Fool's Bluff

by Lee Gregg

  Dan picked up the device and felt a sharp prick of disappointment. The bug was cracked and bent. It had probably been crushed under something heavy, but the cause of the damage wasn’t important. All that mattered now was the data inside. It would be awful if he’d gone through all this effort only to have lost the data, he thought. He slipped the bug into his pocket and walked out of the office, pausing briefly at the entrance to wipe the dust and dirt from the knees of his pants. As he straightened himself, he saw Carl inside the station door, staring directly at him.

  * * *

  “You expect her to be walking around the village after what happened at the funeral? Those people looked like they wanted to hang her!” Penelope gave her head a tiny shake and looked down at her mug of hot chocolate. “Oh my goodness, this panda bear is so adorable!”

  “Still, Sam should’ve been there. Funny how she disappears just when we’re about break this whole thing wide open,” Drew responded. “And I loved the panda bear you made for my hot chocolate the other day, Cara.”

  “Thanks. It was supposed to be a leaf.”

  “What is that supposed to mean, Drew? It’s bad enough that you’re still hung up on the stupid idea that Sam kidnapped Ben. Now she stole his stuff and is fencing it using some random guy, too? Please tell me you don’t seriously believe that. I had such high hopes for you.” Penelope had a look of sympathy on her face as she shook her head in disappointment. “And you know, you’re partly to blame for what happened at the funeral. That last hashtag was yours.”

  “Alright, but there’s nothing on my site about Sam that wasn’t already published in the papers. It’s not all my fault she’s getting so much heat, but we’re working on uncovering the truth. Until we find it, everything is on the table.”

  “Do you even realize the damage you’re causing? It’s not just what you’ve done to Sam, either. You can cross Steve and Aiden off the list now. Sam and I confirmed their alibi last night. Because of your site, they got booted out of the Garden. Now they’re sleeping in the cold somewhere,” Penelope said.

  “What’s the Garden?” Cara asked.

  “It’s a shelter for people who need a warm bed to sleep in.”

  “Alright, well, whatever, P-lo.” Drew rolled his eyes. “If people can’t afford to live here, they shouldn’t.”

  “What does that mean?” Penelope asked.

  “It means what it means. Either contribute to society, pay your bills and your taxes, or leave. We shouldn’t have to subsidize others or suffer from their crimes.”

  “Not everyone down on their luck commits a crime,” Cara said, her voice softer than usual. She kept her eyes on her mug while she spoke. “Sometimes, people just need a little bit of help in their lives.”

  Drew glanced at the table Wade had thrown him into yesterday and touched the sore spot on his neck. “I don’t have a problem with helping people at all. Just depends on who, I guess.”

  “And does that depend on how much money they have?” Penelope asked.

  Drew shrugged. “I don’t feel bad for those guys. Just look at them. It’s not like they were helping the community by making tourists feel safe and comfortable with their stankiness and knife-waving skills. They brought it all on themselves by acting aggressively towards me and then towards Sam.”

  “Well, the question is whether the punishment fits the crime. What is justice? Who decides what’s fair? You? A judge? A priest? A king? Society? Or just people who yell the loudest?” Penelope looked at Drew and Cara with her brows raised and when neither responded, she sighed. “Okay. Fine. Let’s move on. So what’s your plan now, Drew? Pile on Sam because she supposedly wasn’t there to meet Cara’s seller?”

  “Well, it is a fact that she wasn’t there, but its relevance has yet to be determined. It shall be noted, though. Along with other facts that have come to light as of late.”

  “Such as?” Penelope asked.

  “Such as you, Cara and Sam being the only ones who knew about the meeting, coupled with the fact that the seller got tipped off.”

  “Okay, fine. But you’re missing something, Drew,” Penelope said.

  “No, I’m not. I realize that, in all fairness to Sam, you two should go up on the site as persons of interest too, which should make you very happy, P-lo.”

  “No, Drew,” Penelope said. “You’re missing your own name on that list.”

