Merry Wrath Mysteries Boxed Set Volume III (Books 7-9) Read online

  "Did you see that?" I hissed. "That was Prescott Winters III!"

  Kelly's head swiveled. "That guy who just walked by?"

  I nodded. "He just went into Vy's house! She let him in! Stop looking!"

  She turned back to me. "We should probably call Officer Weir and let him know."

  "He's at least half an hour away!" I protested. "I need to get closer."

  Betty finished brushing herself off. "I'm on it!"

  Without waiting for me to ask what she was on, the little girl tore off down the sidewalk toward the house where the dangerous criminals were.

  "No!" I shouted as I chased after her. "Wait!"

  Kelly stayed with the other girls, but when they noticed Betty on the run, they joined in. I'm not proud to say that a couple of them passed me. I regretted eating all that ice cream for breakfast.

  Betty stopped just short of the house. She bent down and dug through the snow until she found a rock. She started packing snow around it, and before I could reach her, hurled it at a window in Vy Todd's house.

  The other girls sensed something was up, so they started throwing snowballs at each other. I had to admit, it was an excellent cover.

  Vy came running out of the house, screaming at the girls. Prescott came out as far as the porch, and someone joined him. It was Harvey Oak! I'd all but ruled him out! But here they were, Rex's Most Wanted, together! I pulled my hat lower on my face and pulled my scarf up in an attempt to disguise myself a little. Just in case I needed to confront them later. I didn't want them tying me to the girls.

  "Whatever you do," I whispered, "don't laugh."

  The childlike munchkin voice shrieked, "What are you brats doing?" Vy Todd stormed over, reminding me that I had more pressing matters to deal with.

  A couple of the girls bit quivering lips, but for the most part, they acted like her voice was totally normal. For a brief second, I thought my warning might've triggered suspicion as Vy stared for just a second, waiting for giggles. When they didn't come, she regained her outrage.

  "I'm so sorry!" I slipped between her and the girls. "Things got out of hand! I'll pay for your window."

  She shook her fists. "I should have you locked up! Juvenile delinquents!"

  Betty stepped forward with big, watery eyes. "I'm so sorry, ma'am! Please don't call the police!"

  I didn't know what surprised me more, Vy Todd's little cabal or Betty pretending to be sad and vulnerable. The kid's skills were getting spooky.

  I had an idea. "Let me come in and see the damage. I can have my insurance agent here in twenty minutes to look at it." I waited to see if she'd take me up on it.

  The woman hesitated. She looked back toward the doorway, and Harvey and Prescott dove back into the house.

  "Um, no. That's okay. It was just an accident." She started to back up with her hands out in front of her. "Just try to be more careful!" The woman turned and ran back inside her house, slamming the door.

  "Well?" Betty looked up at me with dry eyes.

  "Well what?" I asked.

  "Now that the window's broken, we can hide in the hedges and listen to what's going on. Let's go."

  I couldn't have been more proud if she was my own kid. The only problem was I figured ten girls and two adults wouldn't fit under that window.

  Kelly joined us, hyperventilating. "That's enough for today!"

  That was all well and good, but how was she going to convince them to walk away? She gave me a wink.

  "Who wants lunch? I happen to know a great place one block over with hot dogs and french fries!"

  The screams brought people out onto their porches. Once they noticed our group, they went back inside.

  "You go do what you have to do," Kelly whispered. "I'll take the girls."

  "Thank you!" I hugged her.

  She arched one eyebrow. "Oh, don't thank me yet." She held out her hand. "This is on you."

  I probably deserved that. I handed over my credit card and slipped behind a tree as they all marched away. Loud voices came from the broken window. This was my chance. Keeping to the shoveled sidewalk, I walked across the street and passed the house, doubling back through the side yard into some large hedges under the window.

  My only problem was the footprints in the snow that gave me away. Maybe I could smudge them on my way out.

  "I'm not sure this is a good idea," one of the men said.

