Alexis

by Erica Rodgers

  Alexis could tell he was trying not to kill the mood and depress everyone else. She thought hard for a minute, and then her eyes lit up.

  “Angelo! I’ve got an idea!” she said. “Meet us tomorrow morning at the ski lodge—as soon as the lifts open!”

  “But, Alexis—”

  “No buts! Just do it! And be ready to practice!” Alexis jumped off the couch and grabbed Bailey by the arm.

  “Come on, Bailey! We have a lot to do before tomorrow!” The girls took off toward the elevators, leaving Angelo baffled but smiling in the lobby.

  The next morning, Alexis and Bailey waited impatiently for Angelo to show up. They still had half an hour before the slopes opened, but Alexis was excited. She wanted to get started right away. She had spent most of the last evening getting what she needed from the rental shop. Then she had called Mark at extension 378 and talked to him. He had explained what to do and had told her that all she needed besides skis and poles were two vests.

  One was for Angelo. It was orange, and it said BLIND SKIER in black. Alexis’s vest was orange as well. It said GUIDE. Alexis was already in her vest when Angelo came around the corner with his skis.

  “Good morning, ladies!” he chimed. “So what’s the plan?”

  “First, you have to put this on,” said Bailey. She tossed the vest into Angelo’s chest, and he caught it easily.

  “Sweet!” said Angelo. “If you’re giving me a vest for practicing, you must have found me a practice guide? Who is it? I thought they were all busy.”

  “They are all busy,” said Alexis. “I’m the one who’s going to lead you through the course. Mark at extension 378 and the guy in the ski shop walked me through what to do and gave me the vests. He said he remembered you from when you were here skiing with your dad before. He said you probably wouldn’t need a guide for long, anyway, because you’re so good.”

  Angelo looked more than a little nervous.

  “Have you ever done this before, Alexis?” he asked.

  “No. But I’m sure we’ll do great! Come on!”

  Alexis led Bailey and Angelo to the ski lift, which took them to the top of the race course. More than once, she tried to help Angelo when he didn’t really need it.

  “The chair’s almost here. Get ready to sit.”

  “I know, Alexis. I can hear it,” Angelo teased. Alexis had to remind herself that Angelo had skied much more than she had. If he’d known the race course already, he wouldn’t even have needed her.

  Their first time down the course, Alexis realized just how good Angelo was. She weaved slowly in and out of the blue flags that made up the course, calling back to him only to say “left” or “right.” After three times through, Angelo was simply following the sound of Alexis skiing ahead of him. Bailey stayed behind them, taking her time.

  “Okay, Alexis!” Angelo called. “You can speed up now! I should practice going fast.”

  “I’m going almost as fast as I can!” Alexis called back. “I’ve never done a race course before today, and I’m not a good skier to begin with!” As if to demonstrate her last claim, Alexis took the final turn on the race course, and her skies got tangled. She did a rolling dive down the rest of the hill and came to a stop near the end of the lift lines. Bailey and Angelo caught up, barely holding in their laughter.

  “Are you okay, Lexi?” asked Bailey.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll be a little sore, but nothing too bad.”

  “Thanks a lot for your help, Alexis,” said Angelo. “I’ll be fine tomorrow. My race guide will take me through a couple practice runs in the morning. I know the turns by heart, and that’s the main thing.”

  “Are you sure, Angelo?” asked Alexis. “I don’t feel like we did much.”

  “It was perfect,” said Angelo. He kicked off his skis and held out a hand to help Alexis up. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be able to enter the race at all. You two will come watch tomorrow, right?”

  “We wouldn’t miss it for the world!” said Bailey.

  “Good. I’ll see you both in the morning! Have fun at your fancy party!” Angelo picked up his skis and made his way back up to the lodge.

  Bailey was smiling ear to ear, but when she looked at Alexis, she scowled.

  “What’s wrong, Lexi?”

  Alexis looked as if the bogeyman had just jumped out at her from under the bed. Her eyes were wide with fear.

  “Lexi, what is it?”

  “The party!” said Alexis. Her voice came out in a hoarse whisper. “It’s tonight!”

