by Jack Parker
A thought occurred to him. Since Amy had readily admitted to bumping Meaghan's car, maybe Gracie thinks I'll find Allison's prints on the fuse box. That would mean that Allison had somehow gas-lighted herself so she'd look like a victim. The chance to switch bottles during the test would've been sheer luck, though with a little sleight of hand it wouldn't have been too difficult. Presumably she'd had another plan which would mean Amy either had really rotten luck or she was being framed. He didn't want to start speculating until he knew more.
On cue the phone rang again. "Freeman," he answered.
"This is Bob. I've got the results of those fingerprints you left with me," the caller said.
"What did you find?" Ken asked.
"The water bottle labeled 'Allison' had a lot of prints from an unknown source; small prints, probably a woman's. I found one that matched the card from a Mrs. Baker, two larger unidentified prints, and one nice juicy print that matched the majority of those from the bottle labeled 'Amy'. That bottle also had a print from Mrs. Baker and a larger print matching the one on 'Allison'."
"Since you didn't say, I'm assuming these larger prints did not match Jake Salazar's," Ken said.
"No, Sir, absolutely not," Bob confirmed.
"So it's reasonable to say that the unknown prints on the 'Allison' bottle were hers, and those larger prints were probably the male teacher that took them to the principal. Uh, that's the Mrs. Baker. If the bottles were switched it would make sense that we'd find a lot of prints from the original owners and just a couple from the new recipients," Ken theorized.
"Easy enough to prove if we get those other people's prints," Bob said. "But yeah, sounds good from what we do have. But I've got more!"
"How much more?" Ken asked tersely.
"Two clear prints from the lid of the fuse box match the ones we're assuming to be Amy's. There's a partial on the top edge of the airbag fuse that seems to match Amy's as well. But remember, Lieutenant, it's a thin edge so there's not really enough to be sure. However there is a full print on one flat side of the brakes fuse and it definitely matches Amy's. Nothing on the fuse puller I'm afraid."
"Bob, how'd you like to get outta the lab for a bit?" Ken asked. He tried not to let his excitement show, but it leaked through anyway.
"Are you kidding, Lieutenant?" Bob asked rhetorically. "Us night-shift guys never get the chance to get out of here. I'd love to. Where are we going?"
"Bring your samples and meet me at my car. I need to confirm the fingerprints of those two girls, so we'll know for sure which ones belong to which girl. But I need to do it now. There's a game tonight and I don't want another young girl to have an 'accident'," Ken said.
CHAPTER 27
"No, I'm sure she'll be at the game," Gracie spoke into her cell phone. "Okay, both of them will be. We're at the pizza place now, just getting ready to head there ourselves. We'll keep an eye on them until you get there. What's that? It's noisy in here. Yes, Ken, I promise not to say anything to either of them. Bye."
Gracie turned to look at her friends. "Stuff that last piece in and let's get outta here," she told them.
Shawna took one last bite and dropped the half-eaten piece of pizza on her plate. "I am stuffed," she remarked as she wiped her mouth. "Hurry up, Cheryl! Ken's told Gracie something important, and you know she won't talk about it in a public place."
Cheryl mumbled something that might have been "I'm hurrying"; it was hard to understand with her mouth full.
"Wrap it in a napkin and take it with you," Kelly admonished. "I'll go start the car. I think we can all guess the basics, but I wanna hear the details. Especially if we're gonna be on guard duty, and we all know at least one of the people we'll be guarding." He headed for the door.
Gracie stood up and started to walk away, but turned back and grabbed the last piece of pizza. "I couldn't let it go to waste," she said with an impish grin.
Shawna picked up their trash while Cheryl swallowed her food and picked up her purse. The three girls followed Kelly out the door.
"Brrr, it's getting cold now that the sun's down," Shawna said, pulling her jacket closed with one hand.
"I told you to bring a heavier coat for the game," Cheryl said.
They piled into the waiting car to discover that Kelly had turned the heater up full blast.
"Thanks, Kelly," Shawna said. "I'm freezing. You don't happen to have an extra jacket, do you?"
"I think there's one in the trunk," he said.
