“OhmyGod, OhmyGod, OhmyGod,” chanted Kate to the rhythm of her pedaling as they biked away at breakneck pace.
Two blocks later, the girls reached a city park. They cruised to a stop before crumbling onto the grass next to their bikes.
They panted heavily. Faye groaned weakly.
“That’s why I didn’t take to a life of crime. Pure fear.”
“That was terrifying,” said Melanie.
Another “Oh, my God,” was all Kate could manage.
The girls lay on the ground, catching their breaths.
No one knew who started it, but suddenly all three of them were laughing. Great, deep belly laughs that communicated how great it was to be alive, and young, and not arrested for trespassing in the Aztecs float barn.
“I can’t believe it,” Kate finally said as their laughter died down. “We really did it.”
Faye still giggled weakly.
“I know,” said Melanie, staring up into the Spanish moss dangling from an enormous oak limb. “We did it, and we got just the clues we need.” She held her phone up into the air. “Right here.”
She rolled onto her stomach and looked at Faye and Kate. “What did I tell you? We’re going to solve it. Nothing can stop us now.”
Melanie arrived home that afternoon, tired but elated. She sailed upstairs to her room and pulled the door shut behind her. She unfolded the piece of paper with all the known letters and carefully added in the new ones.
She smiled down at her almost completed list. Tonight, she’d get the next batch of letters, and then there were only two more days until the final piece of the puzzle. She hoped.
The doorknob to her room turned. The door swung open a few inches to reveal Lacey, staring through the crack.
“Melly,” whispered Lacey. “Can I come in? I’m hiding.”
Melanie pulled the door open for her. In her current state of mind, she could even handle a little babysitting time.
“Come on, Lace,” she said. She carefully locked her paper back into the jewelry box before taking her sister’s hand.
“Are you going to play with me? Yay! Wanna paint?”
“I’ll color with you,” said Melanie, leading Lacey down the hall. “Last time we painted, you turned my nose red.”
“Ok.” said Lacey. “Color. With Mel.” She skipped along Melanie’s side.
That evening, Melanie and Faye met at Kate’s house to ride to the Kiwanis meeting together. While they were waiting on the front porch for Kate’s mother to drive them, Matt sauntered out.
“I see you guys are off to be studious while I do the dirty work. Typical.”
Melanie looked at him seriously. “Are you ready for tonight, Matt? You’ve got to be sure to get every single letter. We need them all.”
He grinned. “I’ve got it. I promise, nothing’s gonna slip by me.” He leaned against the wall. “So, one last chance. Does anyone want to give me a hint of what this is all about?”
“Nope,” said Kate. “Just hold up your end of the bargain because I am about sick of laundry.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring home the goods. The merchandise. The loot. The – ”
Kate stopped him. “We get it, Matt.”
“Don’t forget,” added Melanie, “if you stand right underneath the clock tower, you can get the best view of the floats.”
“Melanie, I’ve been to a parade before.”
“I know, I know. Sorry.” She smiled at Matt. “Thanks for doing this for us.”
Mrs. Butler came out of the front door. “Let’s go, girls. Into the van.” She stopped to plant a kiss on Matt’s head.
“Mom!”
“Be safe at the parade. See you when I get home.”
“Bye, girls,” said Matt, waving cheerily. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Melanie smiled as she watched him through the van window. Even though she didn’t want to share the code beyond Kate and Faye, it was nice to have Matt as a partial member of the team. And Faye was right… he was a little cute.
“Ok, let’s review for the presentation.” Faye startled Melanie out of her reverie.
Melanie jumped and, for some reason, found herself blushing. “Sure. Fire away.”
The Kiwanis meeting that evening was about what Melanie expected. Middle-aged men and women milled about the room, politely stopping to ask the girls questions about their projects. Faye answered them with ease, and Melanie and Kate nodded along as if they would have said the same thing if given the chance. Their history teacher cycled through the room and beamed at all the students.
Melanie was eager to be done with the evening and get her next set of letters. This mock presentation was a poor substitute for working on the Mardi Gras code, and she itched to leave. Her thoughts were firmly fixed on Matt. She kept glancing at the clock, estimating where the parade would be and how many letters Matt might have found by then.
When it was finally over, Melanie heaved a sigh of relief and helped pack up their presentation. They rode back with Kate’s mother and dashed inside the house as soon as the van was parked.
“Where’s Matt?” Kate asked her father as soon as they crossed the threshold.
“Not back yet,” he said. He glanced at his watch. “I’m a little surprised, actually. But I’m sure he’ll be home soon.”
“Honey,” Mrs. Butler called from the garage. Something in her voice caused everyone to look alert. “Come out here.”
Mr. Butler hurried from the room.
“Look!” Faye shouted, running to the front window. Melanie and Kate were close on her heels.
A police car had pulled up in front of the Butler’s home.
Chapter 10
“Oh, no.” Faye turned to her friends with a stricken face. “They’re here for us. They know about the float barn. Oh, my God, what are we going to do?”
“How could they know?” cried Kate. “No one saw us.”
