“These are amazing, Leah,” Chloe said smiling. “Who knew you had such a talent?”
Leah shrugged. “I don’t know. You really like them?” she asked with a faint blush on her cheeks.
“Leah, these are amazing,” Holly said nodding. “You really should continue with this. It’s obvious you’re very talented. Who knows where it will lead?”
“Thanks,” she said, clearly proud of herself. “I didn’t think they were all that good.”
“Are you kidding?” Chloe said, gaping. “My best friend is an artist! Who else can say that?” she asked. “You’ve got to paint one for me.”
“Okay,” Leah said, smiling. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. I want to put these away and while I’m inside, I’m going to the bathroom.”
Chloe nodded as her friend disappeared back inside her house. Once they were sure she wasn’t coming right back out, Steven turned to Chloe.
“We’re starting to wonder if it wasn’t Carrie,” he said softly. “It looks like she’s not a big fan of yours, and she doesn’t have anyone who can verify where she was yesterday morning.”
Chloe nodded. “I can see her doing it. She’s always seemed a bit standoffish with me.”
“We still should find out what Leah was doing, though,” Holly pointed out. “You never want to assume anything.” She turned to Chloe, “Everyone else has someone who can say they weren’t at the school during the time of the vandalism.”
Chloe nodded. “I also checked my room top to bottom this morning, just like you asked. My jacket is still gone. Leah’s the first person who’s been over since it happened.”
“Good, make sure you keep checking after each time you have a visitor. I don’t think we should let anyone else know we’re looking into this. I’d like them to think they got away with it,” Steven said. “After the way Carrie reacted, I started running it over in my mind. If whoever did it knows we’re looking into it, they’ll be very careful with what they say, but if they think they pulled it off…”
“Then they might not be as sneaky. Good thinking,” Chloe said.
“Could you show me that video, again?” Holly asked. “Now that I’ve met everyone, I want to see if I notice something different.”
“Sure,” Chloe nodded. “Let’s just wait until Leah gets back, and then I’ll make an excuse. I don’t have it on my phone anymore, but it’s still on my laptop.”
“We’ll keep her occupied while you two are busy,” Lissa offered. “Won’t do any good if she goes looking for you and finds out what you’re doing.”
“I think she’s coming,” Chloe said as she leaned back toward the window she was seated in front of. Within a matter of moments, Leah was back. Lissa was asking Leah about the watercolor class she was taking when Chloe interrupted. “Hey, Holly. Didn’t I promise to show you the pictures from the museum? I remember you saying you weren’t sure if you wanted to go.”
“That’s right,” Holly said, playing along. “I’d really appreciate that.”
“Come with me, and I’ll show you. It’ll only take a minute. We’ll be right back, guys,” she said as she motioned Holly towards the front door. When they were inside, Holly followed Chloe to her room.
She pushed the door open and Holly was surprised by the soft light blue color on the walls. It wasn’t something she’d have ever imagined on bedroom walls, but it was very pretty.
“I really like the color in here,” Holly said.
“Thanks. My parents thought I was crazy when they saw the swatch, but they let me do it anyway. Mom admitted after it was all done that it was pretty,” she chuckled. She walked over to a white desk that held her laptop while Holly continued to look around.
All of the trim was white along with the floating shelves that held rows of picture frames. Chloe’s closet was stuffed with clothing, each piece crammed in. It was inconsistent with the rest of her room, which was spotless.
“Here you go,” Chloe said after she pulled up the video. Holly moved closer and began to watch as Chloe stepped back. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking for. There had to be something, something that proved the person in the video wasn’t Chloe.
Then, she found it. When she had a clear shot, she paused the video. Shoes. She tried to get a closer look at the shoes the person was wearing in the video. They looked like athletic shoes. Turning, she looked at Chloe’s feet. She was wearing flats.
“Chloe?” Holly began, but she was interrupted by Chloe’s gasp.
“Oh my gosh,” Chloe said as she rushed over to her closet. She pushed everything aside and pulled something out. When she turned around, Holly saw it was the jacket from the video.
“The jacket,” Holly said, wide-eyed.
“Yeah, and it wasn’t there this morning,” Chloe said lifting it up.
“Are you sure?” Holly asked. She moved across the room and touched one of the embroidered stars. It was much prettier in person than in the video.
“I’m absolutely positive. I went through everything in my closet this morning to be sure.” She gasped. “That means it was Leah.”
“I’d have to agree. It sure looks that way. Tell me, do you always wear flats?” Holly asked.
“Most of the time, unless I’m doing something like cross country where I need a specific kind of shoe. Why?”
“Because the person in this video is wearing athletic shoes. I’m willing to bet if we look at shoes, it will give us a clue who the vandal is.” Holly moved back over to the laptop and took a screenshot before sending it to herself. “Now I’ll have a picture of the shoes. The film is in black and white, but it will still give us a better idea of who it may be. Do you know if Leah or Carrie has shoes like those?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Chloe admitted. “But we can find out if Leah does if we can come up with an excuse to go to her house.”
Holly nodded. “And if we could sneak into her room, maybe we can find out if she has a certain blonde wig,” she pointed out.