  I didn't know the difference between Prescott's and Harvey's voices. Quietly, I slid my cell phone from my pocket and set it to record. Then I held it up as close to the window as I could and prayed it would capture the conversation.

  "Oh," said an affected voice with a snooty, cultured accent. Definitely Prescott. "I don't know. I rather like it."

  Did that mean they were just getting together now? Did that mean they didn't have Rex? I had too little information to go on to decide.

  "Sit down, Vy!" Harvey snarled. "Your pacing is making me nervous!"

  The woman shrieked, "Those…girls…I could kill those girls!"

  Hey! That was a bit over the top.

  "Who cares about that?" Prescott said. "Do sit down. Forget about those urchins."

  "Fine!" she snapped, and I heard what sounded like a thud. She wasn't a large woman but could apparently drop onto furniture like a sullen, preteen elephant.

  "You haven't mentioned my favorite word yet," Prescott said. "Money."

  "Yeah," Harvey said. "We get that this is about revenge and all that. But revenge doesn't pay the bills."

  The three of them were going to get revenge? It seemed like I had them, but the timeline was all wrong. Rex had already been kidnapped and three clues discovered. Had Vy taken matters into her own hands and was now trying to bring Oak and Winters on board?

  "Don't worry about that. It's lucrative enough for you," she spat.

  "Where do we do this?" Harvey asked.

  Uh-oh. Do what? Kill Rex? And how would that make them any money?

  "We can't move the item now," Vy's munchkin voice said. "I'm getting some heat from the cops in that sad little town."

  A wave of relief washed over me. Okay, if the item was Rex, that meant she was keeping him alive until she could do whatever. I had a little time yet.

  And that was when my cell went off. It didn't buzz. It rang. The Dora the Explorer theme song was my ringtone, and I hit the screen, dropped the zip gun, and ran like hell toward the back of the house. I kept running up an alley until I felt that I'd gotten away. Then I circled the park through the alleys of the houses fronting it, hoping the zip gun would draw suspicion away from me and the girls, because who suspects little girls of having zip-guns? Well, Betty not included.

  I found the troop inside a 1950s-themed diner, eating what looked like a couple dozen hot dogs, while a waiter on roller skates flirted and teased. I slid into the booth and ordered a footlong with chili and cheese, cheese fries, and a chocolate shake. The waiter grinned and skated away.

  The good news was that if the three criminals tracked us down, we had a pretty ironclad alibi since the girls came here straight away. The waiter would probably include me in the entourage that had been here the whole time, especially if I tipped him well.

  But no one came looking for us. And the footlong was so good I had another one, and we all finished with banana splits.

  I had digital evidence. Betty made me proud, and ate a whole lot of junk food. Rex wouldn't like any of this, but all in all, things were looking up.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  "Best winter vacation ever!" Ava shouted for the fifth time as she punched the ceiling of my van.

  I had to agree. It was dark now, but we were heading back to Who's There with some valuable information. For once I felt like we had a break in the case.

  "Did you get some good intel?" Betty leaned forward conspiratorially.

  I had her, Ava, and the four Kaitlyns in my van. I'd wanted to thank her for her quick thinking without Kelly around to disapprove.

  "Yes, I did
." I beamed. "You did a great job out there!"

  Betty sat back—didn't smile but nodded. "I'll settle for a reference letter to join the CIA. After college though. I'll need a good cover, so I'm majoring in international business."

  "Really?" was all I could think to say.

  "Yeah. I'm taking an online class in Arabic. Mom and Dad don't know about that. I used Bart's debit card to pay for it."

  I know that I should probably discourage her from this behavior but opted instead for paying Bart a bonus.

  "He hasn't noticed?" I asked.

  "No. He never checks his account balance online. It wouldn't matter if he did. I've hacked it anyway." The girl found a pen in my glove box and began endlessly clicking it. Was she wondering how many ways she could kill a man with a pen? By the way, it's fourteen.

  "You're hacking banks now?" Okay, now I should say something.

