Sleepover Stakeout (9780545443111) (7 page)

After
the last bell, I grabbed my stuff from my locker and headed out to the bike rack, where Darcy had told me to meet her. She was already there, but she wasn't alone.

Hunter stood next to her.

He kept pushing the sleeves of his flannel shirt up his forearms, then they'd fall again, and he'd push them back up. And he shuffled from foot to foot while his eyes darted all around. Why was he acting so weird … and nervous?

“Hey,” Darcy said as I came up to them. “You're here.”

“Yeah …” I was too polite to add
And what's he doing here?
My eyes went to Hunter for an explanation and he — for the first time in his entire life — gave me a weak smile. My mind took a moment to process that, and then I figured out what was going on.

Hunter was being nice because he thought I was going to help him with something.

Darcy had replied to his e-mail.

I glared at Darcy. “I thought we'd agreed we were too busy to take on another case.”

“
You
said that.” Darcy crossed her arms. “I didn't agree.”

My mouth opened and closed silently. She'd gone ahead and answered his e-mail, then agreed to meet him, and hadn't told me. And then also didn't happen to mention when we'd made plans to meet after school that Hunter would be with her!

Through tightly pursed lips, I hissed, “I thought we made Partners in Crime decisions together.”

Darcy cocked her head. “Funny, that's what I've been wondering lately, too.”

I winced.
What did
that
mean?

Hunter stepped in between us. “Will you guys stop fighting, please? You're starting to sound like Slade and me lately.”

I looked up at Hunter and noticed there was a bit of hurt in his eyes. He and Slade were fighting, too? What was up with all the BFFs at Danville Middle School?

Out of curiosity, I asked, “What's wrong with you and Slade?”

Hunter shrugged like he didn't care, but his face betrayed him. “Slade doesn't have much time for me anymore.”

Darcy snorted, but her face was hidden by Hunter's huge frame, so I didn't know if she was happy about Hunter and Slade's problem or what.

“Just look at the note and then you can decide if you want to take on my case,” Hunter pleaded. “Please. It'll only take one second.”

Whoa. Hunter Fisk just used the word
please
. I exhaled loudly. “Fine. What note?”

He reached into the back pocket of his jeans. “It showed up in my locker yesterday. It's small enough that someone could just push it through the vent. It's … um … threatening.”

Well, it shouldn't be a huge surprise that Hunter had made someone mad, I thought. He probably made enemies every day. But who would have the guts to stand up to him? I held out my hand, and he slid the note onto my palm.

Only two words were on it, in large block text:

YOU'RE NEXT.

I tried to swallow, but my throat was suddenly bone dry. I hadn't been prepared for something so simple and … creepy. I'd been expecting something like:
Leave me alone or I'll tell Principal Plati!

This note might not have anything to do with Hunter's favorite hobby of bullying kids. This might be something completely different. And the “next” part implied that it was something already in progress, with other victims.

“Was there anything else?” I asked.

He ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “Not really. There's just some weird design on the other side.”

I flipped it over. The swirly design looked familiar. Very familiar. Then I realized where I'd seen it before, and my stomach dropped.

The same design had been on the note I'd found on the ground behind Maya's house. I slid my backpack off my shoulder and started frantically searching through it.

“What's wrong?” Darcy asked, stepping around Hunter to stand beside me. “What are you doing?”

I pulled the scrap of paper from the bottom of my bag and smoothed out the creases. Then I held it up to show Darcy and Hunter. “I found this on the ground the night we were outside Maya's house, searching for that mysterious voice.”

Hunter's eyes widened. “It's the same logo.”

Darcy took it out of my hand and brought it up close to her face. “Why didn't you tell me about this?”

I drew in a shaky breath. “I figured it didn't mean anything. It's just a swirly design.”

She lowered the note. “Have you looked good and hard at it since you've gotten your glasses?”

“No … why?” She handed it back and I took a longer look. It
wasn't
just a meaningless design. It was three letters drawn in elaborate cursive and linked together with decorative swirls. I'd never noticed before.

“The letters
TDB
?” I said.

“That's what it looks like to me,” Darcy said.

“What does
TDB
mean?” Hunter asked us.

Darcy shook her head. “I don't know. It could be someone's initials.”

“But whose?” Hunter demanded. “And what am I ‘next' for?”

