Vanishing Acts

“You have an office?” Jake asked, impressed.

“Sort of. You’ll see.”

They walked through the file room, and Madison showed Jake where she did her work.

“It’s like the Bat Cave,” Jake said.

“It’s not that great,” Madison answered with a shrug. But she was secretly pleased that Jake was impressed.

“Hey, I just have a desk in my room at home!” he said. He looked thoughtful. Then he held his hands in front of him as if he were framing a painting.

“Maybe I’ll make you the star of my first graphic novel. You’ll be a junior high soccer star by day and a crime- fighting superhero by night. This will be your secret lair.”

Madison laughed and punched Jake’s arm.

“Ouch.” He faked pain. “You definitely have super strength.” Then he said, “So what’s the room with all the cabinets we just came though?”

“Oh, that’s the file room. Lawyers use tons of files for their cases. Dad has files for evidence, police reports, testimony. The files in this room are for current or recently completed cases, but Dad also has files from old cases in storage.”

“Is the file for the case where we saw the bail hearing out there?”

“Yeah.”

Madison had planned on working on the case, but she’d been sidetracked by her investigation into Ann’s disappearance. An idea came to her. She knew she wasn’t supposed to look in her father’s files because the information in them was confidential, but how could she help her dad solve the Shelby case if she didn’t know all of the facts?

“Let’s take a look at the evidence in the Shelby case before we start on our science homework,” she said.

“Okay.”

Madison walked into the file room and Jake followed her. It didn’t take her long to find the Shelby file, which was actually many files, filling up a whole drawer. Madison started pulling out files marked Witnesses and Police Reports while Jake watched.

“Oh, look at this,” Madison whispered, showing Jake a page in the Witnesses file. “It’s Thelma Bauer’s address!”

“I bet she could give us information about the case that didn’t come out at the hearing,” Jake said.

Madison ran back into her little office, grabbed her Shelby legal pad and quickly wrote the address down before she returned the file to the cabinet.

“This will definitely help me solve this case,” she said. “Let’s split up these files and look for clues!”

Jake started on the police reports. “Hey, look at this,” he said, pulling Madison away from a list of potential witnesses. “This police report says that a blood-covered onion was found in the trash, as well as ham, eggs, and a green bell pepper. Isn’t that weird?”

“I’ll write that down. It could be important,” she said, proud of their detective skills.

Madison started looking through a file titled Photographs. The police had taken pictures of every little detail in the house. Flipping through shots of the kitchen, bedroom, and living room, she stopped suddenly when she came across a photograph of the fireplace mantel in the living room. She could see several items on the mantel, including a picture of two women in a silver frame. One of the women in the framed picture was definitely Mrs. Shelby, her second-grade teacher from Lewis and Clark Elementary.

Madison hadn’t thought about second grade in a long time, but a flood of memories came back to her. The day her father forgot to pack her lunch and Mrs. Shelby comforted her and gave her some of her own lunch. The colors and decorations in Mrs. Shelby’s room. I really hope nothing’s happened to her, Madison thought.

She put her nose up to the picture. The other person resembled Mrs. Shelby and the woman who had been sitting in the last row during the bail hearing, but the photo was too small for Madison to be certain. Madison kept a magnifying glass in her drawer. It was one of the tools of the detective trade. She was about to get it when her father walked into the file room. He stopped in his tracks.

“Madison, who is this?” he said, pointing at Jake, “and what are you doing?”

“Um, Dad, this is my friend Jake,” Madison answered, trying to keep her cool. “We were, um, we were just doing our homework. Jake’s in my science class.”

Jake forced a smile, since he was too scared to speak, and gave a little “hello” wave.

“Madison Elizabeth Kincaid, I am not stupid. The answers to your science homework are not in my files.”

“Yes, well, Jake came with me to see the Shelby bail hearing. He had never been to a court case before and . . .”

“Yes?” Hamilton was getting impatient.

“So, uh, I was showing him how you have files in cases like the Shelby case, which he saw.”

“You know you’re not allowed to look in my files. You know lawyer’s files are confidential. You know better than to read them.”

Madison decided to come clean. “Dad, I thought I could help you solve the mystery of where Mrs. Shelby went.”

When Hamilton spoke he sounded exasperated. “We’ve talked about this before. Murder cases are serious. They are not fun and games. Twelve-year-olds do not have the experience to solve a murder case. You need to stop snooping. Now put those files away and do your homework.”

Hamilton shook his head and walked off.

“Wow. I thought we were done for.” Jake let out his breath.

Madison looked away, too embarrassed to meet Jake’s eyes. “I’m sorry about that,” she mumbled. “But I was wrong. I know I’m not supposed to look through his files.” She sighed. “I just wanted to help.”

“Hey, don’t feel bad. It was my fault. I should have known better than to ask about your dad’s private files.”

“No, you shouldn’t. Your folks aren’t lawyers, so you’d have no way to know they’re confidential. I knew I shouldn’t look, but . . .”

Madison’s hands curled into fists and she gritted her teeth. “I just wish Dad would let me help him. He still treats me like I’m two years old. And I can help. I’m smart and I’m going to be a lawyer someday. I wish he’d trust me more.”

“Parents are like that. They always think you’re just this little kid, no matter what you do.”

Suddenly, he brightened. “I bet he’d think about you differently if you solved the Shelby case.”

“How am I going to do that when he won’t let me see his files?” Madison asked, her frustration showing in her voice. Then she felt her face light up. “Hey, Jake, I have a thought.”

“About the Shelby case?”

“No, about Ann. I bet that The Grove has files just like my dad’s, but instead of being about cases they’d be on kids. Ann must have a file at school. Maybe if we can get into that file it will tell us why she isn’t coming to school.”

“That’s a great idea,” Jake agreed. “Now we have to figure out how to see the files without getting sent to detention or suspended.”

Jake smiled. There was danger involved in hanging out with Madison Kincaid, but he’d definitely never had this much fun in school in Georgia.

Chapter 11