She sighed. “What we need is someone who’s made this kind of information their business.”
“Wait a minute,” said Faye. She sat up and held her hands out. “Wait, wait, wait…”
“What?” asked her friends.
“I’ve got an idea.” Faye pumped a fist in the air. “Yes, that’s it! The Mardi Gras museum! They’re devoted to this stuff.”
Melanie stared at Faye. “Faye Ryan, you are a genius. Why didn’t we think of that before?”
“Well, let’s go,” shouted Kate, jumping to her feet. “It’s not that far from here. We could probably make it on our bikes in twenty minutes.”
“Just let me run tell my parents,” said Faye.
“I’ll go grab my bike,” added Melanie. “Be back in a sec.”
Melanie flew down the street to her house. They were moving forward again!
The three girls met up at Kate’s house and took off down the sidewalk. Kate had plugged the address into her phone, and, as they rode, she shouted out directions to Melanie in the lead.
It was a beautiful day, with cool air and a brisk breeze, but Melanie could still feel the hot Mobile sun that was never far at bay beating down on her shoulders as she rode. By the time they pulled up in front of the museum thirty minutes later, she sighed in relief.
“Ok, I’m hot,” she said, dropping off her bike and onto the front steps of the museum. Technically called the Mobile Carnival Museum, the museum had been established in an old historic home. Two porches lined the front of the building, one downstairs and one on the balcony, each with wrought iron facades. Two statues of masked revelers stood guard on either side of the front door.
Kate put her feet down beside her bike and pulled her hair into a messy bun atop her head. She fanned herself as she caught her breath. “Yeah, definitely sweaty. Yuck.”
Faye pulled out a bike lock and secured the bikes to the wrought iron railing. “Think that’s ok? There’s no bike rack.”
“Who’s going to steal a bike on a Sunday?” asked Melanie. Suddenly, she stopped and smacked a hand to her forehead. “What am I thinking? It’s Sunday!” She bounded up the steps to the door. “Please please please tell me you’re open today!”
She tried pulling the door. “No!” she groaned, “It’s locked!” She peered closely at the sign announcing the museum’s hours. “Sunday: Closed,” she read aloud. She turned to the girls who each stared at her with stricken expressions. Suddenly her legs felt ten times as tired. She sank to her bottom and leaned her back against the front door.
“Closed?” whispered Faye. “We rode all that way for nothing?”
“Oh, geez,” said Kate. “I need shade.” She climbed the steps and sat down beside Melanie against the door.
“I should have thought of this before we left,” said Melanie. “I was just so excited. Why do we keep hitting all these dead ends?”
“Another closed door,” grumbled Kate.
Just then, the door behind them opened, and Kate and Melanie fell backwards into the cool interior of the Carnival Museum.
Chapter 4
Faye leaned over laughing helplessly while Kate and Melanie tried to untangle themselves from each other.
“I am so sorry!” they heard a voice from overhead.
Melanie looked up to find herself staring into the face of a young woman in trendy black frames.
“I didn’t know anyone was sitting there,” she said, reaching down to help them up. “Are you girls ok?”
Kate finally got her feet under her and reached her hand out to Melanie. She and the woman pulled Melanie up off the porch.
“No harm done,” said Kate. “Melanie broke my fall.”
Melanie glared at her and rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, we’re fine,” she added.
“Did you girls need something?” the woman asked. “You’re welcome to sit on the porch, of course, but it’s not the most exciting place.” She lowered her voice. “Do you need to use the bathroom?”
“What?” asked Melanie. “No. That is… no thanks. We were looking for some information on Mardi Gras. Do you work here?”
“Yes. Well, sort of. I’m an intern,” she said. “We’re closed today, but I come in on Sundays and tidy up the exhibits. Plus I’m doing some of my own research, and the curator lets me poke around in my off time.”
The three girls looked at each other and an unspoken thought flashed between them.
