Ugh! I put my head on the table, turning my gaze to the far wall of Ms. Hahn’s classroom. I stared in misery at the less-than-sparkling windows and the shelves of textbooks underneath. And then I saw them. Right there, centered in my line of sight: a small stack of newspapers.
Ms. Hahn often had her students read the paper so they could discuss current events. I looked at the stack — there could actually be something useful in there! — then at Malcolm Hitchens, the detention monitor. Malcolm was an eighth grader who looked like a forty-five-year-old man. I swear his hair was getting gray at the temples, and he often wore a bow tie to school. A bow tie! Needless to say, he took his job as detention monitor very seriously.
Technically speaking, you were not allowed out of your seat in detention. You were supposed to sit there and ponder your evildoings. Or something. But I didn’t care about what I was supposed to be doing. I quietly broke my pencil lead.
“Can I sharpen this?” I asked sweetly. “I’ll be super quick.”
Malcolm adjusted his tie and eyed me suspiciously. “I suppose I can make an exception,” he said. “But be aware that I am not setting a precedent.” He glared at the rest of the prisoners.
I was across the room in a flash. I shoved my pencil in the sharpener and checked out the papers. The top section was sports, but I could see what looked like a front page underneath. I reached out and snatched it up. It wasn’t the front page — just the finance section. My heart sank. I was about to put it back when I saw the words For the Love of Money printed near the top with a grainy photo of the Ward mansion underneath. Eureka! I shoved the paper under my sweatshirt just as Malcolm looked up from his Wall Street Journal. I hurried back to my seat.
My heart was thudding as I s-l-o-w-l-y pulled the newspaper out and spread it on my desk. I saw a tiny picture of Verdel Ward looking cranky (of course) and skeletal. He had all the money in the world but clearly didn’t spend it on food. He looked like the wind could blow him over.
In contrast, there was a bigger photo of a woman who looked like a cross between Dolly Parton and a late-night news anchor. The caption below read: Sophia Howe, alleged fiancée. Leaning forward, I began to read.
The estate of Verdel Ward, the late billionaire and financier, cannot be settled until the police investigation led by Chief Doris Sullivan has been completed. “I have to do everything within my power to uncover any hidden truths about Ward and his death. Until we are able to do that, our work is not finished,” Sullivan stated on Friday.
Meanwhile, several people are attempting to lay claim to Ward’s fortune. Ms. Sophia Howe of Houston, Texas, has arrived in Bellport with her lawyer to prove that she was Ward’s fiancée. “Verdel was the love of my life, and I’ll do whatever it takes to prove that we shared everything,” Howe tearfully declared in an interview late Friday.
Longtime housekeeper Louisa Frederick confirms that her employer made multiple trips to Texas, but claims to know nothing about a romance. “My understanding was that Ms. Howe was a business client of my employer’s and nothing more,” she stated. She further claimed that in the many years she worked for the millionaire she never saw or heard him speak of family or romantic associations. “He was a very solitary man.”
I scanned the rest of the article. Looking at the photo, I saw Sophia Howe had a ring, but not a traditional engagement ring. She looked younger than Ward, way younger, and not exactly his type. Then again, I couldn’t think of anyone who was his type. I wanted to talk to her. Tap, tap, tap. My pencil was at it again, this time with excitement. I looked at the clock. I’d be out of here in fifteen minutes and could start getting interviews and doing research … only, I was grounded.
I was trying to think of a way to get let off my short leash when a familiar golden glint caught my eye. Oh, no. Summer’s head popped up in the window of the classroom door. When she was sure I was looking, she made a mock sad face, then covered her snotty little mouth so Malcolm wouldn’t hear her cackling. I spotted Eva and Celeste behind her — all of them fresh out of volleyball practice and ready to gloat. Great. I tried to ignore them, but was strangely transfixed by Summer’s fake smile bobbing in and out of the window like a freaky Barbie puppet.
My leftover banana stuck out of my backpack. It was covered in spots and looking brownish. Rotten, almost. The perfect ammunition.