“Let’s go out the back door,” said Faye. “Hurry.”
“Faye,” said Melanie. She rushed to stop Faye from leaving the room. “Calm down. We are not going on the run from the police. That’s crazy.”
“It’s better than being locked up!”
“Wait,” interrupted Kate. “Look. They’re not here for us. They’ve got Matt!”
Melanie dashed back to the window. Sure enough, she could make out Matt through the darkness. He was climbing out of the backseat of the car, a somber looking policeman by his side.
“What happened?” she asked. “Is he ok?”
“You mean they’re not here for us?” Faye put a hand to her head and weakly sighed. “Thank goodness.”
“Thank goodness?” cried Melanie. “Matt’s been arrested, and that’s all you can say?”
“Sorry,” said Faye. “I mean, poor Matt. I wonder what happened.”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” said Kate, her nose still pressed against the window. The policeman handed Matt over to his parents, and the adults conferred together.
“They’re coming in,” said Kate. She retreated from the window and faced the door.
Moments later, Kate’s parents and Matt walked into the room.
“Girls,” said Mr. Butler, “run on up to Kate’s bedroom, please. We need to talk down here.”
Kate nodded, and the three girls shuffled out of the room. Melanie snuck a glance back at Matt on her way out. He was staring right at her, and he winked as soon as she met his eye. She felt the knot in her stomach loosen slightly, and she gave him a small smile before he vanished from view.
Upstairs in Kate’s room, the three girls sat in stricken silence for a moment.
Finally, Kate broke the quiet. “I wish I could hear what’s going on down there.”
“Do you think he’s really in trouble?” asked Melanie.
Kate raised her eyebrows and blew out a breath. “It looks that way.”
“What on earth could he have done?” asked Faye.
They stared at each other.
No one had a good answer.
“Can you imagine if we’d been caught sneaking into the float barn this morning?” asked Kate. She put her hands on her forehead. “Geez, was that only this morning? What a day.”
“Your parents would have had two cop visits in one day,” said Faye, shaking her head.
“They would have died. After they killed me, of course.”
The girls broke out into nervous giggles that quickly built into uncontrollable laughter.
“At least Matt didn’t seem too worried,” said Melanie, wiping her eyes as she calmed down, “so hopefully it’s not too bad.”
“Speaking of Matt,” said Faye, “you certainly seemed concerned about him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What were your words?” She screwed up her forehead in thought.
“I remember,” said Kate. “‘Matt’s been arrested, and all you can say is thank goodness?’ Sounds like you care.”
“Of course, I care,” said Melanie with a hot face. “If he got arrested doing a favor for us, we all should care.”
“It wasn’t a favor,” said Kate. “We paid him. Have you already forgotten all that laundry duty?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do,” said Kate. “You mean you like him.”
“Do not.”
“Yes, you do,” said Kate. “Ugh. One of my best friends likes my brother. What am I going to do?” She spoke in a light tone, but Melanie sensed an undercurrent of real concern behind her words.
“I do not,” Melanie repeated.
“Leave her alone,” said Faye.
Melanie was about to thank her, but there was a teasing look in Faye’s eye that rubbed Melanie the wrong way. She crossed her arms instead and settled back on the bed.
Suddenly all three girls jumped from a knock on the door.
“Let me in.” Matt’s urgent whisper drifted through the door. Kate ran to open it. He hurried inside and pulled the door shut behind him.
“What happened?” said Kate. She hit Matt on the arm. “I can’t believe you were arrested.”
“Shh. Keep it down. Mom and Dad don’t know I’m in here. I’m supposed to be in my room.” He surveyed the girls and grinned. “I’ve got something for you.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket with a flourish. “Backwards, upside-down, and all around weird letters, for your reading pleasure. I have no idea what you’re going to do with them, but then, I don’t really get girls.”
Melanie grabbed the sheet of paper with a cry. “Thank you, Matt. We owe you one.”
“Do not,” said Kate. “Laundry, remember?”
Melanie waved her off while she examined the list. She couldn’t wait to add them to her master set.
“Ok, so tell us what happened,” said Kate.
“I’ve gotta be quick,” said Matt, but he settled onto the floor anyway. “I was doing fine, spotting letters – you guys have weird hobbies, by the way – but somewhere in the second half of the parade, this old lady scoots right next to me. Not a nice little old lady either.”
The girls nodded. They knew even the sweetest elderly folks could turn vicious when fighting over Mardi Gras beads. It was a strange but well known fact.
“She was a tough one, and she was reaching and scurrying along with everyone else to grab stuff. I was minding my own business, searching for letters like a good private eye should, when on the very last float, this old lady jumps straight into me. We both fall over. She starts yelling about her hip or something, and then lots of people are there helping her up and stepping all over me.
“By the time I got up, the last float had already gone by. So, I tried to follow it down the side, but you know what Saturday parades are like.”
“Packed,” supplied Faye.
“Exactly. I couldn’t move anywhere, but I knew I needed to check that float. So, I did the only thing I could. I jumped the barricade.”
“You what?” exclaimed all three girls.
