by Jack Parker
"What do you mean,'funny'?" Cheryl asked.
"It was sort of bouncing, it would move forward and then kind of hesitate," Shawna explained, using her hand to give a visual picture.
Two police cars pulled up and one officer began directing traffic while the other checked on the drivers. The man who'd been driving the second car was walking around apparently not injured, but the driver of the front car had yet to make an appearance.
"I just realized," Cheryl began. "Both those airbags went off in that wreck. See, you can still see one hanging around the steering wheel."
"Unlike Meaghan's wreck," Shawna added the obvious conclusion. "Oh, good! The line's moving again."
"Just in time for the ambulance to show up," Cheryl grumbled.
"Relax, Cheryl. The cop's got it under control. See? He's letting a few cars go from the east, then a few of us from the west. We'll be out of here in a few minutes."
The acting traffic cop was careful to let the cars lined up in the parking lot out in between those waiting on the street, though Shawna was pleased to see him angrily shake his head at someone ahead with their left blinker on. They inched forward and tried to see what the paramedics might be doing with the injured driver, but the smashed car was between them so they couldn't see much.
At last it was their turn to go and Shawna stepped on the gas carefully as she went around the blocked lane. Just as she went by the knot of cars and emergency workers they saw the first driver emerge.
"It's Tanya!" Cheryl cried. "Oh, and she doesn't look too good." She twisted around in her seat to watch as Shawna pulled back into the proper lane. "They're putting her in the ambulance."
"Can you tell how bad she's hurt?" Shawna asked worriedly.
Cheryl turned back to the front. "No, didn't see any blood and she's walking, but the EMT had his arm around her."
"I'd be too shaky to walk after that, myself," Shawna remarked.
"Shawna, do you realize what this means?" Cheryl asked. "Tanya's another one of Jake's girlfriends!"
CHAPTER 22
"Not only does it fit the pattern precisely, it's the 13th accident," Kelly reported to the girls.
"And another one that involves cars," Gracie pointed out. "Does anyone know how Tanya is?"
Cheryl sat down at Gracie's computer to pull up FaceBook. "Here's a post from Madison: 'The airbag threw Tanya's arm up into the rearview mirror and it broke her wrist. She says it hurts, but she'll be at school tomorrow and we can all sign her cast.'".
"I'll just bet it hurts," Cheryl said.
"At least she wasn't seriously hurt," Shawna said.
"So what would make her car act like that?" Gracie asked.
"Sounds like one of the stories my grandfather used to tell," Kelly replied. "Sugar in the gas tank."
"Huh?" Cheryl said.
"Granddad used to do that to the guys he didn't like," Kelly said. "When you start the car and the gas starts flowing the sugar blocks up the hoses so the gas can't get through. I remember him saying that it took effect pretty fast, the car started hopping around as it got a little gas at a time, but then it'd stop dead."
"Sounds like a mean thing to do to anyone," Shawna declared.
"As I recall, it got him into more than one fist-fight," Kelly said drily. "But it's easy enough to do if you know about it. Doesn't take any special tools and it's quick."
"It reminds me of those car-guys back in the 50's," Cheryl said.
"Hot-rodders, you mean," Kelly said.
"Bobby Summers," Shawna suggested. "He always reminds me of that kind of kid. Can't talk about anything but cars."
"Yeah, Bobby does qualify as a motor-head," Kelly agreed.
"I bet you could look that up on the web," Cheryl said. "Which means anyone could've done it, especially if it's as easy as you said."
"Anyone could've walked through the parking lot and poured the sugar in Tanya's tank anytime during the day. Most everybody stayed in at lunch, it'd have been the perfect time," Shawna said.
"Would it have to have been during the day?" Gracie asked. "Could it have been done last night?"
"Today for sure, or she wouldn't have gotten to school," Kelly confirmed.
"I'm guessing the wreck was an added bonus," Cheryl said. The other three gave her shocked looks. "I mean to the perp, of course. He or she couldn't possibly have known it would cause a wreck."
