Disappearing Acts

Table of Contents

 

 

As he turned to go, Meat noticed a lipstick halfway between where he had found the wallet and the door to one of the stalls. He didn't pick this up. He just stared at it as if trying to make a connection.

The wallet ...

The lipstick ...

His eyes continued to look.

A hair brush—a dainty one with speckles like confetti in the plastic.

The objects began to take on the feeling of a trail, things leading to something.

And Meat knew that at the end of the trail there was going to be something he didn't like.

Something that would change his life.

And not for the better.

“Readers should be prepared to read this in one breathless sitting.”—
School Library Journal

 

 

PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

 

Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

First published in the United States of America by Viking,
a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1998
Published by Puffin Books, 2000
This Sleuth edition published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2006

Copyright © Betsy Byars, 1998

All rights reserved

 

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE VIKING EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Byars, Betsy Cromer.
Disappearing Acts / by Betsy Byars.
p. cm.—(A Herculeah Jones mystery)
Summary: Herculeah stumbles onto the trail of her friend Meat's long-lost father
while she and Meat are investigating the disappearance of a dead
body from the men's room of a comedy club.

eISBN : 978-1-101-12782-7

[1. Fathers and sons—Fiction. 2. Mystery and detective stories.]
I. Title. II. Series: Byars, Betsy Cromer. Herculeah Jones mystery.
PZ7.B9836Di 1998 [Fic]—dc21 97-29434 CIP AC

 

 

 

 

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume
any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

April Fools' Day started with a pretend murder and ended with a real one.

It was Saturday morning, ten o‘clock, and Herculeah Jones came around the comer, fast. Her hair flew out behind her as she ran.

Meat was sitting on his front porch. He had been watching for Herculeah, smiling in anticipation of telling her his big news. As soon as he saw her, he stood and moved to the steps.

Herculeah glanced toward him.

Meat saw her expression. There was something in her face, her manner, that instantly alarmed him. His smile of anticipation faded.

He checked to see if her hair was frizzing. Herculeah had what he called radar hair. It reacted to danger like an animal's fur. It got bigger.

At that moment, Herculeah's hair did look bigger than normal, and that increased his feeling of dread.

He hesitated, and then hurried down the steps. “What happened?” he called.

Herculeah didn't answer. She waved him off with her arm as if she didn't have time to stop.

Meat hurried across the street, not even pausing to check for traffic.

“What is it? What's happened?”

“Meat—” But she was too out of breath to continue. She pressed the fingers of one hand into her side.

“What?”

“Meat—”

“What? What? I can't stand this. What's happened? Don't do this to me!”

She looked at him with her clear gray eyes. They seemed darker now. Meat thought that could be because they were clouded with fear.

“What?”

“A body,” she managed to say.

Meat took a step backward. He put one hand over his heart.

“Not again?”

She nodded.

“Dead?”

Again Herculeah nodded.

“Killed?”

Another nod. Meat felt as if he were trying to communicate with one of those dashboard animals that can't do anything but nod.

“Where?”

“Oak.”

“Oak Street?”

“‘Yes.”

“Herculeah, this is your third dead body!”

“I know.”

He began to count them. “Old man Crewell... Madame Rosa—and I could have been the third! Remember the Bull!”

“I remember.” She gave a helpless sigh. “I don't want to find dead bodies. I can't help it.”

He watched her and then he sighed too, as if accepting the unfortunate fact.

“Male or female?”

“I couldn't tell.”

Meat's hand over his heart tightened so that he clutched his shirt.

“Mutilated?”

“Badly.”

“‘Don't tell me any details.” Meat began to feel a little sick. “I don't want to hear any details.” He held up his hand as if to ward them off. “Whatever you do, don't give me details.”

“Just one.”

“Is it gory?”

“A little.”

“Then I don't want to hear it! No! I'll have bad dreams. I'm going to put my fingers in my ears.”

“I'm sorry. You have to hear this.”

Meat waited.

Herculeah smiled.

“The body was a squirrel on Oak Street. A car ran over it. April Fool!”

Meat's expression went from concern to fury in one second. “That is not funny,” he sputtered. “That is really not funny.”

“Oh, come on, admit it. It was a little bit funny.”

“Maybe to you. To me, jokes like that are sick!”

“Don't be mad at me.”

“I am. I can't help it. I was having this wonderful day—and I don't have them that often—and you spoil it with a sick joke about finding a body.”

“Come on it. I'll make you popcorn. Will you forgive me for popcorn?”

Meat hesitated. “‘No,” he decided. “I'm getting ready to begin a new life tonight—”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Herculeah pulled a small camera from her pocket. “Smile!”

Meat's frown deepened.

“Why did you do that? You know I hate to have my picture taken. You're deliberately trying to irritate me—and you're succeeding!”

“Meat, listen,” she said, her tone softening. “I bought this camera at Hidden Treasures. I don't know why I even went in there. I only had one dollar, and nothing in there costs one dollar.”

Meat waited.

“I was drawn to the ”As Is“ table—all items as is. There was something about this table that bothered me. Some of the things were familiar, but ... but I don't know from where. Anyway, as soon as my hand touched the camera, my hair began to frizz.”

“But why would you pick up something that could put you in danger?”

“A camera? A camera's dangerous? Be real. Anyway,” she paused to advance the film, “there was a roll of film in the camera and five exposures left. I want to finish the roll. Smile!”

“I'm going back to my house if you don't put that camera away.”

Herculeah took his arm. “Did you say something about starting a new life?”

“Yes, but you don't want to hear about it.”

“I do.”

“You'd rather play stupid tricks on people and take pictures.”

“Come on, Meat. Popcorn ... think popcorn.”

She drew him into her house, then her kitchen. “Sit,” she said, pointing to a chair by the table. Meat sat. Herculeah put popcorn in the microwave, punched in four minutes, and sat across from Meat.

“You have my complete attention,” she said. “Tell me about your new life.”