My mom shook her head. “I didn’t give him the time of day.”
“Wait!” I cried, digging in my pocket for the piece of paper we’d taken from Talbot. “We have this!” I unfolded the receipt and held it out so the others could see the Cleaner’s phone number written on the back.
“You think we should just call the guy on the phone?” Fluffball asked.
“What’re we supposed to say?” added Hamid.
But I wasn’t really listening to them. For the first time, I was studying the other side of the receipt.
“April second,” I whispered.
“What?” they all asked in unison.
I turned the receipt over so they could see what I was reading. “This receipt was from Gran’s Kitchen on April second, the day before the Cleaner robbed the church.”
“Yeah?” said Fluffball. “What’s your point?”
“Talbot said that the Cleaner beat them to the diner and left them the note on the napkin,” I continued. “But he also mentioned that the Cleaner ate at Gran’s Kitchen and left Talbot to pay for his meal.”
“That’s low,” muttered Hamid.
“Look at what they ordered,” I said. “A meal for Talbot, and a meal for Vanderbeek. And then this”—I pointed at the item on the receipt—“ordered forty-five minutes earlier.”
“A pineapple Oreo milkshake,” read Hamid. He shuddered. “I’ve never heard of that flavor combination.”
Avery had gone rigid. I could almost hear her heart beating. “I have,” she whispered, locking eyes with me. “Pineapple Oreo. It’s the only flavor, in his opinion.”
“Who?” Mom asked.
“Lionel Albrecht,” said Avery. “The custodian at Magix Headquarters.”
Why didn’t we see that sooner? “The Cleaner.”
Chapter 29
FRIDAY, MAY 15
12:33 P.M.
MASON’S KITCHEN AGAIN, INDIANA
“I know exactly where he lives,” said Avery, reaching into her top hat and pulling out the atlas.
“How?” I asked. Lionel Albrecht was the custodian at Magix Headquarters. I didn’t exactly expect him to be good friends with Avery’s family.
“He moved into our apartment building about two and a half years ago,” she said.
“He what?” I cried.
“I know, I know,” she muttered. “It seems suspicious now. But we had no reason to suspect him before. I guess it makes sense. The Mastermind needed someone close, to keep an eye on my dad.”
“Where do you live?” Mom asked her.
“New York City,” answered Avery. “Upper East Side.”
“Awesome!” Hamid said, pumping his fist in the air. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”
“You’re not,” Mom snapped. “You need to go home, right now.”
“Why?” Hamid asked. “My parents went out for the night. That’s why I came over here.”
“Besides,” I said. “I think we can trust him now. After all, he was the one who knocked out Wreckage.”
“I interrogated your friend while you were gone,” Avery said to me. “We didn’t even need the truth shoe. He spilled everything.”
Hamid held up his hands. “I’m sorry I took your Battlefield 900 poster. I was going to bring it back soon.”
“That was you?” I shook my head.
“It looks really cool in my room,” said Hamid.
I groaned. “Maybe my mom’s right. Maybe you should go home.”
“Actually, I think Hamid should stay with us,” said Avery. “Agent Clarkston knows he’s involved, so he might be a target.”
Mom glanced around the ruined kitchen like she might find another option. “Fine,” she finally said.
Avery spread out the atlas on the countertop. “I guess it’s time to go investigate Lionel Albrecht’s apartment.”
“Hold on,” said Mom. “Didn’t you tell me that Magix was tracking that atlas?”
“Yeah,” Avery replied. “But we don’t really have another way to get there. We’ll just have to act fast.”
“Maybe I can buy you some time,” Mom suggested. “Draw the danger away so you’ll have an opportunity to check out the apartment.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Maybe I could take the atlas out for a spin once we get to New York,” said Mom. “I could keep transporting myself around the city, or even from state to state, making sure the agents come after me, instead of you.”
“Ah,” said Hamid. “Like a mother bird.”
“Did you just call her a bird?” Fluffball asked.