  “Yeah, it is,” said Bailey. “What’s the big deal?”

  “We don’t have anything to wear!”

  Within thirty minutes the girls had changed out of their ski clothes and stuffed down a couple of sandwiches. They left the hotel and walked a couple of blocks away from the state line, passing all kinds of tourist shops.

  “The lady at the front desk said there was a great thrift store down here,” said Bailey. “It’s secondhand, but apparently everything’s really nice.”

  “Good,” said Alexis. “I have about thirty dollars for my entire party outfit!”

  The thrift store was a gold mine as far as the girls were concerned. The woman at the register led them to a rack packed full of evening gowns and party dresses.

  “Girls don’t usually come looking for these until prom,” she said to Alexis and Bailey. “That’s still a couple months away, so you two have tons to choose from! After you find a dress, the purses and shoes are near the register. Fitting rooms are just through those curtains.”

  “Thanks,” said Alexis. She and Bailey had a blast moving through the racks. There were dresses with feathers and sequins in bright colors, as well as simple black gowns. They all looked as if they could have been worn on the red carpet. Alexis and Bailey each took a small pile into the closest dressing rooms and took turns modeling their choices.

  Alexis was trying on a long peach-colored dress when Bailey jumped through the curtain into her dressing room.

  “Oh, good,” said Alexis. “I need help zipping this up.”

  “Forget the zipper!” said Bailey. “Look who just walked into the store!”

  Alexis poked her head through the curtain and stared. Chloe, the redhead from the hotel, was laughing with the cashier. The woman pointed toward the back of the store, and Alexis dove back into the dressing room as Chloe headed for the dress rack.

  “I guess she needs a dress too,” whispered Alexis. “Let’s pick our stuff quickly so we can follow her when she leaves!”

  Bailey and Alexis tried on the rest of their dresses in a hurry and made their choices on the dresses they liked best. Then they moved to the front of the store to find shoes and accessories. As soon as they had finished, they paid. Then they lingered, pretending to look at jewelry. Alexis kept an eye on Chloe the whole time.

  Chloe seemed to be annoyed again. Her phone kept ringing, but she was ignoring it.

  “I’m on my lunch break!” she yelled at it when it rang for the seventh time. “Leave me alone!”

  “Boss working you too hard, sweetie?” asked the shop owner.

  “Not really,” answered Chloe as she hung a teal dress back on the rack. “I think he just has something against free time. That’s him again, making sure I’m going to be on time for our meeting in twenty minutes.”

  Soon Chloe checked out at the register. Alexis and Bailey walked outside to wait for her to come out.

  “She’s going to meet her boss,” said Alexis. “This is our chance to see who he is!”

  “He could be our guy with the red hand and black coat!” said Bailey. Alexis had a feeling Bailey was right, but she didn’t want to get too excited.

  At that moment, Chloe came out of the shop and buzzed past them heading back toward the hotels. She was on the phone.

  “Yes, sir,” she said. “I’m on my way…. Yes, your tuxedo for the benefit should be in your room…. Yes…. Yes, I have my dress. Yes, I’ll see you in a few minute
s.”

  She started to put away her phone when the girls heard it sound again. She answered it. “Hello?…Well, I’m sorry! I told you the paint was permanent. Did you try lemon juice and sugar, like I told you to?…Okay then. I don’t know if you’ll be able to get it off for the event tonight or not…. No, you’d look silly in gloves. Try the stuff again, and if it doesn’t work, keep your hands in your pockets as much as you can.”

  She hung up again, and the girls followed at a bit of a distance. They wanted to get a glimpse of Chloe’s boss without letting her know she was being followed.

  “Oh no!” Alexis said. She grabbed Bailey’s arm and pulled her along faster. Chloe was losing them. She had passed the hotel and was headed for a restaurant in one of the casinos.

  “No!” cried Bailey. “We can’t go in there!”

  The girls sped up, hoping they could get a glimpse of the man Chloe was meeting before she entered the restaurant. They came to a street crossing, and Alexis sighed. A little red hand was flashing at her from the other side of the crosswalk. They would have to wait for the walk signal, and by then Alexis was sure Chloe would be gone, along with any chance of finding out who her boss was.

