Authors: Diane Muldrow

Boiling Point (15 page)

BOOK: Boiling Point

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Mr. Cheng translated one more time, and his mother nodded.

Mr. McElroy turned to Peichi. “Thank you, Peichi,” he said. “You were a big help today.”

Ah-mah and Mr. Cheng smiled at Peichi, and then everyone went back downstairs.

Suddenly, Peichi turned around and ran upstairs. Molly wasn’t sure what to do, so she followed her.

“Peichi, are you all right?”

“My grandparents are going to jail, and it’s all my fault!” cried Peichi. She threw herself on her bed and hid her face.

Molly sat on the edge of the bed. “They aren’t going to jail, Peichi. Mr. McElroy just needs to ask them some more questions. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Amanda appeared at the door. “Mr. Cheng told me to come up,” she said. “What’s going on?”

“I got my grandparents in lots of trouble, that’s what’s going on!” cried Peichi. “I found a pendant in the store and it was stolen and it’s a zillion years old.”

“What!” said Amanda.

That’s when Mrs. Cheng appeared at the door, looking very concerned.

“Hi, Mrs. Cheng.” said the twins softly. Molly got up from the edge of the bed so that Mrs. Cheng could sit there.

“Don’t worry, Peichi, your grandparents have nothing to hide,” Mrs. Cheng said soothingly, stroking Peichi’s hair. “They’re not smuggling anything, and they aren’t going to jail. Okay?”

Peichi was silent. Finally, she asked, “Then why did they have to go away with Mr. McElroy?

Suddenly the twins felt that they should leave Peichi and Mrs. Cheng to themselves.

“Well, we should probably get going,” said Molly.

“All right,” said Mrs. Cheng. She smiled. “Peichi will call you girls later, okay?”

“Okay. Bye. Bye, Peichi.”

“Bye,” said Peichi without looking up.

Molly and Amanda walked down the stairs. The party was over.

“I cant believe you were with Peichi when she found that pendant,” Amanda said to Molly. “Didn’t you think it was real? Why didn’t you tell anyone about it?”

Molly stopped walking and faced her sister. “Give it a rest, will you Amanda? Can’t you see I’m upset enough over this? Why do you have to make everything worse?”

She took off down the street.

Amanda was speechless.

chapter 13

“H
ey, Molls! Wait up,” Amanda called after a minute.

Molly didn’t stop walking, but she did slow down.

Amanda caught up to her. “Sorry,” she said. “I know you, and especially Peichi, are really freaked out over what happened. I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. It’s just that
everything’s
such a mess!”

“What else is wrong?” Molly asked.

“Well, things have just been weird since Shawn left. It seemed like she didn’t even care that she was leaving for a month. And then she got really mad at us for not e-mailing her. I kinda feel like everything we do is wrong,” Amanda said.

Molly thought for a minute. “I know what you mean, Manda. But I don’t think it’s such a huge deal. Remember when Shawn went to South Carolina before? We sort of felt the same way back then, but everything was normal as soon as she came home. I think it’s all gonna be fine.”

“Yeah, I guess. But our business hasn’t been so great, either. I mean, how can we even
have
a business when we don’t get paid?”

“It was just one person,” Molly said. “Everyone else has been paying us. And tipping us, foo!”

“True,” said Amanda. “But Dish has been a major stress for me lately. First Natasha bails on us, then Shawn moves away for a month, and then Peichi gets grounded and can’t even help. I don’t know how the two of us can do it all! I know I can’t do it by myself.”

Molly sighed. “I know it’s been rough, Manda. But it’s not going to be like this all the time. This was just a bunch of weird things happening at once, you know? Shawn will be back soon, and I know one thing: Peichi and I won’t be getting grounded again anytime soon!”

Amanda giggled. “Well, I hope not! Because Dish totally needs you guys. Anyway, we still have to get that money out of Ms. Brenda Bubblebrain. I think we should call her as soon as we get home. And guess who’s going to call?”

“Who?”

“You!”

“Me! Why me?”

Amanda giggled. “I talked to her on the phone enough when she booked us! It’s your turn. Think of it as the end of your punishment.”

“I’ve been punished enough!” Molly said. “Plus, you got something out of it all. You got Justin to help us.”

Amanda looked serious. “Um, Molls? Can I ask you something? I’ve been thinking about what Peichi said, about Justin not writing back...do you think that’s a big deal? Like, maybe he didn’t want me to e-mail him?”

“Amanda, don’t worry so much about Justin,” Molly told her. “The e-mail you sent was
fine.
Like you said, there was no reason for him to write back. It’s not a big deal. Besides, we have much more important things to think about, like what’s going on with Peichi’s family, and getting paid!”

“Thanks, Molls. You’re right.” Amanda smiled sweetly at her sister. “But you’re still gonna call Ms. Barlow!”

“Oh, all right,” said Molly with a sigh. She knew when she’d been beaten by Amanda.

‘Hey, look! There’s Natasha,” said Amanda, pointing to a tall figure down the street. “She’s heading to our house.”

“Hi, Natasha!” called the twins.