“It’s a tactic that some mother birds use to protect their babies,” explained Hamid. “Sometimes, if a predator comes near, the mother will pretend to be hurt. She’ll flop her wings around like she can’t fly and draw the predator away from the babies in the nest.”
“Yes,” Mom said. “Do you think it could work?”
I smiled at her. “That’s very brave, Mom.”
“Well, you know I’ve always wanted to travel,” she replied, taking the atlas from Avery, who pointed to the right neighborhood on the map.
“Everybody hold on to each other,” I said, grabbing my mom’s arm with one hand and Hamid’s shoulder with the other. Avery scooped up Fluffball and touched Hamid. We all held our breath as Mom touched the tip of the pen to the road map.
We appeared in New York City in the blink of an eye. Mom stepped away, hovering the pen over a different neighborhood on the map.
“You kids be careful,” she said. “Go find that proof.”
“Thanks, Mama Bird,” Hamid said.
“Hamid?” Mom said. “Don’t ever call me that again.” Then she touched the pen to the atlas and disappeared.
“We’re close to my building,” Avery said, pointing down the street. “Let’s go.”
The Lawdens’ apartment building was pretty nice. We skipped right past Avery’s place on the first floor and made our way up the stairs to the third. Fluffball was sniffing and checking every step along the way, but aside from a couple of jabs about my smell, the bunny didn’t notice anything. All too soon, our little group was gathered outside apartment 309.
I looked at Avery. “What are we supposed to do?” I whispered.
“We break in and have a look around,” she answered. “Just like we did at Vanderbeek’s house.”
“What if the Cleaner is here?” I asked.
“He won’t be,” Avery assured me. “It’s a Friday afternoon. He’ll be at Magix Headquarters, cleaning up for the weekend. Fluffball,” she said, taking off her hat and lowering it to the rabbit on the floor, “I need you to get the deodorant.”
“Deodorant?” I said. “I don’t remember that from Fluffball’s list.”
“That’s ’cuz I didn’t tell you about it,” he said. “I was afraid you’d try to use it.” The rabbit dove into the hat.
“Do you think he could get me a secret weapon while he’s in there?” Hamid asked. “I saw she’s got that slicing credit card.” He turned to me. “What’s your secret weapon?”
I scratched my head. “The baseball, maybe? I don’t really have one.”
“Okay,” said Hamid. “Maybe I could get something that deals double damage. And it’s invisible, so the bad guys don’t see it until it’s too late.”
“They’re not weapons,” Avery scolded him. “The whole reason these magical boons exist is to benefit regular people, not hurt them.”
“Voilà!” Fluffball’s head emerged from the top hat on the floor. “This, my friends, is a very special stick of deodorant.” Avery helped him out, taking the item from between his paws and sticking the hat on her head once more.
“Is that the kind that gives you a rash?” Hamid asked. “Because I used some deodorant once, and it gave me a rash.”
“This’ll do worse than that,” replied the bunny. “Wipe it on any surface and that object will disintegrate. But it’ll only last a couple of seconds before it rematerializes
.”
Avery popped off the cap and began swiping it across Lionel Albrecht’s front door.
“Oooh,” said Hamid. I thought he was commenting on the fact that the wooden door was dissolving. Then he added, “That smells niiiiiice.”
“Come on.” Avery capped the deodorant and slipped it back under her top hat as she moved through the open doorway and into the apartment.
Finally being here—in the home of the one person who supposedly had all the evidence to free my dad and me—was almost too much to bear. My hands were cold and soaked with sweat. It seemed hard to swallow as I surveyed the place.
Lionel Albrecht wasn’t much for interior decorating, which told me that he lived alone. It was a studio apartment—the whole place was basically one huge room. The kitchen was to our left. On the right was a small sitting area with a puny TV and a lumpy couch with a blanket and square pillow with fringe around the edge.
Against the far wall was his bed, a single twin-size mattress on a low frame. But it was tidily made. There wasn’t a single wrinkle in the covers, which were folded neatly over his pillow. In the corner of the room was a door cracked open a few inches. Squinting, I could see that it led into a bathroom.
