“I’m surprised he mentioned Ryan,” Dad said as Joe got up to turn off the TV. “The Webbs will be furious.”

  “But they must want to catch whoever did this,” I said. “And at least he didn’t mention Sarah.”

  “What about Sarah?” Joe asked.

  Wow. Had I neglected to mention the Sarah Bliss theory to Joe? I explained the theory. “Completely cockamamie, right?”

  Joe frowned. “How long have you known about this?”

  “Two days,” Dad answered for me.

  More frowning. “You lied to me, Cassie.”

  “No. I forgot to mention it. I’ve been kind of busy.”

  “Nevertheless,” Dad said. “Honesty is the best policy,”

  “Oh really?” I waved a hand at the Spaceship Destiny sitting on the coffee table. “How did that honesty thing work for Evadeen Deyo? Last I heard, she’s a fugitive from the law.”

  “Evadeen’s pretend, girl.”

  “But Sarah Bliss is real,” Joe added. “What if Sterling’s right?”

  I reminded the man he’s supposed to be the voice of reason and got up to pace.

  “Why would Sarah kill her best friend?” I asked. “And even if she did have some reason, let’s think a minute. Whoever the bad guy is, he’s very mechanical. He tampered with Judy’s car, and with the lamp in her living room. Sarah Bliss is not mechanically inclined.”

  “What’s your proof?”

  “She’s a secretary.”

  “For the sheriff,” he argued. “She’s typed a lot of reports on a lot of crimes. I’m sure she’s learned a lot.”

  What a shocker, my annoying father agreed with Joe. “Lots of women are mechanically inclined,” he told me. “Take Evadeen Deyo, for instance.”

  “Old man! You just said Evadeen’s pretend.” I waved a hand toward the Spaceship Destiny. “Call me sexist, but I truly doubt Sarah could get that thing off the groun—”

  I stumbled backward.

  “What is it?” Joe asked.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Dad told me.

  “Someone moved it.” I pointed. “Someone moved the Spaceship Destiny.”

  Chapter 27

  “Get out!”

  “I’m serious,” I said. “The thing’s been stuck under the coffee table for days, and no one here moved it. We were all at Bingo, and Charlie and Notz have their own toys.”

  “Cassie!” Jason snapped. “Get out of there. Take your father, and the kid, and go. Wait for me at Wylie’s house.”

  I waved for the guys to stand up. “Why?”

  “How about a bomb?”

  “A bomb!?” I jumped ten feet, as did my father and Joe.

  “Get out!” Jason repeated.

  ***

  Joe was halfway up the stairs before I hung up, and Dad was hollering for Charlie.

  “And Notz,” I said and raced upstairs as Charlie raced down.

  The cat and the kid were a little slower to respond. Notz meowed his displeasure at being awoken, and Truman rubbed his sleepy eyes.

  “It’s okay,” I said quietly and wrapped his cow sheets and blanket around him. “The FN wants a sleepover party.”

  “Now?”

  “Now.” Joe reached for the little guy, and Cosmic Cow fell to the floor.

  I picked her up, and the cat, and followed Joe.

  “Da-aad!” I whisper-shouted when we got to the first floor. “Get out!”

  But my annoying father made a point of pushing everyone else through the door first.

  “What are you, like a ship’s captain?” I hissed as we crossed the lawn.

  “If you think I was going to walk out that door before you—”

  “Would you two stop bickering for once?” Joe stepped around me and opened his door, and we filed in. And my father, who was suddenly looking all seventy years of his age, collapsed on the couch.

  “Sit,” I told Charlie.

  The dog sat at Bobby’s feet, the cat jumped out of my arms to join them, and Joe and I climbed the stairs with Truman and his cow. Luckily the child was sound asleep again as we got him settled in the spare bedroom.

  “I’ll be right down,” Joe whispered. “Go sit with your father.”

  FYI, I sat real close. I closed my eyes, and everything—every stupid, scary thing—that had happened since Sunday rushed through my brain. And maybe I cried a little.

  Charlie shifted position to my feet, and Notz switched laps.

