Vanishing Acts

Chapter 12

Madison Visits a Murder Suspect

Madison hopped out of bed Saturday morning buzzing with energy. Jake’s mom was going to pick her up at ten and drive Madison and Jake to Mark Shelby’s neighborhood, which was on the east side of the city, across the river from downtown. The Stephensons were new to Portland and wouldn’t know one neighborhood from another, so Madison had told Jake to tell his mom that the Shelbys’ neighborhood was a great place to hawk candy bars.

Madison found herself feeling nervous about meeting Mrs. Stephenson. She wasn’t sure if Jake was her boyfriend or just a fellow detective, but she wanted to make a good impression in either case. Madison rushed through breakfast, took a shower, then spent a long time choosing an outfit. She thought about wearing all black—after all, she was on a spy mission—but quickly realized that she would look rather silly walking around in black in the middle of the day. She looked quickly through her closet. Hmm . . . fundraising for her school. She grabbed her new jeans and a Pettygrove Junior High Soccer T-shirt. No one would question her methods when she was wearing a shirt advertising the team for which she was fundraising.

When Madison was certain she looked just right, she glanced over at her mom’s photo for approval, imagining her mom giving her the thumbs-up. Then she went downstairs to wait.

Hamilton had left for his office while she was eating, so she had the house to herself. It was only nine thirty. She had a half hour to figure out how to interrogate Thelma Bauer. She was lost in thought when a car horn startled her. Her candy bars were in the refrigerator. Grabbing them, she ran to the Stephensons’ Volvo.

Jake’s mother smiled at Madison and told her to hop in the backseat. She had a nice smile that went well with her bright blue eyes and reddish-blond hair. Jake, who was sitting up front, had stacked his candy boxes on the passenger side, so Madison put her boxes next to his and sat behind Jake’s mom.

“Thanks for driving us, Mrs. Stephenson,” Madison said.

“You’re welcome. But I’m used to playing chauffeur. Jake’s teams in Atlanta always had to have fund-raisers to pay for one thing or another.”

Jake was quiet during the drive to Mark Shelby’s neighborhood. Madison chalked his silence up to the fact that he was with one of his parents. Madison was usually quiet around her dad if she was with her friends. Who wanted parents knowing what you were up to?

Madison had looked at a map of the neighborhood on her computer. She told Mrs. Stephenson to drop them a few blocks from Thelma Bauer’s house, and they agreed that Jake would call when they wanted to be picked up. As soon as Mrs. Stephenson was out of sight, Madison and Jake went to opposite sides of the block with plans to meet a few houses down at Miss Bauer’s. They started knocking on doors. If Miss Bauer looked out of her window, she would see two neatly dressed junior high students selling candy.

By the time Madison and Jake approached Thelma Bauer’s door, they had sold a whole box of chocolate between them, so their day looked like it would be successful even if they didn’t solve the Shelby case.

“Let me question Miss Bauer,” Madison said as they walked up the neatly laid out slate path that led to Thelma Bauer’s front door.

“That’s fine by me,” Jake agreed. “You’ve probably seen your dad do enough cross-examinations and read enough lawyer novels to know how to question a witness.”

Trying to look confident, she rang Miss Bauer’s doorbell. She cleared her throat when she heard footsteps approaching and fixed a smile on her face.

“Good morning,” she said when the door opened. “My name is Madison and this is Jake. We’re in the seventh grade at Pettygrove Junior High and we’re selling chocolate bars to help our soccer teams. Would you like to buy some?”

Thelma Bauer perked up. “I love chocolate. How much are your bars?”

“Just a dollar, and it goes to a great cause,” Madison said.

“I’ll take three bars. Let me get my purse.”

Thelma left for a minute and returned with a big red handbag. While Thelma went through her wallet, Madison faked confusion.

“This house looks familiar,” she said, peering around. “Has it been on TV?”

Thelma brightened. “It certainly has.” Then she lowered her voice. “There was a murder next door and I was interviewed about it by two TV stations.”

“I thought so! This is very exciting. I’ve never met anyone who’s been on television before.”

Thelma looked embarrassed. “It was only for a minute.”

“Were you nervous?”

“A little.”

“Why did they want to interview you?”

“I’m the one who called the police!”

“You did!” Madison exclaimed. “Then you’re a hero. What happened?”

“Come in and I’ll tell you all about it! Would you like some iced tea and cake?”

“Thank you. That sounds lovely. We’ve been walking in the hot sun all morning and we’re both hungry.”

“Then sit down and I’ll be right back.”

“Great work,” Jake whispered as soon as they heard dishes rattling around in the kitchen and the refrigerator door open and close. A few minutes later Miss Bauer reappeared, carrying a tray with two pieces of cake and two glasses of iced tea.

“Thanks for the snack,” Madison said. “Can you tell us about the murder?”

“I certainly can.”

Thelma could barely contain her excitement as she told the story Jake and Madison had heard in the courtroom. While she was talking, Madison took a bite of her cake. She stopped in mid-chew. She was hungry, but not hungry enough to eat this cake. It was awful. She washed down her bite with a swig of iced tea and put down her fork.

“Were you frightened?” Madison asked when Thelma finished. “I would have been scared to death.”

“I was, just a little. But I knew I had to do my civic duty. No matter how frightened I was, I couldn’t let Mark Shelby get away with murder.”

