The Case of the Manila Envelope--Chapter 4
by HA
Eventually, Shirley and her friends made it to Carson's Collectibles, and they found the Knight Foundation limousine parked next to it. Dashing in, they found Rika and Sara talking to some of the kids there.
"So you did see her?" Shirley heard Rika ask a boy whose eyes were red from crying.
Wiping away a tear, Nick nodded. "Yeah, she was here."
"Managed to kick all our butts at Monster Battler," Bruce said. "Plus, she had a real Grand Kaiser Dragon."
"Did you catch her name?" Sara asked.
"She said it was Yume. Didn't catch her last name," Bruce answered, and Shirley made sure to memorize that.
"Did you notice anything around her neck?" Rika pressed on.
"Not really," a girl spoke up.
"Um..." Nick thought for a moment. "She was wearing some kind of necklace. I didn't see what it was, but I saw the chain around her neck."
"Ah," Rika said, nodding.
With Bo and Blake behind her, Shirley made her way through the shop. Standing besides Rika, she briefly noted the look of annoyance on the Stranger's face as she noticed her. "What happened to you?" the young sleuth asked.
Nick sniffled a little. "My card got stolen. An Omni Angel."
Before Shirley could further inquire on what an Omni Angel was, Rika broke in. "Someone stole something from you?"
Nick nodded. "We think it was Billy."
"He's this wannabe jerk who comes here now and then," Bruce explained quickly.
"So when did she leave?" Rika asked.
"When I wanted to ask her about her seeing my Omni in my deck, she was gone," Nick answered.
Sara looked at Rika. "That's not good."
Rika didn't respond, and in an instant, she was out the door. Sara followed suit, and as the assembled Battlers watched, Shirley and her friends ran after them.
* * * * *
The darkness vanished, and Billy and the girl were back in the alley again. She looked down at her opponent, who was kneeling at his scattered cards.
"I...I...lost?" he said, still staring blankly at his cards.
The girl walked up to the boy and bent down. Searching the scattered pieces of blue-sleeved cardboard, she found what she was looking for and pocketed it. "That takes care of that," she remarked as she stood up. "Now..."
With widened eyes, Billy looked up at the girl. "Um, can I get, ya know, a rematch?"
Grinning, the girl pointed at him. Billy wondered if what he had seen in the darkness had damaged his sanity further because he could've swore the girl's eyes were glowing an eerie yellow.
"Dark Penalty!" she yelled.
* * * * *
By the time Shirley and the others had reached the outside of the shop, they heard a loud scream. Along with many pedistrians, they stopped in their tracks.
"This way!" Shirley said, and she ran towards the direction of the scream with the others not too far behind.
As she got closer, Shirley thought she heard laughter. Arriving at an alley, she stopped and found a most remarkable sight. *What the...?*
Now covered in various stains, a laughing Billy was standing in the dumpster and tossing garbage around. "Money!" he cried as he held a rotten apple and some stale French fries in his hands. "Money, money, money, and it's all mine! Mine!"
Bo reached Shirley before the others. "What's going on here?" he asked as he watched Billy fill his pockets full of garbage.
As the crowd grew larger in the alley, Billy danced around in the dumpster with garbage in his hands and pockets while laughing happily. "I'm in the money," he sang loudly, forcing some people to cover their ears. "I'm in the money..."
"Is that guy nuts?" a man asked the woman standing next to him.
"Someone call the cops," another woman suggested.
Blake could only stare at the spectacle before him. "What happened to him?"
Rika looked at the singing and dancing boy. "We're too late."
"At least he still looks normal," Sara remarked.
"It's just his mind that's gone," Bo said.
A man in a jean jacket approached the dumpster. "Hey, kid," he said, reaching out for Billy, "I think it's best for you to..."
Billy glared at the man and hugged his garbage closer to him. "No!" he yelled, glaring at the man. "You can't have any of it! It's mine, all mine!"
The man got closer to the dumpster. "Kid, you'd better get out of there right now, or..."
"All mine!" Billy yelled as he jumped onto the man. "You can't have any!" he declared as he closed his stinky hands around the man's neck. "You can't have my money!"
