Just then Lucy, who was following Valentine, tripped over the edge of the carpet and hit her shin against one of the tables before catching her balance.
“Lucy, are you all right?” Mrs. VonWolf asked, rushing over to help.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Lucy said. Cami heard the dismay in her voice and her chest squeezed. “I hope I didn’t damage anything.”
“Not at all,” Mrs. VonWolf said.
Lucy sat down, but Cami saw that her hands were shaky. “I wanted to thank you for how you’ve been helping us get Valentine’s medication.”
“I’m glad we’ve been able to do it,” Mrs. VonWolf said. “We opened a drugstore to help people and it brings us great pleasure to do so.” She stood up. “Cami, if it isn’t too much trouble, would you help me get the last few boxes out of the kitchen?”
This was her big chance to find a handwriting sample! Cami jumped to her feet. She felt bad leaving Lucy when she was clearly upset, but Cami knew it would be worth it if they could confirm that the VonWolfs were indeed GB.
The kitchen was painted a cheerful yellow and was perfumed by the smell of recently baked gingerbread that Mrs. VonWolf had been putting in big tins printed with colorful Christmas trees and candy canes.
“I’ll just take these if you could get the other two,” Mrs. Von Wolf said, picking up three of the tins.
“Sure,” Cami said, her eyes darting around the kitchen for any signs of handwriting. There was nothing on the spotless countertops but the fridge had a number of papers stuck to it with magnets.
Cami thought fast. “Is it okay if I just get a quick glass of water?” she asked. “My throat is really dry from the cold.” She gave a small fake cough, which turned quickly into a real coughing fit.
“Oh, let me get you something,” Mrs. VonWolf said, turning.
“No!” Cami choked out a little too loudly. “I mean,” she went on more quietly. “I can get it myself and then I’ll bring out the tins.”
“Okay, dear,” Mrs. VonWolf said.
The second she was out the door, Cami raced over to the fridge. There were a few Christmas cards from friends and family. No good. Then Cami spotted a grocery list. She bent forward to look more closely. The writing was definitely curly, but was it the same kind of curly as the note Ms. Sanchez had showed her? Cami wasn’t sure.
“Did you find the glasses?” Mrs. VonWolf called from the hall.
“Yes, thank you,” Cami said. She froze. She knew she had to hurry, but she couldn’t decide if the writing was the same. Finally, she grabbed the list off the fridge and stuffed it in her pocket. It was stuck to a Christmas card, so Cami ended up taking that too.
“Thanks for the help, kids,” Mr. VonWolf said as Cami carried the tins of gingerbread into the hall. “We should get those boxes delivered now before the driving conditions get too bad.”
Cami and Lucy put their coats back on and the four of them headed out into the snowy afternoon.
“So did you guys find anything out?” Max asked.
Lucy shook her head but Cami bit her lip. “Um, I stole a shopping list,” she said.
Max hooted. “You need help deciding what to have for dinner?”
“Very funny. I took it for the writing sample.”
“Cami, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Max said, slapping her on the back. “But it turns out you’re real spy material. I’m so proud.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ll see if it helps.” They stopped at a bench and she pulled the list and the card out of her pocket.
“What’s that?” Joe asked.
“I accidently grabbed one of their Christmas cards too.” Cami hoped it wasn’t from someone special. She handed it to Joe to free her hands, then held out the list.
“So is the writing the same?” Lucy asked.
Cami stared at it. “It’s really hard to tell,” she said. “I mean, it’s curly but I can’t tell if it’s curly in the same way as the note.”
Max immediately grinned. “Sounds like we need to get that note from Alma Sanchez and do a real comparison.”
“Um, actually I’m not sure if we’ll need to,” Joe said in a low voice. He was staring at the card in his hand.
“What do you mean?” Lucy asked.
“I just read the Christmas card that you took. It’s from the Pinks. And here it says, ‘We’ve been proud to call you members of our community for the past twelve years,’” he read, then looked up at Cami. “Didn’t you say that the Angel Tree has been a tradition for twenty-five years?”
