Chapter 23
The Bonney Boys raced back towards Fredericksburg through the first waves of rush hour traffic. When they’d crossed the Potomac River, Cable called Mr. Glover.
“Hello Cable. You’re on the road?”
“Yes,” said Cable.
“Any trouble?”
“It depends how you define trouble,” said Cable.
“As long as you did what I asked, I’m sure it’s fine,” said Mr. Glover, “Meyers and Davis, the security guard, left here right after we did. Deffenbaugh just left now.”
“Uh-huh,” said Cable.
“What are you not telling me?” asked Mr. Glover.
“We bumped into Franklin,” said Cable, “he invited us to be a part of his Team.”
“He did what?” exclaimed Mr. Glover.
“He said we could be part of his team, if we help him find Souvlakis.”
“What did you say? You didn’t talk to him, I hope,” said Mr. Glover.
“We had to,” said Cable, “he had our car pinned in. But we didn’t agree to anything. Before we could even hear him out that guy Meyers came running after us, and Otis.”
“Meyers and Otis?”
“Yeah. Then Franklin ran interference for us and his big goon freed up our car, then Otis pretended that we’d shoved him out of the way to make our escape.”
Mr. Glover did not say anything.
“Hello?” said Cable.
“Were my instructions unclear?” asked Mr. Glover. “Go home. Don’t talk to anyone.”
“No, right, we understood,” said Cable.
“But instead you talked to the man you believe is the ringleader of the thieves, a potentially rogue security guard, and the head of the renovation project before conspiring with them and staging a high-speed escape and crossing state lines?”
This time it was Cable who didn’t respond. Mr. Glover seemed in no hurry to break the silence. Finally he said, “I’m going to wait around here until Max gets off work and the drive home with him. We’ll talk about this later.”
“Are you still our lawyer?” asked Cable.
“For the time being,” said Mr. Glover.
“Good,” said Cable.
“But lest you forget,” added Mr. Glover, “I’m also Max’s dad, who hosted your first sleepover and your first co-ed Halloween party. And with your parents out of the country, I just wonder—“
The element passed through a series of underpasses at the interchange where the southbound highway joins the D.C. Beltway and the phone call blipped off.
They drove in silence for a while. Then Quinn said, “That guy Franklin’s not so bad, really. For a criminal mastermind.”
“I don’t even know how to respond to that,” said Cable.
“He seems like a big picture sort of guy,” said Quinn, “asking for our help. It’s like he‘s not even in it for the money. He just wants the street cred for stealing the jewels.”
“What makes you think he’s not in it for the money,” said Cable.
“Cause he offered to make us part of the team. He offered to make Souvlakis part of the team. It seemed like maybe even he and Otis had some kind of understanding, maybe.”
“That was after he trashed the store,” said Cable.
“Wouldn’t it be weird if everybody was part of the team,” said Quinn. “Like if we three and everyone we’ve met so far are all in on it, without knowing it. Mr. Glover, everyone.”
“In on what, exactly?” asked Cable.
“In on stealing the jewels,” said Quinn.
“You’re out of your mind,” said Cable.
“No he’s not,” said Jack, “think about it. If everyone were in on it. If everyone were part of the plan to steal the jewels, guards and tourists and all, what would we do?”
“I don’t understand and I don’t want to talk about it,” said Cable.
“We’d have to put them somewhere for safe keeping, right?” continued Jack. “The whole There’s no I in T-E-A-M concept comes into it. We can’t have one person sneak off with them if we’re all supposed to be ‘in on it.’”
“I’m not listening,” said Cable.
“So,” continued Jack, “we’d have to agree to put them in a building somewhere for safe keeping, where we could all see them any time we wanted to, to ensure that no one took them for themselves.”
Quinn jumped in, “that doesn’t make sense. Then the police and everyone would know about it.”
“No,” said Jack, “that’s the beauty of it. They police are in on it too. Everyone’s in on it. So to make sure that no one got any funny ideas about keeping the jewels for themselves, they’d have to be stored in a very public place and be in full view all the time.”