Gasping and gagging, the poor man struggled under Billy's tight grip, and no one in the crowd wanted to step forward and help. Frowning at this, Rika walked up to the delusional lad.
Seeing her, Billy let go of the man and stood up. "You too?" he asked angrily. "You can't have it! It's all mine! All...!"
Rika swung her fist as hard as she could into Billy's face, and the deluded young man fell back onto the dumpster with a crash. As Billy slid to the ground unconscious with a bloody nose, Rika pulled his victim to his feet and let him go on his way.
"Hopefully, that'll knock some sense into him," Blake said as the crowd murmured amongst itself.
Rika shook her head gravely. "It isn't that easy, I'm afraid."
"Why not?" Shirley asked.
Rika looked at Billy, and then she started to walk away. "Let's go. We won't learn anything from him until he wakes up, and something tells me that'll take a while."
"You didn't punch him that hard, did you?" Bo asked as the five teens left the alley.
Rika continued walking without saying a word. When they had reached the limousine, she turned to Shirley. "Stay out of this," she warned before the junior detective could say anything. "Go stick with stuff like finding that poor kid's stolen card."
Shirley met Rika's gaze. "You know something."
Rika scowled. "This isn't a game, Shirley! Just stay out of it!"
The two Strangers entered the car quickly, and Rika slammed the door hard in front of Shirley and her friends. "Somebody knows more about this than we do," Bo remarked as the limousine left.
Shirley watched the limousine disappear into the daily traffic. "Let's go back to Carson's," she said.
The three teens returned to Carson's Collectibles and found a different mood there. The victim of theft, Nick, was cheerfully playing Monster Battler with Bruce.
"Well, things have sure lightened up around here," Bo commented.
Nick looked up from his hand. "I got my Omni back," he said, beaming as he pointed to the card on his side of the Field.
"How?" Blake asked.
"That's the oddest thing," the owner said from the counter. "After you all left, it showed up over here," he explained, pointing to the spot in front of him.
"So it just appeared out of thin air?" Bo asked incredulously.
"I don't care if aliens used a transporter to put it there," Nick said happily. "I got my card back, and that's all that counts."
Bo and Blake looked at Shirley, who was deep in thought. In her mind, she processed the information she had acquired.
From a distance, someone was watching. Seeing Shirley pondering what was going on, she smiled.
* * * * *
"Well, that went well," Bo remarked as he leaned back in the old chair in Shirley's attic. "Someone's making people go insane, and now the Strangers want us to stay out of it." He thought for a moment. "Hey, maybe that isn't such a bad idea after all..."
"I've found something," Shirley said from her laptop computer. Once she and the boys had come up to the attic, she had been doing some web surfing based on what she knew.
Blake leaned over Shirley's shoulder. "What'd you find?"
Seeing how close Shirley and Blake were, Bo shot out of his seat and marched towards the computer. He almost stepped on Shirley's pet basset hound Watson, who somehow found the energy to move out of the way. "So, what'd you find?" he said, standing on Shirley's other side.
Shirley pointed to the screen. "According to this, a George Shutton of New York was arrested by police yesterday for murdering his ex-girlfriend, her parents, and her six-year-old daughter."
"So?" Bo said while glaring at Blake sideways.
"When the police arrested him, they found him disfigured and mouthless," Shirley stated while moving the pointer to Shutton's face.
"Eegh," Bo said, wincing at the sight of the ugly, mouthless man.
Blake skimmed the article. "According to this, Shutton was allegedly quite the ladies' man and a smooth operator. He acted as his own lawyer during the trial. In fact, the D.A. believes he took a juror in his case out to dinner and influenced her to vote 'not guilty,' resulting in a hung jury."
"Look at this," Shirley said, pointing to another piece of text.
Blake read it out loud. "'According to a neighbor of Shutton, he seemed to be engaged in a game of dice.'"
Bo blinked. "A game of dice?"
"Yeah, that's what it says," Blake said.
Shirley changed windows and revealed an article from the online version of the Redington Tribune. "Look at this," she said, pointing to the front page headline, which read "MYSTERIOUS HAPPENING AT AIRPORT."
Bo skimmed the article. "Some guy got stuck in a wall?"
