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

from.”
    Margi lifted her shoulders and smiled impishly. “Seemed like the polite thing to do. Kind of like a little hostess gift.”
    “I could have used some sanitizer after I pried that container out of its hiding place,” admitted Dick Stolee as he inspected his fingernails. “It was a great location, but those rocks were gross. Have you ever seen so much slime-green algae in your life?”
    Bernice sat up in her chair as if she’d been poked by a cattle prod. “Rocks? What rocks?”
    Erik Ishmael leaned over in his chair to show her the image on his camera screen. “These rocks.”
    She studied the photo for a half-second before dissolving into a fit of snarky laughter. “Hate to break it to you losers, but the container wasn’t hidden near any rocks. Your team went to the wrong place.”
    “Did not,” snapped Margi.
    “Did so,” mocked Bernice. “ This is where the container was hiding.” She held up her phone, flashing the picture to anyone sitting close enough to see. “In a hollowed-out tree trunk camouflaged by lots of weeds. Weeds, not rocks.”
    “Shoot.” Helen regarded the photo on her Smartphone in dejection. “I’ve got rocks.”
    “Me, too,” lamented Osmond.
    “So do I,” said Alice Tjarks. She sighed. “Does this mean we didn’t find the cache after all?”
    How did the saying go? If disinformation is repeated often enough, people are brainwashed into thinking it’s the truth? “Did you sign the pink register?” I asked Alice.
    She nodded. “I was the official signatory for Team Two. I even took a picture. See?” She turned her Smartphone outward. “My signature, the date, and the time. And you can see where Team One signed just above me, with Marion’s comment.”
    “Did you happen to take a picture of Team Five’s signature?” I pressed. “If they were first up, they would have signed before you.”
    Alice shook her head. “The entry above Marion’s wasn’t written in English.”
    “It was written in Lithuanian,” Tilly spoke up. “Left by two geocachers named Jadvyga and Pranciskus. Rough translation, ‘These rocks are very slimy.’”
    “Aha!” I lasered a look at Bernice. “So your team didn’t sign a register?”
    “There was no register,” Dolly answered for her. “There was a box in a tree trunk, and no register, which I thought was odd, but now that we know people are stealing things, should we be surprised?” She directed a haughty look at Isobel, who flipped her long gray hair over her shoulder before bracing her fists on the table, looking supremely smug.
    “Would you like to know why there was no register in the box?” Isobel asked. “Have you figured it out yet? Because our intrepid leader—the guy who found the cache singlehandedly, in record time, took us to the wrong location. Nice going, Cam.” She slapped him on the back. “You found the wrong damn container.”
    “No. That’s not possible.” He looked utterly bewildered. “I … I followed the right coordinates. I—”
    “Turkey,” Isobel jeered.
    “Point of order!” Lucille Rassmuson raised her hand, looking as puzzled as Cameron. “Which container did Isobel steal? The one with the pink register or the one with the knife?”
    I leveled a quizzical look at the members of Team Five. “Knife?”
    “Don’t get your panties in a wad,” Isobel shot back in a growly voice. “It wasn’t real.”
    “It looked real to me,” argued Dolly.
    “That’s because you’re a putz.”
    If Dolly’s eyes hadn’t been weighted by so much volumizing mascara, they would have flown out of their sockets. “ I’m a putz? Oh, that’s rich, coming from the freaking genius who decided to rig the contest by stealing the wrong container. You want to find the real putz? Try looking in a mirror.”
    “I have a makeup compact if you’d like to borrow it,” Margi offered helpfully.
    “Hold it!” Lucille heaved herself to her feet, making herself visible to everyone in the room, while