The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,39

would call me before she called you?"

Lucy frowned. If Perry was behind Belle's kidnapping he was a better actor than she would have given him credit for. "No. I suppose not. Who else knows what you're working on?"

"Only Dr. Dawson, my faculty advisor. He thinks I'm wasting time. He's been trying to steer me toward a more traditional approach."

"No one else?"

"No. Why? What's going on?"

"Nothing for you to worry about. If we find anything we'll let you know."

Lucy hung up and shook her head. "I don't know. He says he doesn't know anything."

"Well, I think we're going to have more success finding the Declaration than finding the kidnapper," Jane said.

"Agreed," Lucy said. "We need to get that map."

"I don't suppose we're going to see Ranger Leonard tomorrow?" Jane said.

Lucy shook her head. "I have another idea."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," Jane said.

Lucy shrugged. "I'm going to break into the Forest Service office and make a copy of the map."

"Oh no you're not!" Mae said from the doorway. She was returning after taking yet another call from home. "You'll get arrested for sure."

"Maybe not," Jane said. "You saw that place. It looks like it was built in the twenties. I seriously doubt there's an alarm."

Mae tried a different tack. "But we can't break in. We don't know how."

"I bet I could get the door open with a credit card. And I'm not going to steal anything. I'm just going to make a copy." Lucy pushed up out of the chair. "Besides, we aren't going to do anything. You two shouldn't be involved."

"You're not leaving me behind," Jane said.

Mae made a visible effort to look brave. "I'm coming too."

"Absolutely not. I wouldn't have to worry about going to prison if we got caught, Chip would kill me."

It was the wrong thing to say. Mae bristled like a startled porcupine. "Chip is not my keeper. We all go together or not at all."

"I say we go tonight," Jane said.

Lucy had a sinking feeling things were starting to spiral out of control. Just like the rest of her life. Getting her friends involved in this seemed like such a bad idea. But they really wanted to help and she really didn't want to undertake this rescue mission on her own. "Okay, you two can come. But I'm the only one going inside."

Jane and Mae started to protest.

"It won't take three of us to make a copy. Besides, if I get arrested I'll need someone to answer when I make my one phone call."

"Mae can wait in the car and I'll be the lookout," Jane said.

Mae looked relieved. "I think I can handle being the getaway driver."

Talk of lookouts and getaway drivers gave Lucy a shiver. "Shit. We're probably going to wind up in federal prison. But I won't be able to live with myself if I don't at least try."

"Even if we get caught, we're not going to prison. Like you said, we're not stealing anything," Jane said. She grinned. "If it'll make you feel better, you can leave a dollar for the copy."

It was Belle's map. And she wasn't going to steal anything. Nothing like a little rationalization. Maybe this was how all criminals started out. "We have to wait for Belle's kidnapper to call and then we go to the forest service office."

Copy Machine

Lucy answered the phone on the first ring. "Hello?"

"Very smart of you to follow instructions and keep the police out of this."

The mechanical voice had been creepy enough in a voice mail. Having a conversation with someone who sounded like a robot was horrifying. "What do you want?"

"The Declaration of course but I'll settle for the Broadside."

"I don't have it. If you have Belle you know that."

"I know that Belle was close to having it in her hands. I think you and your two friends know where to find it."

"And if we don't?"

"That would be a very bad thing for your beloved Aunt Belle."

Lucy bit her lip to keep from screaming. "If you'll just let her go now, we'll give you all the notes and clues we have. You'll be able to find the Declaration yourself."

"Don't insult my intelligence. I'm going to be generous and give you until Thursday night. Let's say ten o'clock. That gives you two full days. I'll call with instructions."

The phone went dead before Lucy could make further pleas. Belle's life now depended on them finding something in two days that had been missing for two hundred years.

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"Okay, if Ranger Rick's truck, or any other