"From the looks of things, he became part of the wall," Blake commented.
"For about five minutes," Shirley said. "Apparently, after he confessed to the crime, he became normal." She read more. "Also, he mentioned that he was playing some sort of game with some girl and he lost, resulting in his rather unusual predicament."
Blake thought for a moment. "Wait a minute," he said suddenly. "I'd better get my Current Urban Legends out of my bag."
"Use mine," Shirley said, pointing to a nearby book on the table.
"Thanks," Blake said, picking up the book and turning to the table of contents. "Yes!" he exclaimed as he found what he was looking for and began turning the pages.
Bo raised an eyebrow at Blake. "Uh, Blake, what are you...?"
"Found it!" Blake declared.
Shirley got out of her seat and walked up to Blake. "What did you find?"
"The Gamer of the Dark," Blake answered.
"The what?" Bo asked.
"Listen to this, guys," Blake said, skipping the introduction of the section he had opened to. "'The Gamer of the Dark is believed to be responsible for numerous abnormal punishments onto accused or confirmed criminals around the world. According to the surviving victims, she makes them play a game where losing results in a punishment that reflects the victim's crime or vice.'"
"Whoa," Bo remarked.
"Hmmmm..." Shirley said.
"Here's an example," Blake said, paraphrasing the case in front of his eyes. "A man in Ireland was accused of killing and mutilating female college students in Dublin. Later, he was found badly mutilated by the police, yet still alive."
Bo winced. "Ouch."
"There's more, but what's there just says that whenever someone plays a game with this girl and loses, they really pay the price," Blake said.
"So, how could the author find any first-hand accounts of the Gamer's activities?" Shirley asked.
"Well, according to the book, confessing the truth to the public will end the punishment," Blake said. "However, most of the victims still suffer from nightmares about the experience and try to stay on the straight and narrow."
"Talk about being scared straight," Bo said.
"I guess the same will happen to that guy in the alley once he admits he stole that kid's card," Blake said.
"Has anyone ever died because of this Gamer of the Dark?" Shirley asked.
Blake flipped through the chapter. "Um, this one guy was thought to have drowned little girls in Italy. He was found one day lying on the floor of his living room, dead."
"That's not exactly weird," Bo said.
"The autopsy showed he was drowned, yet he wasn't wet, and his wife told police her husband had never left the house that day," Blake clarified.
"That's weird," Bo said.
"Incidentally, a diary containing the man's confessions to the murders was found, and some of the entries were published in the local paper thanks to the wife," Blake continued.
"A little too late for him, though," Bo said. "Any idea what she looks like?"
Blake shook his head. "The victims don't remember much except for a spiral. They're not sure why, but although they don't remember what she looks like, they can only remember a spiral."
Shirley paced the room. "So, it appears that the Gamer of the Dark is in Redington."
"Looks like it," Blake said, replacing the book on the table.
"Now, what's missing is why she's here, not to mention why the Strangers are after her," Shirley said.
"They probably see her as some big supernatural threat," Bo guessed. "After all, taking away someone's mouth and sticking a man into a wall? That's pretty extreme."
"Wait," Blake said. "Although her methods are pretty out there, from what I skimmed, the Gamer's some sort of supernatural vigilante. A ghostly good guy, if you will. She probably returned that kid's card."
"Nevertheless, we need to find out who she is and why she's here," Shirley said. "If she keeps running around Redington, someone's going to end up like that man in Italy."
"You know, for once, why can't we just stay out of it?" Bo asked. "The Strangers said they'll take care of it, and I say we should let them. We're not sure how powerful this girl is, and the Strangers are better equipped than we are to handle her."
"Perhaps," Shirley said, "but I'm sure nothing bad will happen to us if we find her."
"What makes you so sure?" Blake asked.
"I do have some pieces of evidence, but I'd like to see if they fit the hypothesis I've formulated," Shirley said.
Blake looked at his watch. "I'd love to help you out, but I'd better get home. Dinner time, you know."
"Aren't your parents out of town?" Bo asked.
"Yeah," Blake said with a sigh, his sad eyes not escaping Shirley's watchful eye.
"You could stay here for dinner with us," Shirley offered.
