On the Case (From the Files of Madison Finn, 17) (11 page)

“Poof?”
Madison repeated.

“The package-a-disappeared. I think someone-a-took it,” Mr. Olivetti said.

“Where did you leave it? On your desk?” Madison asked.

“No, no,” Mr. Olivetti said, “I-a-had it in my briefcase.”

“Your briefcase? The black one?” Madison asked.

“Yes. You know the black one I-a-carry?” Mr. Olivetti said.

Madison nodded. She was adding up the clues inside her head. But just when she thought she was about to figure everything out, someone barged into the music room.

“Whoops! I thought this was my lesson time,” the person said.

Madison blinked when she saw who was standing there.

It was Lana Waldorf.

“Oh, hello, Madison,” Lana said meekly. She turned back to Mr. Olivetti. “Um… I brought you those papers you needed…”

Mr. Olivetti smiled. “Fine, fine. I think your lesson is in a half hour.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lana said. As she turned to leave, Lana stared hard at Madison.

Something was going on. Madison could feel it.
What was Lana doing there?

The wheels inside Madison’s head began to churn some more.

Lana had already been caught doing something wrong at the clinic, earlier that week. What if she were up to no good again, right here at school?

Madison’s mind raced.

Major DeMille would have said that Lana was a confessed thief who had now been caught at the scene of yet another crime! She
had
to be added to the list of suspects. Right?

“So, where was I?” Mr. Olivetti said.

He continued talking about the missing package as if Lana had never put in an appearance. Madison wasn’t really listening to him anymore, though. Her mind was on the suspect list.

Penelope? Maybe.

Ivy? Maybe.

Lana? Maybe.

But Mr. Olivetti?

As he continued talking, it seemed increasingly unlikely to Madison that Mr. Olivetti would have stolen his own sheet music—or even faked its disappearance.

Solving this mystery was a lot trickier than she had thought it would be.

Eventually, Madison returned her thoughts to the flute, and Mr. Olivetti resumed his instruction. He let her stay for a few minutes over her normal time to finish playing a short piece.

On her way out, Madison saw Lana again, sitting on the floor outside the music room. Lana had her books spread around her while she tried to finish homework.

“Hi, Madison,” Lana said as Madison walked by.

Madison tried looking into Lana’s eyes. Was that a guilty stare coming back at her? There was no way to know. It had been a lot easier to prove Lana guilty when she had had cat hair on her sweater, Madison thought.

Madison said a quick hello and then strolled right past Lana and turned toward the bank of lockers on the first floor. As she walked along, Madison heard whispering from around a corner. She slowed down to listen.

The voice was Ivy Daly’s.

“I can’t believe I got away with it!” Ivy said.

Madison gasped. Got away with it? Got away with
what
? What was Ivy talking about? Got away with stealing? Was this proof that Ivy had something to do with the theft?

Without thinking, Madison charged around the corner.

“Got away with
what
?” Madison said, confronting Ivy. “What did you do?”

Ivy and the drones were too shocked to speak for a moment. But then, Ivy laughed—and the drones laughed, too.

“Got away with wearing this top, you dummy!” Ivy snarled. “What did you think?”

Madison wanted to melt into the floor. Almost instantly, her palms got sweaty.

Usually, at a time like that, running away was Madison’s best option. But now she wasn’t able to run. Her feet felt frozen in place.

“Gee, Maddie, are you eavesdropping in the halls?” Ivy asked. “Since when did you become such a snoop?”

Madison still couldn’t move—and she couldn’t answer the accusation, either. Ivy pronounced
snoop
as if it had been the worst thing in the world.

And it felt as though it were.

“You should mind your own business, Madison,” Rose Thorn added.

“Yeah, and keep to yourself, too!” said Phony Joanie.

Poison Ivy shook her head. “Pathetic,” she said. “Just pathetic.”

As she walked away, hanging her head, Madison felt her chest throb. She hadn’t felt so slammed by Poison Ivy and her drones in weeks.

It was humiliating.

And it got Madison thinking.

What if she weren’t really cut out to be a detective, after all?

I
T WAS A RELIEF
when Wednesday morning came. The last place Madison wanted to be was at school. She’d had her fill of flute, Ivy, and the missing-sheet-music mystery. Most of all, she was beginning to doubt whether she had what it took to be a
Crime Time
sleuth.