  Alexis turned to say something to Bailey, but she was gone. Alexis looked up again and yelled.

  “Bailey, no!”

  Bailey hadn’t noticed the flashing red hand. She had plowed right into the crosswalk and into the path of a bus!

  Last Chances

  A huge arm came out of nowhere and shoved Alexis away from the street. A second later, something heavy landed on top of her. She had no idea what had happened—there was just this incredibly painful worry deep in her chest.

  Bailey! What had happened to her friend?

  After half a minute, Alexis realized the pain in her chest wasn’t just the worry. She couldn’t breathe. Chloe’s boss has found out about us and knocked me down!

  Then she realized the man who’d shoved her back on the sidewalk was her father. He was sprawled next to her, clutching Bailey in his arms. He rolled off, and the three of them sat on the slushy sidewalk, staring wide-eyed.

  “Are you okay, Bailey?” Mr. Howell asked, out of breath.

  “Um, yeah. I think so.” Bailey’s voice barely squeaked out. Alexis thought she sounded like a very small chipmunk.

  “I came looking for you two. I’m glad I was here too. That bus almost had your name on it, Bailey. It’s a good thing we’re leaving tomorrow. You girls don’t need to go looking for any more trouble. Let me guess—you two were following a lead.”

  “Well, yes,” said Alexis. “But Bailey just got excited, that’s all! This investigation isn’t dangerous, Dad, I promise!”

  Mr. Howell scowled and pointed to the bruise on Alexis’s cheek. He crossed his arms, waiting for her to explain her way out of that one. Her answer surprised him.

  “It’s okay, Dad. We’ve solved the case!”

  “You have?”

  “We have?” echoed Bailey. She was just as surprised as Mr. Howell.

  “Yes! I almost forgot because of the whole bus thing, but didn’t you hear what Chloe said to her boss just before we lost her?”

  Bailey scrunched up her face, trying to remember. She shook her head. Mr. Howell was scratching his.

  “Well, you two better get up to the room if you’re going to have enough time to get ready for your party,” said Mr. Howell. “Your mom’s up there dancing out of her shoes. She’s more excited than you are—her makeup’s all over the place, and I think she has out five different curling irons, or straighteners, or something like that.”

  “Thanks, Dad. Come on, Bailey!”

  Alexis towed Bailey toward the elevator. Once the doors closed, Bailey spoke up.

  “So what did she say?” she asked.

  “Shh!” Alexis whispered. She pointed to the three businessmen on the elevator. The doors opened on floors three and five, and eventually Alexis and Bailey were alone.

  “So?” pressed Bailey.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t hear her!” said Alexis.

  “I was so worried about catching up to her that I wasn’t really listening, Lexi. Now come on!”

  “Okay, okay!” said Alexis. “There are two things. First of all, she mentioned permanent paint! It sounded like her boss was having a hard time washing it off of something!”

  “Wow! So her boss really is the one sabotaging the reserve,” said Bailey.

  “Yes! Unless it’s a really big coincidence, and you know how I feel about those.”

  “There’s still a problem, though,” said Bailey. “We don’t know who her boss is.”

  Alexis didn’t stop smiling. The elevator doors opened on their floor, and she pranced down the hall toward their room.

  “I know, but do you know what else Chloe said?” Alexis asked. Bailey shook her head, jogging down the hall to catch up.

  “She told her boss that his tuxedo for the benefit was in his room! Bailey! He’s going to be at the party tonight! Even if we don’t know who he is now, we’ll definitely know by the end of the night! We just have to watch Chloe to find out who she’s working for.”

  Alexis dug around in her bag for the room key.

  “Come on! Let’s call Jake and tell him the good news!”

  Mrs. Howell was buzzing around the room like a queen bee. Alexis thought she might be more excited than the girls were about the party.

  “Over here, ladies! Did you get dresses? Here, let me iron them for you.” She swept the shopping bags out of Alexis’s hand and headed toward the bedroom. Alexis picked up the phone and dialed the number for the reserve. Lisa picked up, but within a minute she had given the phone to Jake.