The first rule of Mardi Gras that every Mobile child learned was to never cross the barricade. If you jumped over the metal partitions separating the crowd from the floats, it would mean only one thing – you were going to be arrested.
“I had no choice. You said you needed every single letter, so I had to make sure. So there I was, running down the street after the float, dodging horse poop, by the way, which was gross. I’d just caught up to the last float when the cop nabbed me. But it was a good thing I ran after it, because I spotted one more letter right when the guy started dragging me off.”
The girls met his story with awed silence. Melanie stared at him with wide eyes. She couldn’t believe that he had gone to such lengths for them.
“What happened to the old lady?” asked Faye finally.
Matt grunted. “I saw her walking away from the parade with a bag full of stuff. Her hip or whatever was just fine.”
“Matt,” said Melanie, “thanks. Really. We feel awful that you got in trouble for this.”
Matt smiled. “No big deal. I had to help you.”
Melanie suddenly felt shy. She wasn’t able to meet his eye, and she saw Faye and Kate glancing back and forth between the two of them.
“I better get home,” she said, standing up. “After all that, I don’t want to lose these.” She waved the piece of paper in the air, looking at her feet.
“See everyone tomorrow.” She quickly left the room, and ran down the stairs and out the front door.
Chapter 11
Sunday, or Joe Cain Day, was a special day in Mobile. On this local holiday, Mobile celebrated the reemergence of Mardi Gras after the Civil War. The day and its parade had been named after Joe Cain, the man who was credited with bringing back Mardi Gras to the battle-weary town.
Now, Joe Cain Day was possibly the most popular day of Mardi Gras, rivaling even Fat Tuesday itself. Much of the city turned out for the day’s parade, which was unique among the season’s many festivities. While most Mardi Gras parades were run by mystic organizations with professional floats, Joe Cain was the people’s parade. It included marchers, homemade floats on the flatbeds of trucks, and ordinary citizens of Mobile throwing to the crowds.
Many of the families on Melanie’s street spent Joe Cain day together every year. They’d head out early to the parade route and claim a large section for the neighborhood to watch together.
People brought chairs and music and drinks. Families contributed steaming pots of gumbo and large Igloo coolers full of red beans and rice to keep everyone fed. It was like a neighborhood block party, with the added fun of the Joe Cain parade as entertainment.
After church, Melanie and her family drove downtown. Her dad maneuvered the family minivan into a street parking spot, and they unloaded their gear. They began the walk to the parade route. Melanie juggled four fold-up chairs, while Lacey skipped along beside her.
It was a gray day. Though the population was predisposed to celebrate, the weather was not. Thick gray clouds blanketed the sky, and a warm, humid wind swept the city steadily. Melanie shook her head at the rapidly changing weather that always characterized winter in her town.
Melanie spotted Faye’s family as they neared the barricades.
“Hey!” shouted Melanie, waving. Faye saw Melanie and came running up.
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Smythurst,” she said, taking two of the chairs from Melanie. “Here, I’ll help.”
“Thanks, Faye,” said Melanie’s mother. “Your family arrived early.”
Faye nodded. “You know Dad. He’s like a kid at Joe Cain. He can’t wait to get down here.”
Mr. Smythurst rubbed his hands together. “I know just how he feels! Come along, ladies, I see a good spot.”
Melanie and Faye fell back slightly as her parents and Lacey headed for the free space.
“Is Kate here yet?” asked Melanie.
“No, but she just texted that they’re on their way.”
Melanie checked her watch. She groaned. “I hate to
waste a whole day. We’re out here killing time when I just want to be working on the code.”
“This isn’t killing time,” said Faye. “It’s having fun. Take it from me. I know I can overdo the studying, but sometimes you’ve just got to take a day off. It’ll be good for you. Besides, there’s nothing we can do today anyways. We have to wait for tomorrow’s parade to get the final clues.”
“I know that, but some part of me just doesn’t care. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Then we’ll distract you,” said Faye.
“How?”
“Easy. We are going to eat lots of gumbo. And drink about fifty sodas. Each. And dance to that ridiculous music my parents like to play on the radio.” She looked at Melanie. “Maybe even spend some time with Matt,” she added, “assuming his parents let him out of the house.”
“Oh geez, my stomach already hurts.”
“From the fifty sodas or Matt?”
“Mel,” called Lacey. “Here’s our spot.” She waved Melanie over.
The day passed very quickly. Kate arrived shortly, and the three girls enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Good will permeated everything on Joe Cain Day. Even Kate’s little brothers benefited from the rosy glow. The girls were inclined to find their antics throughout the day funny, rather than annoying.
In punishment for his run-in with the law, Matt had to stick close to his parents for much of the day. He did manage to slip away long enough to challenge Melanie to a round of beanbags.
Melanie was on pins and needles the entire time they played. She wasn’t sure how to behave with Matt, and she caught Kate watching them more than once with a concerned expression. Matt seemed to be behaving normally, however, and after Melanie won, he congratulated her in his typical easygoing fashion before his parents called him back to their side.
The Mardi Gras Chase (True Girls Book 1) Page 6