You want more detention? The voice in my head asked. A week isn’t enough? I didn’t, of course. But my hand seemed to be reaching for the squashy fruit anyway. It was soft and smooth under my fingertips, and a little sticky …
The intercom crackled to life and the school secretary’s voice filled the room. “Summer Hill to the principal’s office, please,” Miss Lyle said in her unmistakable South African accent. Really? Could it be true? I smirked at the shocked expression on Summer’s face before her blonde head disappeared. Good riddance. Maybe she was in deep trouble. Maybe she was about to get expelled.
Impossible. Summer was way too calculating to get in trouble, much less big trouble. But I could dream.
I reread the newspaper article I’d found and jotted down a few more notes. By the time I was finished, so was detention … for the day, at least. Slinging on my backpack, I headed down the hall.
Outside the principal’s office I spotted Summer gnawing a thumbnail and waiting anxiously. The rest of the volleyball team was nowhere to be seen … the queen had been abandoned by her court. Smiling to myself, I quickened my step and looked straight ahead toward the front doors. I was going to depart with dignity.
I was pushing down the brass door handle when I heard giggling. Summer’s gaggle of followers, no doubt. I was about to shout out something rude when I recognized one of the laughs. I only knew one girl who laughed that goofily. Hayley?
Hayley! I followed the noise and found my best friend and Alicia standing around the corner, holding their stomachs. Hayley saw me coming and waved me in.
“Is she still there?” Hayley gasped. Her face was practically purple with laughter. “How’d you like my impression of Ms. Lyle?”
It took me a second to get it. Then my mouth dropped open. My hand went to my face, but I couldn’t contain my giggling.
“You called Summer to the principal’s office?” I choked out.
Hayley nodded. “It was Alicia’s idea!”
I beamed at the two of them, full of gratitude. I knew I liked Alicia!
“Mr. Bettendorf went home an hour ago,” Alicia whispered, peering around the corner. “How long do you think she’ll sit there?”
Hayley and I peeked over Alicia’s shoulders. Summer was fidgeting and stewing in her own juice. It was gorgeous.
“Let’s not wait around to find out.” I slung an arm around each of their shoulders, feeling better than I had since the pudding incident. Not even my remaining detentions could get me down now. I had good friends, a suspect had rolled into town, and Summer was suffering, just a little bit.
Things were definitely looking up.
The house was quiet. The coast was clear. I’d had my breakfast. My nap. I’d even avoided The Cat. But that was easy. The moment she discovered that the sun streamed through the window of her new room almost all day, she barely got up. She just lay around licking herself, the lazy beast.
I paced back and forth in front of the kitchen door. Click-click-click-click. Click-click-click-click. Heading out this late was risky. But I needed to do some digging. Dig up some clues. Click-click-click-click. Cassie was stuck at school. Couldn’t do any research. Click-click-click-click.
“Woof!” I stopped clicking. I got going. I jumped up and opened the door. Swish, click! I trotted into the yard and cleared the fence, landing on all four paws.
I moved fast on my own. I was at the mansion before I knew it. I put my paws on top of the rock wall and peered over. I had to be invisible.
No cars. That was good. No lights on, either. Also good. I leaped over the wall, landed soft and kept low, clear of the alarm that was buzzing over my head. I mov
ed slowly, sniffing for what I hadn’t found on my first visit. Or my second.
A gust of wind came up, swirling the smells. Instinct told me to take cover. To get away. Training told me there was something to find. I sniffed the walkway and the fountain out front. I lifted my leg on a hedge.
Sniff, sniff, sniff. My nose got busy as I approached the flowerbed. Asters, Hollyhock, Yarrow, plastic. Plastic? I closed in on the out-of-place odor, nosing a small electronic gadget. A remote? A tiny cell phone? I wasn’t sure. I turned it over with my snout, inhaling. Plastic all right. And cigar smoke. Not unlike the tiny scrap of paper Gatsby’d found. Ward?
I picked the gadget up in my teeth, settling it between my gum and the inside of my lip. I heard something inside the house. I stifled the whuff that wanted out and crept between the flowers instead. I hopped up on my hind legs, fronts on the window sill. I had to get a look.
The lights were off. I peered into a dim hallway. A chair. A small table. A figure. A man? Yes, a man.