  Alexis told him all about finding Chloe and that they were absolutely sure her boss was the one sabotaging the reserve.

  “He’ll be there tonight, Jake!” said Alexis. “We can turn him in and get him to confess! Then the disasters will stop, and the government won’t be able to take away your license!”

  Silence filled the other end of the phone. Alexis was sure that Jake was speechless. He was probably amazed that they had solved the case in under a week.

  “Um, Alexis?” Jake said after a minute or two. “I hate to break it to you, but we can’t just go around accusing members of Tahoe’s elite society of being criminals. If this guy really does have money—and it sounds like he does—he’s not just going to confess to all of this. There’s a reason he’s sabotaging us, anyway. He’s not going to just give up because some kids are on to him. No offense!” Jake sighed.

  “You girls have done a great job, Alexis,” Jake continued. “But we’re going to need hard evidence if we’re going to stop this guy.”

  “Okay, Jake,” said Alexis. “See you in a few hours.”

  “Okay,” said Jake. “Hey, let me know if you come up with anything else, okay?” It sounded like Jake felt sorry for them.

  “Mmm-hmm,” said Alexis. Then she hung up the phone.

  Ugh! It was so unfair! They had worked so hard. How was it possible to be so close and so far away at the same time?

  “He’s right, you know,” said Bailey. “We have to have evidence. This guy isn’t going to roll over and admit his crimes to a couple of girls.”

  “I know!” Alexis said. She stomped her foot in frustration. “There has to be a way.”

  “Girls! Dresses are ready!” called Mrs. Howell.

  For the next hour and a half, the girls allowed Mrs. Howell to dress them up as if they were Barbie dolls. She ignored them as they talked about the case and searched for ways to pin the sabotage on Chloe’s boss.

  “There’s still the red paint,” said Bailey as Mrs. Howell tugged a wrinkle out of her slip. “His hand should be red, right?”

  “Yeah,” said Alexis. “That’s good, but it may not be enough. He could come up with a ton of reasons why his hand might have gotten paint on it.”

  Mrs. Howell had started working on Alexis’s makeup, and it was really hard t
o think through the case with the makeup brushes tickling her face.

  “Careful, Mom,” Alexis said. “I don’t want to look like a clown.”

  “Don’t worry, hon,” said Mrs. Howell. “No one will even be able to tell you’re wearing any makeup. It’s just a light blush, lip gloss, and a little bit of mascara to make your gorgeous eyes pop on camera. You two are filming the benefit for the documentary, right?”

  “Yep!” Truthfully, Alexis had forgotten all about the documentary. She was glad her mother had mentioned it, but it also made her nervous. She would have to do two things at once tonight—finish filming the documentary and solidify their case against Chloe’s boss. And she wasn’t sure how she and Bailey would get both tasks done at the same time.

  “Okay, now that you two are ready, I’m going to go finish fixing my own face,” Mrs. Howell said with a smile.

  “Let’s go check our email, Lexi, and see if the girls have worked any of their magic while we’ve been out today.”

  “You know if she could hear you, Elizabeth would say it’s not magic!” Alexis said as she retrieved her mom’s computer from the other room.

  “You bet! Betty-boo would remind us that God cares about every detail of our lives and is always at work—even when we least expect it,” Bailey said with a grin.

  “Speaking of which, looks like everyone is signed on, including Betty-boo. We hit it at the right time.”

  Alexis: Hi CCG! We’re getting ready to go to a banquet with the celebrities.

  Elizabeth: I’ve been praying for you all day. I sense that the Lord is going to break through some confusion tonight.

  Alexis: Good! It’s about time for us to leave, so it’s almost like it’s tonight or never! And we haven’t failed a CCG case yet! I don’t want this to be the first one.

  Elizabeth: Jesus asked His disciples: “You of little faith…why did you doubt?” And I think that’s the message He has for us today too.

  Sydney: Speaking of messages for today, I’ve been doing some pretty intensive work on the internet.