Vanishing Acts (21 page)

I took Seth home and introduced him to my parents. They wanted to call the police immediately, but I convinced them to wait a little while until he had the chance to at least call his dad.

Seth took the phone into my room for privacy and came back five minutes later with the biggest smile on his face. “My dad's getting on a plane right now and flying down here,” he told me. “And after I finish this movie, I'm going home to Buffalo to meet my brothers. I might even stay for a while. My dad says whatever I want—it's up to me.”

“That's fantastic,” I said, giving Seth a hug. “Are you ready to go to Second Street?”

“Oh, I don't need to be at work until tomorrow morning.”

“But you need to talk to Fiona,” I said. “Tell her you're not going to let her push you around anymore.”

Seth shook his head. “No need. My dad's taking care of the Fiona mess. He's probably on the phone with the police this very second.”

“Well, what about Jones, then?”

“What about him?” asked Seth.

“Don't you want to tell him off?” I asked.

Seth giggled nervously. “Why would I do that? He's my director.”

Uh-oh. It's like he was brainwashed or something. How could I make him snap out of it? “You can't let him get away with this. Think about the dogs. Or don't—think about yourself and about all the people who've lied to you and misled you. You've got to stand up for yourself. This is your big chance.”

Seth couldn't argue with me, because I wouldn't let him. This was too important. He was going to Second Street and he was going to stand up for himself, even if I had to drag him there. And it turns out I practically did.

Five minutes later, we stood on the corner watching Jones yell at poor Zander, the props guy.

Seth put his hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. “He seems pretty mad. Maybe we should come back later. Don't you think?”

“There is no later,” I told him. “Only now.”

Seth took a deep breath and clenched his fists. “I'm going in,” he said, and walked right up to Jones and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hold on a second,” Jones snapped without even turning around.

“I don't have a second,” said Seth.

When Jones turned around, his face betrayed his true emotions. I saw shock and fear, but only for a moment. Then his expression turned joyful. “You're back. You've escaped! I've been so worried. What happened to you?”

“I faked my own kidnapping and you helped me, remember? You even showed me where to hide, and you've been having Zander bring me food twice a day.”

“Um, can we talk in private?” Jones asked, trying to lead Seth away from the very interested crowd that had gathered.

“Sure,” said Seth, staying put and raising his voice so everyone around could hear. “After you tell me why you've been egging the neighborhood dogs.”

Someone gasped. Seth glanced toward the small crowd. Realizing he had an audience seemed to fuel his fire. I saw a glint in his eye, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth before he turned ruthless.

“Or should I just go to the police?” asked Seth. “I'm happy to do that right now.”

“No, no, no,” Jones said, smiling at Seth. “Please don't do that. I can explain. I just need a—”

“Save it!” said Seth, holding up his hand. “There is no explanation. What you did was insane and insanely
horrible, and you're going to make it right. And here's how. First, you're going to track down each of the dogs you egged and apologize to them and to their owners. Then you're going to make large donations to every single animal shelter in Brooklyn.”

“How large?” asked Jones.

Seth smiled. “You're going to donate your entire salary for this movie.”

Jones's eyes widened. “But that's . . . you can't . . . there's no way you can—”

“I can and I just did and guess what? I'm not even done here.”

Someone from the crowd let out a whoop.

Seth ignored the guy and continued speaking. “You're also going to wrap up this shoot and move out of Brooklyn immediately.”

“But we're not finished,” said Jones.

“You are,” said Seth. “You've been finished since the moment you let that first egg fly. You do not deserve to be in Brooklyn, and you've got to stay away from Brooklyn's dogs. Understand?”

Jones nodded, finally scared silent, listening because he had no choice.

As I stood on the sidelines and watched this all go down, something occurred to me. Like the monk parakeets who escaped captivity and found their freedom in
Brooklyn, Seth gained his freedom here, too. By hiding in their fake nest, he was able to avoid his own celebrity. And once he was pushed out of that nest (sort of), he finally learned how to fly.

(I'm talking figuratively here.)

Anyway, once Seth finally finished chewing out Jones, the entire crowd cheered. And while this seems like the perfect Hollywood ending, it's actually even better, because this story isn't over.

“So you caught the egger,” Charlotte said to me at school the next day. “Very cool. And I'm glad your boyfriend turned up, too.”