Natasha waved and waited for them to come down the hill.

“Hi, guys. What’s going on?”

Amanda shook her head. “Too much!”

“Really?” Natasha asked. “What do you mean?”

Molly and Amanda looked at each other. The girls weren’t sure they wanted to tell Natasha everything that was going on with Peichi’s family.

“Oh it’s nothing,” Molly said casually. “Peichi and I aren’t really out of trouble yet for going to Chinatown!”

Natasha made a little face. “That’s no fun,” she said. “Are you guys still grounded?”

“Um, not exactly,” Molly said. “Anyway, everything will be fine.” Natasha looked at the ground.

“We’ll tell you all about it later,” Amanda promised. “So what’s up with you? Do you want to come inside?”

“Sure! Has Brenda Barlow paid us yet?” Natasha asked.

“Nope.”

“Well, guess what!” said Natasha, waving some paper at them. “My dad—you know he’s a lawyer—wrote a letter to Ms. Barlow for us. It’s so great! You’ve got to read it.”

“Really?” asked Amanda. “You mean, he asked for the money? Come on in!”

“I’ll grab some lemonade,” said Molly as Amanda and Natasha headed out to the garden.

When Molly came outside, Amanda and Natasha were already studying the letter.

“Hey! Wait for me!” said Molly, setting down the drinks.

“Look, Molls,” said Amanda, pointing to the top of the letter. “Mr. Ross used his real lawyer stationery with his name printed on it!”

“It looks like he means business,” added Molly. “This paper is thick. You can tell it’s not just regular old paper for the printer...‘David Ross, Esquire.’ What does that mean?”

“I don’t remember,” said Natasha. “Anyway, read it!”

The letter said:

The girls roared.

“This is great!” cried the twins at the same time.

“Though I really don’t understand much of it,” admitted Amanda.

“Me, either,” said Molly. “But Brenda Barlow will!”

Natasha patted the envelope she had with her. “Her copy’s in here,” she explained. “See? Dad typed her name on the envelope. He said an envelope looks better than just sliding a plain piece of paper under her door.”

“Great idea!” said Amanda. “I love this letter!”

“Oooh.
she’s gonna be so scared!” added Molly. “Thanks. Natasha. Cool idea! ”

“Whose idea was it, anyway?” asked Amanda. “Yours, or you dad’s?”

“Mine,” replied Natasha, whose face was still red from laughing.

“What made you think of it?” asked Molly. “I never would have thought of something like this!”

“We all worked so hard that day,” Natasha explained. “Plus, I think I want to be a lawyer when I grow up. I wanted to see how a lawyer would help when someone doesn’t get paid.

“Let’s go slide the letter under her door right now!”

“Oh, there’s just one thing,” said Natasha. “My dad made me promise that before we dropped off the letter, we’d give her a call. He wants us to give her another chance to pay.”

“Okay,” said Amanda. “But it’s so awful to have to ask a grown-up for money that we
earned!”

“I guess that’s why some people hire lawyers to help them,” said Natasha. “The lawyers can do the talking.” She giggled. “Luckily, my dad is helping us for free!”

“I hope Brenda Barlow’s not home, so she has to read the scary letter!” said Molly, cracking up again.

“Molly, you have to talk to her,” ordered Amanda. “You said you would, remember? I’ll get the phone book.”

Molly sighed. “Oh, all right,” she said.

Molly’s heart pounded as Brenda Barlow’s phone began to ring.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings.

Molly began to breathe a little easier.

Four rings.

“Hello!” said Ms. Barlow’s voice.

Molly’s heart jumped. She couldn’t get any words out. But then she heard, “This is Brenda Barlow! I’m not home right now, so please leave a message—”

“Cool!” said Molly, turning off the phone. “She’s not there. Let’s go!”

What Natasha didn’t tell Molly and Amanda was that the letter in the envelope was different from the letter she had shown them. Her father had added a little something more at the end of Ms. Barlow’s letter:

But Natasha really didn’t want to show Molly and Amanda this part. The other part looked so official—as if they really meant business.

Natasha crossed her fingers, and hoped it would work.

chapter 14

O
n the way over to Ms. Barlow’s house, the twins told Natasha about Peichi and the jade pendant.

“I can’t believe Mr. McElroy is the detective that came over to her house!” said Natasha. “Does Justin know what happened?”

Amanda practically stopped in her tracks. With all the excitement, she’d barely wondered that herself. Why was Natasha so interested in what Justin knew?

Brenda Barlow’s red brick house suddenly came into view.

“Here we are,” said Amanda. “So, who wants to be the one to slip the letter under the door?”

“Not me!” said Natasha.

“Not me,” echoed Amanda, giving Molly a mischievous look.

“Aw,
why do I have to do everything?” whined Molly. “I had to call her. Why do I have to go up to the door? What if she doesn’t come to the door, but she knows we’re there anyway, and we slip the letter under the door, and then she opens the door really fast, and catches us?”

No one said anything for a moment.

“But then again,” Molly went on, “who cares if she catches us? We have a right to ask for our money.”

BOOK: Boiling Point

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