“So then, uhâ¦,” Rusty paused. “Then I picked it up and I was going to bring it back to Megan. But suddenly Cliff showed up and⦔ He glanced at Katie.
“I'm not sure what happened after that.”
Every eye turned to Katie. Her mind whirled.
There had to be a logical explanation.
“Katie?” her mom asked.
“Oh. Am I allowed to talk now?”
“Please do.”
“Okay then. Wellâhere's the thing.” She took a deep breath and let her eyes roam slowly from face to face. “Uhâlike Rusty said, we found the phone in the grass.” When in doubt, tell the truth. “So then I dialed Megan's number, on my phone, to see if it would ring. Turned out it did, so we were going to bring it back. Then Cliff came charging up and yelled at us. He looked real mad, and we got kind of, you know, scared.”
“Me?” Cliff chuckled. “Scary?”
Katie plunged on with her story. “So when the phone rang, I sort of told Rusty to pretend it was Aunt Sarah. That way Cliff would think you wanted us to come back right away. And Rusty did good too, he really sounded as if he was talking to you.”
“And after that Cliff got real nice,” Rusty added.
Now every eye shifted to Cliff.
He shook his head, laughing. “I don't believe this! Okay, sure I was mad at first when I saw the kids with that chicken wire, but I apologized for that. And when I saw Rusty with that phone, I was almost sure he was lying, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. You know me, I'm one of the least scary guys in the world. If you want scary, look at Scott Holden. He took Megan's cell, and I mean to find out why.” Cliff swung around on his heel and stomped out the door.
It was GJ who broke the silence following Cliff's departure. “Well,” he said, “no harm done. And that was quick thinking kids. It's good to know you can handle yourselves if you believe there's a problem.”
“Even if it was only Cliff,” Aunt Margaret added. “He's the nicest young man you could ever hope to meet.” She turned to Rusty's mom. “Sarah, why don't you and Rusty go off on that walk now? And Laura, you must be wanting to spend some time with Katie. I'm going to take that cell phone upstairs and have a chat with my own daughter.”
Katie watched her aunt start up the stairs and forced her feet not to follow. She wanted to press her ear to Megan's door and listen. She wanted to ask⦠“Katie?”
She turned to face her mom. “Katie, didn't you hear me? I asked if you want to go out to the porch where we can sit and chat?”
Katie glanced back up the stairs. “Sure, okay.”
Her mom smiled and her dark eyes twinkled. Suddenly, more than anything, Katie wanted to sit and talk with her mom. There were so many things she wanted to tell her and so many questions she wanted to ask about home and Dad and Michael.
Katie climbed the stairs, hugging all her birthday presents tight against her stomach: cell phone, notebook, flashlight, Swiss Army knife and both new books.
At the top, she paused and stared down that long gloomy hallway to Megan's room, wishing she had somewhere else to go.
She drew a deep breath and trudged on slowly, as if she were headed for the gallows. In front of Megan's door she paused again. Hostility seeped through the crack beneath it. Resentment trickled out the keyhole.
Katie placed her hand on the doorknob. She reminded herself that already this summer she had faced up to a furtive family of art thieves, two treacherous gold diggers and a couple of conniving land developers. And she had managed to survive. Why was she so afraid of one faintly freaky teenaged cousin?
Besides, she glanced at her notebook and told herself, this could be a perfect opportunity to squeeze some information out of Megan. Her fingers tightened on the doorknob. Should she knock first?
Only if she valued her life. Katie tapped on the door and waited. When there was no answer, she took a shaky breath and inched open the door.
Megan lay on her bed, head propped on pillows, reading the book Katie's mom and Aunt Sarah gave her about birds of the prairies. While she read she raised her legs straight up from the bed, held them there, and slowly lowered them again. Emily's words filtered into Katie's thoughts⦓They never stop exercising.”