I held my whimper in. The man was overweight and dressed in the kind of uniform delivery men wore. He had something in his hand. I squinted. A large envelope. But delivery men usually left packages outside. They didn’t go inside.
My hackles stood on end. Full extension. The man was not supposed to be there. He was bad. A bad man. He walked like he was nervous. Guilty.
The man moved down the hall and into a room. My nose twitching, I dropped and moved to the next window. I hopped up, but the curtains were closed.
I moved back to my original post. I waited. And waited. I used all of my stay. All of it. Then the man came back. He went out the door and dropped to his hands and knees. He crawled. Grown men don’t do this. He crawled to the edge of the yard. He looked over his shoulder, right at me. I ducked behind some flowers.
The man was definitely not supposed to be here. The man was bad. Bad man. I couldn’t let him get away.
My instincts told me to chase him. My training told me I needed backup. Get him. Get backup. Get him. Get backup. How was I going to get both?
Hayley, Alicia, and I pushed through the doors into the sunshine, leaving Summer to stew in the hall. I kicked up some leaves and smiled at the sky.
“You guys are the best,” I said, facing them. “Seriously. That was just what the doctor ordered.”
“You mean what Miss Lyle ordered!” Alicia corrected with a mischievous grin.
Her hair bouncing, Hayley unzipped her backpack and extracted a rectangular Tupperware. I immediately started to salivate. Hayley + Tupperware = Yum!
“Anyone want a piece of fudge to celebrate?”
Fudge! “With nuts?” I asked, licking my lips.
Hayley nodded. “Pecans, actually.”
“You’re the best,” I said, reaching for a piece.
“What’s it taste like?” Alicia asked, crinkling her eyebrows. She peered into the container, her green eyes sparkling with curiosity. “I’ve never tried it.”
I gaped. “What’s it taste like? Chocolaty, sugary, creamy happiness, that’s what.”
“With pecans!” Hayley added, shaking the Tupperware slightly.
Alicia reached her slender fingers in, taking a piece. She bit into it, her eyes widening in delight. “Oh my gosh!” she said between chews.
I took my own piece and ate half, letting it melt on my tongue. Hayley’s fudge was amazing. “I guess they don’t have fudge in Cambodia, huh?” I said.
Alicia licked a glob of chocolate out of the corner of her mouth. “Mmm. I wouldn’t know. My parents are health nuts, so sweets are off limits.”
Hayley looked like she was about to cry. “No sweets?” She held the Tupperware in Alicia’s direction. “Here, have another. Have three. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do!”
Alicia took another piece and made it disappear. I loaded up with three squares, shoving one into my mouth and the others into my jacket pocket. “I’d take more for Dodge, but he can’t have chocolate.”
“Right.” Hayley sealed her container. “Poor Dodge.”
“Who’s Dodge?” Alicia asked. “And why can’t he have chocolate?”
“Dodge is Cassie’s better half,” Hayley replied.
I was tempted to thwack her with my backpack but didn’t. She had a point.
“My dog,” I explained.
“And your crime-solving partner, your vacuum cleaner, your foot warmer, your best four-legged friend, and —”
Alicia’s green eyes sparkled. “Crime-solving? Really? Can I get one?”
I laughed. “I’m afraid they broke the mold after he was born — he’s one of a kind. Practically perfect.”
“You can say that again,” Hayley agreed as we walked over to the bike rack. “Except for not being able to eat chocolate. That’s a major dog defect.”
Alicia’s phone beeped and she checked the screen. “Oh, no,” she said. “I was supposed to meet my dad at home. I’ve got to go!” She hoisted her book bag across her shoulder and hurried up the sidewalk. “Thanks for the fudge. And the pecans! See you tomorrow!”
“I’m going to swing by the station,” I told Hayley as we waved Alicia good-bye. “You want to come?”
Hayley looked excited for a second, then her face fell. “Can’t. I’ve got a huge history project due tomorrow, and I’ve barely started. You’re so lucky you don’t have Mr. Jibs.”
I nodded empathetically. “Maybe you could bribe him with some of your fudge,” I suggested.
