Biggie and the Devil Diet - By Nancy Bell Page 0,56

they're still in the plastic pots. Someone must have been in a real hurry to set them out."

I squatted back on my heels and looked at the locked door. "Biggie, I remember something— about the night of the murder."

Biggie stood up and brushed the dirt off her hands. "What's that?"

"Well, when I first looked into this room— you know, right after we got the door open— I noticed that the drapes were drawn shut."

"That's right, I remember," Biggie said. "So what?"

"They were blowing in, Biggie. Those windows, or doors— whatever they are— were open that night. Why do you suppose they're locked now? Somebody must have planted these flowers to make it look like they were never used."

"I think you're right. Good work, J.R." She turned and went back into the house through the dining room doors. I followed her back into the study, where she continued to look through the books.

I watched her. "Biggie," I said, "you must have an idea. You always do."

"Well, I don't this time." She put the last book back on its shelf. "I'm through in here. Hmm, what next? I know, let's investigate Laura's room."

I followed her as she marched down the hall and stopped in front of the door. "Did she say we could look in her room, Biggie?"

"Nope." Biggie was already rummaging through Laura's closet. "But I'm sure she would if she could talk. Help me get this box down, honey. There's a stool you can stand on."

I climbed up on the stool and took down a hatbox from the closet shelf. Biggie took it from me and placed it on the bed. I watched as she lifted the lid and began to take things out, stacks of letters held together with rubber bands and photos still in the developers' envelopes. In the bottom, we found paper clips, used pencils, ballpoint pens, rubber bands, outdated postage stamps, and other odds and ends. It looked like someone had emptied a desk drawer in there. I picked up a tiny plastic bracelet, the kind they put on patients in the hospital, only this one would have just about fit Booger's paw. The words, BABY JANE DOE, were printed on it.

I held it up. "What's this, Biggie?"

She took it and held it under the bedside lamp. "Looks like a hospital bracelet for a newborn. The ranger should have this." She slipped it in her pocket and opened an envelope full of snapshots. Parking herself on the edge of the bed, she flipped through them. "Nice," she said. "Rex and Laura on a ski vacation." She handed one to me. "He was nice looking, wasn't he?"

"I guess."

She looked at the pictures for a long time before selecting one of Rex alone. He was standing at the top of a mountain, surrounded by bright blue sky, and looking like he was just about to ski down. His face was tanned, and he was laughing. "The ranger doesn't need this," Biggie said, slipping that photo into her pocket with the baby bracelet. She started putting things back into the box. "Put this on the shelf and then we'll see if the searchers have come back."

We found Josefina and Rosebud in the kitchen. Trays of sandwiches lay on the scrubbed pine table. Rosebud was opening bags of chips, while Josefina stirred a pot of soup on the stove.

"How can I help?" Biggie asked.

Josefina put her to work setting out napkins, glasses, and soup bowls. I slipped out the back door and headed for the barn. The girls were sitting around the picnic tables under the trees chattering to each other and drinking sodas. I figured Grace must be at the hospital with Laura. Otherwise, those girls would have been working out— or just working. I waved and pushed open the corral gate. Misty stood in the barn lot grooming one of the horses.

"You like horses better than people, don't you?" I asked, just to make conversation.

She looked at me seriously. "Horses are better than people."

"Really? You think so?"

She put down the brush she had been using and started toward the barn. "Let's have a cold drink."

When we were seated in the tack room with our drinks, she said, "I never had much chance to make friends with other kids. Daddy and I, we've moved around a lot. I've met a lot of snooty kids, but a horse is, you know, just the same to everybody. They don't tell lies or suck up to you just because you've got money