The purple lipstick and nail polish from Emily were tossed carelessly aside. Had Megan even thanked her? A tape recorder from Gram and GJ, for recording bird songs, sat on her desk. Who would have guessed that Megan was interested in birds and nature, just like Sheila?
Thinking of Sheila, Katie felt a pang of guilt. She had forgotten to phone and thank Sheila for the mystery novel. Tomorrow, she thought, tomorrow I'll phone.
She stopped abruptly. Lost in thought, she had wandered across the room and now stood much too close to Megan. So close she could see over Megan's flat stomach to the edge of a small, black, leather-bound book tucked against her side. “Do you keep a journal?” Katie asked, without thinking.
“What if I do?” Megan growled.
“Uh, I don't know, I just wondered⦔
Megan scowled, but her eyes never left the book.
Now or never, Katie told herself. If she was going to question her cousin, first she needed to get through to her. So she straightened her shoulders, cleared her throat and began. “My friend would love your new book; she's into birds and stuff like that too.”
Katie waited for a reaction. Still scowling, still raising and lowering her long thin legs, Megan kept her eyes on the book.
Katie started to back away, afraid to take her eyes off Megan. She had reached her cot when an idea popped into her head. It was the perfect way to approach her cousin. “Megan. I saw a couple of ducks today, in that slough up by the road. You know, by the poplar trees where Scott always parks his truck?”
Megan's head jerked up and she laid down her book, rested her legs. She studied Katie skeptically.
Katie swallowed. “So, anyway, they were hanging around that nest basket, and I kind of wondered what they were. Did you make it?”
“What?”
“The nest basket, did you make it? Because, if you did, I think it's, like, really cool to do that, you know, and help the ducks.” And how come I'm, like, talking like Emily? Katie wondered.
Megan's face softened. “What did they look like?”
“Who?”
Her eyes rolled up into her brain. “The ducks?”
“Oh.” Katie dumped her birthday presents on her cot and gestured with her hands as she described what she had seen.
Megan's scowl faded and her eyes lit up. “They sound like pintails. I didn't realize they were there.” Megan's lips twitched. Katie wondered if she might be smiling. Her cousin sat up cross-legged on her bed and flipped through her bird book. She held it open toward Katie. “Is this them?”
Katie moved closer. “Yep, that's them. Hmmm, a male and a female.” She drew a deep breath and pressed on. “We found some chicken wire lying in the grass too. Is that what you use to make the baskets? Did you make that one?”
Megan's face hardened. “I never meant to leave it lying around!” she said fiercely. “I really thought I picked it all up.” She pressed her fingertips to her forehead. “I don't understand what's happening to my brain.”
Katie retreated to her cot again, wondering if Megan was thinking about the wire near the road or that other wire in the field. “It was an accident,” she said.
“Of course it was an accident! Do you think I would trap my mother under the windrower on purpose?” Her voice rose to a shout. “I might be stupid and careless, but I'm not violent!” Her face crumpled and she pressed her fists against her forehead. “Haven't you figured that out yet Ms. Great Detective?”
“Amazing,” Katie whispered.
“What?”
“It's Amazing Detective now, I've upgraded.” Katie grinned to show she was joking, but Megan only stared at her, frowning as if she'd missed something important.
Katie felt the need to speak. “So, you dropped the chicken wire when you made the nest basket. Did you drop your cell phone by accident too?”
Megan went wild. She leapt to her feet, shouting, “Why does everyone say that? I told you, I didn't have my cell today! Someone took it.”
Which led to one more question. But should she ask it? Would Megan charge across the room and quietly strangle her to death? Katie sidled closer to the door. “Do you think it was Scott?” she whispered.
Megan didn't charge. She stared for long seconds and then collapsed onto her bed. Facing the wall, she curled into a tight ball. When she spoke her voice was barely audible. “Of course not. How would he get in the house with all these people around? It has to be me. I must be losing it.”
Katie settled on the edge of her cot, opened her notebook and started to write.
