Early the next afternoon, Prunella dropped by the Datillo residence to pick Marina up to head to the library together. When they got there, they were greeted by Miss Turner, who had returned from her vacation.
"Hello, girls." Miss Turner said, as they approached the counter.
"Hi Miss Turner," Prunella said, "how was your vacation?"
Miss Turner let out a satisfying sigh, "It certainly was wonderful to be able to take a break from the grind of day to day life, but it is nice to be able to be back home again. Charlie told me things were pretty quiet around here all week. I see you girls are finished with 'Economy Elves'?"
"Well, not exactly," Prunella said, as she handed Miss Turner the book, "it... kinda slipped our minds. I don't suppose it would be possible to renew it?"
"I'm afraid not," Miss Turner said, as she checked the book back in, "there's a long waiting list to read it."
"That's okay," Prunella said, "we're just going to hang around for a little bit."
"Very well." Miss Turner said.
Prunella took Marina by the arm and led her away from the counter, but as they walked away, Marina grabbed Prunella's wrist and stopped her.
"Please, Prunella," Marina spoke up, softly, "don't wonder away too far."
"Don't worry," Prunella said, "I'll stick close by."
"Fine," Marina sighed in relief, "I think I'll relax with some 'Henry Skreever', let's go over to the audio books."
After a short while, Marina was resting at a table, listening to a 'Henry Skreever' CD, while Prunella sat at an adjacant table, with a 'Henry Skreever' book in front of her face, but reading was actually not what she was doing. Peering her eyes over the book, Prunella kept darting them all around the library, watching out for anybody who looked suspicious. With Prunella close by, and getting lost in the words pouring out of the headphones, Marina finally relaxed and let her guard down, though Prunella kept her guard up constantly. Anytime anybody even remotely walked towards Marina's direction, Prunella was alert and ready for a confrontation. This carried on for much of the afternoon, and to the relief of Marina and the skeptism of Prunella, nothing ever happened, nor did anyone ever approach Marina. By closing time, Prunella helped walk Marina home.
"I don't know, Marina," Prunella said, "I kept a steady watch the whole time we were in there, and I saw nothing. Maybe it was some kind of kooky spirit you've angered."
"No way!" Marina said, defensively, "if it was a spirit, don't you think I'd experience a draining of energy and my muscles seizing up on me?"
"Well, whoever it was apparently wasn't there today," Prunella said, "this maybe a little tougher than I thought."
"I'm just glad nothing happened today." Marina said, as Prunella brought her to her house. "Thanks for coming with me today, Prunella, you're the best."
"No problem," Prunella said, "but don't worry, Marina, we'll get to the bottom of this."
"I hope so," Marina said, as she opened the door, "I'd like to be able to step outside again without feeling uncomfortable and having to drag you along everywhere like a security blanket."
"Hey, what are friends for?" Prunella asked.
"Speaking of which," Marina began, "I've been missing out on soccer practice all week... think you could drop by after school Monday and stick around?"
"Sure!" Prunella said.
"Thanks." Marina said, before stepping into her house. Prunella went about her business, however, she was determined to get to the bottom of Marina's situation. It wasn't going to be easy, and she felt like she could use a little help. If only she had a sign, a lead, a clue, anything. Clues... a short time later, Buster met up with Prunella in her bedroom.
"So, let me get this straight," Buster said, "there's been someone over at the library bothering your friend Marina, but because she's blind, she doesn't know who's bothering her?"
"That's right," Prunella said, "I've tried to figure this out myself, but I'm having trouble coming up with a lead. I kinda feel silly about asking you for help, but I've heard that you're actually something of a decent detective. After all, you figured out what happened to all those missing quarters that Arthur was blamed for stealing, and you and Fern found out who was really painting Binky's name all over the school."
"Well, naturally," Buster said, taking on his detective demeanor, "Buster Baster, private detective always solves the case... now tell me something, Miss Deegan."
"What's that?" Prunella asked.
"Is there any possibility that the person bothering your friend isn't a person at all, but rather some kind of invisible being from another planet bent on possessing her mind and body?"
"I never saw anybody, and I thought maybe that it might be some kind of a spirit," Prunella admitted, "but Marina swears somebody has actually been there."
"This is going to be tougher than I thought." Buster said. "Not to worry, Miss Deegan, Buster Baxter will pick up this trail, as soon as the library opens up Monday."
"Okay, Marina has soccer practice after school, so let me know what you find out," Prunella said, "but Buster, try to practice a little discretion, please, Marina doesn't want anyone to know about this."
"Not to worry, Gopherball," Buster said, "if there's one thing a detectives are good at, it's being discret."
"Good, because I swore on the wheel of edam that I wouldn't let this get out." Prunella said.
