The Ambrose Deception

by Emily Ecton

  Enoch Ambrose was riding a pony around a grassy field in some shaky ancient footage. At least there was some action—a blurry home movie of a pony was way better than another montage of black-and-white photographs. Melissa had a feeling she wasn’t going to be tuning in for “Enoch Ambrose: The Teen Years.”

  Melissa waited for a commercial break and then nudged her grandmother. “So let’s say you wanted to have ice cream in 1910. Where would you go?” Maybe figuring out the clue was just a matter of asking the right person. The rules didn’t say you couldn’t ask questions. And nobody was closer to 1910 than Gran. Well, nobody Melissa knew, anyway.

  “Where would I go?” Gran looked thoughtful. “Well, 1910, I suppose.”

  “Right.” Not an option. Melissa crammed the last of her popcorn into her mouth and chewed mournfully.

  Melissa’s Clues:

  Go to the site of Lorado Taft’s Death in 1909.

  Freeze! Look to the building where Tarzan swam to find your “Contribution.”

  Go to 1910 for ice cream, then stick around to watch the newborns.

  Bondi’s Clues:

  Eli should’ve called this bubbler “Spitty Geese with Fish Huggers.”

  Help your bird friends get Wright to the Root of the matter as you spiral down from 12 to 2.

  Surrounded by glass, you’ll find the world at your feet.

  Wilf’s Clues:

  Jeremiah 6:23 plus Psalm 46:9

  Madame Tussaud and Mrs. O’Leary would be proud of their little blue friend.

  ???

  Bondi went over his list of possible bird locations one last time. He’d compiled it the night before and cross-referenced it by likelihood, bird type, and potential proximity to clocks. It was a big list, and checking all the possibilities was going to take time. Time he didn’t have. Especially since he wasn’t sure what he was looking for.

  He reread the clue one more time before sliding it into the inside pocket of his jacket. It wasn’t like he needed to, though—he could recite it in his sleep.

  Help your bird friends get Wright to the Root of the matter as you spiral down from 12 to 2.

  The bird part was the biggest clue, but he was pretty sure 12 to 2 was a clock reference. It must be some kind of code. Once he found the clock with birds, it would all make sense. But so far his search for bird clock Chicago hadn’t led him to anything but a bunch of online stores.

  Inez was just unwrapping a piece of nicotine gum when Bondi came out of his building.

  “So what’s the plan for today?” She tossed the wrapper into the nearest trash can as she talked. “Library again after school? You’re a wild one, I’ll give you that.”

  Bondi grinned. “Nah, not today. How about the Arboretum? I’m looking for birds.”

  Inez shook her head. “No dice. Outside of city limits. Got a second choice?”

  Bondi frowned. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about the city-limits rule. Now he’d need to rethink the whole thing. All that time, wasted.

  Bondi looked at his list again, his shoulders sagging. “You don’t happen to know any famous bird clocks around here, do you?” he asked finally, refolding his notes and putting them into his messenger bag.

  “What, like a cuckoo clock?”

  “I don’t know.” Bondi shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Inez gave a harsh barking laugh. “Not a big fan of birds or clocks, to be honest.”

  Bondi nodded like it wasn’t important. “Okay, well, thanks. Just asking.” He chucked his bag onto the backseat. He’d review his list on the way to school. Maybe he should check out the penguins, since everyone seemed so hot on them. The aquarium was within the city limits, at least.

  Inez leaned against Bondi’s door and tapped on the window until Bondi rolled it down.

  Inez peered at him through the window. “I don’t know about any birds, but that Marshall Field’s clock on State Street is pretty famous. It’s a clock, at least. And there’s another big one on the Wrigley Building.”

  “Sounds good,” Bondi said. Those clocks weren’t even on his list.

  Inez’s mouth twitched into an almost-smile. “I don’t know if there’ll be anything to it. It’s not like I know your answers, okay? But they’re clocks.” She checked her watch. “Want to try to make it before school?” She held up her hand expectantly.

  Bondi leaned out of the window and gave her a halfhearted high five. “You bet I do.”