Bo narrowed his eyes at Blake, but his demeanor cooled down when the other boy said half-jokingly, "Thanks, but Rosa said she'd be making something good for dinner, and if I don't eat it, I'll be kicked out onto the street."
"You could stay with us if that happens," Shirley said, trying her best not to sound too hopeful.
"I'll keep that in mind," Blake said with a laugh, but only he noticed Bo glaring at him.
Bo looked at Shirley, and for a moment, he considered staying, but instead he blurted, "I've got to go home too. Gotta throw myself onto the mercy of the court, so to speak."
"Okay, I'll let you know how things go tomorrow," Shirley said.
The two boys said their goodbyes and made their way down the hidden staircase. Outside the Holmes residence, they stood their bikes up. As he did, Bo looked upward and wondered if he made the right choice.
"You know, you could've stayed," Blake said.
"I can't," Bo said, mounting his bike without looking at Blake.
"Can't, or won't?" Blake asked.
Bo froze, and he turned to Blake. "Leave me alone," he said seconds before kicking off.
Watching Bo disappear into the distance, Blake sighed and began riding his bike toward home.
* * * * *
Once returning home, Blake found a note from Rosa and headed straight for the kitchen. As he expected, Rosa had left something for dinner, a pan of enchaladas on top of the stove. He got a plate and fork and helped himself.
After getting some food and settling at the table, Blake read the note to himself.
'Dear Blake,
Sorry I couldn't be home for dinner, but a friend from church isn't feeling well. I thought I'd bring her some menudo and some company to cheer her up. I know you're a big boy now, so I'm sure you can take care of yourself. I'll be back later tonight.
Love,
Rosa'
Blake sighed. "Story of my life," he muttered as he chewed on his dinner. His father was somewhere in Israel investigating a possible ENIGMA crime, and his mother had left yesterday to participate in a dig in Africa. Considering current events, he hoped they would've chosen to stay home, but his father was one of the most prominent figures in the fight against ENIGMA, and his mother was considered an expert in the field of archeology. *My parents, the risk takers,* he thought. *No wonder I turned out the way I am.* Unable to take it anymore, he tried to focus on a happy memory, and he ended up seeing Shirley in his mind. However, a little guilt accompanied the mental image.
Suddenly, the phone rang and interrupted Blake's thoughts. Standing up, he allowed the phone to ring a second time and grabbed the receiver as quickly as he could. "Hello?" he asked.
After a few seconds of conversation, Blake felt his eyes widen in surprise.
END OF CHAPTER 4
by HA
Eventually, Shirley and her friends made it to Carson's Collectibles, and they found the Knight Foundation limousine parked next to it. Dashing in, they found Rika and Sara talking to some of the kids there.
"So you did see her?" Shirley heard Rika ask a boy whose eyes were red from crying.
Wiping away a tear, Nick nodded. "Yeah, she was here."
"Managed to kick all our butts at Monster Battler," Bruce said. "Plus, she had a real Grand Kaiser Dragon."
"Did you catch her name?" Sara asked.
"She said it was Yume. Didn't catch her last name," Bruce answered, and Shirley made sure to memorize that.
"Did you notice anything around her neck?" Rika pressed on.
"Not really," a girl spoke up.
"Um..." Nick thought for a moment. "She was wearing some kind of necklace. I didn't see what it was, but I saw the chain around her neck."
"Ah," Rika said, nodding.
With Bo and Blake behind her, Shirley made her way through the shop. Standing besides Rika, she briefly noted the look of annoyance on the Stranger's face as she noticed her. "What happened to you?" the young sleuth asked.
Nick sniffled a little. "My card got stolen. An Omni Angel."
Before Shirley could further inquire on what an Omni Angel was, Rika broke in. "Someone stole something from you?"
Nick nodded. "We think it was Billy."
"He's this wannabe jerk who comes here now and then," Bruce explained quickly.
"So when did she leave?" Rika asked.
"When I wanted to ask her about her seeing my Omni in my deck, she was gone," Nick answered.
Sara looked at Rika. "That's not good."
Rika didn't respond, and in an instant, she was out the door. Sara followed suit, and as the assembled Battlers watched, Shirley and her friends ran after them.
