The Pea Soup Poisonings by Nancy Means Wright Read Free Book Online

get the owner of the gas station to open up and patch a tire. Thelma had seen the car, too; she hunched way down in her seat.
    “I think we will go to that ice cream store with you,” said Zoe. Spence said “Hurrah!” and the girl drove on. Thelma’s head came slowly up, like a night flower.
    It was a slow, loud ride to Vergennes. The car had a broken muffler. The girl wasn’t always sure which was the gas pedal and which was the brake. But they arrived safely at an Eat Good Things shop where Spence had a large Chunky Monkey cone and a chocolate Cow-Pie, and Zoe had a cup of her favorite Cherry Garcia. Aunt Thelma downed a Tylenol in a glass of water. She was too nervous, she said, too exhausted to eat.
    “Have you thought of what else is in that safe deposit box?” asked Zoe while the girl was still at the counter paying for her stepfather’s ice cream. Zoe had bought the girl an ice cream soda – it was the least she could do.
    “Well, I do remember I had a diamond ring in there. It was a present from the man I was engaged to. When he died in a war, I couldn’t bear to wear it anymore. But it wasn’t a very big diamond, and I can’t imagine that’s why they want the key.”
    “Keep thinking then,” said Zoe. For the girl was coming back with her soda and Zoe figured they’d better be getting on back to Branbury. Her parents would be calling Lili Laski’s house if she wasn’t in by ten o’clock. She glanced at her watch. It was already nine fifty-five. “Oh dear,” she said, and got up to use the phone.
    “We’re playing Monopoly, and I’ve almost enough money to win this big red hotel,” Zoe told her father, who loved Monopoly himself and was always indulgent, except when it came to walking high beams. “And please can I have another half hour? Just till ten-thirty, that’s all? I mean, it’s summer, Dad! Lili’s mother will drive Spence and me home. Oh, and would you mind calling Spence’s mother for me? He’s in the middle of a big move and can’t possibly call...oh, thanks, Dad. You’re a sweetheart, Dad.”
    Her father sounded a bit dazed after all that explanation, but he said he supposed it would be all right. Their mother was watching an old video of Vanity Fair and probably wouldn’t come up for air, he said, until ten-thirty or eleven o’clock.
    “So we’d better get moving,” she told Spence.
    “How?”
    “We’ll get a taxi. I’ve still got two dollars since we saved the bus fare.”
    “Hey, it’s only twenty minutes down the pike, lemme take you,” the girl offered. “I’m just getting the hang of this driving thing, it’s fun. Whee-hee!” She wouldn’t hear No, and they all piled back into the ancient car.
    “I’m afraid your ice cream will melt,” said Aunt Thelma.
    “Nah, it’s frozen up like the North Pole,” the girl said as they sped noisily off.
    This time she drove faster, and in fourteen minutes by Zoe’s watch they were in Branbury. Zoe asked the girl to stop in front of the blacksmith shop.
    “You live here?” said the girl. “In this cute little stone house?”
    “Not exactly,” said Zoe. “It’s just that we’re late, and we don’t want our parents to see us being dropped off at the house by a stranger. You know how it is.”
    “I sure do,” said the girl, sticking out her hand. “Well, it was a pleasure, I’m sure.” She refused the two dollars Zoe tried to fold into her pocket. “Heck, it was a learning experience. I mean, I really know where the brake is now! I’m thinking I might be a race car driver. Brr-oom!” She peeled off, leaving her three passengers waving away the fumes in front of the blacksmith shop.
    It was ten-twenty. There was time to settle Thelma in.
    Or was there? A car limped down the road on a saggy tire.
    “Get down,” Zoe said, and they dropped into the bushes in front of the shop. The lights flashed by and then turned in at Thelma’s house.
    “Get the shop key,” Zoe told Spence, “and we’ll