  “Great. Let’s roll.” Inez hopped into the front and buckled her seat belt.

  Melissa leaned out into the street to see if the bus was coming. It wasn’t. Of course.

  Liam had been completely wired after the trip to the cemetery, and he’d stayed up talking about it forever. Which seemed fine at the time, but now Melissa realized what a mistake it had been. They’d all overslept, even Gran, and they’d missed their bus and the backup bus. If the next bus didn’t come soon, she might as well skip school, that’s how late she’d be. But she couldn’t, not with Mike Crosby’s and Tyler Blake’s and Alissa Grant’s homework in her notebook. She wasn’t about to give that fifteen dollars back.

  “And remember that pyramid one? Wasn’t that cool? When I die, I want a pyramid-shaped tomb. Or maybe one like a baseball, like that guy’s.” Liam picked up where he’d left off at breakfast, as though he’d never stopped talking. “Or my own little island, like that one across the bridge—wasn’t that awesome, Melissa? Can I have one of those?”

  “Sure,” she said, chewing on the end of her ponytail. Still no bus. No bus, no sign of a bus, nothing that even looked like a bus. Well, that was it. She was super late for sure. Maybe even miss-homeroom-and-first-period late. Liam still had a chance of being on time, though.

  “And that statue of the girl in the glass box…that was the creepiest thing ever.”

  “So creepy,” Melissa agreed absently, watching a truck back out into the street, bringing traffic to a halt. She felt waves of panic rising in her chest. If it blocked the bus, she might just freak out. But there was no bus to block, so it didn’t even matter. She didn’t care whether the people in the Honda had to sit there waiting all morning.

  Melissa chewed on her ponytail for a minute more before realizing that Liam had stopped talking. She dropped her ponytail and looked at him. “What?”

  “Your guy is back,” Liam said, jerking his head toward the other side of the street in a completely unsubtle attempt to be subtle. The man in the suit was standing beside his car, waiting.

  Melissa scowled. “Forget it.” She wished he would just go away. How creepy was that, following them around all the time, just because he was supposed to be driving her places. Whatever, weirdo, doing his job.

  She looked at her watch. They were so late.

  Three more not-buses zipped by. Melissa bit her lip and then shook her head again. “Forget it,” she said mostly to herself.

  The sound of the phone ringing made her jump. Liam looked at her pocket like it had a wolverine inside. “Is that you? Is that your phone?”

  Melissa scowled harder and pulled the phone out. She didn’t recognize the number, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t figure out who it was. “What?” she snapped.

  “You are going to be late for school.”

  “So what? I don’t care. Who cares?” Melissa said, deliberately turning her back on the man and his car. She hesitated. “Besides, I read the rules again. They say ‘No extra passengers. No exceptions.’ It was in the packet.”

  The man didn’t respond.

  Melissa took a deep breath. “Liam’s an extra passenger. I’m not losing this thing because I broke one of the rules.”

  The phone went dead. Melissa stared at the screen for a minute and then shoved it back into her pocket. What a jerk. She’d been right not to trust that guy. She knew those sketchy scholarship people were no good. She shouldn’t trust any of them. Just look at what they’d done with that stupid 1910 clue.

  She was just leaning out to look for the bus again, w
hen the black car pulled up in front of her and the driver hopped out, quickly circling around the car and opening the back door.

  “Dimitri Omar, at your service,” the man said, extending his hand to Liam. “I am an acquaintance of your sister’s.”

  “Melissa?” Liam considered the man’s hand and then tentatively shook it. Then he looked from the plush interior of the car to his sister. “Can we?”

  “Of course not. Don’t be silly.”

  Dimitri Omar didn’t say anything. He just remained standing by the open door.

  “It’s breaking the rules, though, right?” Melissa asked finally. “I mean, it wasn’t on that contract I signed, but it said in the packet ‘no extra passengers.’ I’ll be disqualified or something, right?”

  Dimitri Omar shook his head. “There is no extra passenger here. You two come as a set, no? If there is one thing I have learned, it is that you do not break up a set.”