“But how can we convince her that we want to go to her house?” Chloe asked, more to herself than anything. “Oh, I’ve got it! She has this game that takes a lot of people to play. I’ll suggest we go over to her house and play it.”
“Doesn’t she live farther away?” Holly asked. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to ride a bike all over Springfield.
“Yeah, but don’t worry. I can drive us over there. Come on, let’s do this.” Chloe shoved the jacket back in the closet and hurried downstairs. “Just let me handle this part.”
When they joined the others outside, everyone was laughing at something Steven had said.
“Hey, guys, I have a great idea!” Chloe exclaimed as she skipped to her seat. “Leah’s got this really neat game, but it’s only fun when there’s a group of people. Why don’t we go over to your house, Leah, and play? I’ll drive.” She turned to Leah, “We can sit in your backyard at that big table you have outside.”
Leah shrugged. “If you guys want to, that’s fine with me.”
Steven and Lissa looked from Chloe to Holly. Holly gave them a slight nod letting them know to play along.
“Sounds good. Can we stash our bikes here?” Steven asked.
“Of course,” Chloe said. “Let me grab my keys and lock the house, then we can go.”
“I’ll go ahead and meet you there,” Leah said as she walked out to her little car. “I’ll see you guys there.” She gave them a small wave as she climbed behind the wheel before backing down the driveway and pulling away.
Holly turned to Steven and Lissa. “The jacket is back.”
“Are you serious?” Steven asked. “But Carrie?”
“I know,” Holly said nodding. “I’m right there with you. But for now, let’s see how this goes. We’ll explain it all on the way over.”
Lissa and Steven nodded as they began to move their bikes. Holly had a feeling they were about to put all the pieces in place. One way or another, they were going to figure this out.
“I still can’t believe it,” Chloe said, shaking her head. Holly couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Granted, they still didn’t have any real proof yet that Leah had done it, but the appearance of her jacket after Leah had been alone inside, seemed to make a believer out of Chloe. “She’s been my best friend for forever. Why would she want to get me in trouble?”
“Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves,” Holly said from the back seat of the little black sedan. “The appearance of your jacket isn’t exactly a smoking gun.”
“I know, but still,” Chloe said as she navigated through traffic.
“Try to relax,” Steven said as he placed his hand on Chloe’s shoulder. He was sitting in the front with her, a concerned look on his face. “The important thing is, if she did it, she’s not going to get away with it.”
“That’s right,” said Lissa. “We’ll find the proof we need to clear you of all of this.”
“Thanks, guys. I guess I’m still just so surprised that she would do something like this.” Chloe didn’t take her eyes from the road, but Holly could see in the rearview mirror that they were getting watery. She felt so sorry for her. Holly wasn’t sure what else she could do but help her find out the truth.
“We all know the plan, right?” Steven asked as he turned in his seat so he could see everyone.
Holly nodded. “Yep, this is going to go like clockwork. With any luck, we’ll have Chloe’s name cleared before dinner.”
“That would be amazing,” Chloe sighed. “My parents told me if I can prove that I had nothing to do with this, the bonfire will be back on. I’m just grateful they’re giving me the chance to clear my name.”
“Well, it helps that you’ve been such a good person, I’m sure,” Steven said with a small smile.
Chloe looked over at him and returned it with one of her own. “Thanks. I really appreciate what you’ve done for me. I know you probably have a lot of other things you’d rather be doing right now than helping me.” She put on her turn signal and they pulled onto a residential street. Every house in the neighborhood looked pretty much the same.
“Nah,” Steven said. “It’s no trouble.”
“If this works out, I’m going to owe you all big time,” she said emphatically. “Here we are.” She came to a stop in front of one of the many brown two-story homes. This one had a swing in the front yard, but aside from that it looked just like the rest of them.
As they were getting out the car, Leah opened the front door of the house. “My mom should be getting off work soon, so she’ll be here later on.” She pulled out her phone and looked at the time. “Actually, she may be on her way home now.”
“That’s okay, she won’t bother us,” Chloe said brightly. Holly was amazed at how quickly she was able to go from being hurt to being perky, but then again, she probably knew if she didn’t act the way she normally did it might tip Leah off. It was best if she didn’t suspect a thing.
“I already have the game out on the table in the back yard,” she said hitching her thumb over her shoulder. “Come on in.”
They followed her through the front door, and she shut it behind them. The house had an open floor plan which allowed someone to see all the way through to the back yard from the front door. The group followed Leah outside and began to sit down while she explained the game. Holly knew this was the perfect opportunity.
“I’m really sorry, but may I use your bathroom?” she asked.
“Sure,” Leah said stopping to answer Holly while she was pulling the game pieces from the box. “I can show you.”
“No, you go ahead and keep setting the game up. I’ll show her,” Chloe insisted.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Of course,” Chloe said with a bright smile. “You explain it to them while I take her in and show her where it is. Come on, Holly.” They stood up and headed back into the house.
“Perfect timing,” Chloe said to Holly as she shut the door. “It gave us a great reason to leave her there, and she’ll be so busy she won’t notice how long we’re gone.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Holly said. “But we better make it quick.”