“You are just the person we wanted to see,” said Kate. “Turns out I need to use the bathroom after all. Is it this way?” And she barged inside the museum, with Melanie and Faye scurrying meekly in her wake.
“Um, come on in,” the woman said after them. She seemed a little confused.
“Thanks,” said Faye, turning to the woman after they entered. “I’m Faye, and this is my friend Melanie. Kate’s the one who’s using the bathroom. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Sasha Tipton.”
“Wow,” said Melanie, looking around. “This place is pretty cool. I’ve never been here before.” She walked up to a display of a dress worn by a Mardi Gras queen. The train stretched at least 15 feet, and sequins or jewels glittered along every inch.
“Please tell me those stones are not real,” said Faye, walking next to Melanie.
Sasha laughed. “Only some of them. As you’d expect, that train is incredibly valuable. It cost the family $120,000.”
“$120,000?” exclaimed Melanie. Even with her limited exposure to money, she knew $120,000 counted as a ton of money. That would buy her a lot of new books.
“Yes,” said Sasha. “It’s amazing what lengths people will go to in this town.”
“Amazing,” echoed Kate. Melanie hadn’t noticed her walk up behind them. “Thanks for letting me use your bathroom.”
“Sure,” said Sasha. “You’d be hard pressed to find a public restroom open around here on a Sunday.”
“Oh, what is that?” gushed Faye, pointing across the room to a large headdress. Sasha walked along with her to explain.
“Good move on the bathroom,” whispered Melanie. “It got us in.”
“What move?” asked Kate. “I really had to pee.” But she grinned. Melanie laughed, and they walked over to Sasha and Faye.
“Were you about to leave?” Faye asked. “We don’t mean to keep you, but…”
Melanie jumped in. “But if you have just a second, we’d really like to ask you a couple of questions.”
Sasha raised her eyebrows. “Well, ok, I’ll help if I can. It’s always nice to meet people who are interested.”
“We’ve been researching float design,” began Melanie. Sasha’s face registered surprise, but she kept silent. “And it turns out, we’re big fans of Mr. Simmington’s floats.”
“Wow,” said Sasha. “You have been doing research. You know Mr. Simmington, hmm?”
“Just know of him,” said Melanie, quickly. “But we really like his floats that we’ve seen so far – the Aztecs and the Centaurs,” she said with a stab in the dark. She felt heartened when Sasha didn’t contradict her, but simply nodded along in confirmation. “And we were wondering,” she continued hurriedly, “if you knew of any other parades he designs for, so we can make a point to go and see them.”
“Sure,” said Sasha, “I can help you with that.”
“You can?” exclaimed Melanie. She could sense both Faye and Kate beside her tense up with excitement.
“Sure,” said Sasha. “Mr. Simmington’s practically a legend in Mardi Gras circles. He’s been building floats for at least… oh, I’d say 40 years.” She held up her hand and began rattling off her fingers. “Let’s see, nowadays he does Ancient Aztecs, Centaurs, Apollo’s Crewe, Mystic Shades, and Queen Hera’s Court.”
Melanie hurriedly typed the three new parades into her phone. “Apollo’s Crewe, Shades, Queen Hera.” She looked up. “Wow, thanks a lot, Sasha,” she said. “We didn’t know how else to get the info.”
“We tri
ed to call Mr. Simmington and ask,” said Kate, “but he didn’t want to talk.”
“I’m not surprised,” said Sasha. “He’s a very private man. Kind, but private. I get the impression that he prefers to let his floats do the talking for him.” She leaned back against the table. “I’m glad to see you girls taking an interest. Seems like most kids just want moon pies and beads. What’s got you on float design? It’s an unusual subject for girls your age.”
The girls exchanged glances.
Faye began, “Well, we were at the Centaurs parade, and we noticed –”
Melanie cut her off. “We just noticed how pretty the designs were, and how much work must have gone into them.” She smiled and pointed at Kate. “Kate’s an artist. She picks up on these things.”
“I am?” said Kate. “I mean… I am.” She nodded solemnly.
