Gracie's Game: Sudden Anger, Accidentally on Purpose (54 page)

"Isn't it gorgeous?" Cheryl asked.

"Where would you
wear
it?" Shawna made it more of a statement than a question.

"On a date, silly!"

"
Not
a date with Jake!" Shawna teased.

"I wouldn't go out with Jake if he were the last guy on Earth," Cheryl said, a look of repugnance on her face. She winked at her friends, unable to say more in the crowded room.

"You got a hot date coming up?" Shawna asked facetiously.

"Mayyyybe," Cheryl drawled. She realized that Gracie hadn't been participating and glanced across the table at her to see her looking intently at Amy's phone and jotting down notes. Gracie felt the eyes on her, looked up and gave a quick shake of her head, a warning look on her face.

Shawna hadn't seen this exchange. "Well, I guess you could always wear it to a Christmas party, but then there's no hurry to run out and get it today."

"Sure there is!" Cheryl said. "I want to make sure I get one before they're sold out."

"Somehow I doubt that'll happen. Cheryl, it's too
fancy
for anything we'd need. It's probably really expensive, too."

"We might as well go with her to get it," Gracie spoke up. "Otherwise we'll never hear the end of it. Amy! Thanks for the phone."

She gave the phone a shove to send it back towards its owner. Amy didn't look around until the phone bumped her arm. Even then she just glanced at it and nodded acceptance at Gracie, still deep in conversation with Bobby.

Cheryl looked a question at Gracie, who only smiled back. "Uh, thanks, I think," Cheryl said. "I really would like to go get it, even if I'm
not
sure why I want it. So how about Shawna and I make a run to the mall as soon as school gets out and then we'll meet you and Kelly at your house. Then we can talk."

"Cheryl, I still say you're nuts to go to the mall today," Shawna complained. They were waiting impatiently in line to get out of the school parking lot.

"I know, right?" Cheryl said. "There's just something about it, I
really
want it. It just came out and if I wait until the weekend they might not have any left in my size."

Shawna took her foot off the brake and let the car inch ahead. "I don't know why people try to left turn out of here, it makes the rest of us wait for
ever
."

"Gracie found something in Amy's phone," Cheryl said, changing the subject.

"She did? What?" Shawna pulled up another car-length.

"I don't know, but I saw her writing it down. Obviously she couldn't say anything because Amy was sitting right there, thank goodness she wasn't paying attention to us. I'm
dying
of curiosity…"

"Look out!" Shawna yelled suddenly, staring at the cars in the street as if the force of her will could prevent the inevitable.

Cheryl looked up in time to see one car plow into the back of another one with a terrific screech of brakes and clang of metal. Both girls screamed. Locked together by the force of the crash both cars rolled several yards along the street before coming to a stop. Neither driver got out.

Cheryl whipped out her phone and called 911 to report the wreck, stressing that the drivers appeared to be injured. She expected to stay on the line to give updates, but the operator assured her that help was on the way and hung up. She looked anxiously at each car in turn, watching as people who'd been closer checked on the occupants. "I feel so helpless."

"We should stay in the car; they don't need a zillion people getting in the way," Shawna said. "I think I hear a siren, that should be the ambulance."

"Oh, look! The other driver's getting out of the car," Cheryl reported. "What happened, anyway? I wasn't looking."

"Yeah, but the driver in front's still in the car even though they opened the door to talk to them," Shawna said. "The front car turned right out of the parking lot and started down the street, but it started acting funny and then I think it just stopped."

"What do you mean,'funny'?" Cheryl asked.

"It was sort of bouncing, it would move forward and then kind of hesitate," Shawna explained, using her hand to give a visual picture.

Two police cars pulled up and one officer began directing traffic while the other checked on the drivers. The man who'd been driving the second car was walking around apparently not injured, but the driver of the front car had yet to make an appearance.

"I just realized," Cheryl began. "Both those airbags went off in that wreck. See, you can still see one hanging around the steering wheel."

"
Un
like Meaghan's wreck," Shawna added the obvious conclusion. "Oh, good! The line's moving again."

"Just in time for the ambulance to show up," Cheryl grumbled.

"Relax, Cheryl. The cop's got it under control. See? He's letting a few cars go from the east, then a few of us from the west. We'll be out of here in a few minutes."

The acting traffic cop was careful to let the cars lined up in the parking lot out in between those waiting on the street, though Shawna was pleased to see him angrily shake his head at someone ahead with their left blinker on. They inched forward and tried to see what the paramedics might be doing with the injured driver, but the smashed car was between them so they couldn't see much.

At last it was their turn to go and Shawna stepped on the gas carefully as she went around the blocked lane. Just as she went by the knot of cars and emergency workers they saw the first driver emerge.

"It's
Tanya
!" Cheryl cried. "Oh, and she doesn't look too good." She twisted around in her seat to watch as Shawna pulled back into the proper lane. "They're putting her in the ambulance."

