The Mistaken Masterpiece by Michael D. Beil Read Free Book Online

never opens the door. After she leaves, he tells me that whenever the gallery is open, he keeps the door locked, because he’s afraid ‘that nasty little man’ will come looking for him.”
    “What nasty little man? The one that yelled at us?”
    “I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think that’s him. He wouldn’t say anything else about it. But the more he thought about it, the more paranoid he got. He keptchecking to make sure the door was locked. I figured that it was probably a good time to go. But he told me to come back anytime.”
    “Are you going to?”
    “What do you think? Of course. Oh, and something else—he said he’s
always
there. He lives upstairs! So, yeah, now that I got a taste of the story, I’ve just
got
to know what he’s so afraid of.”

Black-and-white television? No cable?
Quelle horreur!
    On Monday morning, I make my return to swimming, where I get a hero’s welcome from Michelle and some of my teammates. Livvy is Livvy—no more or less friendly than usual, which is fine by me. And considering what happened the last time I was within an arm’s length of her, I’m happy to keep a little extra space between us. In the swim meet that I missed because of my nose, she really stepped up, winning two individual events and anchoring one winning relay. Our next meet is with Tallmadge, another girls’ school in Manhattan, and I have only a week to make up for all those missed hours in the pool. Thank goodness I have Tillie to make sure I’m up every morning at five o’clock.
    Oh, didn’t I mention that she gets up every morning at five? Or that when she is up,
everyone
must be up? Must have slipped my mind.
    There are no weekends in a dog’s life.
    • • •
    At lunchtime, as we regale anyone who will listen with tales of our day on the
No Reflections
set, Sister Bernadette hands Rebecca an envelope with THE RED BLAZER GIRLS DETECTIVE AGENCY printed in neat letters.
    “I was asked to deliver this,” she says. “I hope and pray that this does not lead to another one of your little adventures. But if it does, girls, know this: I will be watching you. Understood?” She stomps away, glaring at a table of girls loudly singing—for who knows what reason—the theme song from
Gilligan’s Island
.
    “Jeez, who peed in her orange juice? Oops, sorry, Margaret. I know you hate when I say that,” Rebecca says with a malevolent grin.
    “Seriously,” agrees Leigh Ann. “All we did last time was save the life of a guy locked in a room in the basement, solve an impossible crime, prevent an innocent man from going to jail, and recover a priceless violin. We’re, like, heroes. She should be praying that it
is
a new case.”
    “Why, the very fate of the world might be in our hands,” I say.
    “Easy there, Sophie. She’s still annoyed that we didn’t tell her about Ben as soon as we knew,” Margaret says.
    In the Case of the Vanishing Violin, Sister Bernadette hired us to figure out who was doing unauthorized cleaning and remodeling in the school after hours. It didn’t take us long to figure out who—Ben Brownlow, the newassistant at the violin shop—but when he became the key suspect in the theft of the violin, we kept that information to ourselves for a while. Like, until we solved the whole case.
    Becca tears open the envelope and pulls out a note written on personalized stationery.
    “It’s from Father Julian.”
    Father Julian is the young, slightly-bigger-than-a-hobbit priest who saved our butts more than once during the Ring of Rocamadour case.
    Dear Red Blazer Girls
,
    If you have a free moment after school today, please stop by the rectory. I have a small favor to ask
.
    Father Julian
    “A favor. Hmmm. Maybe he’s going to ask Sophie to take care of
his
dog, too,” Rebecca says.
    In the past, that kind of crack would have earned her a good punch on the arm, but the new, improved Sophie St. Pierre lets it go without a thought. Well, except for the one where I’m