  Melissa looked at her watch again. So, so late. “But are you sure? It didn’t say anything about sets. Is this a trick? Are you tricking me?”

  Dimitri Omar looked solemn. “I am your driver. You can trust me. I would not trick you to make you lose.” He paused. “I want to win, too. You win; I win.”

  Melissa raised an eyebrow at him and looked back at her watch.

  Dimitri stood by the open door.

  Melissa looked back up the street for the bus that still wasn’t coming. Then she looked back at the car and broke into a tentative smile. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Hop in, Liam.” She helped her brother climb into the car and then hesitated. “Hey, you don’t know how to get ice cream in 1910, do you?”

  Dimitri Omar gave a small shrug. “You go to ice cream shop?”

  Melissa rolled her eyes and got into the backseat.

  Wilf spread out in the backseat of Frank’s car, resting his backpack on the high peaks of his knees. “Just thought you should know I solved a clue last night. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.”

  “Yeah, that’s what you said. Way to go, champ!” Frank smiled as he pulled out into traffic. “What was it?”

  Wilf flicked his hair back nonchalantly. “Well, it was these two Bible verses, see? So I looked them up and wrote them out. I took a picture and everything. One was in Jeremiah, and one was in Psalms.”

  Frank’s smile flickered for just a second. “Well, like I said, that’s great.”

  “It was a pretty easy one,” Wilf said, looking out the window.

  Frank drove in silence for a minute. “So what did they mean, do you think?”

  Wilf frowned. “The Bible verses?”

  Frank glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “Yeah. I mean, they must stand for something, right?”

  Wilf slumped in the seat, making his knees poke up even higher. He’d thought he’d done it right, writing the stuff out just like they said, but maybe he was missing something? It hadn’t said anything about the quotes meaning anything, but maybe he should’ve just known. He probably shouldn’t have even bothered working on the clues. Then he wouldn’t look like an idiot if he did it wrong. “I don’t know. I couldn’t figure it out. Why, you think that’s important?”

  Frank shook his head. “No, just curious, that’s all.” He forced a smile. “Hey, don’t look so gloomy, clue-solver! So where to today? Still hot dogs?”

  Wilf sat up straighter. “Oh yeah. Hot dog tour commence.”

  Bondi stood underneath the clock at the old Marshall Field’s building, staring up at it. He wished he were about five feet taller. Or at least as tall as that Wilf kid. That would be a huge help.

  Inez dug a cigarette packet out of her shoulder bag, discovered it was empty, then crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash. “So, anything? Birds? Platypuses? Anything with a beak up there?”

  Bondi shook his head. There were swirly curlicues on the metal, which had turned green over time, but nothing that looked like a bird, and the three sides of the clock were pretty plain—just Roman numerals. He could stare at it all day, but he had to face facts. “I don’t think this is it.” The Wrigley Building clock hadn’t been very promising, either. Granted, it had been a lot higher up, but there didn’t seem to be anything birdlike about it.

  Bondi couldn’t believe he hadn’t found it yet. How hard could it be to find one bird clock? His parents would’ve both figured it out by now, he was sure of it. They’d won lots of scholarships and things when they were in school. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. This whole contest should’ve been a snap.

  Bondi gave the clock one last once-over and then walked back to the car.

  “Tough break, kid. You’ll find it, though.” Inez checked her watch. “Ready for school?”

  Bondi shrugged halfheartedly as he flopped down onto the seat. “I think we’re going to have to go to the zoo, Inez. That must be it. First thing after school.”

  “Right. Gotcha,” Inez said. “Or the aquarium. That’s where the penguins are, you know.”

  Bondi groaned.

  Melissa couldn’t believe how her day had turned around. Thanks to Dimitri Omar’s fancy driving, they’d dropped Liam off and she’d made it to school with three minutes to spare. The ride to school was actually amazingly short when she didn’t have to stop at what felt like every single bus stop in the city. And the best part was that she hadn’t had to put up with some weirdo dripping on her the whole way. Melissa always seemed to end up next to someone with moisture issues. She just hoped her good luck would hold.

