"I didn't mean we're going to do it," I floundered. "I meant…"
"I know what you meant." She looked at Rex. "I'm going to bed now!" she shouted loudly.
I watched her until she disappeared back into the lounge.
"Merry?" Rex called out. He was still by the edge of the woods, staring. "Has someone been through here with a machete?"
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
We took both vehicles into town the next morning. I wanted Rex to check out Fancy Nancy's, and the girls wanted pancakes, again, so we all went in for breakfast. Rex parked right behind the van in front of the diner. He stared at the buildings on both sides of the street.
"It looks deserted," he said.
"It does. Wait until you go inside."
His jaw dropped when he saw the inside of the place. "And you say that all the businesses are like this?"
"Every one we've been to."
"Good morning!" Nancy waved us over to a large round table for eight. "And who's this handsome devil?"
I introduced Nancy to my husband. She smiled, handed us menus, and went off to wait on others.
"This must be the town hotspot." Rex looked around.
He was right. It was packed. Everyone was there. Sheriff Carnack was eating with Nigel and Dr. Morgan. Basil was sitting with a bunch of rainbow-haired women. Hal was chatting amiably at the counter with Pete Oroner. Tommy Maplethorpe ate by himself. I wondered if that was par for the course if you were a mortician.
"He really is a dead ringer for Ed," Rex said under his breath as he stared at the sheriff.
"Only in appearance," I said. "He warned me that, unlike Ed, he wouldn't take kindly to my investigations here."
Rex stifled a smile. "Don't tell me you're listening to him."
"Of course not. I wouldn't do that for him and not you."
Nancy reappeared, and we all ordered. Kelly gave me a look as if to ask what we were supposed to do with all the food we'd bought here. I gave her a look as if to respond that Aunt June was picking up the tab. Maybe we could donate it to a food bank or something. Or send it home with Betty.
The girls were huddled and whispering. They stopped, and Betty turned to Rex.
"Detective," she started.
"You can call me Rex," he said.
"Mr. Wrath," the girl continued. "We want to be junior detectives when we get back home."
"Oh." Rex seemed surprised but only for a moment. "We don't have a program like that, but I can look into creating one."
"Really?" I asked as I envisioned Betty and the girls tearing through the streets of Who's There, driving a police car at full speed with the lights on. She'd be arresting people right and left for dubious activities. I had no doubt in my mind that, while she'd make an excellent spy, she'd make a dangerous cop.
"Why not?" Betty demanded.
"You won't be doing what they want to do," I warned Rex.
"We want to use the gun range," Ava said.
"And arrest perps," Inez added.
Lauren spoke up, "And crack them like an egg and make them talk."
Betty asked, "What kind of torture methods are we allowed to use?"
Kelly burst out laughing, something she rarely did with me. She was always "on" as the real adult in our troop. Was she letting her standards slip because Rex was involved now?
Kaitlyn didn't want to be left out. "The only way to prevent recidivism in felons is to steer them through the process with great empathy."
We all stopped and stared at her.
"Isn't that one of the Kaitlyns?" Rex asked.
"It's Viper," Betty said. When Rex looked confused, she introduced all the girls by their snakey camp names. "Those two"—she pointed at us dismissively—"won't respect that. They don't even have camp names!"
I waited for my husband to look at me askance. Instead, he replied, "In that case, Cobra, you'd better call me Drew." He pointed at Kelly and me. "And they will be Hardy One and Hardy Two."
"What are you doing?" I asked. "I'm Nancy Drew. You're one of the Hardy Boys."
Kelly interjected, "I'm not a Hardy Boy. I'm Nancy's best friend, George."
"Maybe he's Ned Nickerson," Lauren said.
We all looked at her.
"How do you know about that?"
"I've read all the Nancy Drew books," the girl said. "George is my favorite too, Hardy One."
"Why does she get to be One? I should be One," I grumped.
I turned to Rex. "You could be Ned. He always kind of hung in the background to do the heavy lifting while Nancy saved the day."
"I did?" Nancy appeared with a tray laden with food.
"We were talking about Nancy Drew," I said as I stared at the giant fluffy pancakes in front of me.
"Ah. I was more into the Bobbsey Twins myself." She asked if we needed anything else and then vanished.
"Merry?" Basil was standing next to me. In my pancake worshiping mode, I didn't even realize he'd walked over. "Who is this dreamboat?" He nodded at Rex.
I introduced them. "Basil is the one who did my hair."
Rex shook his hand, and the hairdresser practically swooned as Rex declared, "I love it! We'll have to lure you away to our town."
It was the perfect thing to say as Basil turned crimson with delight before rejoining his ladies.
"You love it?" I asked.
"Not really. I preferred it when your bangs were pink." He referred to a lock-in movie night a long time ago when the girls dyed my bangs hot pink as I slept.
We ate in silence for a few minutes before I pointed my fork at Rex and asked, "Do you want me to introduce you to everyone here?"
Rex considered that. "I'll go over and introduce myself to Carnack, since we have his cousin in common. But let's wait on the others. Give them something to wonder about."
He was so subtle. While I approached my amateur investigations like a bulldozer in a field of flowers, Rex played things strategically and by the book. For the most part, I admired that. Except for