  36

  Sam pulled her toque lower on her forehead and wrapped a long scarf around her face and neck, leaving only her eyes exposed. With her Ethel disguise a little worse for wear and now carefully laid out on her bed, she left home and headed to Glacier Surge. Multiple messages from Drew, Penelope and Cara had urged her to join them as soon as possible.

  “There she is,” Drew said. He and Cara were squeezed next to Penelope, peering over her shoulders at the phone in her hand.

  “What’s up, guys?”

  “Alright,” Drew started, raising one eyebrow. “Take one guess at what happened today when we went to meet Cara’s seller.”

  “Yeah, Pips texted me already. A no-show with a strange note and now you want to investigate Cara and Pips. So, where’s the fire?”

  “What? You mean you’re not mad about Cara’s seller being tipped off?” Both of Drew’s eyebrows were now raised in surprise. He turned to Penelope. “Now tell me that’s not suspicious, P-lo.”

  A stitch formed in Penelope’s forehead and she gave him a slow head shake, as if to say, “No, sorry, you are so wrong.”

  “Cara and Pips had nothing to do with the seller being tipped off, Drew. That’s just dumb,” Sam said.

  “Oh, okay. So, you want to join P-lo in pinning this on me?”

  “I don’t think you had anything to do with it either.”

  “Which leaves you,” he said.

  “I know I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “Which leaves us nowhere,” he said, throwing his hand up in frustration. “I don’t accept that.”

  “Well, I agree with you on that,” Sam said. “Something happened, but I just don’t believe anyone here would sabotage our efforts. It’s not in Pips’ DNA.”

  “You know it, sister.”

  “It wasn’t Cara,” Sam continued. Cara glanced up at Sam and flashed her a grateful smile. “And you, you want to find the truth. That’s totally clear.”

  “Alright, well, unfortunately, the jury is still out on you, Sam,” Drew said. “But it turns out we have another lead. P-lo got footage of the meet today. We’re trying to see if we can find the guy in the crowd who left the bag behind Cara. See? There’s Cara on the bench, then Aunt Ethel sits down beside her. That was bad luck because she blocks a clear view of the spot where the bag was dropped. Alright, there’s the crowd — and then they leave and — then I arrive. Then there, I get the bag. It just seems to appear out of nowhere.”

  “We’ve been going through the video in slow-mo, trying to see if we can find the person carrying the bag beforehand or if anyone is wearing a jacket with that patch,” Penelope said.

  “The resolution isn’t good enough, though,” Cara added. “We’ve gone through it backwards and forwards and none of us can see anything.”

  “Maybe we should watch it on a big screen?” Sam suggested.

  “Definitely,” Drew said.

  “So, what are we doing here?” Sam asked.

  “Well, I think we need to investigate this tip-off situation thoroughly. It’s only fair that everyone is together while we do it. I want to add Cara and P-lo to our Persons of Interest list and, as P-lo pointed out, I need to be included on it as well, since I had knowledge of the meeting too.”

  “Drew, I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Sam said.

  “Lead, follow, or get out of the way, Sam.”

  “Fine. This is all you, Drew.”

  “Perfect. Let’s start with P-lo. What motive would you have to kidnap Ben and what evidence do we have to support that?”

  “None,” Penelope
said. “Let’s move on to you.”

  “Not so fast, P-lo. First, it’s obvious that you and Sam are tight. Maybe you’re an accomplice. You both camped in the same tent the night Ben went missing and you could be covering for her by saying you two went to sleep at the same time. In fact, you two could be using each other as alibis and taken Ben right after the rest of us went to sleep. You’ve been involved in this investigation from the very start and maybe you’re a mole planted to sway opinion away from Sam.” Drew glanced back and forth between Sam and Penelope with his eyebrows raised. “Am I getting warm? Alright, alright, how about this. You’re secretly in love with Sam and that’s why you’re covering for her.” Now Penelope’s and Sam’s eyebrows were raised.