  She looked thoughtful, stepping up the speed with which she was clicking the pen. "Not the bank. Just his emailed monthly statements. That he doesn't read. But you can never be too sure, right?"

  "Um." My mind raced, searching for the right thing to say. "What are you going to do if he finds you out?"

  Betty stopped clicking the pen. "I haven't really thought that far. I'll work on it."

  It wasn't that Betty was a major troublemaker in the troop—she wasn't. Well, not the major troublemaker at least. The girl was smart, quirky, and terrifyingly confident and liked to motivate the troop with war speeches from Patton and 300. Sure, she did some things from time to time that made Kelly's head spin. But I had a soft spot in my heart for her. She'd make an amazing field agent. Too bad the CIA didn't have a junior division.

  "Can I have my zip gun back?" She looked me in the eyes.

  "About that," I said slowly. "Where did you get a zip gun? Did you know they're illegal?"

  "I made it," she said simply. "It wasn't hard."

  I gave her a look. "Yeah, you're not getting it back. And please don't bring another one to anything ever."

  Betty shrugged. "Okay."

  There should be a Scout badge for improvised weapons. Zip guns weren't easy to make, which meant Betty's brain was scary. Hers actually looked like a gun, with a rudimentary wood frame and some metal pieces. I've used flashlights, pipes, and one time I was able to fashion a zip gun using a coat hanger, a lipstick tube, and aluminum foil.

  The girls launched into a medley of Scout songs, and I wondered what Officer Weir was going to think of my little investigation at Vy Todd's house. I probably bent a law or two, and I didn't want to get into trouble. I could send it anonymously. Or I could just be up front about it.

  Like he was about the investigation at Juliette's house? Why hadn't I heard anything? We'd agreed to share information. Yes, I know. I didn't exactly let him know before I broke into the redheaded psycho's house. And I kind of ran off to Des Moines half-cocked.

  Communication was a two-way street, and in some cases, a three-way street, but only in Brazil. The best thing to do would be to sit down with him and go over what I had. He was a rookie and young. It was up to me to be the adult. Rex would want that.

  "Mrs. Wrath!" Ava called out from the back seat. "Mrs. Albers wants to talk to you!"

  She handed her phone to Betty, who thoughtfully hit the speaker button. I immediately warned Kelly that she was on speaker, so saying anything could cause trouble.

  She seemed breathless. "Linda called. She's solved the puzzle!"

  It felt like everything had stopped suddenly, including my breathing. We were so close! Rex was so close! There was no way I was going to wait one more minute. We were going to solve this. I just knew it.

  "Girls," I said, "we're making a quick stop."

  Kelly hung up. I handed back Ava's cell phone, and the girls started texting their parents to explain the detour. The girls' folks were used to this kind of thing. They didn't really care how long I kept their kids, which seemed like a good and bad thing. At any rate, it wouldn't be a problem.

  "Who's Linda?" Betty asked.

  "She was my fourth-grade teacher," I said. "She's very good at puzzles and is helping me find Detective Ferguson."

  "Oh. So she's kind of like you are to us?"

  I thought about that for a moment and tried to picture Linda Willard making ghillie suits for sniper practice or allowing the girls to go through two boxes of matches because they loved starting fires.

  "Kind of," I replied. "Except she's more responsible."

  "Did you like her?" Ava asked. "I like my teacher. She doesn't yell at us…much."

  "Yes," I answered. "She was one of my favorite teachers."

  "Why?" asked one of the Kaitlyns.

  "Well, she gave us amazing books to read and taught us to work hard. She knew we could handle whatever she had us do, which gave us confidence."

  "Sounds like a lot of work," Betty grumbled.

  "It was, but it was worth it. I was proud of everything I did in that class because I worked at it. It didn't come easily. Nothing should come easily."

  "What about cotton candy?" piped up another Kaitlyn. "Cotton candy should come easily."

  "Um, I'm not sure that fits what I'm saying…"

  "I wish I had some cotton candy now," said one of the other Kaitlyns, and the others agreed.

