"All clear," the sheriff's voice rang out.
A few seconds later, he joined us on the ground floor as Kelly and the girls ran in.
"I didn't see anyone," the sheriff said. "Are you sure it happened the way you said?"
"Yes," I said through clenched teeth.
I showed everyone downstairs and even pointed at the box through the hole in the wall. It wasn't moving.
"Sorry," I said to Kelly. "I was going to use that box to pack up the china for you."
"I don't see any evidence down here," Sheriff Ted grumped. "I guess it could be someone from out of town. Spotted the only nice house in town and decided to try to rob it."
I studied the man for a moment before speaking. Over in the corner, Betty was doing the same. Good girl.
"I'm fine. Thanks for coming, Sheriff. Kelly, can you see him out?"
The sheriff looked me in the eyes. "I told you that you investigating doesn't fly here." And then he followed my best friend up the stairs. Betty followed him with a machete behind her back.
I didn't even try to disarm her.
Rex looked through the hole and whistled. "I think Riley must be wrong. Aunt June had to be CIA."
Wheels started turning behind my eyes. Puzzle pieces started fitting together. There were just a few things I couldn't figure out.
Back upstairs, Rex helped Kelly pack up the china. The girls were allowed to pick one thing from the house that they wanted. Noon came and went, and we just grazed on what we had in the kitchen.
Betty started talking about last night. I interrupted and told the girls about the attempt with the frog and now the scorpion.
"That's three attempts on your life!" Kelly cried out.
"No one tries to kill our leader and gets away with it!" Betty smacked her fist into her palm.
"Thank you," I said. "And thanks for last night too."
Ava lamented, "If Mrs. Wrath wasn't around, then who would let us get away with all the bad stuff we aren't supposed to do?"
Lauren nodded. "And we wouldn't have her credit card."
This discussion had taken a turn. "Wait, what? What bad stuff do I let you get away with?"
The girls looked at Rex.
"I think I'll go and get something from my car," he said.
The coward.
"If no one was mean to Mrs. Wrath," Inez said, "we wouldn't have anyone's life to save over, and over, and over…"
I shook my head. "Hey! You haven't saved my life that many times."
"We need Mrs. Wrath," Kaitlyn said. "Who else has things like chloroform wipes and crayons that shoot lasers…"
"We could never find another leader like that," Ava agreed.
Kelly watched the whole thing with both hands covering her mouth. She found it hysterical.
Kaitlyn piped up, "And if we did get a smarter leader, Betty's magic tricks wouldn't be as much fun."
"Another leader would figure them out," added Ava.
Lauren continued, "And ground Betty or put her in the clink."
"What's the clink?" Inez asked.
Lauren thought about this for a moment. "I think it's a room with a machine that goes clink all the time."
"It's a jail," I said. "What was that about someone smarter than me? I'm smart. You can't be a spy in the CIA and not be smart. And you definitely can't be in a Girl Scout troop if you aren't smart."
The girls ignored me. "We could get a robot!" Ava declared.
This was met with a resounding cheer.
Betty was interested. "The robot could do anything we programmed it to!"
Kaitlyn slumped. "But then we'd have to build the robot."
This dampened the mood a bit.
"You cannot replace me with a robot me," I insisted.
"We've already decided that." Inez turned to the others. "See? Slow on the uptake."
"What does that mean?" Kaitlyn asked.
Inez shrugged. "No idea, but Mommy says that about Daddy all the time, so it must be bad. She never says anything good about him."
Betty clapped her hands. "Okay, so we're in agreement. If anyone kills Mrs. Wrath, we find a smarter leader or a robot."
I cleared my throat. "Do I have any say in this?"
The girls looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. I had to wonder if they talked this way about me all the time.
Ava said, "She does have cool green hair, though."
"And Philby is awesome!" Kaitlyn gushed.
Betty added, "She has let us throw knives. And she has a friend who's an assassin…"
"…who isn't an assassin," Lauren corrected.
They were talking about my friend Hilly, who worked in black ops for the Agency. She is an assassin, but the CIA doesn't have assassins because that would be illegal, even if it's true. It's a lot to get your head around. I gave up trying long ago.
"I suppose we could keep her longer," Kaitlyn said.
Betty narrowed her eyes at me. "We have no choice. She knows things about us."
"Well, I'm glad I'm of some use as a potential blackmailer," I grumbled.
"We don't want to get rid of you," Inez insisted. "We are just figuring out what to do if you die."
"It's good to have a succession plan in place," Ava said.
I sighed. "Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I don't plan to die anytime soon."
"Right! Because we're gonna catch the attempted killer!" Inez shouted.
"How do you plan to do that?" Kelly fought to get the words out between laughter.
"Ask the aliens of course!" She put a hand to the side of her mouth and whispered, "Because they are everywhere and can read your thoughts."
"Okay, girls." I raised my hands. "Did you each find some memento to take home?"
"It's all been decided," Ava said. "I get the scorpion. Betty gets the assassin caterpillar. Lauren wants the cute killer frog. Kaitlyn and Inez are still trying to decide about which spiders they want…"
"Nope." I shut it down. "You can only pick out something that isn't living or dangerous."
The girls groaned and tromped out of the room.
Rex came in. "I didn't tell you