"True, but it's a very likely possibility," Kelly said. "She's out on a main street and hitting the gas to get outta there; she wouldn't know what was happening and probably wouldn't think to pull off the road."
"Okay, Gracie. The gang's alone now, you can tell us what you were doing with Amy's phone at lunch today," Cheryl said.
"I was going to look up 'Hot Topic' to see what that dress looked like," Gracie said, pointing to Cheryl's purchase which was lying across the bed.
"But I beat you to it," Cheryl said.
"I'd already typed in 'Ho' when you showed me the picture," Gracie continued. She consulted her notes. "When I looked back at the screen the history showed '.'. Does that suggest anything to you?"
"Brakes?" Shawna ventured an answer, knowing she'd missed some important part.
"Anti-lock brakes," Kelly said. "ABS brakes. You know, like Clay was talking about yesterday."
"Give me the URL again slowly, and I'll pull it up," Cheryl demanded.
They all crowded around the computer to read the screen, but while it confirmed Clay's description they didn't find anything on how to disable the system.
"That doesn't prove a thing!" Shawna said. "She could've looked that up any time, there's no date in the history files."
"Anytime in the last 30 days," Cheryl corrected. "That's the default and nobody bothers to change it."
"It proves that at some point in time she knew that a car without ABS brakes was more likely to slide," Kelly pointed out. "And remember, it was raining that night, the road was wet."
"There were also some phone numbers that weren't in her address-book," Gracie said. "I thought it was odd because most of the calls in the outgoing log were made to her friends."
"Everyone makes calls to people we don't have address-booked," Cheryl protested.
"So I'll call them and see who they belong to," Gracie said as she took out her phone and began the process. It was simple enough for her to wait for the greeting and then claim she had a wrong number.
"Well?" Shawna asked when she flipped her phone closed.
"A local radio station, the school secretary, a doctor's office, a couple of locksmiths and the parts department of the local Mazda dealership," Gracie reported.
"Mazda?" Kelly inquired meaningfully. "They make Miatas, like what Meaghan drives. Drove."
"Exactly," Gracie said. "And Amy drives an old Chevy."
"Maybe Meaghan borrowed Amy's phone to make the call," Cheryl suggested.
"But how do the locksmiths fit in?" Gracie asked.
"Locksmiths make car keys, too," Kelly said. "Maybe Meaghan locked herself out and needed a key."
"But her mother told us that she had an extra key, remember?" Gracie said.
"Do you think the school or radio station or doctor are significant?" Shawna asked.
"Maybe Amy called herself in sick one day," Cheryl said in a snide tone.
"Or called the doctor trying to get a new prescription for those pain pills; pretending to be her mother, that is," Gracie suggested.
"If Amy dated anyone I'd say she called the radio station to dedicate a song to him," Kelly said, clearly unsure why girls seemed to think guys cared about that sort of thing.
"But why would Amy want to hurt the girls that go out with Jake?" Cheryl asked. "She doesn't date him – she doesn't date anybody."
"She's friends with all those girls," Kelly said.
Shawna got a funny look on her face. "She acts like she's friends, but it almost seems like she pushes herself into the group. It's weird; one day she hangs with Bobby and the next she's all buddy-buddy
with the girls."
Gracie shook her head as if trying to clear confusion. "I don't know! None of it makes any sense. How about we go through the list again and see if we can find any obvious connections to Amy. Then maybe something will come to mind."
"Okay, Kelly. Time to do your secretary thing again," Cheryl told him.
Kelly dug the list out of his backpack and assumed a pretentious air. "The first item is Maggie Lane's death, caused by a fall down some stairs."
"We know Amy was at the party," Shawna said.
"And the police found her earring outside on the patio, but Maggie died inside the house," Cheryl added.
"She witnessed that little scene between Jake and Maggie," Kelly said. "That made it pretty clear that something was going on between them."
"Didn't she say she'd come to the party with one of the girls?" Gracie asked.
"I think so," Kelly said.
"What difference does that make?" Cheryl asked.
