Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) by Bob Blanton (open ebook txt) 📗

“Dad, they had already stolen it back.  I heard from a friendthat nobody knows who did it.”

“You’d better hope that they don’t.  Like I said, if thatstunt comes back to bite us, I’m kicking you out.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Now, go get dinner out of the truck.”

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Opening night was Thursday and Matthew, Brianna, and Emilyhad fourth-row seats, right next to Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop.  Everyone had beenamazed at the effort that Jason and Alex had put into studying for their parts,the two weren’t noted for their dedication to anything but having fun.

The theater was packed; everyone was riding high on therecovery of the statue, so school spirit was fueling participation in schoolevents.

Finally, the curtain went up and the play began.

“Where’s Jason?” Brianna asked in a whisper a few minutesinto the play.

“Shhh, he and Alex don’t show up until after the bigkerfuffle,” Emily said.  “Didn’t you read the play?”

“No!”

“Shhh!”

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After the curtain fell on Act I, everyone rushed out to theconcession stand.

“They’re really good,” Emily said.

“Yes, can you believe it?” Brianna added.

“Of course they would be good.  Those two have been actingtheir entire lives,” Mrs. Winthrop said.

“What, the only other play Jason has been in is the third-gradeproduction of Peter and the Wolf.”

“You don’t have to be onstage to act.  Think about the WinterBall last year.  The next morning you described their entry to me in greatdetail.  Wasn’t that acting?”

“Oh, I guess you’re right.  Jason is always putting on ashow.”

Mrs. Winthrop just smiled.

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When the final curtain fell, Jason and Alex came out still incostume.  They planned to go out to dinner with everyone while still incostume.

“Well, how was it?” Jason asked.

“You were wonderful,” Mrs. Winthrop said.  Mr. Winthropsimply nodded his agreement.

“Alex, you were amazing, all those lines, and you were perfect,”Emily said.

“I just wish Mummy and Daddy could have been here.”

“You’ll have to send them the video.”

“Video?” Matthew asked.

“Didn’t you see the camera in the lighting booth?” Jasonasked.  “They’re filming all the plays this year.  Pretty cool, huh?”

“So, does that mean we’re movie stars as well?”

“Alex, you’re too much.

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During the weekend and week before the homecoming game,Mathew committed to keeping tabs on Dante and Emilio, Frankie’s replacement.  Afterconstantly checking in on Dante, on Sunday night he had caught him packaging upthe money inside a book.  Then on Monday, he’d been able to watch him shippingthe package to an address in Temecula, The Book Exchange, but he still hadn’tbeen able to determine who was picking it up.  He assumed that Dante sent thepackage out each week.  But it wasn’t like he could keep a constant lookout onthe mail store where the address was, he did have a life after all.

His attempts to check in were continually preempted by his‘real’ life.  He set up a pattern of time to check for the package being pickedup, but after a week of casing the package store, he hadn’t had any luck.  Hedidn’t have time to search through the store’s haphazard filing system forpackages to figure if all the packages that had slips in the mailbox were moneypackages.  He did determine that the slips were all gone on Thursday morning,so he assumed the packages were picked up the day before, but by Friday, therewere several more slips in the box.

He had been able to determine that Dante was running out ofpills.  So after Homecoming, Emily and he would have to talk about how to catchDante’s supplier.

◆ ◆ ◆

Everyone at PCA was pumped for the Homecoming game againstFallbrook.  The return of the mascot statue had the school believing that theywould be victorious on the field.  Matthew and Emily attended so they could putan ending on their story about the mysterious disappearance and reappearance ofthe statue, they hoped with a victory over the Fallbrook Warriors.

At halftime, the score was tied, 10 all.  Matthew rushed tothe concession stand to get in line before it got too long.

“Damn,” he said as he got there only to be eighth in line.

“Hey, Matt, isn’t it?” Cicely asked.

Matthew turned to see the girl from the party in Fallbrook.

“Yes, and you’re Cicely, right?”

“Yes, and I’m guessing by the colors you’re wearing and thefact that I haven’t seen you at school that you actually go to PCA.”

“Busted, we were trying to figure out where our statue was.”

“That’s what I figured.  How come you guys didn’t fingerJerome?”

“I would guess that whoever figured out where the statue wasthought that Jerome might have enough problems already without siccing the copson him.”

“Oh, . . . That was pretty nice ofthem.  He’s a bit of an ass, especially since his mother left five years ago. I can see why someone would be willing to cut him some slack.  So where’s yoursister, or is she really your girlfriend?” Cicely asked as she looked aroundfor Emily.

“Emily’s not really my sister, she’s just a friend.  But, thestory about the license was true.”

“Are you really a junior?”

“No . . .  actually, I’m a senior;I skipped a grade.”

“Well, at least we know you’re smart.  Evan had a fit when herealized you’d snuck out.”

“Great.  Just a sec,” Matthew turned to order two chilidogsand fries along with two Cokes.  “Are you going to a party after the game?”

“No, after that scene with Evan, I’ve decided that going to aparty where everyone plans to get drunk is probably not the smartest move.  I’vedecided to skip the parties and focus on finishing school.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

“Maybe some of your smarts are rubbing off on me.”  Cicelygrabbed Matthew's hand and wrote a number on it.  “Call me.”

The lady behind the counter called out, “Matt, two orders ofchilidogs.”  Matthew realized it was the second time she’d called his name.

“Sure,” he mumbled as he grabbed his stuff and started out. Cicely gave him a finger wave and a smile as he moved on.

Matthew found his way through the crowd back to their seats.

“What took you so long?”

“There was a line.”

“Oh, and what’s that on your hand?”

“Cicely’s phone number, I think.”

“Right, a long line.  Are you going to call her?”

“Should I?”

“Why not?  Now give me my chilidog.”

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