Chloe nodded and they hurried through the house and up the stairs. Once there, Holly pushed open a door with paper flowers and stars all over it. Inside, the room was fairly neat for a teenage girl. There were clothes hanging from the chair in front of a desk, but otherwise it was quite clean. The walls were coral pink and the bedspread was a bright white. On the far wall there was a collage with pictures and things cut from magazines covering most of it.
“Okay, so we need to look for those shoes and a wig, right?” Chloe asked.
“Yep. If we could find both of them, that would be terrific,” Holly said nodding.
Chloe began to search while Holly thought about where she would hide a wig if this was her room. Her eyes slid over drawers, a night stand, and dresser, but she quickly dismissed them. Too obvious of a place to hide something. She pulled the curtains out and looked behind them while Chloe began to search the closet.
“I never realized how many pairs of shoes she had,” Chloe said as she began to pull shoeboxes from the bottom of the closet.
Holly looked over and saw the stack of boxes. “Wow, I don’t even keep mine in boxes. I’m impressed,” she admitted.
Chloe shrugged. “We’ve both done it for a while now. Helps keep them a little nicer.”
Holly turned back to the room and lifted the blankets on the side of the bed. Running her hand along under the mattress, her fingers searched but found nothing. She got down on her hands and knees and began looking under the bed.
“I think I may have found the shoes,” Chloe said quickly. She lifted a pair from the box and held them up for Holly to see.
Holly pulled out her phone and compared the two. Both had a light stripe that ran along the length and brightly colored shoe laces. Although the image on her phone was black and white, it looked like the same shoe. “I think it’s the same,” she nodded.
“Then we’ve got her,” Chloe said.
“Not yet,” Holly said as she bent back over to continue searching under the bed. “She could always use the excuse someone else had the same shoes.”
“You’re right, I didn’t think of that,” Chloe said, dejectedly.
“If we find both the shoes and the wig, that would be all the proof we’d need to confront her,” Holly said. “There’s a lot of stuff under here,” she mumbled.
“Here, let me help,” Chloe said as she knelt down at the other end of the bed. Her eyes looked around before stopping near where Holly was. “What’s that?” she asked pointing.
“What?” Holly asked as she tried to crane her neck to see what Chloe was pointing at.
“There, on the left. It looks like it’s tucked between the frame and the box springs,” she said squinting.
Holly began to run her hand along the underside of the bed until she felt something plastic. Gingerly, she touched the item, trying to determine what it was just from touch.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Here, let me try to pull it out.” With a slight tug it came free, and she pulled it out. When she turned it over in her hands, she saw that it was a flat black bag with a zip seal. She looked at Chloe curiously, but Chloe just shrugged.
“Open it,” Chloe said.
Holly pulled the bag open and peeked inside. “This might be the wig,” she said carefully as she reached inside. She saw something that looked white with netting across it. As she pulled it out from the bag, she noticed it looked like hair with a hair net around it.
Chloe gasped. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
Holly found the edge of the netting and pulled it back. The white blonde hair tumbled down in a cascade. Both girls’ eyes became wide as they looked at each other.
“Well,” Holly said. “I think we know who the vandal is.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Chloe. “Now I want to know why
.”
CHAPTER 21
“What is this, Leah?” Chloe asked as she flung open the door to the backyard. In her fist was the platinum blonde wig that bore a striking resemblance to Chloe’s hair. Under the other arm was a shoebox.
Steven and Lissa looked as shocked as Leah when her eyes landed on the wig. Holly could almost see the realization that she’d been caught flicker across Leah’s face, then the surprised look changed into one of resolve. She didn’t say a word, instead, she stayed where was, leaning over the table.
“Is that a wig?” Lissa asked.
“What were you doing in my room?” Leah croaked out as she straightened up.
“And what about these?” Chloe asked as she flipped open the shoe box. “These are the shoes someone wore to dress up like me and vandalize the school.” She dropped the box to the ground. “And not to mention the fact that my hoodie has been missing for forever, and amazingly somehow finds its way back into my closet after you went into my house alone! That’s a little too much coincidence for me.” By the time she got to the end, Chloe was yelling.
“So what?” Leah spat at her. “It’s about time you fell off that high horse of yours.”
“Are you serious?” Chloe scoffed. She took one step toward Leah. Steven and Lissa quickly rose to their feet and went over to where Chloe was standing. She was beginning to clench her hands into fists. “What have I ever done to you, Leah? Besides listen to you cry about boys and whine about how fat you’re getting.”
“Okay, Chloe,” Holly said as she stepped towards her. “That’s enough. Calm down.”
“What’s going on out here?” an older woman asked as she opened the back door. She was still wearing her scrubs from work. “I just pulled up and heard loud voices. Want to tell me what this is all about?”
“Mom, it’s nothing,” Leah began, but Chloe cut her off.
“Leah’s the one who vandalized the school, not me,” she said, interrupting Leah.
Her mother looked from one girl to the other and then noticed Steven, Lissa, and Holly. “Okay, someone needs to explain to me what’s going on. Right now.” She crossed her arms.
Holly Lewis Mystery series Box Set Page 10