"What?" Cheryl yelled. "I can't hear a thing with that fan blowing."
"Kelly's got a coat in the trunk I can use," Shawna repeated.
Cheryl made a frowny face. "Doubtless one he uses for camping. It'll be groady."
"Well it's better than freezing, Miss Fashion Plate!" Shawna retorted.
"That's your problem," Cheryl returned. "But how are we gonna hear what Gracie has to say?"
Kelly turned the fan down a notch. "That better?"
"Yeah, but you'll have to speak up, Gracie," Cheryl said.
"Okay, can you hear me now?" Gracie said in a loud voice.
Having gotten their assurance she told them what Ken had learned about fuses and fingerprints as well as his idea that Amy might be being framed.
"Do you really think Allison could've been doing all of this?" Kelly asked.
"We haven't thought things through with Allison in mind," Cheryl said. "But I trust Gracie and I'm sure she'd have noticed if Allison had even looked at that bottle funny, much less tried some magic trick with it."
"I can see why Ken might think so," Gracie admitted. "It's just possible that she overheard Amy telling Meaghan about her shortcut and took advantage of it. But she couldn't possibly have known that Amy would bump the car – and besides, I can't see Allison getting her hands all greasy!"
"Yeah, even if she did have some motive we can't think of, she'd probably be allergic to grease," Cheryl put in acidly.
"Ken's going to both their houses to get fingerprints, so it won't be long before he knows I'm right," Gracie said.
"So we've got proof (as far as we're concerned anyway) that Amy messed with the fuses and then deliberately ran into Meaghan's car so she'd have a wreck," Shawna summed it up.
"Thank goodness she put the wrong one back in, or we might not have been able to prove anything," Kelly said.
"And you were right about the antibiotic in the water, too," Cheryl said. "Maybe now Ken will believe us that Amy set up all those accidents."
"I hate to dampen the mood but we still haven't figured out why she did it," Kelly put in.
"It doesn't make a lot of sense," Shawna protested. "I mean, why pick on Meaghan? The other girls weren't really hurt, not badly anyway."
"Except Maggie," Kelly reminded them.
"Is there something we're not seeing?" Shawna asked.
"If you've got any bright ideas, now's the time to tell us," Kelly said to Gracie. "'Cause we're at the stadium."
Gracie shook her head. "I've got part of the picture, but I can't think of a motive and without that none of it makes any sense. Let's go on in and find Amy. We can take turns following her if she goes anywhere."
"Where is Ken?" Shawna whispered into Gracie's ear. "It's nearly half-time. He shoulda been here by now."
Cheryl leaned over to join the conversation. "You wondering where Ken is, too?"
Their heads together they continued their clandestine conversation.
"I don't know!" Gracie said. "It must be taking him longer than he thought to confirm the fingerprints. I know he wouldn't arrest anyone without being sure he had proof against them."
"Maybe one of the families went out to eat; it is Friday night and the girls are here at the game," Cheryl suggested. "Kind of a date-night for Mom and Dad."
"They sure are here. Allison hasn't so much as gone to the bathroom and Amy hasn't budged farther than that rail," Shawna grumbled, nodding toward the dividing line between sections.
"Yeah, so far we haven't had to work
at 'guarding' at all," Gracie agreed.
"Gracie, have you checked your phone?" Shawna asked. "It's pretty noisy here, it would've been easy to miss a call."
Gracie looked surprised, then stuck her hand in her pocket to retrieve her phone. "Nope, no calls," she said.
"In that case, I'm gonna go get a hotdog," Shawna said. "It'll be less crowded right now and that way I'll be back during half-time in case Amy goes anywhere."
"Get one for me, too," Cheryl said as Shawna stood up to leave.
Ken glanced at the scoreboard as he emerged into the home-team seating area. Great, he thought. It'll be a zoo around here as soon as the quarter ends. I may have to wait 'til the half-time show's over before I can even find my suspect. He looked around for Gracie and her friends, knowing they would have both girls in sight. They should be watching for him too, but it'd taken him so long they'd probably gotten into the game.