  Dad put his arm around me. “What are you thinking about”

  “About my first promise to Truman,” I said. “I told him he’d be safe with me.”

  Dad squeezed my shoulder. “And he is.”

  ***

  Jason must have stipulated no sirens, but that doesn’t mean Leftside Lane was anything like serene. We sat in stunned disbelief and listened to car doors slam, and Sheriff Hawthorn and Deputy Dent use phrases such as “bomb squad” and “incendiary device.”

  Then we heard a collision.

  “The Hilleville cops are here,” Joe mumbled, and a few minutes later we heard Jason Sterling’s voice.

  “Check the Destiny,” he ordered someone, and we listened to him explain the toy on the coffee table.

  “Yoo-hoo? Anyone home?”

  Don’t ask me how she dodged all the law enforcement personnel between her house and Joe’s, but there she was in the doorway—Maxine Tibbitts, toting her deceased Daddy’s shotgun.

  “Where’s the wine?” I asked, but Joe ignored me and pointed to the gun.

  “Leave that on the porch, and you get sherry.”

  “Deal,” Maxine said and lost her weapon.

  While Joe served beverages, Dad and I told Maxine what was happening, almost as if we knew what was happening.

  But what wasn’t happening was also a little surprising. I pointed to the ceiling. “Why isn’t the FN beeping?”

  Dad sat up straight. “Why isn’t it chirping?”

  “Why isn’t it burping?” Maxine added, and we all glanced up.

  “I unplugged her,” Joe said.

  “That’s never shut her up before,” I said.

  “I disconnected her battery pack.”

  “Battery pack!” I jumped. “Are you actually telling me you can silence that machine whenever you want?”

  Dad and Maxine also seemed interested in the answer, but a sharp rap on the door saved Joe from answering.

  Jason Sterling stood in the doorway, Maxine’s shotgun in one hand and the bullets in the other. “I took the liberty of unloading it,” he told her. “Go home, and go to bed.”

  Maxine laughed at that ridiculous idea and pointed next door. “What did you find?”

  “An incendiary device,” he answered, and all us Leftside Laners jumped about ten feet. “In the Spaceship Destiny,” he added in case we hadn’t quite caught on.

  ***

  “It doesn’t look like much else was tampered with,” Jason told us as he took a seat. He reminded us he’d already searched our house.

  “Is anything missing?” Joe asked.

  “The computers.”

  My father gasped. “They took my stories? They stole Chance Dooley!?”

  “No, Dad.” I spoke firmly and insisted this was a teeny-tiny hiccup. “We have back up.” I appealed to Joe. “You taught him how to do back up, right?”

  Joe agreed that Chance Dooley and his entourage were safe and sound, and assured Bobby he had an old computer to loan him. And while he and Maxine tried explaining the “cloud” to Dad, Jason and I discussed my own computer.

  Let’s just say, a pain in the neck. I keep my Crabtree College related stuff and info on my students on my computer at work, but I’m in charge of the finances and bills for the Jolly Green Giant. And all that stuff was on my personal computer. While I muttered a few thousand colorful words, Jason advised me to start calling banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, utilities, et cetera, et cetera, and start changing accounts.

  “I doubt the perp would pull anything with the information,” he said. “Since that would give us a lead. However.”

  I snarled and said something about taking care of all the tedium in my spare time, but my father must have recovered from his initial shock. He waved to get my attention.

  “What are we thinking, girl?” he asked. “Our house is still standing, and everyone’s safe.” He smiled. “All is well.”

  I usually hate it when he’s right, but that time I smiled back.

  Chapter 28

  We sent Maxine off with her shotgun and a solid promise none of what had happened that night would find its way into Lake Bess Lore. We sent my father off with a temporary computer. FYI, Joe Wylie is the kind of person who has a spare computer at the ready, and he’d already loaded it with the latest Chance Dooley story.

  Dad called to Charlie and tottered off, and soon only Joe, Jason, and I remained on the porch. Awkward? Oh, yeah.

  I looked back and forth between them. “Thank you both for everything you did tonight.”

  Joe shrugged, but Jason frowned. “We need to talk,” he told me and stepped away toward the lake.