  "Was your teacher nice?" Betty asked.

  I nodded. "She was very nice. Tough but nice. If you did your part, you were rewarded with one of her smiles. We all worked hard to get that smile."

  "That's it? No trophy or anything?" Betty seemed scandalized. "We get trophies for everything these days."

  And that was the problem with this generation. "What's the point of getting a prize just for doing what everyone else is doing?"

  Betty rolled her eyes. "Cuz it's a prize! Duh!"

  "A prize that you worked for that is the only one of its kind is way better than everyone getting a prize just for being there." I felt proud dispensing a little wisdom.

  She looked at me for a moment. "You've lost me."

  My mind raced for an analogy and found one. "Well, think about the Halloween parade. We've won first prize three years in a row, right?"

  Betty nodded. "The first prize trophy is way bigger than the others."

  "That's what made it so special," I said. "It would've been okay to win second place, but we worked hard and, in the face of several adversities, pulled together and won."

  She frowned. "It was hard work. We had to come up with something fast when our float was wrecked."

  "That's right. We could've given up or done something lame. But we didn't. We worked on it until the last minute. Didn't that make the win better?"

  The girl was silent for a moment, the wheels turning in her head. That was when I noticed that Ava and the Kaitlyns had been listening. Good. Maybe like Linda taught me, I could teach these girls a valuable lesson.

  "Okay. That makes sense. I guess you're right," Betty said at last, and the other girls responded by cheering. "Bigger is better, after all."

  As they launched back into some Girl Scout songs, I felt a little swell of pride. Was this how Linda felt when the class did well? It was a wonderful feeling. I could get addicted to this.

  We pulled up into Linda's driveway, and I left the car running and ran inside. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kelly get out of her van and walk over to talk to the girls in mine.

  The door opened before I got there.

  "I solved it." She handed me the piece of paper. "I don't know what it means, but it looks like we have to move quickly."

  I read the clue.

  Down the street is where you meet. Hurry before you miss your treat.

  "I know what it means!" I ran to the van and got in.

  Linda climbed into Kelly's van, and we took off. I loved that she wanted to be part of this. Linda totally had my back. The girls in my van seemed to know something was up, because they were very quiet. How could I explain this to them?

  My brain was in save-Rex mod
e, however, and I probably wasn't thinking very clearly. For now, the troop was with us, and there wasn't much to do about it. Wait! What if there was a dead body? Corpses had popped up for the other clues. Why wouldn't there be one here?

  A few minutes later, we were pulling up in front of the elementary school where my troop met. I told the girls and Kelly to wait with the vehicles. If someone had been murdered, I didn't want them involved. Linda jumped out of the van and followed me inside. I didn't try to stop her.

  From a distance, I could see that a light was on in the room where my troop had meetings. To my surprise, the front door to the school was open. My senses were on alert for a trap, but I didn't stop until I burst into the classroom.

  No one living or dead was there. The lights were all on. Where was my treat? I began to search the room in a frenzy, tearing things apart, searching every desk. Linda followed my lead but was far more careful than I was. This was, after all, a teacher's room.

  Kelly and the girls joined me.

  "I couldn't stop them," Kelly said. "They wanted to help."

  If I'd been a responsible adult in my right mind, I probably would've sent them back out. But I wanted to find Rex. I knew there was another clue yet. But maybe this one would lead us to Rex sooner. I could use the help.

  Kelly ordered the girls to follow my path of destruction and in my wake put things back where they were supposed to be. In the distance I heard a siren.

  "I called Officer Weir," Kelly said when she saw that I'd noticed. "I thought this was easier than us getting arrested for breaking into the school."

  I gave her a quick nod. No matter what I did, Kelly would always be more responsible than me. I'd have to live with that. Besides, I didn't want the girls to have breaking and entering on their records at age ten.

  "Ms. Wrath?" Ted Weir and Kevin Dooley walked into the room, but I didn't respond because I found what I was looking for.

  There, on one of the bulletin boards, was a cell phone. It was Rex's.