SIMON'S POV

I had to remember the clue. Eleanor needed me. Even if this heist wasn't what she expected, she had put so much time and effort into it that I couldn't bring myself to ditch her. Furthermore, I couldn't leave the case open ended and uncertain. I needed a definitive answer, though I still feared the answer would be embarrassing. What if we were chasing a huge misunderstanding? What if Jason was making the whole thing up? It seemed utterly ridiculous to hinge a heist on a gold baseball card. Then again, I've watched heist movies. Schemes made by criminal masterminds are usually ridiculous in nature.

I closed my eyes and focused on taking myself back to the previous night. I had been watching the mysterious suspects closely…even though I had been thoroughly exhausted. They left Jason's house in a black van. A very suspicious looking black van. The numbers 44 and 28 suddenly popped up. Were they the clue I was searching for? Numbers….numbers…THE LICENSE PLATE NUMBER! I remembered! Despite seeing it when I was half asleep, my mind replayed the clip of the van driving away, license plate number fully visible from where I was perched. 4TD428!

"I think I may have stumbled upon something you overlooked." I informed Eleanor, as a means to comfort her. She seemed to be in a rather unpleasant place mentally.

Her green eyes flashed with a hint of hope. "Tell me." She said, rather rudely. I know she didn't intend to sound rude, she was just…excited and impatient.

"4TD428" I recited. "The license plate number of the van. All we have to do is track down that van using the number. Right?"

"Simon, you brilliant brainiac!" She patted me on the back. "You saved the case!" She paused, before standing up from the bench. "You sure it's the right number?"

"I have a photographic memory." I reminded her. "So, yes." I left out the part about it working less effectively when I was under extreme stress. I wasn't stressed to the max at the moment. I was enjoying this mystery.

Eleanor jumped up onto a rock and held her fist to the sky. "To the computer!" She exclaimed.

Before I could react, she grabbed me and began to drag me along again.

We arrived back at the treehouse and she booted up her laptop in record time. Once again, she pulled the curtains shut to obscure her hacking from any peepers that might be watching. I looked over her shoulder as she typed in the license plate number. Would this clue lead us anywhere? Or had I given her another dead end?

"There's no vehicle registered here in town with that number. Hmmm. Must be from out of town." Eleanor told me as she dug deeper into the database.

I scrunched my nose, deep in thought. "They did have a California license plate though, so they aren't from out of state."

"Thank you!" Eleanor giggled. "Where was that information earlier, Sherlock?" She teased me.

I would have given it sooner, had she asked. I didn't realize it was relevant. I thought just the number would do. I sure had a lot to learn about solving mysteries.

All Eleanor's constant hacking was making my moral and just side feel queasy, so I took a break and went outside. I rested my hands on the railing of the porch and sighed. I hoped Eleanor would find something that let us wrap up this case. It may have been fun, but it was also extremely nerve racking. There had to be a way to follow the law while solving it. Why did she always have to break it? The law is the law for a reason.

I looked up at the sky. It was rather late now. The sun had vanished below the horizon and a few lone stars were twinkling. The front porch lights dimly lit the spiral staircase. It would have made a very good ambiance photo. "You know, maybe I should take one." I thought to myself.

However, before I could, I heard voices.

"So then I told her to just get out of my face."

"Uh huh"

"It was like…so freeing. You can't even imagine."

"That's nice, Britt. I'm happy for you."

Oh no! Oh noooo! Not Jeanette and Brittany! What would they think of me if they found out I was helping Eleanor break a bunch of rules!? Jeanette would be so disappointed. Brittany might find it cool, but I still didn't want her to know. I highly doubted Eleanor wanted them to know either, hence the closed curtains.

"I would much rather hang out with Olivia than those dirty rotten mean girls anyway." Brittany droned on.

I darted back into the house before they saw me. "Eleanor!" I screeched.

"What is it?" She was looking at the computer screen and typing something into her phone.

"Your sisters! They're coming!" I motioned toward the stairs. "We have to hide the computer! Research can wait!"

"Hold on….almost got it." Eleanor finished typing on her phone and then grabbed the laptop. "Okay! Let's bounce." She bolted up the stairs as she was exiting tabs and shutting everything down.