  “Oh, golly gosh darn, Drew. You figured it all out. Yes, we are secret lovers and plotted it all out to get money to marry and run away together,” Penelope said. She and Sam burst out laughing. Cara giggled and Drew tried to stop himself from smiling, but he didn’t succeed.

  “All bases need to be covered,” Drew said, the tips of his ears turning red. He put his game face back on and cleared his throat. “Alright, alright. Now we move on to Cara. What could your motivation be for kidnapping Ben and fencing his stuff? Money. Pure and simple. Gets you out of these minimum wage, dead-end jobs. But could Cara really carry this out on her own?”

  Cara had a blank expression on her face.

  “Drew! That’s rude. And this is getting a little much. So Cara is conspiring with me and Sam now too?”

  “Yes, she’s the third in our very secret love triangle,” Sam said with a wink at Penelope and a nudge to Cara’s arm. Penelope and Drew laughed, but Cara winced and shrank in her seat, holding her arm where Sam had bumped her. “Sorry, Cara,” Sam whispered, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  Cara had a pained expression on her face as she shook her head and responded, her voice barely audible, “No, it’s okay. Just caught me by surprise.”

  “Hey, we have to explore all possibilities and you guys are all pretty cute, so…um, it’s all plausible.” Drew’s face turned red to match his ears and he stayed quiet for a few seconds, trying to collect himself.

  “So how about yourself, Drew?” Penelope asked.

  “Yeah, alright. I tented with Ben. I could have easily snuck him away without anyone knowing. But Sam did find me in my tent, dead asleep, so I’m not sure how I pulled that off. And there’s no motive. I don’t need the cash and Ben’s my best friend.”

  “Well,” Penelope said, “how about this? The first thing you did was set up your website. And what’s featured prominently on the site? Your YouTube videos. You may not need the money, but you’ve suddenly gained a lot of fame and popularity. Your views, your subscribers and your ad money have skyrocketed. How do we know you didn’t actually do it to become an Internet star? You’ve had the opportunity to step up and disclose this information, but you haven’t. Were you hoping that nobody would notice how you’ve benefited from all of this?”

  “Of course, you’ve been working hard to ensure that no one would point a finger at you, right?” Penelope continued. “What better way to control the investigation than to be a part of it. You say you’re intent on finding the truth, but you’re quick to point the finger at everyone else, even when it’s clear that you’re not pointing to the truth. Listing Sam on your website helps to confirm all those nasty stories in the Times. The more people look at someone else, the less they’ll look at you, right? Where were you when Sam went to confront Steve and Aiden? You were all too happy to bail, weren’t you? Why did you show up late to meet Cara’s seller today? And how did Animal Control know that Dr. Chow’s injury had anything to do with Trax? I wondered how they knew to show up and search my house and then I remembered that Sam told me that you had walked in on their conversation. It was you who ratted on Trax and Sam and me!”

  “Alright. Yeah. My social media popularity exploded, but I couldn’t care less about that. And yeah, I did mention the vet thing to Wesley, but that was just in passing because I went over to visit Ben, but he was too depressed to come out of his room. I ran into Wes when I was leaving. I wasn’t trying to throw the dog or Sam under the bus, and I had no idea that you were involved at all, P-lo. I will admit that if I suddenly got a million bucks I wouldn’t be unhappy. I’d buy myself a sweet ride, but not at the expense of killing my best friend. I’d never hurt him, let alone break his leg and leave him for dead.”

  “So, Drew, you think that Pips or Cara could hurt him and abandon him to die? That I could do that?”

  Drew let out an exasperated sigh. “Alright, honestly, I don’t. Of course I don’t. But I don’t know what happened and we need to explore every possibility. Cara’s seller knew we were on to him for the theft and the kidnapping. There’s just no plausible reason for that.”

  “Okay Drew. You know what? I believe you. Just as much as I believe Pips and Cara when they say that they didn’t kidnap Ben or steal his stuff or tip off the seller. So if you want the website to be an accurate reflection of our investigation, don’t add them or yourself to the Persons of Interest list.”