“So am I,” I replied. “His name is Milo Sanchez. You've probably seen him around here. Tall, cute, brown floppy hair, great at chess.”

Charlotte tilted her head and stared. “You and Seth broke up?” she asked.

I smiled. “It's a little more complicated than that. Let's just say we agreed to stay friends.”

“That's cool.” Charlotte shrugged. “Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for finding Mister Fru Fru's egger.”

“It's what I do,” I replied.

“Yeah, I know, and I'm impressed.” Charlotte turned around and left without another word.

And life went on as usual. I walked my dogs. I solved mysteries. I even got used to Finn and Lulu.

And six months later, I went to Hollywood.

No, not to live. That would be insane! How could I leave Brooklyn when it's my middle name? I can't. It'll never happen. I mean I headed to Hollywood for a week—for Seth Ryan's film premiere. Yup, that's right—
Vanished
was finally done.

Seth had moved up to Montreal for a while to finish filming. We'd been pen pals ever since he left town.

That's how I knew that after he finished working on the movie, he'd decided to take some time off and hang out in Buffalo with his family. Seth refused to enroll in regular school, but he agreed to resume his studies with a real tutor—one that would at least teach him the difference between a borough and a city. (I hoped.)

And last month, Seth surprised me by sending first-class tickets to Hollywood for my whole family—tickets that I promptly traded in for coach seats so I'd have enough money to fly my friends out, too.

Yes, flying first class would've been cool, but not as cool as bringing my best friends along with me.

In fact, all six of us were in the same row. Me, Milo, Lulu, Finn, Beatrix, and Sonya.

(My parents were nice enough to sit a few rows up, out of sight.)

It felt funny but at the same time totally perfect to have everyone here with me. Beatrix and Sonya wore their new “Brooklyn Barks for Seth Ryan” T-shirts. Finn consoled Lulu, who was upset because they'd confiscated her favorite knitting needles back at security. And once the pilot announced we were ready for takeoff, Milo got way fidgety.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Fine!” he said, a little too fast.

“It's gonna be fun!” I said. “Don't worry.”

He'd only agreed to come on the condition that I would sit next to him on the plane. He'd never been on a real one before, and he was scared of flying.

That's why I reached for his hand and held it, to calm him down.

He seemed okay, and before I knew it, we were soaring through the air. Once we'd reached cruising altitude, the pilot turned off the seat-belt sign with a ding.

Milo turned to me. “Guess what?” he said.

“What?” I asked.

“I'm just kidding. This isn't my first airplane trip, and I'm not scared of flying. I actually kind of love it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to figure him out, but Milo is not an easy boy to figure out. That's why I decided to just ask him, straight out. “Then why did you tell me you were scared?”

He grinned. “Because I wanted an excuse to hold your hand.”

I looked down at our interlaced fingers and gave his hand a little squeeze. “Guess what?” I said, leaning my head on his shoulder. “You didn't need an excuse.”

Thanks very much to everyone at Bloomsbury. You are all amazing! I'm also very grateful to Laura Langlie and Bill Contardi.

I could not have done this without the love and support of my family, Leo, Lucy, and Jim. I'm also so grateful to my friends, advisors, and early readers, including Coe Booth, Sarah Mlynowski, Jessica Ziegler, and Ethan Wolff.

It seems strange to mention my neighborhood and dog, but without Brooklyn or Aunt Blanche, this series would not exist. So thank you for the inspiration!

Also by Leslie Margolis

T
HE
A
NNABELLE
U
NLEASHED
S
ERIES

Boys Are Dogs
Girls Acting Catty
Everybody Bugs Out

T
HE
M
AGGIE
B
ROOKLYN
M
YSTERIES

Girl's Best Friend

Copyright © 2012 by Leslie Margolis

First published in the United States of America in January 2012 by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
www.bloomsburykids.com

Electronic edition published in January 2012

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Margolis, Leslie.

Vanishing acts : a Maggie Brooklyn mystery / by Leslie Margolis. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

 

Summary: Life is confusing for seventh-grader Maggie, who must track down a missing person and find out who is behind a string of dog eggings at the local dog run, while also dealing with issues involving her brother and two of her friends.

[1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Twins—Fiction. 3. Junior high schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Dogs—Fiction. 6. Missing persons—Fiction. 7. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title.