I felt a pang of intrigue mixed with fear. I thought about the words Maya had told us she'd first heard on the monitor: someone saying “Get him” and then a scream. And then what we'd heard … someone begging for help … someone scared. And this symbol, design, logo, had been on the ground by her house. Now Hunter had gotten the same note with a message saying he was next.

Something added up but didn't.

“Do you think the voices on the baby monitor have to do with this note?” I asked, holding up Hunter's note for Darcy.

“Maybe,” Darcy said slowly.

Hunter gave us a look that was part smug and part hopeful. “So you'll take on my case now, right?”

I exchanged a look with Darcy and answered Hunter, “Yeah. Something's going on and —”

“And you might be in danger,” Darcy finished for me.

I knew Darcy and I were thinking the same thing. We hadn't picked up some innocent conversation from someone else's baby monitor. And now it didn't even look as if this was staged to scare Maya. We'd stumbled upon something real. And dangerous. Something was going on out there, in the dark, in the woods.

This changed everything.

The
only good thing about discovering that the voice in the woods might be something dangerous was that Darcy and I weren't fighting anymore. Not that we were
fighting
before. But you know. The sleepover became the top priority.

Mom pulled into the Doshis' driveway Saturday night just as Darcy's mom and Fiona's dad were pulling out. We'd all arrived at basically the same time.

Mom looked at the pile of stuff on my lap. “You have everything?”

A mixture of emotions ran through me: excitement, anticipation, and even a little bit of fear. I hefted my overnight bag up over one shoulder and held the sleeping bag with my arms. “Yep! See you in the morning.” I pushed the car door with my foot.

Mom called out, “Remember, if for any reason you want to come home, just give us a call.”

“I would, but I don't have a cell phone,” I said with a glint in my eye.

Mom chuckled. “I'm sure the Doshis have a house phone. Nice try, though.”

I was convinced that one of these tries, someday, was going to work.

Maya swung open the front door as I approached the house. She waved me in. “Come on. Everyone's in the kitchen!”

I dropped my bags on the floor and slipped out of my sneakers, then followed Maya into the kitchen. Fiona, Darcy, and Anya were seated around the table. Rishi was in one of those baby bouncy seats, kicking and cooing. Mrs. Doshi was searching through every drawer in the room.

Maya whispered, “She can't find her keys.”

I knew that dance well. My father did it all the time. Finally, Mrs. Doshi lifted a newspaper from the counter, said, “There they are!” and did a little victory shimmy.

Then she turned to us. “Okay, girls, I'm heading to the restaurant. Let's see…. Anya.” She pointed at her oldest daughter. “Rishi has already had his dinner. Just play with him for about an hour and then put him to bed.”

Anya smiled sweetly. “Of course.” She seemed a lot nicer tonight.

“Maya,” Mrs. Doshi continued, “what would you and your friends like for dinner?”

“I already told you, Mom. We ordered a pizza.”

Mrs. Doshi made a face. “Are you sure you wouldn't rather have something from the restaurant? I can pack you up a nice meal and bring it back here —”

“And then head back to the restaurant? That's too much work for you.” Maya pointed at the window. “Look, Mom, it's dark already. This is the restaurant's busiest night. Dad needs you. Don't worry about us.”

I nodded and smiled. I appreciated that Mrs. Doshi was trying to be a good host, but I'd really rather have the pizza. And the house to ourselves so we could kick this stakeout into high gear.

“All right. Have fun, girls!” Mrs. Doshi gave Maya and Anya light kisses on the tops of their heads, waved at us, and left.

But as soon as the front door shut, everything changed.

Anya slammed her hands on the table so loudly I jumped in my seat.

“This has to stop,” she hissed.

Maya slouched down in her chair. “What are you talking about?”

Anya stood so she towered over us. She glared at Maya. “This is two Saturdays in a row I had to stay in and babysit Rishi because of you.”

Maya said weakly, “I babysat him both Friday nights so you could go out. It's only fair. I do Fridays, you do Saturdays. It's the same thing.”

I wanted to high-five Maya for standing up for herself. Though her tone could've used a little more strength, it was a good start.

“It's
not
the same thing,” Anya retorted. “I have parties to go to, friends to go out with. You're just pretending to have friends.”

I felt a flare of anger, and I knew Darcy and Fiona did, too. Darcy stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. I was sure she was going to lash out at Anya in a way that could possibly get us in trouble, so I grabbed her arm.