Is Megan right? Is she losing it?
What is “it”?
Did she have her cell phone tonight or not?
How did it end up by Scott's truck?
Three possibilities:
1. Scott sneaked in and snitched it when we
were in Humboldt.
Why?
So he could use it to phone Aunt Margaret
and blackmail her.
If he's behind all the accidents and phone calls,
what might his motives be:
Revenge on Aunt Margaret?
Money for collegeânot much chance of that.
But why use Megan's cell?
Maybe the number wouldn't show up if Aunt
Margaret hit call return.
He could phone from his truck and spy on the
house at the same time.
He's trying to make Megan look guiltyâdon't
ask why.
Problem with Scott theory:
Aunt Margaret locked the house up tight AND
Cliff was here all day.
Megan must have been with Scott when that
call was made, so she is either in on it, or,
2. Megan had the phone and lied about it (or
forgot?)
Why?
Who knows? She does tons of dumb stuff.
Is she on drugs?
Problem with Megan theory:
Megan might be careless and forgetful and to
tally weird, but I don't think she's deceitful and
dishonest.
Threatening her mom is miles different from
doing dumb stuff by mistake.
The voice on the phone tonight was a man's,
no way it could have been Megan.
So, if Megan took her own phone, she lent it to
Scott to make the call.
Would they both be dumb enough to leave it
lying on the grass where anyone could find it and
check the outgoing calls?
Which leads to:
3. Cliff could have taken the phone when no
one was home. He has a key.
He was outside when the call was made, so it
could have been him just as easily as Scott.
Motives:
He wants a farm of his own.
He's trying to drive Aunt Margaret away.
He doesn't like Scott and wants to set him up.
How sneaky is that?
Problem with Cliff theory:
Why would he take Megan's phone?
If he's the one who made those other calls
Aunt Margaret mentioned, why not use the same
phone again?
Aunt Margaret says Cliff is such a nice guy.
Is he really trying to set Scott up? Did he drop
the phone out there on purpose for someone to
find?
I must be missing something here.
Suddenly she remembered. She slid her hand into her short's pocket and pulled out the crumpled note. Spreading it out on her notebook, she read it carefully. Then, since it didn't make one bit of sense to her, she copied exactly what Aunt Margaret had written:
GM canola
West field, near road
Call snitch line
Sued for all I own. Ha!
Katie thought for a moment, and then she added this line:
Tomorrow I need to question Aunt Margaret
and Cliff. I need to find outâ¦
A shadow flickered across the page. Katie shut her notebook and looked up. Megan loomed above her.“What are you writing?”
“Nothing. It's just like, you know, a journal.”
Megan's tongue clicked behind her front teeth. She pulled open the door and started out. Then she leaned back to peek around the door. Her lips twitched at the edges, and this time Katie was almost sure she was smiling. “You've been, like, talking to Emily too much.”
The door closed quietly behind her.
“I'll help you with the dishes this morning, Aunt Margaret,” Katie volunteered, hopping up from the table. She picked up her plate and reached for Rusty's.
He gave her a
What, are you nuts
? look and scurried out to the porch with his sketchbook securely under his arm.
“That's so nice of you.” Aunt Margaret turned from the sink where she was running water for dishes.
Katie's mom looked surprised and suspicious at the same time. “That
is
nice.” She picked up the nearest bowls. “I'll help too.”
Katie almost dropped the plates. This was going all wrong. How could she question Aunt Margaret with her mom hanging around?
“No, Laura,” Aunt Margaret said. “You've all been working much too hard since you got here. Join the others on the porch and enjoy another cup of coffee.”
Katie forced herself not to smile as her mom left the room. She put the plates next to the sink where Aunt Margaret was up to her elbows in soapy water.
“How come you never use your dishwasher?”
“I would if I could, believe me. But it's so old it leaks like a sieve, and I can't afford a new one right now.”