Read Online Bonnie of Evidence by Maddy Hunter - Free Book Online Page A

un-American.”
    “We’re not in America,” taunted Bill, “so the rules don’t apply. Besides which, how do I know any of you are real Americans? Can you prove it? Do you have the right documentation?”
    “What’s the wrong documentation?” questioned Margi.
    Yup. This was going well.
    “I like to win just as much as the next guy,” Cameron explained to the rest of the room, embarrassment evident in his voice, “but not like this. What were you thinking, Isobel? I don’t want to side with the opposition, but fair is fair. You’ve probably earned our team some kind of penalty, but I’m not sure what.”
    His words found their mark, because Isobel Kronk suddenly looked as if she’d been slapped, and slapped hard. I watched her bottom lip quiver for a heartbeat before she brushed aside the obvious hurt by acting as if she were immune to it. “Some friend you turned out to be, Cam ”—his name shooting out of her mouth like a nail out of a nail gun. “Are you sure you’re not Scottish? Because you seem to have a real aptitude for stabbing people in the back.”
    “Don’t you dare criticize Cameron,” Dolly chided. “He found that last cache singlehandedly, in record time, despite the flak that our resident bellyacher was throwing at him.”
    Lucille smiled broadly. “She’s talking about Bernice.”
    “Okay, time out.” I motioned for quiet as I navigated my way around furniture and guests to take center stage. “I’m confused. If Cameron’s team found the cache first, and Isobel removed it—”
    “Stole it!” Bill Gordon bellowed.
    “— removed it from its hiding place so no one else could find it, then what, exactly, did the other four teams find?”
    Everyone flew into motion at the same time, digging into pockets, purses, and fanny packs to retrieve their cameras and mobile phones. Alex Hart was quickest on the draw, yanking his camera out of his new sporran with the skill of a marsupial yanking a joey out of its pouch. He punched a button then handed the camera over to me. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but that’s what our team found.”
    I studied the screen, trying to analyze what I was looking at. “A shoebox-shaped plastic container.”
    “It was one a them real good ones,” offered Nana. “The kind what won’t decompose even if you nuke it.”
    “The register was noteworthy,” said Tilly as she regarded the photo she’d taken with her own Smartphone. “It was a glittery pink notebook, with kitten and pony stickers covering the front, which might indicate that the person who placed it there was a teenage girl.”
    “Or not,” I quipped as I cradled my hands around the metallic pink housing of Alex’s camera.
    “I got a good shot of the page we signed and dated,” said George, brandishing his phone in evidence. “Marion did the honors for Team One because she has the best penmanship. She even managed to jot down a nice comment about the scenery.”
    “I took a picture of the comment,” enthused Dick Teig as he accessed his zoom function. “It says, ‘Out.’ ” He held it up so everyone could see.
    “I have a picture of that, too!” exclaimed Margi. “Do you think it’s code for something?”
    “It’s code for—there wasn’t no time to write no more, so I had to leave off the last half of the word,” said Nana.
    “Which was—?” I asked.
    “Outstandin’.”
    “I think ‘outlandish’ would have been a better word,” said Dick Teig.
    “Outdoorsy,” countered Grace. “Definitely, outdoorsy.”
    “You’re both wrong,” quibbled Helen. “‘Outdated’ is the word you want. I mean, didn’t you notice? The whole town looked like it was about a thousand years old.”
    Tilly stared at her, deadpan. “That’s because … it is . ”
    “Is the pink register the only thing everyone found in the container?” I persisted.
    “Our team found a travel size bottle of Hog Wild hand sanitizer,” Grace revealed. “Three guesses where that came