“You’re very brave,” Madison said, egging her on.

Thelma blushed. “Anyone would have done what I did.”

“Is that the window you looked out?” Madison asked, pointing at a window in the wall facing Mark Shelby’s house.

“It is.”

Madison looked around the room. “I don’t see a phone. How did you call the police? Do you have a cell?” she asked.

“I don’t like those things. No, I called from the kitchen.”

“This is so exciting. I feel like I’m there on that morning. Could you show us where you made the call?”

Thelma led them out of the living room and into the kitchen, where an old-fashioned phone with a cord was attached to the wall. Madison went over to the phone and looked back toward the living room. A wall blocked her view of the window.

Madison glanced at her watch. “Oh, no. We have to go.”

Thelma looked disappointed to be losing her audience. “But you haven’t finished your cake.”

“It was delicious, but if we don’t go now we won’t sell our quota of chocolate bars.”

“Thank you so much,” Jake chimed in. “It was an honor to meet a real hero.”

“And thanks for buying the chocolate!” Madison said as they walked out.

As soon as they were on the sidewalk and Miss Bauer’s door was shut, Jake spit cake into his hand.

“Thanks for getting us out of there without having to finish that awful cake,” he said.

“Did you see what I saw?” Madison asked.

Jake frowned, puzzled, and shook his head.

“The phone,” Madison said. “It’s in the kitchen. Miss Bauer wouldn’t be able to see the Shelbys’ house when she was making the call to the police.”

“You’re right,” Jake said. He pulled a small sketch pad out of his backpack and started to draw Miss Bauer’s kitchen with the phone and the wall.

He grinned. “When I write my graphic novel starring Madison Kincaid, superhero, this will be the first case you solve.”

Madison looked down at Jake’s drawing so he wouldn’t see her blush. “This proves it. Miss Bauer couldn’t see the house while she was on the phone. Anything could have happened while she was calling 911.”

Turning toward Mark Shelby’s house, she studied it for a minute, then started up the slate path to the front door.

“What are you doing?” Jake asked nervously. “Do you have a death wish?”

“There’s something I need to see.”

“Madison, he’s out on bail, he could be home.”

“I hope so.”

“He might be a murderer!”

“There are two of us and it’s broad daylight. I don’t think he’ll do anything and I really have to see this. Remember what my dad says about going to the scene of the crime? We would never have learned that you can’t see Mr. Shelby’s house from Thelma Bauer’s kitchen if we hadn’t gone into her house. Besides, he might buy some chocolate bars.”

Before Jake could protest any more, Madison rang the doorbell. A few seconds later they saw movement behind the glass panels that flanked the door. Madison had a feeling that they were being studied through the peephole. She waited patiently, and a moment later Mark Shelby opened the door. He looked exhausted and pale.

“What do you want?” he asked impatiently.

“Hi, we’re selling chocolate bars to support the Pettygrove Junior High soccer teams, and we wanted to know if you’d like to buy any. They’re just a dollar a bar and it’s for a good cause.”

Shelby smiled a tired smile. “I could use something good like chocolate to cheer me up.” He felt in his pocket. “Let me get my wallet.”

As he turned to go, Madison piped up, “Could I use your bathroom?”

Jake looked shocked. How could Madison go into a suspected murderer’s house?

“Sure,” Shelby said, pointing. “It’s down the hall.”

Madison knew the layout of the house from the pictures she’d seen in her father’s file. When Shelby was out of sight, she walked into the living room. The photograph she was looking for was still where she’d seen it in the crime-scene photo, on the fireplace mantel mixed in with family pictures. It was odd seeing a picture of one of her teachers in someone’s house. Madison thought of her teachers as never leaving school, not having lives, houses, and husbands, or going missing and maybe being murdered. She fixed the picture in her mind before hurrying into the bathroom.

Madison waited an appropriate amount of time before flushing. When she got near the front door, she heard Jake say, “Thank you, Mr. Shelby.”

Madison froze. Shelby hadn’t introduced himself. If he realized they shouldn’t know his name, they were cooked. She had to think of something fast.

“How did you know my name?” Shelby asked just as Madison walked into the entryway.

“Thanks for letting me use your bathroom,” she said.

Shelby looked back and forth between Madison and Jake, and he didn’t seem happy.

“He knew my name, but I never introduced myself. Are you two reporters for a school paper?” he asked angrily.

“Oh no, sir,” Madison answered quickly. “The lady next door told us your name, Miss Bauer.”

“What else did she tell you?”

“Nothing. Though she did look upset when we said we were going to come here. Don’t you and Miss Bauer get along?” Madison asked innocently.

Shelby thrust out a hand holding four dollars to pay for the four chocolate bars Jake had given him.

“I think you two should go now,” Shelby said sharply.

“Thanks for supporting our soccer teams,” Madison said as she and Jake backed out the door as fast as they could.

“I cannot believe you pulled that off!” Jake spat out once they made it down the street. “I thought we were goners for sure.”

“I admit that was close, but it was worth it. I found a major clue!”

“Spill!”

“When we were in court at the bail hearing, there was a woman watching the trial who didn’t seem to fit in. And she ran out as soon as bail was set. There’s a picture of Mrs. Shelby and that woman in the house!”

“What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know, but I bet she knows something. Why else would she be in court?”

“Now we just have to find out who she is.”