“Anyways, thanks for your time, Sasha,” said Melanie, moving toward the door. “We’d never have gotten this far without your help.”
“Glad to help,” said Sasha.
Faye and Kate echoed Melanie’s thanks, and all three girls trooped back onto the front porch.
Sasha followed and locked the door behind her. “You girls give me a call here at the museum if you have any more questions. And enjoy Mr. Simmington’s floats. It’s your last chance as I’ve heard he’s retiring next year.”
“We will,” said Melanie. “Thanks.”
The girls waved as Sasha descended the steps and turned down the street.
“Ok,” said Faye to Melanie, putting her hands on her hips. “What was that about? Why did you stop me mentioning the code? She might have had some ideas for us.”
“I don’t know,” said Melanie. “It just feels like it should be a secret.” She started walking distractedly down the front steps. “It’s like what we were talking about earlier. Mardi Gras is full of secrets. Why shouldn’t we have one, too?”
“But we’ve already asked people for help,” said Faye.
“Yeah,” said Kate. “I got Mr. Simmington’s name from my parents. And Sasha told us which parades he designs.”
“Those are just clues,” said Melanie. “Coming straight out and telling people about the code wouldn’t feel the same. This is our puzzle. Just ours.” She looked at her friends. “Can’t we at least try? Just us?”
Kate smiled, and Faye nodded.
“Just us,” agreed Faye.
“Our own Mardi Gras mystery,” said Kate.
Melanie grabbed them both in a quick impulsive hug. “Exactly,” she said. “And you know what?” She pulled back and smiled with suppressed excitement. “I think we just might solve it, too.”
Chapter 5
The next morning, Kate and Faye joined Melanie as she walked her little sister Lacey to preschool. Every school day, Melanie dropped Lacey off one block away before heading back to her own street to catch the bus.
Typically, Faye and Kate met Melanie when she returned from dropping off Lacey, but Melanie asked them to come along on the walk that morning. It was a good chance to talk without being overheard.
“We’ve got some issues,” was all she would say. The girls dropped their backpacks off on the sidewalk and headed down the street.
Kate’s twin brother Matt tried to follow them at first. Matt was as tall as Kate and had no problem catching up to the girls quickly.
“Katie,” he called, jogging up behind them.
“I’ve told you a million times, do not call me Katie,” said Kate. “And not now, Matt. We need to be alone.”
Lacey peered at Matt from Melanie’s side and grinned. “Hi, Matt.”
“Hey, Lacey,” he said, slowing to a stop. “How about I help walk you to school today, too? Kate wants my company, I can tell.”
Melanie stifled a small laugh, and Matt looked pleased. Kate, however, was not amused.
She pulled Matt’s arm and forced him to face her. “Seriously. Go back to the bus stop. We’re busy.”
“You’re busy… what, walking?” Matt glanced around at the girls and whistled. “What’s up, ladies? Everyone looks so serious. Don’t tell me. Boy trouble.” He sighed and shook his head. “Isn’t that always the way?”
“Go back, or I’ll tell Mom.”
“Tell her what? I’m trying to be a good citizen here. Lacey wants me to walk with her.”
“I’ll tell Mom you let the dog take a bite out of her birthday cheesecake.”
Matt’s eyes widened. “No way. You wouldn’t.”
Kate nodded her head. “You bet I would.”
“Katie, you promised.”
“Don’t call me Katie.”
“Fine. But whatever you girls are cooking up, I bet you want my help before it’s all over.” He turned back to the bus stop.
“Don’t count on it,” said Kate.
The four girls started off again.
“Matt’s not coming?” asked Lacey. “Why? I like Matt.”
“You like everyone,” said Melanie.
“I also like cheese,” said Lacey. “And cake.” She held Melanie’s hand and skipped as they progressed down the sidewalk.
“And apples and peanut butter and spaghetti,” she continued in a singsong voice.
“Ok, Mel,” said Faye. “So what’s the problem?”
