but he doesn’t crack his tough detective exterior. “What happened next?”
I explain. “Meredith was nearby on Thirty-Fourth Street with her security entourage. We watched her get checked out by an EMT and drink a bottle of water. Once a blood pressure cuff was removed, one of the thick-armed bodyguards said to Meredith, ‘There’s a radio news lady—duPluPlu. She wants to get a comment from you. Want me to tell her it’s not a good time?’ And Meredith said, ‘I never refuse time with the media. Send her over. I have plenty to tell her.’ ”
Fifty-Seven Stella
Thirty-Fourth Street
June 25 (Continued)
“Now she’s gonna tell Murielle all about the Smoothie Factory.”
Josie shushed me. They weren’t far from us, but there was a lot of activity that made it hard to hear. “She’s going to tell Murielle about the pier and the jellies. It’s actually super smart of her to go to the media instead of Booth, because he probably won’t believe it.”
duPluie set a microphone in front of Meredith Maxwell. “I’m recording, so anytime you’re ready.”
Maxwell: I was in the fun house, just walking along enjoying seeing my reflection in those silly mirrors. You know the ones?
duPluie: I sure do.
Maxwell: Then I climbed over the rope bridge, and the next thing I knew, a girl pushed me through a hole in the floor, and I fell. I fell! To the sand below. Another girl closed the trapdoor, and the two of them kept me down there against my will. It was those Higley girls. They wouldn’t let me leave.
duPluie: What did they want?
Maxwell: Ransom? Autographs? Who knows?
duPluie sucked in a shocking breath that would be audible on the recording.
“I’m going to go all New York on her,” I said to Josie. “Watch me.”
Then something amazing happened.
Fifty-Eight Stella
Police Station
June 26 (Continued)
Detective Santoro asks, “Something amazing, huh? I could make a pretty good guess what that was.”
“Yup. A voice, one we knew well, came out of nowhere. It said, ‘She’s lying, and it makes you wonder why, doesn’t it?’ ”
“Apple. That boardwalk magician?” he asks.
I nod. “You know, she’s more like a superhero. She seems to know when we need her, and she appears without so much as a Bat-Signal.” I say, “She unlocked the door and let us— Wait. Is that a crime? If it is, then that’s not what happened.”
“Stella, believe me on this. Alayna Appleton opening a car door is small potatoes compared to everything else we got going on here. So I promise you, she will not get in any trouble. But for future reference, don’t do that again.”
“Noted,” I say. “So we left Booth’s car. We were on a mission. To figure out why Meredith was lying.” Then I added, “If we weren’t going to find out, who would?”
Fifty-Nine Stella
Nifty Gifty
June 25 (Continued)
Not sure exactly where to go for help, we slipped into the only safe place we could think of, Nifty Gifty.
“What the heck?” Dario asked when he saw us. “I heard everything on the radio news. Get back here.” He dragged us behind the counter, pushed us to where no one could see, and tossed us each a big straw beach hat and sunglasses. “Put these on.” He smiled at a customer. “Have you checked out those refrigerator magnets? A sight to behold, I promise you. They’re right over there.” Then to us he said, “I’m pretty sure I’m now implicated as an accomplice or something.”
“Toughen up, Dario,” I said to him. “We seriously need intel on why Meredith won’t tell the police about the Smoothie Factory and why she’s lying about what we did to her.”
“Way ahead of you, Higleys. Way, way ahead.”
A customer approached the register. “These are excellent choices,” Dario said to her about the magnets she’d chosen. Then he took her snow globe and wrapped it in tissue paper. “I always wonder what the fascination is with snow globes. I love them myself, but they freak me out a little too, because I imagine, What if I was trapped inside? Do you ever do that?”
“Not so much,” the customer said.
“And here’s your change. Have a wonderful day.”
Once the customer was out of the way, I said to Dario, “Can we leave the snow globe commentary for another day, when our freedom isn’t hanging in the balance?”
“Stella, don’t be rude, because as I look around, I’m pretty much the only friend you guys have right now. Where are your Three Ts, huh? So, if I were you, I’d try to be a little nicer to me.”
“Fine,” I