"Can you tell how bad she's hurt?" Shawna asked worriedly.

Cheryl turned back to the front. "No, didn't see any blood and she's walking, but the EMT had his arm around her."

"I'd be too shaky to walk after that, myself," Shawna remarked.

"Shawna, do you realize what this means?" Cheryl asked. "Tanya's another one of Jake's girlfriends!"

Chapter 48

"Not only does it fit the pattern precisely, it's the 13th accident," Kelly reported to the girls.

"And another one that involves cars," Gracie pointed out. "Does anyone know how Tanya is?"

Cheryl sat down at Gracie's computer to pull up FaceBook. "Here's a post from Madison: 'The airbag threw Tanya's arm up into the rearview mirror and it broke her wrist. She says it hurts, but she'll be at school tomorrow and we can all sign her cast.'".

"I'll just bet it hurts," Cheryl said.

"At least she wasn't seriously hurt," Shawna said.

"So what would make her car act like that?" Gracie asked.

"Sounds like one of the stories my grandfather used to tell," Kelly replied. "Sugar in the gas tank."

"Huh?" Cheryl said.

"Granddad used to do that to the guys he didn't like," Kelly said. "When you start the car and the gas starts flowing the sugar blocks up the hoses so the gas can't get through. I remember him saying that it took effect pretty fast, the car started hopping around as it got a little gas at a time, but then it'd stop dead."

"Sounds like a mean thing to do to anyone," Shawna declared.

"As I recall, it got him into more than one fist-fight," Kelly said drily. "But it's easy enough to do if you know about it. Doesn't take any special tools and it's quick."

"It reminds me of those car-guys back in the 50's," Cheryl said.

"Hot-rodders, you mean," Kelly said.

"Bobby Summers," Shawna suggested. "He always reminds me of that kind of kid. Can't talk about anything but cars."

"Yeah, Bobby does qualify as a motor-head," Kelly agreed.

"I bet you could look that up on the web," Cheryl said. "Which means anyone could've done it, especially if it's as easy as you said."

"Anyone could've walked through the parking lot and poured the sugar in Tanya's tank anytime during the day. Most everybody stayed in at lunch, it'd have been the perfect time," Shawna said.

"Would it have to have been during the day?" Gracie asked. "Could it have been done last night?"

"Today for sure, or she wouldn't have gotten to school," Kelly confirmed.

"I'm guessing the wreck was an added bonus," Cheryl said. The other three gave her shocked looks. "I mean to the
perp
, of course. He or she couldn't possibly have known it would cause a wreck."

"True, but it's a very likely possibility," Kelly said. "She's out on a main street and hitting the gas to get outta there; she wouldn't know what was happening and probably wouldn't think to pull off the road."

"Okay, Gracie. The gang's alone now, you can tell us what you were doing with Amy's phone at lunch today," Cheryl said.

"I was
going
to look up 'Hot Topic' to see what that dress looked like," Gracie said, pointing to Cheryl's purchase which was lying across the bed.

"But I beat you to it," Cheryl said.

"I'd already typed in 'Ho' when you showed me the picture," Gracie continued. She consulted her notes. "When I looked back at the screen the history showed '.'. Does that suggest anything to you?"

"Brakes?" Shawna ventured an answer, knowing she'd missed some important part.

"Anti-lock brakes," Kelly said. "ABS brakes. You know, like Clay was talking about yesterday."

"Give me the URL again slowly, and I'll pull it up," Cheryl demanded.

They all crowded around the computer to read the screen, but while it confirmed Clay's description they didn't find anything on how to disable the system.

"That doesn't prove a thing!" Shawna said. "She could've looked that up
any
time, there's no date in the history files."

"Anytime in the last 30 days," Cheryl corrected. "That's the default and nobody bothers to change it."

"It proves that at some point in time she knew that a car without ABS brakes was more likely to slide," Kelly pointed out. "And remember, it was raining that night, the road was wet."

"There were also some phone numbers that weren't in her address-book," Gracie said. "I thought it was odd because most of the calls in the outgoing log were made to her friends."

"Everyone makes calls to people we don't have address-booked," Cheryl protested.

"So I'll call them and see who they belong to," Gracie said as she took out her phone and began the process. It was simple enough for her to wait for the greeting and then claim she had a wrong number.

"Well?" Shawna asked when she flipped her phone closed.

"A local radio station, the school secretary, a doctor's office, a couple of locksmiths and the parts department of the local Mazda dealership," Gracie reported.

"Mazda?" Kelly inquired meaningfully. "They make Miatas, like what Meaghan drives. Drove."

"Exactly," Gracie said. "And Amy drives an old Chevy."

"Maybe Meaghan borrowed Amy's phone to make the call," Cheryl suggested.

"But how do the locksmiths fit in?" Gracie asked.

"Locksmiths make
car
keys, too," Kelly said. "Maybe Meaghan locked herself out and needed a key."

"But her mother told us that she had an extra key, remember?" Gracie said.