“I tried.” Hayley sighed tragically. “He’s diabetic.”
“Ooooh, bummer.” We unlocked our bikes and walked them to the corner. “I’ll call you later,” I said. “And hold a good thought for that project.”
“Thanks,” Hayley said woefully. “I’ll need it.”
She rode off and I swung my leg over my own bike, heading to Mom’s office. I had the taste of chocolate in my mouth and my excuse for stopping by on the tip of my tongue. Luckily, I didn’t need the excuse. Mom was on the phone behind a pile of papers, including the finance section from the Gazette, looking frazzled.
“Oh, Cassie, am I glad to see you,” she said, holding her hand over the receiver. “Can you do me a huge favor and stop at the store on your way home? We need milk and eggs and —” She was cut off by the person on the other end of the phone. “I understand, Mr. Liscolm,” she said into the receiver. “I’m working as fast as I can.”
She searched her desk for a scrap of paper, and I picked one out of the recycling and put it on her desk, then handed her a pen.
“I’m aware of the mayor’s timeline, but he’s just going to have to wait. I’m not going to close an investigation prematurely just because Morris Baudry has ants in his pants.”
I smirked as Mom scribbled a list of grocery items while listening to Mr. Liscolm babble into the phone. “Fine, fine. Let them assign a trustee if it makes them happy, but it won’t get the money dispersed any faster. Unless there’s a will, they can’t begin to settle the estate until I close my investigation. When I have something else to tell you, you’ll hear from me. Good-bye.” She slammed down the phone.
“Walker!” she yelled to one of her officers.
Doug Walker stuck his head into my mom’s office, his tall frame filling the doorway. “Yes, Chief?”
“Call the mayor’s office and let them know we’re not backing down on this investigation. We’re going to see this through whether Baudry likes it or not.”
Mom’s phone beeped and her assistant’s voice filled the room. “Mayor Baudry on line three,” Chase told her.
Mom sighed and waved a hand in frustration. “Never mind, I’ll tell him myself.” She shooed me and Officer Walker out of her office and gestured for me to close the door. As soon as it clicked shut, I realized I didn’t have the list. Interrupting Mom when she was on a call with the mayor was not a good idea, so I couldn’t barge back in — as much as I wanted to. I’d have to wait.
Leaning against the door and trying to listen in, my eyes autom
atically went to the blue door in the corner — Dodge’s old office. I hadn’t really known Dodge back then, but I’d seen him in action plenty of times. One thing was certain: He was nothing like the shepherd who’d replaced him.
I spotted the pointed ears of Hero, the new K-9 recruit, through the window. Even from fifty feet away, I could tell he was fidgeting.
“Lay down.” Hero’s officer, Hank Riley’s, voice was muffled through the wall.
The ears disappeared and I pictured Dodge’s calm, steady face. Dodge didn’t need reminders. Dodge was a pro. This new pup, Hero, had some big paw prints to fill. I felt sorry for him, in a way.
The door behind me opened, surprising me. “I’ve got to go,” Mom said as she hurried past. “Here’s the list. Thanks a million, Cassie. You’re a lifesaver.” She turned to Walker. “Ward mansion. Let’s go.”
I forced my face into a mask of boredom as I watched them rush out. A new lead for Mom was a new lead for me. And I had every intention of jumping on it.
Once the decision was made, I was all in. Get him. I sprinted across the lawn, toward the man’s smell. I had to reach him before he got to the gate. Before he escaped.
Get backup. I could do both. Leaping into the air, I crossed the red beam. The alarm wailed. It signaled the alarm company and the police. I’d have to give Louisa Frederick a lick for turning that on.
One down. One to go.
“Rowf! Rowf! Rowf!” I let out three big barks to let the bad man know I meant business. Sometimes my bark alone was enough to stop a perp. Sometimes I needed teeth. I bared them and surged forward.
“Rowf!” I spotted the man by the gate. He was standing up. Running away. “Rowf!” Not so fast.
He turned, saw me, and stumbled. I crouched, going low on my back legs, then leaped. Right over his hunched body. I landed and whirled to face him. I stood between the man and the gate. He had no escape.
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