  I winced at Joe. “Get Truman back in his own bed?” I asked.

  “Will do.”

  “And Notz?”

  He nodded. “And Cosmic Cow.”

  I tilted my head toward the lake. “You’re okay with this?”

  Joe reminded me my house had almost blown up. “You need to talk to the cop.” He gave me a not-so-quick kiss and pointed me Sterling-ward.

  ***

  “It’s pretty here,” Jason said as I approached. “The full moon’s a nice touch.”

  “I ordered it special,” I said. “Lake Bess is a good place.”

  “A good place where no one locks their doors.”

  I shrugged. “Stupid, huh?”

  Mr. State Trooper told me not to feel too bad. “Ninety percent of Vermonters probably don’t lock their doors,” he said. “But do me a favor and put yourself in the other ten percent?”

  I heard footsteps behind us, and turned to see Joe crossing the lawn with Truman in his arms.

  “Don’t mind us,” he called over. He jiggled Cosmic Cow. “The FN decided she didn’t want a sleep over after all,” Cow said, and Joe kept walking.

  I waited until they went inside and asked about evidence. “I don’t suppose the bad guy left anything as handy as fingerprints?”

  Jason shook his head. “Although we can hope the toy spaceship will yield something.” He pointed to the ground. “Tire tracks might have come in handy also, but half the law enforcement personnel of Vermont left their tracks here tonight, and the fallen leaves don’t help any.”

  “So there’s nothing?” I asked impatiently. “No clues whatsoever?”

  He held up a finger. “One clue,” he said. “They knew you wouldn’t be home.”

  “Everyone in Hanahan County knows about Wednesday night Bingo. Everyone.”

  “What about your dog?” he asked. “Why didn’t he bark and scare off the intruder?”

  I argued that Charlie might look intimidating. “But looks can be deceiv—” I saw Joe out of the corner of my eye.

  “Don’t mind me,” he said and kept walking toward his house.

  I turned back to Jason. “Charlie’s very quiet,” I said. “He’d only get aggressive if he thought his people were being threatened.” I pointed across the moonlit lake to Town Hall. “Since we were over there, I wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie showed the bad guy around and offered him a snack.”

  “Not necessarily a guy,” Jason said. “The dog knows Sarah Bliss, correct?”

  “Would you please get off your Sarah Bliss kick?”

  Instead, Jason suggested I get off my Sarah Bliss kick. “The perp is obviously frustrated, Cassie. They’re missing something, and they’re getting desperate.”

  “Sarah would never be desperate enough to kill anyone.” I pointed to the Jolly Green Giant. “She would never try to kill that little boy.” Joe walked by with Notz. “Or his cat.”

  While Joe disappeared into the house yet again, Jason gave me a lesson on murderers. “They’ll do anything to cover their tracks.”

  Joe popped back out. “Time to tuck in the FN for the night,” he said and backtracked to his house.

  Jason shook his head, but stayed on topic. “Beware of Sarah Bliss,” he told me.

  I sighed and thought back on my very long day. “Umm, Jason,” I said. “You know that truth and whole truth thing we agreed on?”

  “I do.”

  “I might have forgotten to tell you something earlier.”

  He skipped a beat. “Hit me.”

  “Sarah visited me this morning. She told the sheriff she was at the dentist, and came to my office instead.”

  “The woman you insist never lies?”

  “Umm, that one.”

  He groaned. “What did she want?”

  “The inside scoop on the arson at Maple Street. She wanted to know your secrets.” I cringed. “And, umm—

  “You told her.”

  “I told her she’s a suspect, and before you go all crazy on me, I know I shouldn’t have done that, and I’m sorry, but it just slipped out.”

  Another groan. “How’d she take the news?”

  “She panicked, of course.”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Oh, come on! Anyone would panic. You have a way of making people panic, Captain Sterling. Sir.”

  “Beware of Sarah Bliss, Cassie.”

  I folded my arms. “Any other orders?”

  “Yes, actually.”

  I sighed “I know. No errands, right?”

  “I hope I don’t have to tell you the danger keeps escalating.”

