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"You'll never believe who I saw last night," Becky announced when she picked me up for school the following morning, I was fixing the indigo blue liquid eyeliner that I had accidentally smudged around my bag-ridden eyes, I was a vision of a true insomniac. Maybe there were advantages to not seeing one's own reflection.

Becky followed me into my bedroom and I grabbed my backpack.Advertisement

"I saw Alexander's parents," Becky finally blurted out. Her words were like an electric shock. Suddenly I was wide awake,

"You did?" I asked. "I still haven't seen them!"

"I know, it was so weird."

"What did they look like?"

" Ireally didn't see them up close."

" Thenhow did you know it was them? It might have been a couple wearing dark clothes," I rationalized.

"Because I saw Jameson helping them out of the Mercedes."

"Wow! Then you did see them. Tell me everything!"

"I was driving Matt home from practice when we passed by the Emerson office building. The Mercedes was parked in front. Jameson opened the car door and a tall man in a cape stepped out with a lanky woman carrying an open umbrella. It wasn't raining. And even stranger, it was dark."

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"It was them!" I deduced as we headed out the door. "It had to have been."

"Who carries an open umbrella at night under a perfect sky?" Becky asked.

"Only the coolest people in the world!"

The Emerson office building was a brand-new ten-story monolith. Businesses that once occupied the quaint and charming main square now inhabited the uncreative and antiseptic space. It was filled with everything from real estate to taxes. There was even a hair salon and a plastic surgery practice.

"Curious. I wonder what they were doing there," I said.

"Do you think Mrs. Sterling is getting a quick nip and tuck?" Becky asked.

"I don't think she'd need it."

"Maybe it's nothing more than boring tax advice," Becky offered when we got inside her truck.

"So they're going out of the Mansion. And for some reason, I'm not going in. This calls for a Raven Madison-style investigation."

I passed the school day away waiting for the final bell to ring and wondering why theSterlings were checking out the Emerson at night. pqdm.com