“I don’t even see where he could be hiding evidence,” I whispered.
“Fluffball,” Avery said, “do you see anything suspicious?”
“Not yet,” he said, hopping across the floor. “But if there’s a boon in here, I’ll sniff it out.”
“Okay,” Avery said to me. “You and Hamid check the bathroom. I’ll go through the closets.”
My ten-year-old neighbor and I moved to the back of the apartment with cautious steps.
“So, this dude’s bad,” Hamid whispered. “Like, superbad? How would you rank him compared to Wreckage?”
I didn’t know how to answer for a moment. “Albrecht seemed nice when I met him,” I answered, slowly pushing the bathroom door inward. “But it was just an act.”
It was very dark in the bathroom. Hamid grabbed my arm. “Where’s the light switch?”
“I don’t know,” I said, palming across the wall for it. “I’ve never been here before.”
“There’s a ninety percent chance he’s hiding in the shower.” Hamid pulled his phone from his pocket and flicked on the flashlight app. As the bright light flashed across the bathroom, Hamid screamed. That caused me to scream, and we both leaped backward.
“What happened?” Avery called from across the room.
“Nothing,” I said. “I didn’t see anything.”
“Me neither,” replied Hamid, shining his flashlight into the bathroom again.
“Then why’d you scream?” asked Fluffball.
“I like to be prepared,” said Hamid. “Just in case there was something scary.”
“Give me that light,” I said, pulling the phone from Hamid’s hands.
“I’ve only got thirty percent battery left,” he said, “so use it wisely.”
I spotted the bathroom light switch and flicked it on, handing the phone back to Hamid.
“Guys!” Avery called from the other room. “I think I’ve found something!”
That was quick! Hamid and I left the bathroom. I was almost to the bed, where Avery and Fluffball were waiting, when I tripped, my right leg going stiff and causing me to fall flat on my face.
Fluffball laughed, but Hamid reached down to help me up. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Just a cramp,” I said, swatting away his hand. “I’m fine.” But I really wasn’t. My leg had cramped so badly that I couldn’t bend it. Awkwardly, I scooted the remaining distance to Avery’s side.
“Did anyone else think this bed looked a little too nice?” she asked. “I’d say it’s never been slept in.”
“But Albrecht lives here,” I pointed out, massaging my leg.
“The couch pulls out into a bed,” she explained. “It didn’t take much of an investigation to realize that he’s been sleeping there instead.”
“Yeah,” Fluffball said, sniffing at the bed. “But I’m not picking up any magic.”
Avery reached down and grabbed the bedspread. Whipping it back revealed only a crisp, clean sheet. A little more carefully, Avery peeled back the sheet, too.
“Still nothing,” said Fluffball.
From my position on the floor, I could now see under the bed, since Avery had pulled back the covers. “There’s a box,” I said, reaching under to grab it. But I couldn’t get it to budge. “It’s wedged,” I said. “Can you lift up the end of the bed a little?”
Avery set Fluffball on the mattress, while she and Hamid grabbed the footboard and hoisted it up a few inches.
The cardboard box slid out easily, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. There was something written in marker across the box’s lid. I instantly recognized the handwriting as a match for the note Avery had found in her locker and the message left for Vanderbeek and Talbot on the napkin from Gran’s Kitchen.
Personal belongings of Lionel Albrecht
a.k.a. the Cleaner
TOP SECRET
“No way,” Hamid whispered, letting go of the bed. “It actually says top secret. This is so cool.”
Unable to hold it alone, Avery dropped the bed and it struck the floor with a loud clunk.
The cardboard box in front of me exploded.
Chapter 30
FRIDAY, MAY 15
12:56 P.M.
THE CLEANER’S APARTMENT, NEW YORK CITY
The entire box didn’t explode, but the lid blasted off, smacking me in the face and knocking me backward. Music started playing—a rock song from the 1990s.