He moved around the upper level trying to spot Gracie. A girl ran up the steps of the next aisle over. Odd that she wasn't glued to the last few plays. Wait! Wasn't that Shawna? Hard to tell with that bulky coat she was wearing. He let his eyes roam over the crowd near that aisle. Yes that was Gracie, and Kelly and Cheryl were with her.
That meant Amy should be nearby, but he didn't see her. The girl didn't exactly stand out in a crowd, there wasn't anything exceptional in her looks or appearance. Ah, there she was standing down by the rail so she could better see the action on the field. Or maybe so she could walk around and warm up.
Just then Kelly turned around and spotted him, waving to get his attention. The girls turned around too and he thought he could see relief on their faces. But he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and when he looked that direction Amy was walking fast along the rail.
Ken pointed at Amy and then began paralleling her progress from his level. He trusted that Gracie would give chase from her end. There were more people milling around up here and Amy made better time. She'd have to go up a level to reach an exit, but now he could see Kelly running behind her. She might make it but at least he'd know which way she went. Ken ran down the steps to try to catch up to his quarry and nearly ran into Gracie and Cheryl.
Gracie had her phone in her hand and paused to make a call. Just then something exciting must've happened on the field because the crowd rose to its collective feet and screamed in enthusiasm. Gracie waved him on so he started running again. Cheryl followed and quickly overtook him. There weren't many people in the interior of the stadium so it was easy for him to see the young people turn a corner up ahead, Cheryl lagging behind by a several seconds. He slowed a little; he wasn't as young as he used to be and he certainly hadn't expected to have to run after his suspect.
Ken reached the corner, expecting to see the others ahead of him, but all he found was a corridor empty of people except for Cheryl. He stopped and stood there panting. Gracie ran up, phone still clutched in her hand. They were at an intersection with no one else in sight either direction.
"I'm sorry!" Cheryl cried. "I don't know which way they went."
Gracie made another call. As she awaited an answer she explained. "If Kelly will answer he can tell us where he is."
"He probably doesn't know," Cheryl said.
Outside the crowd roared, the noise echoing through the hall where they stood. With a disgusted look on her face Gracie closed the phone and pocketed it.
"Okay, there's three ways they could've gone, and there are three of us," Ken said. He'd recovered his breath though he was still panting a little.
"I'll go this way," Cheryl said, pointing to the right.
"I'll keep going straight," Ken said. "You go left, Gracie."
They all nodded and took off. Ken walked fast, but didn't run this time. He had a good sense of direction, but it'd been years since he'd been inside this stadium. If Amy got down in the lower sections it would be extremely difficult to find her, and he had half a mind to stop this mad chase and call in reinforcements. He reached the end of the corridor to find a dead-end except for stairs. Without thinking he took the stairs down.
Neither Amy nor Kelly was anywhere in sight. This area wasn't meant for the general public. It was full of various rooms and he took the time to open every door that wasn't locked; if she'd come this way she might try to hide. He worked his way slowly down the corridor but found nothing, most of the doors were locked.
He reached the other end to find another set of stairs. There was a great deal of noise coming up from the floor below. "Must be half-time," he said to himself. "If I'm where I think I am the locker rooms are right below me. The boys must be coming in off the field."
His phone rang and his first thought was to ignore it. Then he remembered Gracie trying to call Kelly and pulled the phone out of his pocket. He didn't recognize the number but answered anyway.
"Ken? This is Cheryl. Gracie told me to call, she says she knows where Amy's going."
"Does she have Amy in sight?" he asked.
"No, and Kelly lost her, too. Gracie says to go to the locker rooms. She sounded real sure about it, Lieutenant," Cheryl said.
"Good, I'm on the floor above now," he told her. "I'll keep to the stairs until I see her. Bye."
The noise grew louder as he walked down the stairs and peeked around the edge of the stairwell. He could see the boys tramping in, helmets dangling by the strap from their hands. He hadn't been the star player like young Jake, but he could remember what this felt like. You were tired and sweaty, but determined to go back out on the field in 30 minutes and win the game. From the expressions on these boys' faces they were ready to keep winning.