Of course, not thinking about the sheet music and her suspect list meant that Madison had to think about other things.

For example, today was the day everyone was going to the movies.

The movies.

Madison wasn’t really going alone. She was meeting up with her friends, and they’d all be sitting together as a group. But in her heart, Madison felt alone.

And, as if things didn’t look (or feel) bleak enough, Egg called.

“Hey, Maddie!” Egg shouted too loudly into the phone, as he often did. “You’re cool with the change in plans, right?”

“What change in plans?” Madison asked.

“Different time, different place,” Egg said. “I’m calling because I wanted to know if you were coming in the van with us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t Hart call you?” Egg asked. “I talked to him last night, and he said he would call.”

Madison sighed. “No, he didn’t call,” she said dejectedly.

She couldn’t believe that Hart not only hadn’t called to ask her to be his “partner” for the group date but he hadn’t even called her as a friend, to pass along information.

He must really have a good reason for not wanting to talk, Madison thought.

“I guess I need a ride,” Madison said. “Who’s going in your car?”

“Me, Fiona, Chet, Dan, and now, Hart,” Egg said. “And you, I guess.”

Madison’s blood began to boil a little. It was bad enough that Hart had not called. But why hadn’t Fiona called, either? And how could Fiona have known about arrangements to have Hart in her car pool for the movies—and not told Madison about it?

“Is your mom driving?” Madison asked. Señora Diaz was Egg’s mom, but she was also Madison’s Spanish teacher.

“Yeah, we’re taking the monster,” Egg said. “The monster” was Egg’s term for the family van. “My sister Mariah will probably come, too.”

“Your sister?” Madison asked.

“Yeah, she’s coming along as a sort of chaperone,” Egg said. “It was my mom’s idea.”

“Chaperone?” Madison giggled. “Okay. And how is Drew getting there?”

“He’s coming with Elaine,” Egg said with a snicker. “His dad’s driving the two of them.”

“Oh,” Madison said knowingly. Lately, Drew and Elaine had been inseparable.

“So?” Egg asked. “What’s it gonna be?”

“I’m in,” Madison said, buoyed by the fact that she would be driving to the movies with Hart and the rest of the group. She didn’t have to start off the movie date alone, after all. That was good.

It was a relief to stop thinking about solving crimes for one afternoon. Madison and Phin stood outside her closet contemplating a few bold fashion statements for a trip to the movies.

Faded gray zombie T-shirt and painter’s pants? Too tomboyish.

Blue sweater set with peasant skirt? Too girly.

Plain, cropped tank with faded jeans and Far Hills hoodie?

Madison decided on the last combo. The sky was clouding up, and she didn’t want to wear anything too complicated. Getting caught in the rain in this outfit wouldn’t spell disaster.

Madison pulled her hair back into a bun and applied some mascara that she had borrowed from Mom’s vanity drawer. She wasn’t used to wearing makeup, except for lip gloss.

“How do I look, Phin? I have to look good. Do I look good? I have to make an impression,” Madison posed in front of the bedroom mirror while Phin lay on the carpet, panting.

An exasperated Madison tore off the sweatshirt and replaced it with a striped, V-neck sweater. She put on a pair of dangling earrings with mixed colored stones and a bangle bracelet that Stephanie had given her.

“That’s better,” Madison told herself. “I just wish I liked the way I looked. Maybe I need a new wardrobe.”

Madison headed downstairs to wait for the arrival of the Diaz minivan. It was actually a large SUV, the kind of car that Aimee’s environmentally conscious parents were always complaining about.

She wrote a note to Mom and left it on the hall table.

Mom,

We left noonish. Egg’s mom is driving. Going to Far Hills Multiplex over on Acorn Road. Seeing Curse of the Diamond. It’s rated PG-13 but we have a chaperone. Be home later. ILY.

XOX

Maddie

A loud honk came about five minutes later. Madison said good-bye to Phin and locked the door.

“Maddie!” Fiona gushed, as soon as Madison stepped into the car. “I meant to call you last night. I am so sorry I didn’t!”

Madison shrugged. She said a general hello to everyone else inside.

“Hey, Finnster,” Hart said.