When I reached the top of the steps, I heard the two other Chipettes enter.

"Hey, who closed the curtains?" Brittany wondered aloud.

"I don't know." Jeanette answered. "May have been me."

Once Eleanor and I entered the Chipettes' bedroom, she shoved her laptop in a drawer.

"How do you plan on explaining this?" I asked the pigtailed girl. The first question her sisters would ask is why I was here hanging out with her. Theodore usually hung out with her. I only hung out with her when it was all 6 of us together.

"I don't." Eleanor gave me a wink.

I was confused. What was her plan then? I looked out the girls' bedroom window at my own house. Then, the next thing I knew, I was being shoved out the window. "Eleanor!" I whispered angrily.

"I'll contact you later." She strapped me to the zip line harness and sent me flying. "Thanks for your help." Why did I put up with this!?

I zoomed across the zipline and through the open window. I hung there for a couple seconds, fiddling with the harness so I could set myself free. When I finally unclasped it, I fell to the ground, flat on my face in front of the toy chest. Curse Eleanor and her crazy ideas.

"Are you okay, Simon?" A tender and childlike tone, easily identifiable as Theodore's, asked softly.

I was not in the mood to answer to anyone, so he was met with very biting sarcasm. "Yes. I'm great. I enjoy falling off ziplines. It's on my list of favorite things to do…right next to getting eaten by alligators and jumping off a cliff."

"You sound mad." My brother in the light green striped pajamas helped me up and dusted me off. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No, no." I shook my head. "I'm not mad, just….frustrated." I WAS a little mad. I intended to give Eleanor a stern talk the next chance I got.

"Do you wanna talk about that?" Theodore blinked his big brown eyes.

Yes, yes. I had oodles of things I wished to discuss, but not with HIM. He would spill the beans and then my goose would be metaphorically cooked. "It's okay. It's just….a mood swing."

"Ohhhh." He nodded like he understood. "Alvin gets those a lot. Would you like some gummies? Those make it better."

I walked toward the closet. "No. Not a fan of gummies." They're much too….waxy and chewy for my tastes. I prefer snacks with a crunch, like pretzels or chips.

Theodore followed me. "What about some chocolate?"

"Look, I can handle this, Theo." I turned around to face him. "It's no big deal. It'll go away."

"If you say so." He trotted toward the door. Thank goodness he was leaving the room. "But the offer is open if you change your mind!" He added, before disappearing into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

I let out a sigh of relief and stepped into the closet. I punched in the code for my lab and the doors slid open to reveal my own personal space. I needed that space right now. I needed to take a step back, re-evaluate the Eleanor situation. Decide if I wanted to continue being so involved or if it was safest for me to avoid helping her with the case anymore. Well, it WAS safest to stop, but did I truly WANT to stop? I felt the need to see things through.

I checked on Geizmo, my robot child, to make sure he was in sleep mode. I had trusted Theodore to watch him all day. I briefly wondered what sort of things they did and how much fun they had…without me. I could easily use Geizmo as an excuse to have less time to help Eleanor with the case, but that wouldn't be right either.

I sat down at my desk and slumped my shoulders. I felt like such a fraud. Eleanor could play this double life game with ease. Why was it so hard for me? I didn't have bad intentions. I only wanted….some excitement.

"Boo ya!" I heard Eleanor's voice from above me. "Guess who got the address of the bad guys!?"

No no noooo! I glanced up to see her scurry down from the wall like a spider. "How did you get in here!?" I exclaimed, my face heating up with anger. This was my sanctuary! How DARE she invade it!?

"If I explain that, we'll be here all night." She took off the boots she was wearing. MY boots. My special gecko boots that use electrostatic induction to allow the wearer to climb any flat surface, and even hang upside down from the ceiling.

I knew exactly how she'd gotten in. "You stole those boots a week ago, zip lined over, climbed onto the ceiling, waited for me to unlock the lab, then climbed into my lab?" I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Daaaaang." Eleanor exclaimed in surprise. "You good, man. How'd you know?"

"Those boots disappeared a week ago. The rest was obvious." I retorted.

