly surprised. It looked very nice. The administration block was a brand new building and through a gaudy use of primary colours it looked quite cheerful. ‘This school looks nice,’ said Friday. ‘I was expecting it to be old and rundown.’ ‘Yes,’ said Uncle Bernie. ‘A year nine boy burned the main building down two years ago. So this new building has only been in use for a couple of months.’ ‘What’s the library like?’ asked Friday as she followed her uncle into the school office. They left Melanie asleep in the car, with a window open and a note pinned to her chest explaining where she was. ‘Excellent,’ said Uncle Bernie. ‘The entire collection was ruined last year in a flood, so the school was able to buy all new books with the insurance money.’ ‘It sounds like they must have very high insurance premiums,’ said Friday. ‘Oh yes,’ said Uncle Bernie. He was an insurance investigator, so he was an expert on such matters.
