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Authors: Marja McGraw
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it was just them and me . Time for a heart-to-heart.
“Okay, kids, there was this murder . And it happened a long time ago. There shouldn’t be any danger involved. I mean, Chris and I could try to solve it and we wouldn’t have to worry about our safety, right? Or Mikey’s,” I said thoughtfully. I hadn’t thought about my son and the murder until that moment. Of course, we wouldn’t let Mikey anywhere near the investigation. “Investigation?” I said. “Are we really going to investigate this?”
I glanced in the rearview mirror at the dogs . They were totally ignoring me, watching the scenery out of the window. They were used to me talking to them and never reacted unless I used key words like ball or dinner or walk. Actually, they had a pretty large vocabulary for dogs. I’d read that Labs do react to a lot words, and in my experience, that was true.
“Ball,” I said loudly, and then laughed when they both came to attention . “I was just messin’ with ya,” I said.
When they realized there was no ball, they turned back to the scenery.
Pulling up to the school, I saw Mikey waiting for me on the sidewalk. He ran over to the car and jumped in, making me wish I had even half of his energy.
He briefly hung over the seat to give the dogs a hug before putting on his seatbelt . And then he began a long story about his day. I listened intently and nodded or asked questions at all the right places.
“By the way,” I said, “we have company coming for a barbeque tomorrow night.”
“Who?”
“A detective named Janet Riley.”
“A real copper?” Mikey sounded excited.
“Yup . A real live copper.”
“Cool,” he said . “Wait ‘til I tell Danny about this. He didn’t believe me about the dead body in the cellar, you know. Some of the other kids did though. Is this copper the one who went to the new house to look at the body?”
I gulped . He’d been spreading the cellar story? I didn’t think he’d believed Constance when she’d told him.
It didn’t take long to find out just how much he believed her .
Chapter Eight
M ikey and I had been home for about an hour when the telephone rang. I couldn’t explain why, but I had a feeling of trepidation as I picked up the receiver.
“Hello?” I said.
“Mrs. Cross?” a woman’s voice asked me. “This is Mrs. Stanhope, Michael’s teacher. Do you have a moment to talk?”
I had no doubt what this was about . I knew it instinctively, but I prayed I was wrong. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Stanhope. What can I do for you?”
“Well, let me come right to the point . Michael has been telling his classmates that you found a deceased person in your basement, and he was rather descriptive. I’m sure there’s no truth to the story, so I thought I should let you know what’s been going on. Most of the students were fascinated with the story – you know how children are – but a couple of them were upset.”
“Uh, well… ,” I stammered. “I mean, Mikey wouldn’t, uh… ”
“Yes? It was just a story, wasn’t it?” Mrs. Stanhope didn’t quite sound so sure of herself now. I knew it was because I’d hedged and stammered. I’d had a feeling that this was coming, but I hadn’t expected a call quite this soon.
“Well, it’s like this . My husband and I had a restaurant, and it burned down. It was devastating, to say the least.”
“I know . Michael told us about that, too, not too long ago. I knew that was true because it was in the newspaper. And, generally, Michael is a well-behaved boy who isn’t prone to telling outlandish stories.”
“He still isn’t – prone to telling outlandish stories, I mean. We bought an old house to remodel into a new restaurant. In the course of looking everything over, we discovered bones in the cellar of the house. Mikey happened to show up with his babysitter while the coppers, uh, police were there. We tried to keep the matter of the dead body from
“Okay, kids, there was this murder . And it happened a long time ago. There shouldn’t be any danger involved. I mean, Chris and I could try to solve it and we wouldn’t have to worry about our safety, right? Or Mikey’s,” I said thoughtfully. I hadn’t thought about my son and the murder until that moment. Of course, we wouldn’t let Mikey anywhere near the investigation. “Investigation?” I said. “Are we really going to investigate this?”
I glanced in the rearview mirror at the dogs . They were totally ignoring me, watching the scenery out of the window. They were used to me talking to them and never reacted unless I used key words like ball or dinner or walk. Actually, they had a pretty large vocabulary for dogs. I’d read that Labs do react to a lot words, and in my experience, that was true.
“Ball,” I said loudly, and then laughed when they both came to attention . “I was just messin’ with ya,” I said.
When they realized there was no ball, they turned back to the scenery.
Pulling up to the school, I saw Mikey waiting for me on the sidewalk. He ran over to the car and jumped in, making me wish I had even half of his energy.
He briefly hung over the seat to give the dogs a hug before putting on his seatbelt . And then he began a long story about his day. I listened intently and nodded or asked questions at all the right places.
“By the way,” I said, “we have company coming for a barbeque tomorrow night.”
“Who?”
“A detective named Janet Riley.”
“A real copper?” Mikey sounded excited.
“Yup . A real live copper.”
“Cool,” he said . “Wait ‘til I tell Danny about this. He didn’t believe me about the dead body in the cellar, you know. Some of the other kids did though. Is this copper the one who went to the new house to look at the body?”
I gulped . He’d been spreading the cellar story? I didn’t think he’d believed Constance when she’d told him.
It didn’t take long to find out just how much he believed her .
Chapter Eight
M ikey and I had been home for about an hour when the telephone rang. I couldn’t explain why, but I had a feeling of trepidation as I picked up the receiver.
“Hello?” I said.
“Mrs. Cross?” a woman’s voice asked me. “This is Mrs. Stanhope, Michael’s teacher. Do you have a moment to talk?”
I had no doubt what this was about . I knew it instinctively, but I prayed I was wrong. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Stanhope. What can I do for you?”
“Well, let me come right to the point . Michael has been telling his classmates that you found a deceased person in your basement, and he was rather descriptive. I’m sure there’s no truth to the story, so I thought I should let you know what’s been going on. Most of the students were fascinated with the story – you know how children are – but a couple of them were upset.”
“Uh, well… ,” I stammered. “I mean, Mikey wouldn’t, uh… ”
“Yes? It was just a story, wasn’t it?” Mrs. Stanhope didn’t quite sound so sure of herself now. I knew it was because I’d hedged and stammered. I’d had a feeling that this was coming, but I hadn’t expected a call quite this soon.
“Well, it’s like this . My husband and I had a restaurant, and it burned down. It was devastating, to say the least.”
“I know . Michael told us about that, too, not too long ago. I knew that was true because it was in the newspaper. And, generally, Michael is a well-behaved boy who isn’t prone to telling outlandish stories.”
“He still isn’t – prone to telling outlandish stories, I mean. We bought an old house to remodel into a new restaurant. In the course of looking everything over, we discovered bones in the cellar of the house. Mikey happened to show up with his babysitter while the coppers, uh, police were there. We tried to keep the matter of the dead body from
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