She smiled at me. "This is why you and I are such a great team. We're both two steps ahead of everyone else."

I frowned as I pulled up a seat for her. "I'm still mad at you for pushing me on the zipline earlier."

"Yeah, not my best decision, but hey….it worked." She shrugged.

I pursed my lips. "I would like an apology, Eleanor."

"Okaaay." She relented. "I'm sorry, Simon. I was rushing and I didn't want Brittany and Jeanette suspicious. Can you forgive me?" She DID sound like she meant it.

"Absolutely." My curiosity took hold once more. "So, you found an address?"

"Yeah! I was able to match the license plate number with a house. It's gotta be the place those criminals live." She wagged her tail.

"Or, perhaps they just stole an unsuspecting person's van." I was half serious and half attempting to tease the Chipette.

"Ha ha." She snipped sarcastically. "Anyway, the house is on the outskirts of town. Not in Santa Barbara, but really close. I'm thinking…" She could barely contain her hype. "We go tonight and see if we can unravel this mystery once and for all! Are ya with me?"

Was I? Did I want to be? Why was this decision so hard? Think rationally, Simon. Think rationally. "I need to sleep." I told her. "What about tomorrow night?"

"Please, Simon. Tomorrow might be too late! They might pack their bags and leave. Heck, even tonight might be too late." She folded her hands and begged.

"Okay, okay…" I am such an idiot. Why do I keep agreeing!? "We can go tonight. I have to pretend to be asleep until Dave comes to check on us, but then…I'm in."

"Cool! I'll go pack my stuff in Dave's car." She squeaked excitedly, grabbing the gecko boots.

I grabbed her arm. "No you won't."

She pouted. "But Dave's car is the best thing we have."

"I've got a better mode of transportation for us." I bragged, with a smile. "We can take the Munkmobile."

Her eyes widened and her tail twitched faster. "Sweet!"

"On one condition." I added, knowing this was a very important thing for her to agree to.

She frowned. "What condition would that be?" I didn't know if she expected my answer. I couldn't read her as well as she could read me.

I curled my lips into a playful grin. "I'll drive."

"That's….That's fair." She chuckled nervously.

This was going to be another hectic sleepless night. Unlike the first time, however, I wouldn't wind up tied in ribbon or treated like a prisoner. Eleanor and I respected each other. WE WERE A TEAM! While I still had reservations about committing to this, I was willing to give it everything I had in me. What would we find? No one could have ever guessed the answer. I'm still not sure I believe it myself.

ELEANOR'S POV

Aw man! I was hoping to drive the Munkmobile, but I totally get where Simon's coming from. It's his invention and he gets to choose who drives it or not. I'm just happy to have him and his INSANE clue finding powers on my side. Maybe I was wrong about working alone. Sure, it's cool cuz the only person you have to worry about is yourself, but working with someone is more rewarding. Now I know why everyone says two heads are better than one.

I climbed back up onto the ceiling using the gecko boots and watched Simon walk out of the lab from a bird's eye view. He crawled into bed and waited for Dave to come in and check on him. Sometimes, I get a little bit jealous that the boys have a dad and my sisters and I don't. I wish I had someone to camp with and fish with and break rocks with my bare hands with. Dave's good, but he's only good at those first two things, fyi. I wonder what my biological parents would be like if they were still around….not that I'd be able to really talk to them. They'd be average chipmunks and Jeanette is the only one that can communicate with animals. Urgh. I'm making myself sad. No weakness. Show no weakness.

Then again, my moment of weakness in the park is what prompted Simon to remember a clue. Maybe it's alright to show how vulnerable you are, even if you're a spy.

I watched as Dave said goodnight to his kids and then turned out the light. He left the room and closed the door quietly, so as not to wake a deeply sleeping Alvin. The red haired chipmunk was tossing and turning in his bed, obviously caught up in a nightmare of some sort. Theodore seemed peaceful, cuddling his teddy bear and multiple other plush toys. Simon cracked an eye open. That was the signal!