Cami’s hopeful feeling popped like a balloon. “Yeah,” she said, sighing.
“So if the VonWolfs only moved here twelve years ago, they couldn’t be GB,” Joe finished gloomily.
“I guess we have to cross them off the list,” Max said.
“Looks like it,” Cami said reluctantly. She knew they still had two other possibilities on their list, Mr. Pink and the Barristers, but she’d really been convinced that the VonWolfs were GB.
Joe and Max walked ahead as they started back toward town.
“Are you okay?” Cami asked Lucy as they trudged through the snowdrifts that were beginning to pile up on the sidewalk.
Lucy nodded. “Yeah, just a little tired.”
Cami knew it was more than that but she didn’t push. Sometimes you just needed to feel bad for a bit, without someone trying to cheer you up.
Which was exactly how Cami herself was feeling.
That evening Cami was slumped on the floor in the middle of her room. Her homework was spread out in front of her, but she couldn’t focus on it at all. Normally when she felt this down she would play her violin. Concentrating on the notes or on the complicated fingerings could clear her mind of anything else. But that wasn’t an option now.
She sighed and started sorting through the pile of clothes on the floor of her messy closet. At least cleaning her room would please her grandmother. When she was done there, she started in on the top of her dresser. It was piled high with hair bands, jewelry, and tubes of lip gloss. Digging through, Cami found a chunk of rosin, the powder used to get the best sound out of a violin bow. She sadly tucked it away into a drawer. Then, underneath all the mess, she came across the bookmark they had found at Pine Forest.
She picked it up carefully. The leather had dried and it was stiff in her hands. The ivy carving was more pronounced and when she flipped it over Cami saw something that had been invisible when the bookmark was swollen with water: two letters. RB. Initials?
With growing excitement, she realized that one of the possible GB’s on the list had a last name that started with B: the Barristers. What if Max was right and the whole time they had been hiding out in their home while secretly giving the town the greatest gift ever?
Cami dug around on her desk until she found her cell phone. News like this could not wait until the morning. And the first person she was calling was Lucy. This was the best possible way to move on from the bad afternoon: a new lead!
Hi, Lucy,” Joe said as he walked into the library after the last bell of the day had rung. Lucy was standing at Ms. Marwich’s desk. He smiled when he saw the librarian. He’d been meaning to tell her about how the Angel Tree had helped him. “Hi, Ms. Marwich.”
“Good afternoon,” Ms. Marwich said. “I was just telling Lucy how nice it is to see Valentine back and doing so well.”
“I’m really happy she’s okay,” Lucy said with a smile. And then Joe saw her frown the tiniest bit. “What about Tango? Is he okay?”
Joe wondered if something had happened to Ms. Marwich’s cat. He hoped not, knowing how much Ms. Marwich cared about him.
But Ms. Marwich just looked confused. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“Oh, I just thought — never mind,” Lucy said.
Joe could see that Lucy was uncomfortable. “We should see if Max and Cami are here,” he said to her, figuring he could thank Ms. Marwich for her advice later.
“I believe the rest of your outfi
t awaits in the back room,” Ms. Marwich said. “Good luck with world domination.”
“I thought Ms. Marwich smelled like the vet’s office,” Lucy said as they walked back, Valentine leading the way. “I guess I was wrong, but it’s weird. That smell is pretty distinctive.”
“Maybe it’s a doctor’s office or something,” Joe said. He hoped nothing was wrong with Ms. Marwich.
Max and Cami were already at the table when they walked in. Cami was looking at the suspect list on her phone but by now Joe knew it by heart. Alma Sanchez and the VonWolfs were out and the two remaining possibilities were Mr. Pink and the Barristers. Joe didn’t want to think about what might happen if neither turned out to be GB. But then again the Barristers looked nearly certain, so there was probably nothing to worry about.
“Should we go try to talk to the Barristers today?” Max asked. He was clearly ready to jump into spy mode and Joe felt the same. He was eager to solve this mystery once and for all.
