Mary Anne and the Silent Witness Read online

  Kristy was staring at me in disbelief. So was Shannon. Allie just looked surprised and confused.

  Beau, however, looked guilty.

  “What are you talking about?” Allie asked.

  I slowed myself down enough to introduce myself and the others, and to explain what I was talking about and list the clues we’d put together. Allie looked shocked. Finally, she turned to Beau — and he turned away.

  “Beau,” said Allie quietly. “Beau, what have you done?”

  Beau kept his face turned away from Allie. She touched him on the shoulder, but he shrugged off her hand. “Beau?” she asked, in a small voice.

  She turned back to face us. “I’m sure there’s been some kind of mistake,” she said, almost as if she were trying to convince herself.

  I could see how upset she was, and suddenly I stopped being so mad. It was hard to stay angry at someone who looked as if she were about to cry. “I wish it was a mistake,” I said, trying to keep my voice gentle, “but I don’t think it is. I think you both know something about that fire.”

  At that point, Allie stopped looking as if she were going to cry. Instead, she did cry. She didn’t sob out loud or anything, but the tears started to roll down her face. “You’re right,” she said softly. “We do know about the fire. And I’ll explain what happened. But really, all that other stuff — I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t flood anybody’s basement, or vandalize the mill. And I would never threaten Luke. Never.”

  I believed her. “But then who —” I began.

  Beau interrupted me. “I did it,” he said suddenly, in a harsh voice. “I did all those things.” He turned to Allie. “Oh, Allie, I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to be involved.” He reached out for her, but she stepped back and just looked at him. Her face was white and her lips were pressed together in a straight line.

  “Why, Beau?” she asked. “Why?”

  He gave a huge sigh. “It’s so complicated,” he said, shaking his head. “It just grew and grew, and soon I was all tangled up in it. Now there’s no way out.” He had this sad, trapped look on his face.

  Kristy stepped forward. “Okay,” she said. “Time out.” She made a “T” with her hands. “Obviously, you both have a lot of explaining to do. How about if we start from the beginning?”

  Good old Kristy, taking control. Allie and Beau almost looked relieved. “Fine with me,” said Beau. His voice sounded more normal now.

  “Is there somewhere we can sit down?” asked Shannon.

  “Sure. Let’s go around back to the patio,” said Beau. He led us around the house to a pretty terrace. There was white wicker furniture with green cushions that matched the color of the house. We all sat down. Beau and Allie sat together on a love seat, but I noticed that Allie sat as far from him as she could. I saw her sneaking glances at him, though. She was looking at him as if she didn’t recognize him.

  We were all quiet for a few moments. Then Beau and Allie both started to talk at the same time.

  “We didn’t mean —” she began.

  “It was an accident —” he said.

  Beau waved a hand at Allie. “You start,” he said.

  She looked at him. “All right,” she said. She turned back to us. “See, the thing is that Beau was over visiting me when I was sitting for Luke and Amalia that day — the day of the fire.”

  “And the Martinezes didn’t know?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “They’d asked me not to have anyone over,” she admitted. “And I didn’t mean to break the rules. He just stopped by for a minute that day, because there was something he wanted to tell me.”

  I nodded. So far, I could totally relate to the story. I once went through a terrible time after a client of ours discovered that Logan had been coming by when I baby-sat. I had a good reason for having him there (it was because the boy I was sitting for was missing his dad, and Logan seemed to help fill the gap) but still, I didn’t ask first. The client was angry — rightfully so — and I was in trouble with her, with the BSC, and especially with Kristy. Kristy insists on the rules being followed at all times. I glanced over at her and I could tell that she didn’t have much sympathy for Allie.

  Sure enough, Kristy spoke up. “You should have told him to leave,” she said.

  Allie nodded, looking miserable. “I know,” she said. “But instead I asked him to wait a minute, since I was in the middle of a game with Amalia.” She paused. “I miss Amalia,” she said softly. “She gives the best hugs in the world.”

  I had a feeling that Allie was a pretty good baby-sitter, even if she had broken the rules.

