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

house, and shewas excited to explore where the ghosts and goblins were hiding as well asdiscover the candy.

“She’s excited,” Mrs. Winthrop said.

“She’s been excited all weekend,” Matthew said.  “And I mustsay you’re a very convincing witch.”  Mrs. Winthrop was dressed as the WickedWitch of the West.

“You’d better be nice or I’ll get you, my pretty.”

Matthew gave out a fake shudder and ran to the stairs so hecould head down to the big kid party.

As soon as he made it to the bottom of the stairs, Briannarushed over and gave him a hug.  “Matt, I’m glad you could come.  And you makea dashing prince.”

“Thanks.  Jessie had her heart set on this theme.”

“Hah, blame your sister.”  Brianna kissed him then ran off togreet other guests.

“Hi, Matt,” Emily said.

“Hi, where’s your date?”

“She’s upstairs.  We came as the Fairy Godmother andCinderella.”

Matthew laughed as Emily spun around to show off her FairyGodmother costume.  “Does this mean you can grant my wishes?”

“I don’t know, what do you wish for?”

“I wish I knew what Brea wants.”

“Then I’m sorry.  I’m not even sure she knows.  You’ll justhave to ride it out.  You could have invited Cecily, that might have told you whatyou want to know.”

“I’m not sure I want to find out that way.  It might bepainful.”

Emily laughed.  “That it might.  Anyway, have you checked onMr. Graham lately?”

“Not much; he’s in the Cayman Islands right now.  I suspecthe’s got a way to smuggle his money there.”

“You don’t know?”

“I wasn’t paying attention when he went there.  He flewduring the night, so when I woke up, he was already there and I didn’t see anymoney.”

◆ ◆ ◆

On Tuesday, Matthew and Emily met again to review their casenotes.

“Matt, did you see that the City settled with FrankieSutton?”

“Yes I did.  I started checking on him when I heard; he’s runoff to Florida.”

“Run off?”

“Yes.  I saw him go to his mother’s house.  He gave her a bagof cash and told her she could have the money in their joint savings account.”

“So, was his mother in on it with him?”

“No, she wasn’t too happy about the money, but she’s gotthree kids and her husband is in the Navy, off on deployment to the Far East. Anyway, Frankie gave her the money and told her to spread the spending around. He said the sixty thousand in their joint account was clean, so she could spendit however she saw fit, but not to let her husband get hold of it.”

“What?”

“Apparently he likes to spend money with his friends.  Shehas to survive on her allotment from the Navy, so it’s tight.”

“So he’s going to Florida and live on his settlement?”

“Yes, apparently he grew up there.  He said he’s going tolive with some friends and stay off the grid for a few months.  Then he’ll goto college and finish his degree.”

“So Mrs. Frye getting murdered really spooked him.”

“I’d say.  Anyway, I saw that Mr. Graham flew back from theCaymans on Monday morning.  Haven’t’ seen anything else.”

“Okay.  Hey, don’t you get your driver’s license on Friday?”

“That’s the plan.  I do have to pass the test.”

“Like that’s in doubt.”

“The driving test, not the written one.”

“Still, you’ll ace it.”

Chapter 11Nice Car

Matthew got his driver’s license on Friday, November 5th,his birthday.  His mother had taken off from work early so she could take himto the DMV.  He still didn’t have a car, so since they only had one vehicle, hewas still going to be spending most of his time riding his bike or bummingrides with friends.

On Saturday, when Matthew got back from his martial artspractice at the Golden Dragon, he found two black Lincoln Navigators pulled tothe side of the road in front of his house.  A silver Lexus SUV was in thedriveway along with a black Mercedes 600SL.  A woman was sitting in theMercedes with the top down.

“Can I help you?” Matthew asked the guy who started gettingout of the Lexus when Matthew rode up on his bike.

“Are you Matthew Brandt?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Then I’m delivering your car.”

“My car?” Matthew raised his eyebrows at the guy.

“Yes, this one, not the Mercedes.”  The guy pointed to thesilver SUV.

“I’m still confused.”

“I’m the Crown Prince’s nephew.  I bought the Lexus in July,but I don’t like it.  It’s a nice car, but I think the girls like the Mercedesbetter.”

“Okay, so you wanted to trade up to a Mercedes, who wouldn’t? But how does that involve me?”

“My uncle said that if I wanted the Mercedes, I had to giveyou the Lexus.  Here are the keys and the papers.  Have fun.”

“Wait!”

“Hey, if you don’t want the car, sell it.  I got what Iwanted and did what my uncle told me to.  Now, I’m off to watch a polo match. Have fun.”

Matthew tried to think of something to say, finally, he cameup with, “Thanks.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Matt, who’s visiting?” Matthew’s mother asked when she gothome.

“Nobody.”

“Then what’s that Lexus doing in the driveway.”

“It’s our new car.”

“What?!  You didn’t go out and buy a car without talking tome, did you?”

“Of course not, how could I anyway?  It’s from the prince.”

“And why would he give you a car?”

“His nephew wanted to change cars, so the prince told him hehad to give us the other car.”

“That’s a new Lexus.”

“It’s four months old.”

“That’s still new.  I don’t know what I think about youdriving a car like that.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.  I think you should drive itand I’ll drive the Explorer.”

Mrs. Brandt smiled as she gazed at Matthew.  “That doesn’tsound fair, they gave the car to you.”

“But I don’t really need it.  I’ll just be driving to schooland things like that.  You’re the one who has to drive down to UCSD to work.  I’vealready told my friends that I was getting a used car.”

Mrs. Brandt walked over and gave Matthew a hug.  “We’ll seeabout it.  Do you have all the paperwork?”

“Right here.  The title just has his signature, you can addyour name and it will all work out.”

“Let me think about it.  We’ll talk again tomorrow.”

“Sure.  Hey, where’s Jessie?”

“She’s playing with Sonja today.  I have to pick her up atone.  Do you want a ride?”

“Sure, Emily and I are