"It means she went home with someone too, and they could swear to the time," Gracie explained.
"Give her an alibi," Shawna said.
"That old Chevy of Amy's is white, right?" Kelly asked.
"A 'light-colored car'," Cheryl said, getting the drift of Kelly's statement.
"So Amy could have come back and killed Maggie," Gracie summed it up. "Except why would she have done it? I don't see a motive here."
The others shrugged their shoulders and no one ventured a possible reason for Amy to have killed the teacher.
Kelly added these ideas to his notes. "Remember, Ken said there were no signs of a fight on Maggie's body, so unless Amy tripped her or something that wouldn't leave a mark how did she cause the fall? Also, the fact that Amy drives a white car is really circumstantial; there must be a million 'light' cars in this town. I see opportunity and possibly means, but that's all. So, what about Travis' broken arm?"
Gracie grew thoughtful for a minute. "That happened on the Monday before last, during 2nd hour, right?"
Kelly nodded agreement.
"I remember because it was during that class that Ken called me out to talk to me about Maggie's death and that's when I saw Travis waiting for his mother to take him to the doctor. I also remember talking about the death with, oh, Cody I think." Gracie gave a little laugh. "He was hot on the idea that it was a burglar surprised in the act; he pushed Maggie down and then ran away without realizing he'd killed her. But we almost got in trouble for talking because Amy had scooted in just after the bell rang and Cody and I were both trying to explain the discussion to her. She didn't believe that theory, either."
"You through now?" Cheryl asked in a bored voice.
"I get it!" Shawna said. "If Amy was late to class she would've had time to spill something by the stairs after the halls were mostly empty."
"Did she say why she was late?" Cheryl asked, now that she realized Gracie hadn't just been rambling.
"Uh, ladies' room, I think."
"She still couldn't be sure it would be Brittney that would slip," Kelly said.
"If she'd done something to cause Maggie's fall then maybe she was feeling lucky, thinking this would work too," Shawna said.
"We're still assuming that Brittney was the real target," Cheryl pointed out. "She does fit the pattern where Travis doesn't fit in anyone's pattern, but it's a stretch."
"So, means – but anyone could spill water, even accidentally – and opportunity here too," Kelly said. "Next is Emily's case of winter poison ivy."
"Tuesday," Cheryl said. "Monday a bunch of people stayed after school to decorate for the game. That means there were a lot of people running around the building after hours."
"Where are you going with this?" Kelly asked.
"Yesterday we talked about the fact that Emily's been spending a lot of time around the stage, rehearsing for the play. Somebody could've put the poison ivy backstage Monday evening," Cheryl said.
"But I thought we agreed that since Emily knows she's allergic she wouldn't touch the plant or its leaves with a ten-foot pole," Kelly said with some exasperation.
"What if they smeared the leaves on something they knew Emily would touch?" asked Cheryl.
"Yeah! Some prop maybe," Gracie said.
"Looks like I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, as well as secretary," Kelly said.
His statement was met with blank looks all around.
With a sigh he explained. "Once again, anyone who helped with the decorating would've had the chance to slip away and do something backstage. And yes, Amy was there so she could've done it. So could I." He paused for a minute. "Hey, wait a sec. Remember when we ran out of poster board? Wasn't it Amy who said she'd get more, and that it would be quicker to go backstage instead of to the office?"
Gracie pointed a finger at Kelly with a look of glee. "You're right! And then it seemed like it took her a long time to get back and…there's something I can't quite remember, something that seemed out of place at the time."
"Maybe she took a side trip to the ladies' again," Shawna suggested.
"What, does she have a bladder infection?" Cheryl asked dismissively.
"No, but Brittney had…" Gracie flicked her eyes in Kelly's direction and stopped.
"A female infection," Cheryl put it a bit more delicately.
"Yeah, she was complaining about the effects of the antibiotic and of course Allison had to jump in with her medical advice but then it turns out that Allison's allergic to the antibiotic," Gracie said.