  “So then what happened?” asked Shannon.

  Beau spoke up. “It was drizzling out, so instead of waiting in the backyard I was waiting in the garage,” he said. “Luke saw me, but Allie and I made him promise not to tell his parents that I’d been there.”

  I nodded. Poor Luke. He’d been keeping that secret for a long time.

  “I was smoking,” Beau continued. “And when I finished, I tossed my cigarette butt away. It was out. Or at least I thought it was.”

  “That’s when I finished up with Amalia,” said Allie. “I let Beau into the kitchen, just for a few minutes.”

  “And the next thing we knew, we smelled smoke,” finished Beau. “I guess my cigarette had landed in some bags of newspaper that were waiting to be recycled.”

  Allie shut her eyes and frowned, as if she were remembering something painful. “I told Luke to take Amalia outside,” she said. “That was my first concern: making sure the kids were safe. Then Beau and I went into the garage and tried to put out the fire. I know now that I should have left the house, too, and called nine-one-one. But I was so afraid of having the Martinezes find out what happened that I wasn’t thinking straight at the time. We used the fire extinguisher, but the fire was too far along and the fire extinguisher was half empty to start with.” She was speaking quickly. “It was horrible,” she said.

  “We did everything we could,” said Beau. “Finally, just as the fire was almost under control, I heard sirens. They were off in the distance, but I knew they were coming our way fast, and I knew the firefighters would take care of everything. I opened the garage door so they could move right in on the fire.”

  “That’s when I told him to run,” said Allie. “It was bad enough to have to tell the Martinezes about the fire. I didn’t want them to know Beau had been the one who started it. I didn’t even want them to know he had been there.” She leaned back in her seat and sighed. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s everything I know about it. I told the Martinezes that I didn’t know how the fire started, and then I felt so bad about lying to them that I couldn’t even stand to be around them. So I said I had to quit. I felt terrible about that, leaving them in the lurch.”

  “Whew!” I said. “That’s quite a story.” I could see that Allie felt better already. Telling the truth can have that effect.

  “But it’s not the whole story,” Kristy reminded us. “What about those threatening notes and calls to Luke?”

  Beau put his face in his hands. “That was me,” he admitted.

  Allie glared at him. “How could you, Beau?” she asked. “How could you do that to Luke?”

  “I know it was wrong,” said Beau. “I see that now. But when I was in the middle of it, I was just so scared.”

  “Scared of what?” asked Shannon.

  “Scared that the Martinezes would find out, I guess,” said Beau carefully. He sounded as if he were still hiding something. He stood up. “Hey, would anyone like a Coke? I’m dying of thirst.” Before we could stop him, he loped off into the house.

  Allie looked at us, and then down at her hands. “I can’t believe he did that,” she said. “Poor Luke. He’s just a little kid.”

  “He wouldn’t have told, either,” I said. “Luke seems to be pretty good at keeping secrets. Nobody had to threaten him.”

  “I’m going to go over and talk to him,” said
Allie. “I want to apologize, and try to explain.”

  “Good,” said Kristy. “Maybe if you do, he’ll start to trust baby-sitters again.”

  Just then, Beau came back outside carrying a six-pack of soda. He handed the cans around, popped one for himself, and sat next to Allie again. She wouldn’t look at him.

  “Beau,” I said. “There’s more to this story. What about the night of the vandalism at Ambrose’s Sawmill? I saw you in the woods that night. I know I did.”

  Beau bit his lip. “It’s all connected,” he explained. “See, Fowler saw me running away from the fire that day, and I guess he put two and two together. He blackmailed me, basically. He said that if I didn’t help him out with a few ‘errands,’ he’d tell the police on me. Fowler had no idea that Luke knew about me starting the fire, but I told Luke he did. Luke and his friend Steig were scared of Fowler after that, and that helped keep Luke quiet.”

  “Oh, Beau!” cried Allie.

  “What did he want you to do?” I asked.

  “I was supposed to mess up the sawmill,” said Beau, “which is what I was doing that night. And I was supposed to flood that basement.”

