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.”