"Was there a point in there somewhere, Gracie?" Cheryl asked.
Gracie frowned. "No, I don't think so! It feels like I'm close, I thought maybe if I just kept talking an idea would come." She offered a quick self-deprecating grin.
"Keep going, Gracie," Kelly urged her on. "Just tell us everything that happened and maybe something will jog your memory."
"Well, Amy was standing off to the side, talking on her phone. It pissed Serene off that she wasn't helping. And, um…"
"Maybe she was making some of those calls then," Shawna said.
"It did seem kind of strange, her standing where no one could hear what she was saying," Gracie said, nodding. "I think it was after that that she went to get the poster board, like she was trying to make up for it. But I think the, um, medical discussion was before she left. And, I know!" Gracie grew excited. "She came back with only a few pieces of poster board and dropped them on the gym floor and went to go put hand lotion on."
Kelly looked confused. "So?"
"It's a girl-thing," Cheryl explained. "She washed her hands after she went to the loo and then put on hand lotion when she got back."
"Which could easily explain why it took her longer than you expected," Shawna said.
Gracie was frowning again, and shaking her finger back and forth as if that idea wasn't quite right. Then she smiled and her friends could almost see the metaphoric light bulb glowing above her head. "Latex gloves!"
"Huh?" they all said nearly in unison.
"I dropped by the bathroom on my way out that evening, and I noticed a pair of latex gloves in the trashcan," Gracie said.
"I get it," Kelly said. "Amy – or whoever – rubbed poison ivy on something backstage, but they wore latex gloves and washed their hands afterward to make sure they didn't get any of it on their own hands."
"Right," Gracie said. "But you're right too; that doesn't mean it had to be Amy. She certainly had the opportunity, but so did a lot of other people. And a lot of the girls there go out with Jake."
"So far we've got three out of three where Amy definitely had opportunity," Kelly counted. "But nothing more definite than that."
CHAPTER 23
"Okay, on to the parking lot damage to Madison and Emily's cars," Kelly stated.
"Which could've been done with a baseball bat, and there was a bat in Jake's truck bed," Shawna said.
"Anyone, including Amy, could've picked it up and bashed the two cars and put it back; or they could've brought their own bat," Cheryl
added.
"Do you think they meant for Madison to fall on the broken pieces, or just hoped they'd get into a catfight over the damage?" Gracie wondered.
"Everyone knows what a tomboy Madison is," Shawna said. "And she wears those Heelies all the time, even though she can't put the wheels down in the school building."
"There'd be a good chance that she would roll over those pieces of taillight, but she might well keep her balance and not fall," Kelly said. "I think this one was a spur-of-the-moment thing, whoever's doing this is probably keeping tabs on all the girls Jake goes out with and noticed the two cars parked across the row from each other. They couldn't resist the chance to create a scene and if Madison happened to trip so much the better."
"Okay, what's next?" Gracie asked.
"Serene's desk failure," Kelly read off. "Hey! Guess who sits at that very same desk the period before? Amy!"
"Well now, isn't that interesting," Cheryl remarked.
"She'd have plenty of time to work at the bolts, oiling them if necessary, until they were loose. Then just before she left she could take them off and be pret-ty darn sure the top would come off when Serene was there," Kelly said.
"She couldn't have known Serene would get hurt," Shawna objected.
"No, but it would still be scary," Gracie said. "And it's unlikely that anyone else might get caught in this particular trap."
"Next up is Tony Fletcher's trip over a rock at your step-mother's boutique," Kelly said.
"Amy has long brown hair, and she's pretty quiet," Shawna said.
"Anybody got a picture of Amy?" Gracie asked.
"I think I've got a group pic that she's in, why?" Cheryl asked.
"'Cause I want to e-mail it to Jennifer to see if she was in the boutique that day with Tanya and Meaghan."
"Doesn't mean it was her," Cheryl said. "I know I've said it before, but I still think that brat moved that rock himself.
"O-kay, on to Andrea's brush with cyanide," Kelly said before the girls got into an argument.