Madison saw that the only empty seat in the van was, in fact, next to Hart. He was sitting up front, directly behind the driver.

She broke into a wide smile and hopped in.

“Like I said, Maddie,” Fiona continued to gush. “I am so, so,
so
sorry.”

Madison turned to her friend, sitting in the middle row, next to Egg. “Don’t worry about it, Fiona,” she said, acting nonchalant.

While speaking to Fiona, she looked to see who else was in the van.

Up front, next to Señora Diaz, was Chet. He looked nervous stuck up front with a teacher. Even if he was good friends with Egg, being around his Spanish teacher made him uncomfortable.

Señora Diaz was cheery. She had been in meetings all morning at school for the faculty conference. After she dropped the group off, she was heading back to school for another summit, over lunch.

Madison glanced into the back row and saw a streak of purple hair. Mariah waved at her. “Hey, Maddie!” she said. “Remember Penelope?”

Madison almost choked. Next to Mariah sat Penelope, from the party, the street, and the suspect list!

“Hi,” Madison said meekly.

Penelope was as sticky-sweet as she’d been the first time Madison had met her. “Hiya!” she squeaked.

“We have two chaperones,” Fiona said. “Mariah and Penelope. They’re helping us get past the PG-13 watchdog at the movie theater.”

“Some of us
are
thirteen,” Hart said with a smile.

Dan, who was squished in next to Egg and Fiona and behind Madison, piped up, “We’re getting the super-size popcorn when we get there, right?”

“Do you need a chaperone for
that
?” Mariah said.

Everyone in the van laughed. Madison shook her head. Dan was always thinking about what to eat next.

The ride over to Acorn Road and the multiplex took about ten minutes. Everyone kept joking and staring out the van windows as they barreled along on the highway access road toward the multiplex.

“Where’s Aimee today?” Chet asked.

“Dance class,” Madison said. “You know.”

“Bummer,” Chet said.

Madison didn’t know what to make of that comment. For a fleeting moment she thought maybe Chet sounded
interested
in Aimee.

Madison would have to file that one away for future reference.

“I heard this movie has a cool scene with bugs,” Dan said. “I read it on Movie Link.”

“I read about that, too,” Egg said. “It has something like a billion cockroaches in it. Did you know that cockroaches actually have their own agents?”

“Ewww!” Fiona squealed. “Cockroaches are gross.”

“I hate bugs!” Madison said.

“Me, too!” squeaked Penelope from the backseat.

“Kids, we’re almost there,” Señora Diaz called out as she made a few turns onto some back roads. “I’m taking a little shortcut.”

“Oh, Mom,” Egg groaned. “You always get lost when you take shortcuts.”

“I know where we are,” Hart said. “Take a left there.”

Madison looked up at her crush with wide eyes. She hoped that she would be sitting with Hart inside the movie theater, too.

When they pulled up in front of the entrance to the multiplex, the group shuffled out of the van. Other kids and their parents were lined up for tickets. Egg and his mom made arrangements to meet after the movie ended, and then she left for her meeting.

A few rumbles sounded off in the distance. A big storm was coming. There was something about dark clouds and lightning and damp air that made Madison feel as though she were a real detective. It was like being inside a movie from the 1940s, the ones Mom called film noirs. Madison remembered watching an old movie on TV once called
The Maltese Falcon.

As they stood on line waiting for tickets, everyone gossiped about other people in the seventh grade. But Madison didn’t feel like gossiping. She was busy dreaming up aliases again. What would her detective name be once she solved the sheet-music mystery? She’d imagined her alias as Charlotte Helena Isobel Marguerite Phoebe Antoinette. But that was a mouthful. She’d have to think up something shorter and easier—fast. Something more like Sam Spade.

What about an acronym of her favorite names? That could do it.

Charlotte Helena Isobel Marguerite Phoebe Antoinette—otherwise known as CHIMPA!

Madison cringed. That sounded like some new addition to the zoo.

She needed something more like a groovy spy’s name.

“Hey, Finnster,” Hart shook Madison’s shoulder gently. “We’re going inside.”

Madison realized that she’d daydreamed herself all the way out of the line and away from her friends.

“Gee, Finnster,” Hart said as they walked inside. “What planet are you on today?”

Madison giggled. “Earth. I swear,” she said with a grin.