"Edam's good stuff," Buster said, "I remember when my father and I went on a trek in Amsterdam, and I managed to get my hands on some of that golden deliciousness of the Netherlands."
Monday came, and right after school finished for the day, Buster pulled his hat and coat out of his locker, and made his way down the hallway, before Arthur caught up to him.
"So what's the case you're on, Buster?" Arthur asked.
"There's a mysterious toucher in the library Mr. Read, and I intend to catch this mysterious toucher red-handed... or whatever color his hand... or pod maybe..." Buster said in his detective voice. Arthur had wanted to get together with Buster at the Sugar Bowl after school, but Buster informed him he was working on a case, though to protect Marina's identity as well as keep his promise to Prunella, Buster remained vague on the details.
"Do you have any clues so far?" Arthur asked.
"Not quite," Buster said, "but I plan on leaving no stone, or book, unturned."
Afterwards, Buster popped over to the Deegan house to see if Prunella is ready to resume their investigation. Prunella's mother answered the door.
"Hello, Buster," Mrs. Deegan greeted him.
"Afternoon, ma'am," Buster responded, "I'm here to see if your youngest daughter is ready to resume our investigation."
"Oh, she's over at Mighty Mountain for her friend Marina's soccer practice." Mrs. Deegan told him.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Buster said, "well, guess I'll resume this case flying solo then, thank you for your time, ma'am."
"What case are you talking about?" Mrs. Deegan asked.
At the Mighty Mountain elementary soccer field, the coach was happy to see Marina had returned.
"You missed out on alot last week, Datillo." The coach said.
"I'm sorry, I hadn't been feeling too well." Marina lied.
"Well, glad you're better, we've got alot to do today." The coach moved onto the other players, just as Prunella dropped by outside the fence.
"I'm here, Marina." Prunella said.
"Great," Marina said, as she turned toward the sound of her friend's voice, "I was getting a little nervous."
Buster arrived at the library, and intended to obtain as many answers as he could for his investigation, starting with what he believed was the most logical choice, Miss Turner.
"So, Miss Turner," Buster began, "how have things been going on here at our little library?"
"What do you mean, Buster?" Miss Turner asked.
"Anything strange, out-of-the-ordinary, or otherworldly been going on around here lately?" Buster asked.
"Not that I'm aware of," Miss Turner said, as she finished checking out a patron's book, "is something wrong?"
"I don't know," Buster said, "you tell me and we'll both know."
"I'm sorry, I really don't know what you're getting at, Buster." Miss Turner said.
"Interesting..." Buster said, as he pondered for a moment. "Just what has been going on around here this past week?"
"I don't really know, I just got back from a vacation," Miss Turner said, "Charlie was in charge while I was gone, and he said everything was pretty quiet here over the week."
"Who is this Charlie you speak of, and who does he work for?" Buster asked, as being an infrequent visitor to the library, he was unfamiliar with Charlie.
"He's one of our assistant librarians, and he works for the library," Miss Turner said, started to grow a little impatient with Buster's act, "and if you're wanting mystery books, you might want to check the mystery section."
"Trying to throw me off the trail, eh?" Buster asked.
Miss Turner glared at Buster, as he chuckled nervously, before he went about his business. Buster lurked around the library for a short while, until he spotted a tall, thin, bespectacled bear man emptying a cartload of returned library books onto a shelf. He didn't recognize this man, so he decided to resume his questioning.
"You Charlie?" Buster asked the man as he approached him.
"That's me." Charlie answered.
"I need to ask you a few questions, Charlie," Buster said, "if that is your real name."
"Detective stories are over in the mystery section, kid." Charlie said, as he saw the boy who approached him was dressed like a detective.
"I understand you've been in charge of this little outfit this past week." Buster said.
"That's right," Charlie said, still shelfing books, "somebody had to look out for things while Miss Turner was on vacation."
"Now we're getting somewhere," Buster said, "you looked out for things around here, eh?"
"Yes." Charlie said. "Why, what are you getting at?"
"Have you noticed anything odd, strange, out-of-the-ordinary, or otherworldly going on around here during your looking out?" Buster asked.
"I don't know about otherworldly, but nothing too odd, strange, or out-of-the-ordinary that I know of." Charlie said.
"Just what exactly have you witnessed going on at this library during your reign?" Buster asked.
"What exactly are you trying to find out?" Charlie asked.
"Have you noticed any sort of invasion of privacy around here lately?" Buster asked.
"Look, kid," Charlie began.
"That's Buster Baxter, private detective to you, pal." Buster said.
"I'm kinda busy here, Buster Baxter, private detective." Charlie said, trying to resume shelfing books.