"Do you think the school or radio station or doctor are significant?" Shawna asked.

"Maybe Amy called herself in sick one day," Cheryl said in a snide tone.

"Or called the doctor trying to get a new prescription for those pain pills; pretending to be her mother, that is," Gracie suggested.

"If Amy dated anyone I'd say she called the radio station to dedicate a song to him," Kelly said, clearly unsure why girls seemed to think guys cared about that sort of thing.

"But why would Amy want to hurt the girls that go out with Jake?" Cheryl asked. "
She
doesn't date him – she doesn't date
anybody
."

"She's friends with all those girls," Kelly said.

Shawna got a funny look on her face. "She
acts
like she's friends, but it almost seems like she pushes herself into the group. It's weird; one day she hangs with Bobby and the next she's all buddy-buddy with the girls."

Gracie shook her head as if trying to clear confusion. "I don't know! None of it makes any sense. How about we go through the list again and see if we can find any obvious connections to Amy. Then maybe something will come to mind."

"Okay, Kelly. Time to do your secretary thing again," Cheryl told him.

Kelly dug the list out of his backpack and assumed a pretentious air. "The first item is Maggie Lane's death, caused by a fall down some stairs."

"We know Amy was at the party," Shawna said.

"And the police found her earring outside on the patio, but Maggie died inside the house," Cheryl added.

"She witnessed that little scene between Jake and Maggie," Kelly said. "That made it pretty clear that something was going on between them."

"Didn't she say she'd come to the party with one of the girls?" Gracie asked.

"I think so," Kelly said.

"What difference does that make?" Cheryl asked.

"It means she went home with someone too, and they could swear to the time," Gracie explained.

"Give her an alibi," Shawna said.

"That old Chevy of Amy's is white, right?" Kelly asked.

"A 'light-colored car'," Cheryl said, getting the drift of Kelly's statement.

"So Amy
could
have come back and killed Maggie," Gracie summed it up. "Except why would she have done it? I don't see a motive here."

The others shrugged their shoulders and no one ventured a possible reason for Amy to have killed the teacher.

Kelly added these ideas to his notes. "Remember, Ken said there were no signs of a fight on Maggie's body, so unless Amy tripped her or something that wouldn't leave a mark how did she cause the fall? Also, the fact that Amy drives a white car is really circumstantial; there must be a million 'light' cars in this town. I see opportunity and
possibly
means, but that's all. So, what about Travis' broken arm?"

Gracie grew thoughtful for a minute. "That happened on the Monday before last, during 2nd hour, right?"

Kelly nodded agreement.

"I remember because it was during that class that Ken called me out to talk to me about Maggie's death and that's when I saw Travis waiting for his mother to take him to the doctor. I also remember talking about the death with, oh, Cody I think." Gracie gave a little laugh. "He was hot on the idea that it was a burglar surprised in the act; he pushed Maggie down and then ran away without realizing he'd killed her. But we almost got in trouble for talking because Amy had scooted in just after the bell rang and Cody and I were both trying to explain the discussion to her. She didn't believe that theory, either."

"You through now?" Cheryl asked in a bored voice.

"I get it!" Shawna said. "If Amy was late to class she would've had time to spill something by the stairs after the halls were mostly empty."

"Did she say why she was late?" Cheryl asked, now that she realized Gracie hadn't just been rambling.

"Uh, ladies' room, I think."

"She still couldn't be sure it would be Brittney that would slip," Kelly said.

"
If
she'd done something to cause Maggie's fall then maybe she was feeling lucky, thinking this would work too," Shawna said.

"We're still assuming that Brittney was the real target," Cheryl pointed out. "She
does
fit the pattern where Travis doesn't fit in
anyone's
pattern, but it's a stretch."

"So, means – but anyone could spill water, even accidentally – and opportunity here too," Kelly said. "Next is Emily's case of winter poison ivy."

"Tuesday," Cheryl said. "Monday a bunch of people stayed after school to decorate for the game. That means there were a lot of people running around the building after hours."

"Where are you going with this?" Kelly asked.

"Yesterday we talked about the fact that Emily's been spending a lot of time around the stage, rehearsing for the play. Somebody could've put the poison ivy backstage Monday evening," Cheryl said.

"But I thought we agreed that since Emily
knows
she's allergic she wouldn't touch the plant or its leaves with a ten-foot pole," Kelly said with some exasperation.

"What if they smeared the leaves on something they knew Emily would touch?" asked Cheryl.

"Yeah! Some prop maybe," Gracie said.

"Looks like I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, as well as secretary," Kelly said.

His statement was met with blank looks all around.

With a sigh he explained. "Once again, anyone who helped with the decorating would've had the chance to slip away and do something backstage. And yes, Amy was there so she could've done it. So could
I
." He paused for a minute. "Hey, wait a sec. Remember when we ran out of poster board? Wasn't it Amy who said she'd get more, and that it would be quicker to go backstage instead of to the office?"