Read Online Harper Madigan: Junior High Private Eye by Chelsea M. Campbell - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Chelsea M. Campbell
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“Come on, Phelps. I’ve had enough of this witness . We’re out of here.”
“She’s making a fool out of you, Harper,” Oliver calls as Austin and I walk away. “You’re getting lured into her trap just like you were with Connor’s. You know that, right?”
But the only thing I know is that despite what Oliver thinks, Danigail is innocent, and I’m going to find proof. No matter what I have to do or who I have to cross to get it.
Chapter 9
The first thing I notice after we finish with Oliver is that Danigail’s gone . Figures. Either she heard Oliver singing her praises to me just now, or she made herself scarce so she conveniently wouldn’t have to answer my questions. If that’s the case, then whatever she and Alexis are hiding is something worth finding out.
“Well?” Austin says, biting his lip like he already knows the answer.
“Well what ?”
He sort of shrugs, palms out. “Where is she? Did you arrange for us to interview her at another time and place?”
“You know I didn’t.” He’s on the case for what, a day, and now he’s acting like he’s got a right to question me? Like he’s got any say in calling the shots. “We’ll catch her later.”
“Catch is the key word,” he mutters.
I whirl around, my missing trench coat not flying out behind me. “What was that, Phelps?”
He gestures back at Oliver with his notebook, and I hope Oliver’s not listening to this. “Her own brother thinks she’s guilty. Doesn’t that tell you something?”
“It tells me he wants to think she did it, for whatever reason, but you heard him. He didn’t see what happened.”
“Veronica says she was pushed. We just heard Oliver’s statement. Both of them are sure it was Danigail—it couldn’t have been anyone else.”
“And yet neither of them actually saw anything.” I glare at him. This is what I have to go through for the sake of Dodge sleeping a little better at night, thinking having a journalist following me around all day is going to give him some kind of job security. If I was on my own, I wouldn’t have some know-it-all questioning my every move.
“And what does Danigail say happened?” He flips through his notes, like maybe he has it written down but just forgot.
I scratch behind my ear, racking my brain for something to tell him that won’t make me sound stupid. Because I haven’t asked her yet, and Austin’s going to think that means something it doesn’t. “She says she didn’t do it.”
“But what’s her take on what happened ?”
I glance at the clock on the wall. The little hand’s just hitting the four and the big hand’s on the twelve. “Don’t you have the late bus to catch?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“It’s going to leave and you’re not going to be on it. You like walking home, Phelps? Because every time that clock ticks I think you must really like walking.” Not that I won’t have to walk home, but it beats answering his questions.
He squirms a little, trying to make a stand, but in the end he can’t resist checking the clock for himself. Panic makes one of his eyes twitch, and he holds out a moment more, faking like he’s going to risk it just to keep me on the spot. But then he cracks, turning and running for the door so fast his shoes squeak against the floor.
I don’t know what Danigail’s version is. Not yet. But her running off and hiding things isn’t doing her any favors—especially not when I’ve got reporter boy writing down every word of this investigation and handing it to Dodge on a silver platter. If she’s not careful, she’s going to sink herself before I even have a chance to save her. And then I’ll have failed both her and Oliver, and I don’t know if there’d be any coming back from that.
***
I’m on my way out of the school, taking my time and mulling things over now that Austin’s not around asking me so many questions I can’t hear myself think, when I turn the corner between
“She’s making a fool out of you, Harper,” Oliver calls as Austin and I walk away. “You’re getting lured into her trap just like you were with Connor’s. You know that, right?”
But the only thing I know is that despite what Oliver thinks, Danigail is innocent, and I’m going to find proof. No matter what I have to do or who I have to cross to get it.
Chapter 9
The first thing I notice after we finish with Oliver is that Danigail’s gone . Figures. Either she heard Oliver singing her praises to me just now, or she made herself scarce so she conveniently wouldn’t have to answer my questions. If that’s the case, then whatever she and Alexis are hiding is something worth finding out.
“Well?” Austin says, biting his lip like he already knows the answer.
“Well what ?”
He sort of shrugs, palms out. “Where is she? Did you arrange for us to interview her at another time and place?”
“You know I didn’t.” He’s on the case for what, a day, and now he’s acting like he’s got a right to question me? Like he’s got any say in calling the shots. “We’ll catch her later.”
“Catch is the key word,” he mutters.
I whirl around, my missing trench coat not flying out behind me. “What was that, Phelps?”
He gestures back at Oliver with his notebook, and I hope Oliver’s not listening to this. “Her own brother thinks she’s guilty. Doesn’t that tell you something?”
“It tells me he wants to think she did it, for whatever reason, but you heard him. He didn’t see what happened.”
“Veronica says she was pushed. We just heard Oliver’s statement. Both of them are sure it was Danigail—it couldn’t have been anyone else.”
“And yet neither of them actually saw anything.” I glare at him. This is what I have to go through for the sake of Dodge sleeping a little better at night, thinking having a journalist following me around all day is going to give him some kind of job security. If I was on my own, I wouldn’t have some know-it-all questioning my every move.
“And what does Danigail say happened?” He flips through his notes, like maybe he has it written down but just forgot.
I scratch behind my ear, racking my brain for something to tell him that won’t make me sound stupid. Because I haven’t asked her yet, and Austin’s going to think that means something it doesn’t. “She says she didn’t do it.”
“But what’s her take on what happened ?”
I glance at the clock on the wall. The little hand’s just hitting the four and the big hand’s on the twelve. “Don’t you have the late bus to catch?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“It’s going to leave and you’re not going to be on it. You like walking home, Phelps? Because every time that clock ticks I think you must really like walking.” Not that I won’t have to walk home, but it beats answering his questions.
He squirms a little, trying to make a stand, but in the end he can’t resist checking the clock for himself. Panic makes one of his eyes twitch, and he holds out a moment more, faking like he’s going to risk it just to keep me on the spot. But then he cracks, turning and running for the door so fast his shoes squeak against the floor.
I don’t know what Danigail’s version is. Not yet. But her running off and hiding things isn’t doing her any favors—especially not when I’ve got reporter boy writing down every word of this investigation and handing it to Dodge on a silver platter. If she’s not careful, she’s going to sink herself before I even have a chance to save her. And then I’ll have failed both her and Oliver, and I don’t know if there’d be any coming back from that.
***
I’m on my way out of the school, taking my time and mulling things over now that Austin’s not around asking me so many questions I can’t hear myself think, when I turn the corner between
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