Something silver whizzed past my head, missing my ear by less than an inch and sticking into the wall beside the bed’s headboard.
It was a CD. But it was glowing red-hot. As I watched, it exploded like a miniature bomb, blasting a fist-size crater in the wall.
“Boon!” I heard Fluffball shout over the music. But he wasn’t pointing at the deadly CD. His long white ears were pointing at the box.
It looked like there were several items inside, but the only one I had time to notice was a CD player. No sooner did I lay my eyes on it than the small machine spit out another red-hot CD. This one went over my head, narrowly missing Hamid as he leaped face-first onto the bed.
And the CD player didn’t stop there. It shot another and another, launching the dangerous disks in every direction across the room.
Luckily, my leg was feeling much better, so I scrambled backward, taking shelter next to Avery and Hamid. Hamid had tumbled off the mattress, and they were hiding behind the bed’s footboard.
The deadly CDs weren’t slowing down. They stuck into the walls and ceiling like saw blades, each one detonating with a fiery explosion.
Fluffball was still on the bed, mostly burrowed under the single pillow, but he poked his head out to risk a glance at the CD player.
“There’s a stop button on the player,” he said. “It should shut down the boon’s power if we push it.”
“How did this happen?” Avery cried. “A boon isn’t supposed to hurt us unless we know what it does. We couldn’t even see that thing!”
“That’s not completely true,” Fluffball said. “A boon has to be activated by someone who knows what it does. But it can still hurt others. Think about how Wreckage knocked down those Igs at the High Line with his drumstick shockwave.”
Two CDs crashed into each other in midair, exploding with a burst of sparks.
“So, someone activated this CD player from a distance?” I said.
“No,” said Fluffball. “It was already running when we got here. Someone pushed the play button a long time ago.”
“Then how come it didn’t start spitting CD blades until I pulled it out from under the bed?” I asked.
“I think we should worry more about turning it off than who started it,” said Hamid.
“Right,” Avery said. “If that box holds our evidence, the last thing we want is fo
r those CDs to light it on fire.”
“How do we get close to it?” I asked.
“Like this,” Hamid said bravely, leaping to his feet. He snatched the pillow off the bed, causing Fluffball to let out a panicked scream and dive down next to Avery and me. Hamid moved around the end of the bed, holding the pillow out like a shield.
A CD struck the pillow and exploded, little downy feathers bursting out like a cloud. The fabric pillowcase caught fire and Hamid shrieked, yelling, “Abort! Abort!” He threw the ruined pillow to the floor and sprinted over to take cover behind the couch, two CDs missing him by mere inches.
“I’m going to crawl under the bed and see if I can reach the stop button,” said Avery.
“I don’t think you’re going to fit,” I said. “It’s pretty low.”
She tried to duck underneath, but her shoulder got stuck. “Fluffball,” said Avery, pulling herself out. “Go under and shut off the CD player.”
“What?” cried the rabbit. “Why me?”
“You’re the only one small enough,” I said.
“You think I’m expendable,” he said, sitting up on his back legs and folding his arms. “I won’t go.” He closed his eyes and turned up his nose.
Avery grunted in frustration. “I can’t think of anything in the hat that would help.”
“What about those elbow pads?” Fluffball said.
“Elbow pads?” I asked. “You never mentioned those before.”
“They’re not in the hat, Stinky. They’re over there.” He pointed back toward the couch with his ears. “Looks like one of Albrecht’s personal boons.”
“You mean these?” Hamid asked. His hands appeared above the couch and he pulled a pair of protective elbow pads from an end table.
“Yeah. Those,” Fluffball said. “They must have been important to a really bad roller skater who did something good with their life.”
“What do they do?” I cried.
“Immunity boons,” the rabbit explained. “Once you strap them around your elbows, they will protect your arms from other magical boons.”
“Just the arms?” Avery asked.
“Picky, picky,” he said. “One of you has to put those on and go out there before this bed gets ripped apart and we lose all our cover. You’ll have to use your arms to block all the incoming CDs.”
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