“I checked the parade schedule last night,” said Melanie. “One of the parades is on Friday – that’s the Shades. Then, Apollo’s Crewe is on Saturday, and Queen Hera is on Monday.”
“The Big Finish,” mused Kate.
“Yep,” said Melanie. “But it’s the Saturday parade that’s going to be the problem.”
“Of course!” said Faye, throwing a hand to her forehead. “The Kiwanis thing.”
Melanie nodded.
Months earlier, the girls had formed a group for the school history fair. Due more to Faye’s obsessive perfectionism than any contributions from Kate or Melanie, the girls had been one of the top projects selected to present at a local Kiwanis meeting.
“Is that this Saturday?” asked Kate.
“How could you forget?” asked Faye.
“Well, when you’re doing all the work, it’s easy for me to lose track.”
“I didn’t have to be the only one doing the work, you know.”
“No way,” said Kate. “Anytime I try, you just redo it. I’ve learned my lesson. This whole thing seems pointless, anyhow. Why do the Kiwanis people even care about a kids history project?”
“Because they’re old,” said Melanie. “Old people like history. Still, I don’t know why they had to schedule it during Mardi Gras. Talk about bad timing.”
“I know,” said Faye, breaking in. “But we’ve got to do it. My mom was so proud when we were selected.”
“What’s selected mean?” asked Lacey.
“Picked, Lace.” Melanie turned to her friends. “Getting back to the point of all this – we’ve got to go to the meeting, which means we miss the parade. And if we miss the parade…”
“We miss the letters,” said Faye.
“Exactly.”
“Melanie,” said Lacey. “I’m super tired. Carry me. Please.”
“Oh, all right,” said Melanie with a sigh. She hauled her sister onto her back and trudged along.
“Can just one of us skip the meeting?” asked Kate. “You don’t even need me. I won’t know what to say to those people.”
“What would be your excuse?” asked Melanie.
“I could pretend to be sick.”
“And then your parents would let you go out to a parade instead? I doubt it.”
“Yeah, I see your point. That’s out.”
They had arrived at Lacey’s school.
“Be right back,” said Melanie. She walked inside with Lacey. She came back out one minute later without her little sister, swinging her arms to work out the kinks.
“Man, Lacey’s getting heavy.”
The three girls turned back up the street.
“Seeing the upcoming parades is only one i
ssue, though,” said Melanie. “We’ve got another problem.”
“What?” asked Kate.
“I bet I know,” said Faye. “The Aztecs parade, right?”
Melanie nodded.
“What? I don’t get it,” said Kate.
“We’ve already missed it,” said Melanie. “The Aztecs rolled last week. Now we need to find some way of getting the letters from the parade.”
“But I thought you found pictures online,” said Kate.
“Only of some of the floats. It’s just random pics uploaded by people. There aren’t pictures of every single float, every sign. And without seeing every one, how can we be sure we’re catching all the letters?”
“And what about the beginning of the Centaurs parade?” added Faye. “We were at least halfway through before Mel spotted the first backward letter.”
“I didn’t even think about that,” said Melanie. “Good catch, Faye.”
Faye smiled modestly, but looked pleased.
“So,” said Kate, ticking off on her fingers, “we’ve got one parade that’s already rolled that we need to see. That’s the Aztecs.”
“Right,” said Melanie.
“One more parade that we saw, but we might not have caught all the letters – The Centaurs.”
Melanie nodded.
“And three more parades yet to happen that we need to see. One which we can’t possibly attend, because we’ll be at the Kiwanis meeting.”
Melanie nodded. “That covers it.”
“Three more parades,” said Faye. She looked at Melanie. “You know, for someone who hates Mardi Gras, you’re really getting your fill of it this year.”
“Don’t I know it,” said Melanie. “You should have seen my parents’ faces this morning when I told them I wanted to go to the Shades on Friday. I think they’d have been less surprised if I told them I’d taken up yodeling.”
The Mardi Gras Chase (True Girls Book 1) Page 3