  “But, if we really want to be thorough, we do need to add names to our list. Maybe not for online publication, but for our own research,” Sam continued, looking at three confused faces. “If we think about it, we had no idea where we were going to end up last Sunday night. We could have camped at Checkpoint 3 or 4. So, whoever took Ben was either following us, which I very highly doubt because I was watching out for that, or they were conspiring with someone in our group who knew exactly where we were camping that night. We need to add Wade and Wesley to our list.”

  “Whoa!” Drew said, collapsing into the back of his chair.

  Penelope nodded slowly.

  “Yeah. It makes sense. How else could anyone have possibly known where Ben was that night? None of us knew until we pitched our tents,” Cara said, looking at Penelope and Drew for confirmation.

  “Alright, alright. This is good. More suspects. I mean, Wesley is Ben’s flesh and blood. I can’t see him being involved, but Wade? I mean, he’s a little sketch. Sorry Cara, truth.” Cara flinched, but Drew carried on without seeming to notice. “Do you want to excuse yourself from this part of the investigation?”

  “She doesn’t need to do that,” Sam said quickly. “Cara didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “It’s okay, I don’t have to be involved in this anymore,” Cara said, her cheeks turning pink.

  “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, Cara, but if you want to keep working on this with us, then you can. Do you?” Sam held her breath as she watched Cara stare at her lap and shrug one shoulder. Slowly, she raised her head, looked at Sam and nodded. Sam exhaled and gave her a smile.

  “Alright, alright. Do you guys want to start doing our first bit of research here together? This round of hot chocolates is on me,” Drew said as he got up to place the order.

  Sam turned to Cara while Penelope looked to be busy on her phone. “Are you okay? What’s wrong with your arm? Did he hurt you?” she whispered.

  “It’s okay, Sam,” Cara said as her cheeks turned a deeper pink and her eyes welled up with tears.

  “It’s not okay, Cara. You are an amazing person. Drew can’t stop talking about how you saved him the other day. You know, it’s against the law for anyone to put a finger on you and hurt you. It doesn’t matter how sorry he is afterwards. If he really loved you, he would never want to see you suffer. You should be able to hang out with friends after work, if you want. To get help putting up a ridiculous tent, if you want. To take a picture with a friend, if you want. You only have one life, Cara, and things will never change unless you change them.”

  “He’s working on it, Sam. He knows he has an anger issue.”

  “Is he getting help for it? There are lots of services out there that can help him change his behavior. There are a lot of services to help you too. And I’m here for you too, Cara. Whatever you need. You know that you deserve to
be treated with respect, right?”

  “Look at how Drew treats you with his website. Don’t you deserve more respect?” Cara argued. “Who are you to say anything? You can’t really comment on my life with everything that you’re letting happen in yours.”

  “I’m working on changing that. And you’re helping me. So will you let me help you?”

  Cara nodded and wiped away the tears that had spilled down her cheeks.

  “Panda bears all around!” Drew said, concentrating on keeping the tray of drinks level as he lowered it onto on the table.

  “Sam,” Penelope said without taking her eyes off her phone. “You’re going to want to see this. This changes everything.”

  37

  Sam slammed her fist on the table, causing the four whipped cream panda bears to shake in their mugs and brown liquid to spill onto the table. “I knew it! Pips, can we download this video? We need to have a copy in case it gets pulled.”

  “On it, sister,” Penelope said, her head down as she tapped on her phone.

  “How did you know Wesley had a YouTube channel, Pips?”

  “He mentioned it when he asked me for tips months ago. Wow. It’s super long.”

  “He livestreamed everything?” Cara asked.

  “Looks like he’s got most of his day uploaded,” Drew said, watching Wesley’s video on his phone. “Crazy. Wes must have forgotten to turn his phone off. There’s no way he’d have wanted to stream all this stuff with his doctor.”

  “That explains why his phone was dead and why he needed to use mine to take the quiz during the orientation,” Sam recalled.

  “Oh yeah, that’s right! Your phone was broken too, right Cara?” Drew asked.