Vanishing Acts

Chapter 18

A Break in the Shelby Case

On Saturday afternoon, Ann took the bus from Prescott-Mather and met Madison on Northwest 23rd Avenue. Madison walked into Amore Pizza a few steps ahead of Ann. Jessi, Lacey, and Becca were in a booth eating.

Becca stared, her pizza slice suspended in front of her lips. Then she screamed, “OMG!”

Jessi rushed over and hugged Ann, exclaiming, “You’re not dead!”

“Dead?” Ann answered, her confusion obvious.

“Madison thought you were dead or kidnapped,” Lacey chimed in.

“Where were you?” they all asked at once.

Madison smiled and put an arm around Ann’s shoulder. “Ann goes to school at Prescott-Mather,” she said as they all found seats in the booth.

“Prescott-Mather?” Jessi asked.

“For boarding school. Ann’s parents are sending her there because her dad moved to Europe and they’re getting a divorce.”

“Gee, I’m sorry,” Lacey said.

“I’m just glad you weren’t kidnapped,” Becca said.

“Madison was driving us crazy with her nutty theories,” Jessi said. “She had you tied up in a basement in Lithuania or some place like that.”

Ann laughed. “That sounds like Maddy.”

“She could have been kidnapped!” Madison said, offended to be the butt of a joke when she thought her theory was perfectly logical.

“I would rather be tied up in a basement in Lithuania than go to Prescott-Mather.” Lacey laughed.

“Hey! It really isn’t that bad. Some of the millionaires talk to me and the billionaires have stopped asking me to carry their books,” Ann said. “All joking aside, though, the kids at Prescott aren’t that different from the kids at The Grove. There are some mean kids and some extra-nice kids and the rest are okay.”

Madison picked a slice of pizza from the metal tray and ate it while the girls asked Ann about boarding school.

“Is it fun living in the dorms? No parents sounds like fun to me!” said Becca.

“It’s a toss-up. There are even more rules than I had at home! Lights out, and curfews. And one TV for twenty girls!”

“Aargh!” Becca growled. “I’d never make it if I couldn’t watch my shows.”

“How did you find Ann?” Lacey asked Madison.

The girls ate pizza and drank Cokes while Madison told them why she’d tripped over the soccer ball during the scrimmage and about her trip to Prescott-Mather.

“Now that you’ve solved ‘The Case of the Missing Best Friend,’ how are you going to spend your free time?” Becca joked.

“I’m still working on the Shelby case,” Madison said, suddenly serious.

“What’s that?” Ann asked.

“My dad is defending Mark Shelby. He’s accused of murdering Mrs. Shelby—our second grade teacher.”

“Oh, my God, she’s dead?”

“We don’t know that. There’s no body,” Madison said.

Madison was about to continue when she thought of something so obvious that she felt like a dummy for not thinking of it before. When Ann went missing, Madison had jumped to the conclusion that she’d been kidnapped or murdered, but Ann had been hiding.

After they finished their pizza, the girls decided to go to the mall. It was great having the whole gang together, and it was especially great for Madison to see Ann be the same old Ann now that everyone knew her secret. Ann had told Madison she felt like someone had lifted a big weight from her shoulders as soon as she’d told Madison why she was at Prescott-Mather. The girls shopped a while before catching a chick flick at the cinema in the mall. Then Ann had to get back to Prescott-Mather. Only one thing spoiled the day for Madison. With the girls around, she didn’t have a chance to tell Jake about her plan to solve the Shelby case.

Madison got home at ten and went straight to her room. As soon as she shut the door, she phoned Jake.

“I think I know what happened to Mrs. Shelby,” she said excitedly.

“Spill,” said Jake, who sounded instantly intrigued.

“What if Mrs. Shelby did the same thing Ann did?”

“You mean she’s hiding?”

“Her car is missing, and so is her hairbrush and the other things I’d take with me if I was going on a trip. Miss Bauer was on the other side of her house making the call to see if Mrs. Shelby was okay. Then she called 911. Mrs. Shelby could have left without Miss Bauer seeing her!”

“What about the blood and the knife?” Jake asked.

“Remember the onion, the green pepper, the eggs, and the ham mentioned in the police report? I think Mrs. Shelby was making a Western omelet. Something Dad said at the bail hearing got me thinking. He made a joke about cutting his finger when he slices bagels. I bet Mrs. Shelby was so upset because she and Mr. Shelby argued that she gashed her finger while slicing the onion. That would explain the blood on the onion in the garbage and on the kitchen counter.”

“And if they were arguing, Mrs. Shelby might have waved her hand around and sprayed blood on the refrigerator,” Jake added excitedly. “And Mr. Shelby was too angry to notice.”

“Then Mr. Shelby put his clubs in his car . . .”

“Which Miss Bauer thought was him moving the body to the car.”

“. . . and left on his golf trip.”

“Which Miss Bauer interpreted as fleeing the scene of the crime.”

“Exactly. When Mrs. Shelby ran upstairs to get a bandage and to pack, she was too busy to answer Miss Bauer’s call. Then she drove off while Miss Bauer was on the other side of the house making the 911 call!”

Jake was quiet for a minute. “We still have a problem. If Mrs. Shelby ran away, why didn’t she call the police after her husband was arrested? I can see someone getting mad after an argument and leaving the house, but why wouldn’t Mrs. Shelby let the police know that she was alive when she learned that Mr. Shelby was facing life in prison for a murder charge?”

“That’s something I can’t answer, but Mrs. Shelby can tell us when we find her. That’s the last piece of this puzzle. We have to figure out where she’s hiding and convince her to come home and clear her husband. And I think I know how we can do that.”