said.
âInteresting that you say three,â said Ms. Murphy. âGiven what I know about you, I figured there would be three tree houses.â
Cindy smiled. âObviously youâre familiar with my work. And there were supposed to be three, but letâs just say things didnât work out as I planned. Well, not exactly. And Iâm afraid I canât say anything more about that. So thank you for your time, everyone.â She gave us a small wave and said, âTa-ta.â
Ms. Murphy thanked Cindy, and we all gave her a round of applause.
âThis really was wonderful,â said Ms. Murphy. âA true honor and privilege, and youâll be happy to knowthat the entire seventh grade is going to be writing reports about your life and work.â
âThatâs lovely!â said Cindy, ignoring the groans from my classmates.
I wish I agreed with her. But more than thatâI wish Iâd paid better attention.
Chapter 9
After school and dog walking and a fruitless search for the egger, I was exhausted and starving. When I got home, I found Finn playing video games in the living room. Our apartment was silent except for the bleeps and whirs of his game; something involving a track meet in space.
âHey,â I said.
âMom and Dad are both working late, but they left us money for pizza,â Finn reported.
I sat down next to him. âWant to order?â I asked.
âNah, letâs go out.â He turned off the TV, stood up, and stretched. âI need air.â
âWhere to?â I asked.
âThe Pizza Den,â he replied like it was obvious, and I guess it shouldâve been. The Pizza Den is one of our favorite hangouts. The pizza isnât exactly delicious,but there are other reasons to go: itâs close, itâs cheap, and most importantly, pretty much everyone we know goes there.
âOkay, hold on a minute,â I said, and quickly headed into our room to change out of my dirty jeans and into some less dirty ones.
As we headed to Seventh Avenue, I asked, âHey, how come youâre home so early, anyway? Doesnât Jones usually keep you longer?â
âYup, but this afternoon Momâs friend Jenna intervened and accused him of violating child labor laws.â
âNo way!â I said.
âWay,â Finn replied. âTurns out, kids are only allowed to work for a certain amount of hours in a row. And shooting went over the limit last night. Apparently this happens all the time on productions, and if weâre not complaining, she shouldnât beâthatâs what Jones argued, anyway. But Jenna didnât agree. She called the police, and they showed up and stopped the cameras.â
âHe mustâve been furious,â I said. âDid he throw a huge tantrum?â
âEpic,â Finn said with a sly grin. âJenna was totally ruthless. The woman is completely intent on shutting this production down, by any means necessary.â
âThatâs crazy!â I said.
âIt is, in a way,â said Finn. âBut to be honest withyou, I wouldnât mind if they had to stop. Itâs been a long, boring two days of standing around.â
âI told Lucy not to bother asking you. I still canât believe you volunteered.â
Finn shrugged. âSo howâs the dog-egging case?â
âTerrible! Dogs are being egged every day, and I have no idea whoâs behind it. The entire thing just seems so random.â
âIf it werenât for this dumb Seth Ryan movie, Iâd totally help,â Finn said, pulling out his iPod. âMind if I listen to music the rest of the way? Red just burned this new album for me, and I havenât had time to listen to it.â
He plugged in his earbuds before I could respond, but I didnât mind. It gave me time to think about my case. According to the blogs Iâd been reading, three new dogs had been attacked this week: a
Frankie Blue
john thompson
Alaina Stanford
Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright
C.W. Gortner
Helena Newbury
Jessica Jarman
Shanna Clayton
Barbara Elsborg
James Howard Kunstler