  He didn’t. “I figured out why Judy left her child to me,” I said. “Actually, Joe figured it out.” I explained the theory that Judy knew she was in trouble. “Truman’s mother wanted me to help,” I said. “She’s depending on me.”

  “Judy Tripp is dead,” Jason told me in no uncertain terms. “You need to concentrate on taking care of her child and let me handle the murder investigation.”

  I sighed and mumbled something about the late hour.

  “I do have one task for you,” he said, and I perked up a little. He asked me to check through Truman’s things. “See if anything’s missing. You know his junk better than I do.”

  “I know the one thing that’s missing—his kiddie computer.”

  Jason told me the crime lab had finished with it and apologized for not thinking to bring it with him.

  I shrugged. “You had other things on your mind tonight. Like saving my house.”

  “Like saving you.” He promised to bring the kiddie computer the next time we saw each other and waited to catch my eye. “Lunch tomorrow?”

  ***

  “Shoo,” I hissed. I shook my right foot, but Notz remained unfazed and continued weaving around my ankles. Charlie was interested also, and both animals stayed close as I searched through the pink dresser drawers.

  For the record, I had zero idea what we were looking for, especially if the bad guy had taken it with him.

  “What’s missing?” I asked the pets. I opened the bottom drawer, and Notz hopped in.

  But if the bad guy found whatever he was looking for, he wouldn’t have tried to blow up the house, right?

  Blow up the house.

  I shook myself and lifted Notz from the drawer, and we moved to the toy chests. The cat hopped in and toppled over something with bells.

  “Sit,” I whispered.

  Charlie sat, and Notz let out a very loud meow.

  “Stupid ca—”

  “Whatcha doing?”

  “Oh!” I jumped and swung around. “Uhh, I’m looking for your computer.” I fluttered a hand at the toy chest. “It’s got to be here somewhere. We’ll find it.”

  “Promise?”

  I did. I pointed to the spot on the bed next to him. “Can I join you for a minute?”

  He didn’t say no, so I propped a couple pillows against the headboard and got comfortable. Truman cozied up, as did Charlie, and Notz found my ankles.

  Truman pointed Wylie-ward. “Didn’t the FN want a sleepover?”

  “She changed her mind,” I said. “The FN is very fickle.”

  “FN-fickle. Flickle-pickle,” the kid said sleepily, and we both giggled.

  I gave his shoulders a squeeze. “Hey, Truman,” I said. “I was wondering if you’d like to call me Aunt Cassie? Or Auntie Cassie?”

  “Why?”

  Well. Gee.

  I reminded him he was calling my father Grandpa Bobby, and Joe Uncle Joe. “So, I just thought—”

  “No, thank you.”

  Well. Gee.

  I frowned at the pets. “I have another question about names,” I said. “Names of boyfriends.”

  “Uncle Joe’s your boyfriend.”

  “That’s right. But what about your momma? Did she have a boyfriend?”

  He nodded.

  Okay!

  I cleared my throat. “Was it Ryan Webb?”

  “Is Ryan still asleep?”

  “Yes.”

  “He’s been asleep a long time.”

  “He has,” I agreed, and crossing my fingers Dr. Settle would approve, I picked up Cosmic Cow.

  “Moo-ooo,” she said. “Was Ryan your mother’s boyfriend?”

  “Silly. Ryan’s too young.”

  “Moo,” Cow persisted. “Who was your mother’s boyfriend?”

  “Paul.”

  Okay!

  “Moo. Paul Who?”

  The kid started squirming. “Can we look for my computer now?”

  “Tomorrow.” I handed back Cosmic Cow, shooed Notz from my ankles, and stood up. “Sweet dreams,” I said and headed for the door.

  “Moo! Moo! Moo!”

  I stopped and turned. “Is there something else, Cosmic Cow?”

  “Moo. Why don’t you like Notz?”

  “I do like Notz,” I said, but Cow wasn’t buying it.

  “Notz thinks you don’t like him,” she said.

  I blinked at the cow. And the cat. And the kid.

  Then I climbed back in bed and told a boy named Truman about a cat named Spookey.

  Chapter 29