I scurried down from the ceiling and helped Simon stuff a decoy doll, that looked suspiciously like him, under his sheets. We turned the decoy so its permanently open eyes were facing the bookcase and not the door. Though, I gotta admit, it would be hilariously creepy to have Dave walk in the room and see decoy Simon's giant blue unblinking eyes staring him down.

"Ready to pack up the Munkmobile, partner?" I asked in a hushed whisper.

"Ready." He slipped his hand into mine and we creeped toward the closed door.

"I'm not a good kid…" I heard Alvin moan as we passed by his bed. "But I gotta be a good kid. I hate being a perfect student. I hate it." He even complained in his sleep? That boy needed to SERIOUSLY shut up. No one wanted to hear him whine about the same problem over and over. There were bigger problems in the world.

Click! Went the doorknob of the door as Simon stood on my shoulders and twisted it. The door swung open and Simon jumped off my shoulders. He grabbed onto the swinging door to prevent it from creaking too much.

It wasn't quiet enough. Theodore has incredible senses, and hearing is one of them. I froze as the youngest Seville brother sat up in his bed, looking dazed and confused.

"Uh oh." Simon whispered, worried our plan to sneak out unnoticed was thwarted. I knew better.

"I got this." I whispered back to Simon, before walking confidently up to Theodore's bed. I knew how to handle situations like these. "Hi, Theodore." I said cheerfully, but still quiet enough to not wake the other sleeping munk. "Are you thirsty? Would you like a glass of water?"

He was clearly still partially asleep, because he didn't even ask me what I was doing there. "Yeah….some water would be really nice."

"Great, well, I will go get you some." I walked across to the bathroom and filled a medicine cup with tap water. "Here you go. The finest water from the most beautiful spring."

Theodore gulped down the glass happily. "That's good. Really….refreshing."

"Here, let's get you all nice and snuggled in." I tucked him back under the covers and kissed his forehead.

He looked up at me sweetly. "I don't know why you're in my house right now, but thank you for everything, Ellie. I don't know what I'd do without you." He yawned and then closed his eyes.

I didn't have time to focus on the cuteness of the moment we shared. I had a mission to accomplish and an impatient Simon waiting on me. I crept from the room and met up with my formerly unwilling accomplice.

"Did he fall back asleep?" The boy in blue asked.

I smirked. "Out like a light."

Simon started to walk down the stairs and I followed behind. I knew we were heading to the basement, but I felt like….he deserved to lead for this short time before I took the lead once more. I didn't want him to feel like we weren't a team, because we were. I couldn't have gotten this far without him.

"Hey, Simon…." I gripped the railing, not risking a slip that would wake up Dave. "Isn't the Munkmobile….loud?"

"I have sound dampeners installed for late night travel." He replied as he reached the bottom step.

"Awesome." I hopped down two steps to meet up with him. "See? That's why YOU'RE the cool one."

He chuckled nervously. "I didn't ASK to be cool. It just sorta….fell in my lap."

"Doesn't matter." I wrapped an arm around his waist. "Just make the most of it. You're a lucky guy, Simon. And between you and me, you're the most talented person in your family. I mean, he-llo!" We started to walk down the basement stairs together and I gestured to his basement full of gadgets. "Look at all this stuff! And you aren't half bad at sports either…when you actually play them."

His cheeks turned slightly pink. "Well, uh, thank you….thanks for noticing….not that my dad doesn't….in fact, he really does I just…." The usually stoic munk was showcasing a lot of emotion. "I don't want my brothers to feel like they have to live up to me."

Aw how sweet of him. So sickeningly sweet. "Obviously." I replied. "You're impossible to live up to."

"You're also…quite the force to be reckoned with." He complimented me.

"Thanks." I reached the bottom step and then the not so pleasant thoughts started racing through my head. "I wish more people knew about my talents."

Simon was clearly in the mood to joke now. "You mean like….hacking?" He said, as he punched in the numbers on the keypad for his secret room. Well, ONE of his secret rooms. He's got so many it's hard to keep track.

"Dude, I was trying to have a sweet moment and you wrecked it." I poked him in the ribs.

"Ow!" He shouted in surprise.

"Ow?" I raised an eyebrow. "It cannot have hurt that much."

He regained his composure. "Well, it did."