Cami shook her head as she slipped her phone into her pocket. “I talked to my grandma about them last night and she said that Mrs. Barrister is always at her Friday-afternoon bingo game at church. I think we have a way better chance of getting her to talk there, when she’s out already, then just showing up on her doorstep. So that means today we get to check out the Pinks.”
“Let’s do it,” Max said, pushing back his chair and gathering his stuff.
The day was bright and sunny but fiercely cold as they headed out of school and into town, and Joe felt grateful for his warm new coat. Main Street, with its glittering Christmas lights and festive decorations, felt familiar to Joe now, and he paused to look in the window of Bits of the Past, an antique store where there was an old-fashioned chess set with pieces that were clearly hand carved. Seeing it made him think of Ariana and the chess club and he realized it had been a while since he’d thought about his old school.
“That jacket would look awesome on you,” Max said from behind him, pointing at the bright red velvet jacket on display.
Joe gave him a withering look as the girls giggled. “I was looking at the chess set,” he said.
Cami’s eyes widened. “You play chess?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said as they began walking again. “Do you?” It would be fun to have someone to play with in Pine River, even if Joe’s chess set just had plastic pieces, nothing like the ones in the store.
Cami shook her head vigorously. “Um, not really my thing,” she said, looking like she was going to start laughing again.
Joe looked at Max, who just raised his eyebrows and shook his head, clearly thinking the same thing Joe was: Sometimes girls were really weird.
Outside Handyman Hardware, Cami turned to the others and opened her mouth.
“We know, we know,” Max said before she could speak. “Try to steer the conversation toward the Angel Tree or books.”
Joe couldn’t help adding, “And see if we can get them to admit their last name is really Bink instead of Pink.”
For a moment he worried Cami might be offended but instead she burst out laughing and Joe’s cheeks warmed with pleasure. He’d forgotten how fun it was to joke around like this.
Max gave Joe a high five, then opened the door to Handyman Hardware and led the way inside.
It was crowded. Joe saw Mr. Pink up on a ladder pulling out a box of nails. They edged their way to the counter, where two salespeople were ringing up customers. Mrs. Pink stood behind them, talking on the phone.
“Yes,” she was saying. “We’ll be getting those in on the twentieth. How’s that?”
Valentine yelped as someone stepped on her tail and Lucy knelt to comfort her. Cami shot Max and Joe a look. This was not a good time to investigate — the store was way too busy.
But then Mr. Pink caught sight of them. “Hey, kids,” he said as he stepped off the ladder and tucked the nails into a box on the counter. “I’m heading out on an errand for the Angel Tree but let me get someone to help you.”
Joe tried to think of something he might need to buy but Cami was two steps ahead.
“My grandmother needs a new hammer,” she said. “And I think it’s great you’re doing something for the Angel Tree.”
Mr. Pink nodded absently as he looked around for a free salesperson to help with the hammer. “Yep, I take my orders when they come in from the big boss and then we do our best to take care of our part.”
Joe saw Lucy bury her face in Valentine’s fur to hide her disappointment. Mr. Pink, oblivious, flagged down one of the two salespeople.
“The person in charge of the Angel Tree sure does work hard,” Cami said.
Joe admired her for not giving up. She was clearly hoping to get some kind of clue as to the identity of GB, but the salesclerk was headed over and Mr. Pink was pulling on his jacket.
“Do you have any idea who’s behind the Angel Tree?” Joe blurted out. It wasn’t subtle but they were running out of time.
Mr. Pink shook his head. “That has to be the best-kept secret in Pine River,” he said. “Jada here will help you with the hammer and I’ll see you all later.”
As Cami answered Jada’s questions about the hammer she didn’t really need, Max grabbed Joe’s arm and pulled him out the door and after Mr. Pink, who was heading down the snowy sidewalk, a box of supplies tucked under one arm.
“The thing is,” Max said as they caught up to the surprised store owner, “we really want to figure out who’s behind the tree so we can thank them.”