  “Hold on a second,” said Kristy. “Are you sure it was Reginald Fowler asking you to do these things, and not his twin?” She turned to me and Shannon. “I mean, why would Fowler want to vandalize the mill? If his twin brother wanted to sabotage the deal, that would make more sense. Right?”

  I shrugged. I was totally confused. “I guess,” I said. “Or maybe he was trying to frame his brother, or maybe he was trying to help his brother by framing us, which would help quiet the opposition to the project.” I was starting to have a headache. “Anyway, the guy Beau was dealing with must have been the twin, since Fowler was in California both times.”

  “I bet the twins are enemies,” said Shannon. “Samuel seems to be working behind Reginald’s back, doing these things when he’s out of town. I bet they haven’t seen each other in years. Reginald probably doesn’t know that Samuel is in the area.”

  “I didn’t even know Fowler had a twin,” said Beau. “All I know is that the guy I was involved with introduced himself to me as Mr. Fowler. And he has one more job for me. I’m supposed to do it tonight, before that town council meeting takes place.”

  “What’s the job?” asked Shannon.

  “I don’t know,” said Beau. “I’m supposed to be at this cabin on the edge of Miller’s Park at six, and he’ll tell me then. The meeting is at seven.”

  “The cabin!” I exclaimed. “That must be the cabin where they lived when they were little.”

  There was silence for a second as we all digested this. Now that we knew the whole story — or most of it, anyway — what were we going to do about it?

  “Well, we’re going to be at that cabin, too,” Kristy declared suddenly. She had this gleam in her eyes, and I knew she was coming up with a plan. I could practically see the wheels turning inside her brain. “And we’ll make sure Reginald comes, too. It’s time for the twins to meet up again.”

  “How will we make him come?” I asked.

  “We’ll tell him we’ve set up a special meeting and we’ll act as if we’re ready to make a deal with him. Like that we’ll shut up about the project if he gives us some money or something. He’ll go along with it.”

  “What if he doesn’t?” Shannon asked.

  “We’ll have Sergeant Johnson in the background,” said Kristy. She’d thought of everything. “He’ll be our backup.”

  We had a plan. I wasn’t sure it was a great plan, but it was a plan.

  We left Allie and Beau sitting together on the wicker love seat, talking quietly. It looked as if they were going to make up.

  Kristy and Shannon headed off to talk to Sergeant Johnson and make arrangements for that evening’s meeting at the cabin.

  I, meanwhile, had some other business to take care of. I headed down the block to the Martinezes’, knowing that I needed to talk to Luke.

  He was playing outside when I arrived at the house. “Hey, Luke,” I called. He looked up and gave me a little wave, but he didn’t smile. I noticed that his parents’ car was in the driveway, so I figured they must be home from work. I took a deep breath and decided it was best to talk to everyone at once.

  “Where’s Amalia?” I asked as I approached Luke.

  “At a friend’s house,” Luke answered, without looking up at me.

  “Luke, I need to talk to you and your parents. Can we go inside?”

  Luke shrugged and nodded. I could tell he wasn’t thrilled about the idea.

  And he was even less thrilled when he and I and his parents sat down around the kitchen table and I launched right into the story. I told them everything I knew, everything I’d just learned from Beau and Allie. I watched Mr. and Mrs. Martinez’s faces as I talked, and saw them go from shock to anger to understanding. Mr. Martinez kept an arm around Luke’s shoulders.

  “So that’s the whole story,” I finished finally. I looked at Luke. “Luke, do you understand what this means? You don’t have to be a silent witness anymore. You don’t have to be afraid of Beau, or Fowler, or anyone.”

  Luke nodded. I saw a single tear working its way down his cheek. I felt a jolt of sympathy for him. Poor kid. It must have been such stress to keep Beau’s secret. And he must have been so frightened by the threats.

  “Luke, it’s okay now,” Mr. Martinez assured him. “It’s over.”

  Mrs. Martinez sighed. “I suppose we could press charges against the Robbins boy, but I think it’s better just to let things go back to normal. After all, he was wrong to threaten Luke, but he was being intimidated himself.”