"Theo always giggles when I poke him." I pointed out.

Simon adjusted his glasses. "Yes, because he's Theodore."

The doors to the secret room opened and I was met with the sight of the Munkmobile. It was shiny, blue, super fast, tricked out with probably a dozen different modes, and full of surprises. We packed everything we could possibly need into the Munkmobile while trying not to wake anyone upstairs. I made sure to write the address of the house we were heading to down on a sheet of paper because my phone was just about dead. Plus, I shouldn't be taking my phone anyway. If it fell out of my pocket, I'd be in trouble.

"We'll use walkie talkies instead of the phone." I suggested to Simon.

"Or we can use these." He handed me a fancy blue colored watch and he slipped on a matching one. Then, he added a little earpiece to both our ears, similar to the earpiece from his nano phone invention.

"Niiice." I quipped. "You really should get a job making spy gadgets. You'd be great at it. How do you come up with all these great ideas?"

He shrugged and continued to add things to our stash of supplies. "I just…make whatever I feel like making. Sometimes, Theo or Alvin, mostly Alvin, would request certain things. Sometimes I need an invention for class. Or to stop a bully." He gestured to his bodyguard robot that Theo had named Cupcake.

"Wow." I was impressed. What would it be like to have a head full of invention ideas all the time? Would it actually be fun? Or annoying? It sounded annoying, but the results sure were cool.

"Yeah." Simon looked fondly at his invention arsenal. "I'm surprised I've actually made this many things….since I spend a lot of my time roped into hairbrained schemes."

"This isn't a scheme, it's a case." I reminded him. "And I'm not roping you anymore. You're coming along willingly."

"Please, don't remind me." He moaned. Clearly, he was still having doubts. That's okay. Once we were cruisin' in the Munkmobile, his doubts would ghost him and there would be nothing left but adrenaline!

"Fine." I turned my attention to some folded clothes on one of his lab tables. "Hey, can we wear super cool secret agent suits?"

"Please, don't touch those." He huffed, hurriedly taking them from me. "They're still a work in progress and I'm not confident they won't explode."

"Do you have any other suits?" I questioned eagerly.

"Eleanor, we don't need them." He was firm. "Changing our clothes would only waste valuable time."

He was right about that. Darn it. I scurried up the steps that descended from the cockpit of the Munkmobile. Buckling myself into the passenger seat, I looked at all the multi-colored buttons scattered across the dashboard. "Have we got everything?"

"Just about." Simon finished packing up supplies, by putting a blue duffel bag with the contents unknown into the backseat of the Munkmobile. "Okay, now we have everything." He climbed into the driver's seat and retracted the steps. We were ready for takeoff.

THIS WAS SO EXCITING! I had only ridden in the Munkmobile a few times, and every time I had been crushed into the backseat. I never got to ride shotgun! Ever! I doubt Simon knew how much this meant to me.

"Here we goooo!" I said forcefully, but softly. "Now, we're getting somewhere." As Jeanette would say, the game was afoot. Good thing I am GREAT at most games.

"Shhhh!" Simon put a finger to his lips. "Theodore has super hearing."

"I WAS being quiet." I protested.

Simon just rolled his eyes and the Munkmobile rose into the air. The ceiling of his secret room opened up and we emerged into the night. As we flew away from the house, I noticed that an entire square patch of grass near the side of their house was missing. It had moved over to allow Simon to fly the Munkmobile out.

"Whoah!" I pointed to the lab down below us. "How did you do that?"

"Simple mechanics." Simon pressed a button and I watched the grass square slide back over to cover the hole. It vanished, like it never even existed. "I wish I had time to explain in more detail, but we have a mission to complete,…partner."

Drat. I wanted to learn more about the secrets of his labs, but I DID want to solve the mystery more. The way Simon called me partner filled me with a warm glow of recognition. "Right!" I replied, smiling. "I'll plug the address into the GPS."

As I worked to do that, I felt a chill of anticipation rush through me. Soon, we would have the opportunity to dig up some more dirt. I would FINALLY know why the gold baseball card was so important! I just KNEW it had to factor into the heist in a big way, but….I was NOT as prepared as I thought to learn the truth.