It was quite a crowd with the team and all the coaches and various assistants. Ken looked around them, thinking surely any of the girls would stand out in this crowd. He caught a brief glimpse of dark curly hair down the way – was that Cheryl? He couldn't be sure, and saw none of the others.
Suddenly a girl came running forward, long brown hair flying. "Jake!" she screamed.
Jake turned in surprise and Amy launched herself at him. He tried to dodge and one of the assistants stepped in front of her to block her way. "Miss, you're not supposed to be down here," he said sternly.
Amy slipped around the man to throw her arms around Jake. "You've got to help me!" she cried.
Ken stepped into the hall and saw Gracie and Kelly emerge from their hiding spots. He heard footsteps behind him and turned his head quickly to see that it was Shawna.
"I was at the concession stand," she panted. She was holding two rather worse for wear hot dogs. "Kelly called me. Am I too late?"
They turned their attention to the melee down the hall, edging out of the stairwell to get a better view. Amy still clung to Jake despite his attempts to free himself. Teammates and staff were trying to pull her off as well, without any more success than Jake had had.
"Don't let him take me," she pleaded. "He's trying to keep us apart. They were all trying to keep you from me."
Jake looked completely confused. "What are you talking about, Amy?" he asked.
She looked up into his eyes, desperation showing on her face. "Don't you see? I got rid of them for you, so we could be together. I love you, Jake!"
Jake managed to pry her grip loose and hold her by the arms in front of him. "Got rid of them? What are you talking about? Got rid of who?"
Ken stepped up behind Amy, badge in hand to identify himself to the others. "Amy Jones, I'm arresting you for the murder of Meaghan Pruitt," he said.
"Meaghan!" Jake cried. He shook Amy, hard. "You killed Meaghan? Why?"
Ken put his hands on Amy's arms and pulled her back out of Jake's grasp. The football hero looked angry enough to hurt her.
"Because she knew that Meaghan was pregnant, and that you'd promised to marry her," Gracie said from Ken's left.
"She'd have ruined your life! I saved you from that," Amy said passionately.
"Amy, if I'd wanted to go out with you I'd have asked," Jake said coldly.
A
my stared at Jake in shock, her face suddenly gone white. She slumped and would've fallen if Ken hadn't still been holding her arms.
The coach stepped up beside Jake, laying a hand gently on the young man's arm. "C'mon, Jake. Let's go on in the locker room and let the Lieutenant do his job." He tugged on Jake's arm and Jake followed him numbly. The crowd erupted in murmurs and questions of anyone and everyone, trying to comprehend what had just happened. "Show's over, everyone," the coach said from the doorway.
Players and staff slowly moved into the locker room, craning their heads to see if anything else would happen. Amy seemed cowed now, not moving as Ken put the handcuffs on her. The coach waved them all inside and then turned to Ken.
"There's a room down the hall you can use if you need it," he told Ken. "Gimme a second to get the key."
As the door shut Amy lifted her head to glare at Gracie. "You little bitch," she said venomously. "You thought you were so smart, figuring out who offed your old man. That doesn't mean you can prove I did anything."
CHAPTER 28
The six of them sat at a folding table in a workroom down the hall from the locker room. One of the assistants had set it up for them and even brought in coffee, as the unused room was a little chilly. Shawna and Cheryl munched what was left of their hot dogs. Ken thought it best to let the silence hang for a few minutes to allow Amy to stew about the possible evidence against her. She'd had a brief period of defiance, but now sat still and quiet, handcuffed to the table.
"How'd you finally figure it out, Gracie?" Cheryl asked, wiping mustard from her hands. "Her motive, I mean."
Gracie took a drink of her coffee. "When Ken showed up and Amy saw him and started running. She'd been standing by the rail, and I realized she did that a lot during the games. We all thought she just wanted a little better view, but I suddenly realized it was Jake she really wanted a better view of. As I was running through the stadium I started thinking about things she'd said, the way she'd acted at the party, the reason she hung around with the other girls. She was in love with Jake and wanted him to get closer to him so he'd finally notice her. So I knew she'd run to Jake for help."