“We're not imaginary,” I told Anya, my tone cool.

Anya's eyes cut to me. “But I'm sure you didn't come over here for Maya's sparkling personality. Did she pay you or something? Offer to do your homework?”

I felt heat on my neck, working its way up my cheeks as I got angrier. Even though we were only here for a case, that didn't mean we weren't becoming friends with Maya along the way.

Fiona piped up, “We
are
her friends. Maya has plenty of friends. You'd know how nice she was if you bothered to chat with her instead of ordering her around.”

I wanted to hug Fiona.

Anya snorted. “Yeah, right. Maya had no friends in our old town and she'll have none in this one, either.” And with that she stood, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. She picked Rishi up out of his bouncy seat and brought him upstairs, stomping all the way.

Maya stared at the floor in silence. I didn't know if she was depressed, embarrassed, or both.

“Wow, you guys weren't kidding about Anya being nasty,” Fiona said, shaking her head. She looked at Maya with pity in her eyes, and I knew she was thinking of her own little sister as she said, “You're her sister. How could she treat you that way?”

“Anya's a bully,” Darcy said. “And even bullies have brothers and sisters.”

I thought about Slade in the mall with his older brothers. He'd learned how to bully by being bullied himself. But Maya was proof that it didn't have to end up that way. Anya treated her cruelly, but Maya was still one of the nicest girls around. I vowed to make sure Maya always knew she had friends. In school, at home, whenever she needed us.

“Don't let Anya get you down, Maya,” I said. “You have us.”

Maya looked up with sad eyes. “You guys might have been right all along.”

“About what?” Darcy asked.

“That Anya might be the one doing this. When she said she was going out with her friends that night, it might have been her and her friends outside somewhere making creepy voices into another monitor, knowing I'd be listening, just to scare me.” She let out a long sigh. “We bicker and stuff. She's not the world's best sister. But I never thought she'd do something as mean as that.”

“It might not be her,” I said, adding silently,
It might be something dangerous
.

“Why?” Maya asked, glancing from me to Darcy to Fiona. “Did you guys get any new leads?”

Darcy filled her — and Fiona — in on the note Hunter got with the TDB design, which matched the paper I'd found on the night of our first sleepover.

“Does TDB mean anything to you?” I asked Maya, showing her the two matching notes.

Maya scrunched up her nose. “No. I've never heard of it.”

Whatever or whoever TDB was, at that moment, I hoped it had nothing to do with Anya. Because I didn't want to see the hurt on Maya's face if Anya was the guilty one.

“Don't worry,” Darcy said confidently. “We'll get to the bottom of this tonight. We're prepared this time. We won't start to fall asleep or have the TV on too loud. We're going to be fully awake, quiet, listening, and ready.”

Right at that moment, a crunch of gravel came from outside. My head snapped up. Then another sound came, like a heavy footstep. We all stiffened. I put my finger to my lips, telling everyone to keep quiet.

Another noise … a kind of shuffling.

“Where is that coming from?” Fiona whispered.

“It sounds like someone's outside but in the front,” I said. Strange. I'd always assumed the person messing with us would be lurking around the back of the house, near the woods, not out in front, facing the street, where he or she could be seen.

And it couldn't have been Anya, because we would've seen her walk out the front door.

Reading my thoughts, Darcy asked, “Is there any way Anya could've snuck out? Do you have a back door?”

Maya nodded. “Maybe she could have tiptoed downstairs and gone out the back.”

“Maybe it's just an animal scurrying out there?” Fiona said hopefully.

A heavy footfall came, from closer to the door, followed by an “oomph.”

That was no animal. Squirrels don't trip and say “oomph.”

Darcy dashed to the front door and we all followed. My heart hammered in my chest as Darcy rose on her tiptoes and squinted through the peephole.

“Do you see anything?” I asked.

“Yeah, it's a person. But I can't see all of them. They're looking down at something in their hand.” Darcy took a step back and reached for the handle. “Time for us to give someone a little surprise.”

We all huddled together, touching shoulders, a giant wall of angry yet frightened twelve-year-olds ready to give whoever wanted to scare us a scare of their own. Darcy turned the knob and yanked the door inward as hard and quickly as she could.

There
was
a person standing there. Not Anya.

Not anyone we knew.