  “He should have gone to the police,” I said.

  “Of course he should have,” said Mr. Martinez. “But I think he was simply too scared.”

  “Like me,” said Luke. “I was too scared to tell you. But I guess I should have. It’s not always a good thing to keep a secret.”

  Suddenly, I remembered that Luke might have one more secret. “Luke,” I said. “Is there something else you need to tell us? Something about what’s hidden under your bed?” Maybe Cary hadn’t been kidding about that.

  Luke jumped up from the table. “Oh, right!” he said. “Wait here!” He ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

  Mr. and Mrs. Martinez glanced at each other and laughed. “It’s good to see him happy again,” Mrs. Martinez remarked. “He’s been so mopey, and I had no idea why. I hope he can put this all behind him now.”

  Just then, Luke ran back into the kitchen, clutching a rolled-up piece of paper. “Steig and I found this in the mill one day.” He spread it out on the table. We all bent forward to see what it was.

  “Whoa!” I breathed.

  “My lord!” said Mrs. Martinez.

  “I don’t believe it.” Mr. Martinez gave a long, low whistle.

  “I wasn’t sure what to do with it,” continued Luke. “I thought if anybody caught me with it, they might blame me for making that mess at the mill. But I didn’t want to throw it away, because I knew it was important.” He looked a little bit proud, and a little bit nervous.

  “It’s very important,” I said, still staring at it. “It” was a hand-drawn map of Stoneybrook, signed by “R. Fowler.” At the top right-hand corner, it said, “Long-Term Town Plan.”

  The map was shocking. Fowler’s vision for Stoneybrook included a huge industrial complex that wiped out most of the town. Massive apartment buildings would be built to replace the houses he’d have to tear down. And instead of downtown stores, he envisioned three gigantic malls on the outskirts of town. To serve all the increased traffic, there would be new highways running everywhere. Including, I noticed, one that went right through my backyard.

  “He must be kidding!” I said.

  “I don’t think he is,” said Mrs. Martinez slowly. “I think he’s dead serious.”

  “And he has the money and the influence to pull it off, too,” added Mr. Martinez. “
He’ll start small — like, with this Miller’s Park project. The town won’t even realize what he’s up to until it’s too late.”

  “Oh, yes they will!” declared Mrs. Martinez, taking the map and rolling it up. “They’ll realize it tonight, when we bring this map to the town council meeting.”

  “So it’s good that I saved it?” Luke asked.

  “It’s great,” Mr. Martinez told him. “Now, how about if we go outside for a game of catch and forget about all this stuff for a while?”

  I stood up. Hearing Mrs. Martinez talk about the meeting reminded me of another meeting I had to attend: the one between Reginald Fowler and his twin brother.

  Luke let me give him a quick hug. In fact, he even hugged me back a little bit. Mr. and Mrs. Martinez both shook my hand and thanked me. They said they’d see me at the town council meeting, which was only a little over an hour away.

  I headed for the cabin where Beau was supposed to meet Fowler, and arrived there just in time. As I approached the clearing where the old, tumble-down cabin sits, I heard Kristy call my name. “Mary Anne! Over here,” she said quietly.

  I joined her, Shannon, and Sergeant Johnson in their hiding spot, which was behind a row of trees, but close enough to the cabin so that we’d be able to hear any conversations through its open windows.

  “Is he here yet?” I whispered, after I’d said hello to Sergeant Johnson.

  “Beau’s here,” replied Shannon. She checked her watch. “And the man he’s supposed to meet is due any minute.”

  “What about Fowler?” I asked. “I mean Reginald, not the twin.”

  “He’ll be here soon, too,” said Kristy. “It wasn’t hard to convince him to come; he sounded interested right away.”

  “Shh!” hissed Shannon. “Here comes the twin now.”

  We ducked behind the trees and watched as a car drove up. A man who looked exactly like Reginald Fowler climbed out and approached the cabin. Without pausing, he opened the door, and walked inside.