  It wasn’t until third-period history that her regular life kicked back in. Mr. Masterson kept eyeing her all through their pop quiz and silent reading, just like he had the first week of school. That time she’d gotten a lecture about speaking up in class and overcoming her “paralyzing shyness.” Because calling out a student in class is the perfect way to make her feel more comfortable.

  Melissa tried to ignore him and focus on her book until the bell rang. She’d almost made it out of the classroom, when Mr. Masterson called her name.

  Melissa stopped in the doorway. She really didn’t want to turn around, but it wasn’t like she had a choice. Since he was the teacher and all.

  “Yeah?” She tried not to sound surly. She had a problem with that sometimes. Just ask Mr. Masterson.

  “Melissa, could I speak to you for a moment?” Mr. Masterson was still sitting at his desk, staring at her with his most serious I’m-here-to-help expression.

  Melissa’s good mood took a nosedive into the pit of her stomach. Well, it had been nice while it lasted.

  “Sure. What is it?” Melissa drifted back in front of his desk. She hoped he wasn’t going to suggest she take martial arts again. That had been his recommendation last time. He’d said it would boost her confidence. It was too bad she hadn’t done it—a well-placed karate chop would be just the thing in this situation.

  “Melissa…” Mr. Masterson looked at the blotter on his desk. “I don’t quite know how to say this…so I’ll just say it. I went over the homework while you all were doing your silent reading today. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah,” Melissa said. What, did he think she was an idiot? How could she not know that? A cold feeling started to creep over her. It wasn’t her shyness this time. It was the worksheets. She knew it. He’d figured out that she’d been doing other people’s homework.

  She braced herself. She was going down for sure.

  “Melissa…” Mr. Masterson hesitated again. For someone who was just saying it, he was having a heck of a time spitting it out.

  “Melissa,” he started again, “when I looked at your worksheet, I noticed certain…similarities, shall we say, with Tyler Blake’s paper. They were identical, in fact.”

  The cold feeling had spread all over Melissa’s body and rooted her to the ground. She couldn’t even feel her feet.

  She’d gotten sloppy. She usually tried to mix things up when she did other kids’ homework, varying the words and phrases to make it seem like the worksheets had been written by differ
ent people. But she hadn’t been thinking about that when she did Tyler’s last night. Like an idiot, she’d been thinking about 1910.

  Melissa’s mouth was so dry that it was hard to force any words out. “Really?”

  “Yes. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Melissa, I hate to ask you this, but did you copy from Tyler’s paper? I just want you to be honest with me. Please.”

  Melissa’s jaw dropped. “No.”

  Mr. Masterson shook his head. “I’m not going to be angry if you did. If you’re struggling, I want to get you the help you need. But I can’t help you until you admit that you copied Tyler’s work.”

  The cold feeling was immediately replaced by a wave of heat so strong Melissa was surprised it didn’t knock her forward. She clenched her hands but tried to keep her face blank. “I didn’t copy from Tyler.”

  Mr. Masterson looked disappointed. “You’re saying it’s just a coincidence that you and Tyler phrased your answers exactly the same way?”

  “I guess so,” Melissa said. “Is that what Tyler said? Did he say I copied?”

  Mr. Masterson sighed. “Melissa, I didn’t want to embarrass you by mentioning this to Tyler. Right now your grades are fine, but I don’t want you to drop behind. There are tutoring sessions every day after school. I can add you to the list, and you’ll be back up to speed in no time.”

  Melissa focused on the spot in between Mr. Masterson’s eyebrows. She didn’t want to look him in the eye. “I watch my brother after school. Sorry.”

  Mr. Masterson nodded. “Well, the offer stands. And, Melissa, I don’t want to have to talk to you about this again. Consider this your one and only warning.” He hesitated. “Melissa, is there something you want to talk about? Should I give you a note to see Mrs. Orlin in guidance? I’m sure she’d be happy to discuss any problems you might have.”