"Okay, Buster, let's go." Miss Turner said, as she grabbed Buster by the shoulder and started to escort him to the door for disrupting others.
"There's something very, very strange going on around here," Buster concluded, as he left the library, "I'm convinced more than ever now that there's a coverup here."
Back at Mighty Mountain, Prunella watched in awe as Marina went about her soccer practice. She never said anything, knowing her friend doesn't like to be fussed over, but Prunella was always impressed with how well Marina was at soccer, a sentiment that was shared by her classmates and teammates, who were also surprised at how well Marina did, inspite of her handicap. Of course, the beeper in her ball helped make it possible for her to play. Still, Marina was walking proof to other students that blind people are just as capable of doing anything other people are. After practice was over, Prunella walked Marina home.
"Now that was intense," Marina said, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"Here, have some water." Prunella handed Marina her bottle.
"Thanks," Marina said, taking a big gulp, then sighing in relief, "boy, it felt so great to get out and run again today. Thanks for coming over and keeping an eye on things for me, Prunella."
"No problem," Prunella said, "I can do this everyday if I have to."
"Great," Marina said, softly, "because... I have practice again Wednesday and Thursday."
"I'll be there." Prunella said, as she helped Marina onto her front porch.
"Thanks again, Prunella, see you later!" Marina said, as she stepped into her house.
Prunella sighed, feeling she may have taken on too much responsibility, but she didn't want to risk her best friend being harassed anymore than she already has. Looking at her watch, Prunella saw it was almost dinner time, so she went about her way. Once she made it to her house, she saw Buster approaching from the opposite direction.
"Any luck?" Prunella asked.
"No," Buster said, "but I have a feeling we maybe on the verge of uncovering some kind of massive conspiracy, or perhaps something even bigger than all of us!"
"What did you find out?" Prunella asked.
"Miss Turner, and this so called Charlie just gave me the runaround," Buster said, "I'm convinced that there's possibly some kind of coverup for the existence of extra terrestrials who have been sent to earth to study an example of earth creatures, and they settled on your friend."
"You seriously believe that?" Prunella asked, furrowing her brow.
"Oh, I don't know," Buster said, "this case is a little tougher than I thought it was going to be. There must be someway we could get some kind of definite answer, but I don't know what."
Prunella sighed, and looked at her watch again. "Well, I guess we'll just have to try again some other time, I'm going to be late for dinner."
"Aha!" Buster said. "I knew my stomach was trying to tell me something while I was in the library. I better run too. Don't worry, Miss Deegan, Buster Baxter, private detective, will get to the bottom of this!"
Buster ran off for home, while Prunella stepped into her own home, where she found her mother finishing dinner in the kitchen.
"Dinner will be ready shortly, dear," Mrs. Deegan said.
"Okay, I'm just going to get a glass of juice, I'm parched." Prunella said as she got a glass of juice from the fridge.
"I just got off the phone with Mrs. Datillo," Mrs. Deegan said, "she called up the library and they said they're going to do all they can to find out who had been molesting Marina."
Prunella promptly choked on her juice, while Mrs. Deegan stepped over and patted her daughter's back to help clear her airwave. "How did you find out about that?!"
"Buster came over here after school to get you," Mrs. Deegan explained, "he told me what you two were doing, so I called Mrs. Datillo to see if Marina was okay, but she didn't know what I was talking about, so a little while later she called back and told me the story and had contacted the library to see what they can do to find out who had been molesting Marina."
"Had been what?" Prunella asked.
"It's when somebody touches somebody else inappropriately, like this person had been doing to Marina," Mrs. Deegan said, "why didn't either of you tell anybody about this?"
"Marina didn't want anybody to know about this..." Prunella began, but before she could finish, the phone rang again. She looked at the caller ID, and saw the name Datillo on it Reluctantly, she answered the phone. "Hello?"
"How could you?!" A tearful voice yelled on the other end.
"I-I-I-I-I-I..." Prunella stammered.
"How many people have you told?!" Marina wailed.
"Just Buster Baxter," Prunella said, "but then he told my mom..."
"And then she called my mom, and she asked me about what happened, and then she called the library, and now everybody's going to know about what happened!" Marina wailed again, "I thought you were my friend! I trusted you!"
"You don't understand," Prunella struggled to say, "I only asked Buster to help, he actually has a knack for detective work..."
"Look, do me a favor," Marina said, "don't ever call me again, don't ever come to my house again, and if you ever see me, don't even come near me, I don't want ever want to hear from you again!"
"But, Marina," Prunella said, "I was only trying to..."
Marina slammed the phone down.
"... help..." Prunella hung up as well.
Marina threw herself onto her bed, burying her head into her pillow to sob.
