you tell Dad I’m here?”
Madison knew not much got past Peggy, so she ran quickly down the hall. She didn’t want Peggy to notice that the mention of Mark Shelby’s name made her nervous.
Madison shut the door to her office so Mr. Shelby wouldn’t see her. She tried to do her homework, but it was hard to concentrate knowing that her father and his murder-suspect client were just down the hall talking about the case.
There was a restroom next to her father’s office. Once, years ago, when Madison was using it, she heard noises. When she looked up, she’d seen a heating vent over her head and realized that she was hearing people talking. She had never been able to make out the words that people in Hamilton’s office were saying, but she thought that she might be able to hear them more distinctly if she climbed onto the toilet seat and pressed her ear to the vent.
Madison debated the pros and cons of listening in on her father’s meeting with Mark Shelby. Her father had told her many times what a client told his lawyer was confidential. He would go ballistic if he caught her eavesdropping and would probably ground her for life. But she
Madison peeked out of her office to make sure that no one was in the hall. Then she scurried down to the bathroom and locked herself in. Opening the stall, she climbed on top of the toilet seat. Muffled voices floated toward her through the vent. When she pressed her ear to the metal covering, she could just make out what was being said. Her father was talking, and he sounded annoyed.
“We have a good chance of winning your case,” Hamilton was saying, “but I’ve got to know all of the facts. If you’re hiding something from me and the DA finds out before I do, he’ll spring it on us during the trial and you could go to prison.”
“I’ve told you everything,” Mr. Shelby said.
“Let’s go over what happened on the morning your wife disappeared one more time.”
“It’s like I told you. I got up and took a shower. When I was dressed I went downstairs. Ruth was in the kitchen. I told her I had a long drive and I appreciated her making breakfast for me. Ruth looked surprised, and she asked me what I meant. I told her I was spending the weekend with my buddies at a golf resort. She looked furious and asked me if I’d forgotten something. I didn’t understand what she was talking about. She reminded me that this was our wedding anniversary weekend.
“I felt terrible and I apologized, but I said I couldn’t let the guys down. Plus, we were staying at an expensive resort and I wouldn’t be able to get my money back. That’s when Ruth threw the coffee pot at me and started screaming. I didn’t want to put up with her temper tantrum, so I left. She was alive when I drove away.”
“What about the blood?”
“I have no idea how that got on the knife and the other stuff. There wasn’t any blood when I left.”
“And that’s it, that’s everything that happened?” Hamilton asked.
“Yeah, I swear,” Mark Shelby said, but Madison didn’t think that he sounded convincing. When her father spoke, she could tell he didn’t think so, either.
“I hope so,” Hamilton said. “I think that’s enough for today.”
Madison didn’t wait to hear anything else. She jumped off the toilet and raced back to her office. She heard the door to her father’s office open just before she closed her door. Then she fell onto her chair and took deep breaths. That was close, but it had been worth it. Madison was certain that Mr. Shelby had a secret, and she was determined to find out what it was.
Minutes later, Madison heard her father say good-bye to Shelby. She waited a minute before leaving her office. Peggy was alone.
“Did I just hear Dad?” Madison asked.
“He was showing his client out. I told him you were here. He said to tell you that he’d be another half hour. Then he’ll take you home for dinner.”
“Great.”
Madison was about to return to her office when she remembered something.
“Peggy, what would you think of if I told you that I was in someone’s kitchen and saw eggs, a green bell pepper, an onion, and ham on their counter?”
Peggy didn’t expect the question, but it only took a moment for her to answer.
“That’s easy. I’d think someone was making a Western omelet. Why?”
Of course, a Western omelet! Madison smiled. She was suddenly certain that she had just solved one of the mysteries in the Shelby case.
Chapter 14
Madison Sees a Ghost
Prescott-Mather was just over the line in Washington County and was not in The Grove’s interschool league. The prep school had been the Washington County middle school champion three out of the past six years. Every year, The Grove boys’ and girls’ teams played a scrimmage against Prescott-Mather before the start of the season. Even though the game didn’t count, the scrimmage was a big rivalry game because it gave the teams a chance to see how well they could do against top competition.
This year, the boys’ game was at The Grove and the girls were traveling. Madison boarded the bus for the trip to Prescott-Mather and found a seat in the back of the bus with Gail, another seventh-grade alternate. Coach Davis had made Marci team captain. Halfway to the prep school Marci stood in the aisle and gave a shrill whistle to get everyone’s attention.
“Before we boarded the bus, Coach Davis told us to play hard today as if we were playing in a championship game. Well, I’m telling you to play harder than that. This game won’t count in the won-lost column, but it counts here.” Marci pounded her fist against her heart. “The players on Prescott-Mather think they’re hot stuff because they’re rich and go to a private school. Well, they’re not hot stuff. That school recruits and gives out scholarships, and that’s cheating as far as I’m concerned. Everyone who plays for The Grove lives near the school. We don’t pick and choose. The Prescott-Mather snobs look down their nose at us because we go to public school. I say that makes us tougher. No one feeds us with a silver spoon. Today let’s show those preppies where they can put their silver spoons.” Marci’s face turned red. “I hate the Prescott-Mather preppies. Let’s crush them this afternoon.”
Most of the girls cheered and whistled, but Madison was quiet. She’d never heard a coach or player on her elementary school or club teams say they hated anyone, let alone an entire school. As far as Madison was concerned, being angry hurt your performance. It was better to concentrate on doing your best. If you performed your fundamentals as well as you could, you’d play as well as you could, and it wouldn’t matter if you liked or hated the other team.
Prescott-Mather had always been a big rival of her elementary school, but some of the girls on the two school teams played on elite club teams together and were friends. Madison couldn’t imagine hating someone who was a teammate on a club team just because they played for a different school during the school soccer season.
The driver told Marci she would have to sit. She took her seat and everyone quieted down. Madison noticed that Coach Davis hadn’t done anything to stop Marci or criticize her speech. She sighed. There was no question that Marci was the coach’s favorite. Madison could see that taking her spot was going to be almost impossible.
The bus left the highway shortly after crossing the county line and headed into the countryside. Fifteen minutes later, it passed between two stone pillars with thick metal letters on them that told Madison that she had arrived at Prescott-Mather. A two-lane road passed between oak, maple, and Douglas fir trees for a short stretch before turning into the main campus, a collection of old stone classroom buildings and dorms for the students who boarded that would have looked at home at any Ivy League university.