“Which is pretty much where we are right now,” said Quinn.
“Exactly,” said Jack. “Except now it’s tipping back the other way. Now there’s a new ‘in on it’ group trying to take them back for themselves. And they’re the crooks. Except if they keep inviting people to join their team and the team gets big enough, they can just take over the whole museum and run it themselves and suddenly it’s the other people who are the crooks, trying to take all these things for themselves.”
“Whoa,” said Quinn.
Cable spoke up. “You know how in the movies, they do that thing where the screen goes black and then it says at the bottom, ‘two days later’ or ‘six months later’ and then the story starts up again, but it skips all the tedious in-between stuff?”
“Sure,” said Jack.
“Did you ever wish that could happen in real life?”
An hour later, back in Fredericksburg, the boys were surprised to find that Chad had opened the store and was sitting merrily at the front counter chatting with a customer.
“Hey,” he said, “Do none of you guys answer your phones or what? You could at least shoot me a text, tell me you got my message.”
“What message?” asked Jack.
“About these,” said Chad, pointing to the stack of crossword puzzle books.
“What about them?” asked Jack. He walked around behind the front desk, where Chad has stacked up the books. The customer, who was leaning on the desk still, glanced down at the crossword books as well.
“Can I help you find anything?” asked Jack, absent-mindedly.
“No, I’m all set,” said the man.
His voice was familiar. Jack look at him for the first time. It was Detective Deffenbaugh.
His presence in the store sent shock waves through them. Jack’s face went white, beneath the purple paint, resulting momentarily in a surprising lavender color.
“Nice to see you again,” said the detective.
“We…um…is there…” stammered Jack.
“Relax,” said the detective. “I’m not here to arrest you.”
“Say what?” exclaimed Chad.
“You’re not?” asked Jack.
“Not necessarily,” said the detective.
“But the photos, the lawyer, that Mr. Newman?”
The detective nodded. “Yeah. All that. That’s some serious stuff.”
“So what are you doing here?” asked Jack.
“I want to talk to you.”
“Are you a cop? Should I be going?” asked Chad. “I suddenly remembered that I have somewhere to be.”
Cable had plopped down on the steps leading upstairs. His flight instinct was entirely depleted. Quinn wasn’t sure where to go, so he just stood there.
“Go if you want,” said the detective. “I’ll need to get a statement from you at some point about the business with the front window, the robbery, all of that.”
“What, like an official statement?” asked Chad.
“If we’re going to put together a case against the real thieves,” said the detective.
“Well but—“ began Chad, “I didn’t know I was, like, sworn to tell the whole truth, you know, and all of that.”
“I understand,” said the detective, “that was my bad. I didn’t make that clear.”
“The part where I wrestled six of their men to the ground before the other six finally pinned me down,” said Chad, “that was… that was just my impression, you know. Not the literal… actual… way it went down.”
“That’s fine,” said the detective, “we’ll work it down to the bare bones at some point. In the meantime, do you mind?”
“I was just leaving anyway,” said Chad, “I’ve got to see a man about a horse.” Chad stumbled off his stool and hurried out the front door.
“Bye,” said the detective, waving.
“What do you mean ‘the real thieves,” said Jack, sliding onto the stool that Chad had just vacated.
The detective looked at all three of the boys. “No disrespect,” he said, “but I don’t think you cats are up to stealing the Crown Jewels, or whatever they are. But I don’t think you’re just out for a joy ride, either. You’re either taking the fall for someone and I’m not sure if that’d be voluntary or not. Or you’re in over your head and waiting for someone to throw you a life preserver. Whichever it is, we need to talk.”
“Yeah, let’s talk,” said Quinn, coming to the counter.
“Which is it, by the way?” asked the detective.
“We’re in over—“ began Quinn
“Nah, it doesn’t matter,” interrupted the detective, “you don’t have to tell me. Hey, is there a place around here where we can get a latte or a soda or something?”
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