“We know it’s supposed to be a secret,” Joe said. “But it just seems to us like it’s their turn to have a Christmas surprise, after all the great Christmases they’ve made for everyone else.”
Mr. Pink nodded thoughtfully. “That’s an awfully good idea,” he said. “And I’d love to help. But honestly, boys, I have no idea who it is.”
“Can you think of anything that might help us?” Joe asked.
Mr. Pink was quiet for a moment, considering. “Well, I’ll tell you one thing I’ve been thinking about,” he said. “It seems to me that the boss behind this whole operation is slowing down.”
“Slowing down?” Max asked. “What do you mean?”
“In years past the boss got that tree up early and a wish barely lasted a day before someone was taking care of it,” Mr. Pink said. The sun was setting, casting a shadow across him as he spoke. “The past few years, though, everything has taken a little longer. The tree goes up later, wishes are up longer, the instructions come slower.”
“What do you think that means?” Joe asked, puzzled as to how this information fit in with what they already knew about GB.
“I suppose it could be any number of things,” Mr. Pink said. “Maybe the organizer is just busier. But my guess is that the boss is getting on in years. Father Time slows us all down sooner or later, and I think he’s been catching up with the boss. Now if you’ll excuse me, boys, I do need to take care of this.”
“Thanks,” both boys called as Mr. Pink headed to his pickup truck parked across the street.
“So Mr. Pink thinks GB is getting old,” Joe said, considering what this meant.
“That fits with what we know,” Max said. “And the Barristers are old.”
“Yeah,” Joe agreed as they walked back toward the hardware store. “But it also means that we really need to find GB now more than ever.”
“What do you mean?” Max asked, his eyebrows scrunching together.
“If GB is slowing down, she doesn’t just need a thank-you,” Joe said. “She needs help to keep the tradition of the Angel Tree alive.”
Lucy curled up on her bed with Valentine. The bingo game on Friday would be crucial, and the thought of that was a hard pit in Lucy’s stomach.
She could imagine it, the bingo game, the four of them trying to stay off in the background but that being completely impossible with a blind girl clomping around after her Seeing Eye dog, especially in a new place where she was unsure about the floors being even or an unexpec
ted throw rug. Nothing major, just enough to trip her and cause the thing they would not want: a scene. Kind of like she had made everywhere else they had gone searching for clues about GB. Just as she had suspected, except for that very first clue, Lucy had dragged things down, making them harder and slowing the search. And if she wasn’t careful, it was going to happen again, Friday, the day it absolutely could not happen or it might ruin everything.
Her mother knocked on the door, making Lucy jump. “Hey, Sweetness, want to come down and set the table?” she asked.
“Sure,” Lucy said, glad to have something to do besides worry.
“Dad was supposed to be home this evening, but he’s not back yet,” her mom said as they walked down the stairs and into the dining room. “And he didn’t leave a message or anything.” Her voice was thick with worry and Lucy felt a new pit in her stomach as she began laying out silverware, feeling her way around the table.
After stalling as long as they could, Lucy and her mom sat down for dinner, a serving bowl of rapidly cooling ravioli between them.
Lucy heard the click of Valentine’s nails on the floor as she tried to sneak in and hide under the table to forage for any dropped food.
“Valentine, go to your bed,” her mother snapped.
Lucy drew in a breath as Valentine trotted out. Yes, it annoyed her mom that Valentine liked to be under the table at meals but she never spoke to the obedient dog so sharply. Clearly her mom was really anxious about her dad.
Lucy was trying to figure out what to say when she heard the sound of the door opening and her dad’s footsteps, quick and even. It was as though they’d gone back in time, to a place where her father still worked at the architecture firm and sometimes came home late, full of apologies and stories from his day.
“I’m sorry. I hope you weren’t worried!” he called as he came down the hall toward the dining room.
“A bit,” Lucy’s mother said stiffly, in a tone that suggested she was going to have a lot more to say about this once she and Lucy’s father were alone.
The Angel Tree Page 10