* * * * *
The darkness vanished, and Billy and the girl were back in the alley again. She looked down at her opponent, who was kneeling at his scattered cards.
"I...I...lost?" he said, still staring blankly at his cards.
The girl walked up to the boy and bent down. Searching the scattered pieces of blue-sleeved cardboard, she found what she was looking for and pocketed it. "That takes care of that," she remarked as she stood up. "Now..."
With widened eyes, Billy looked up at the girl. "Um, can I get, ya know, a rematch?"
Grinning, the girl pointed at him. Billy wondered if what he had seen in the darkness had damaged his sanity further because he could've swore the girl's eyes were glowing an eerie yellow.
"Dark Penalty!" she yelled.
* * * * *
By the time Shirley and the others had reached the outside of the shop, they heard a loud scream. Along with many pedistrians, they stopped in their tracks.
"This way!" Shirley said, and she ran towards the direction of the scream with the others not too far behind.
As she got closer, Shirley thought she heard laughter. Arriving at an alley, she stopped and found a most remarkable sight. *What the...?*
Now covered in various stains, a laughing Billy was standing in the dumpster and tossing garbage around. "Money!" he cried as he held a rotten apple and some stale French fries in his hands. "Money, money, money, and it's all mine! Mine!"
Bo reached Shirley before the others. "What's going on here?" he asked as he watched Billy fill his pockets full of garbage.
As the crowd grew larger in the alley, Billy danced around in the dumpster with garbage in his hands and pockets while laughing happily. "I'm in the money," he sang loudly, forcing some people to cover their ears. "I'm in the money..."
"Is that guy nuts?" a man asked the woman standing next to him.
"Someone call the cops," another woman suggested.
Blake could only stare at the spectacle before him. "What happened to him?"
Rika looked at the singing and dancing boy. "We're too late."
"At least he still looks normal," Sara remarked.
"It's just his mind that's gone," Bo said.
A man in a jean jacket approached the dumpster. "Hey, kid," he said, reaching out for Billy, "I think it's best for you to..."
Billy glared at the man and hugged his garbage closer to him. "No!" he yelled, glaring at the man. "You can't have any of it! It's mine, all mine!"
The man got closer to the dumpster. "Kid, you'd better get out of there right now, or..."
"All mine!" Billy yelled as he jumped onto the man. "You can't have any!" he declared as he closed his stinky hands around the man's neck. "You can't have my money!"
Gasping and gagging, the poor man struggled under Billy's tight grip, and no one in the crowd wanted to step forward and help. Frowning at this, Rika walked up to the delusional lad.
Seeing her, Billy let go of the man and stood up. "You too?" he asked angrily. "You can't have it! It's all mine! All...!"
Rika swung her fist as hard as she could into Billy's face, and the deluded young man fell back onto the dumpster with a crash. As Billy slid to the ground unconscious with a bloody nose, Rika pulled his victim to his feet and let him go on his way.
"Hopefully, that'll knock some sense into him," Blake said as the crowd murmured amongst itself.
Rika shook her head gravely. "It isn't that easy, I'm afraid."
"Why not?" Shirley asked.
Rika looked at Billy, and then she started to walk away. "Let's go. We won't learn anything from him until he wakes up, and something tells me that'll take a while."
"You didn't punch him that hard, did you?" Bo asked as the five teens left the alley.
Rika continued walking without saying a word. When they had reached the limousine, she turned to Shirley. "Stay out of this," she warned before the junior detective could say anything. "Go stick with stuff like finding that poor kid's stolen card."
Shirley met Rika's gaze. "You know something."
Rika scowled. "This isn't a game, Shirley! Just stay out of it!"
The two Strangers entered the car quickly, and Rika slammed the door hard in front of Shirley and her friends. "Somebody knows more about this than we do," Bo remarked as the limousine left.
Shirley watched the limousine disappear into the daily traffic. "Let's go back to Carson's," she said.
The three teens returned to Carson's Collectibles and found a different mood there. The victim of theft, Nick, was cheerfully playing Monster Battler with Bruce.
"Well, things have sure lightened up around here," Bo commented.
Nick looked up from his hand. "I got my Omni back," he said, beaming as he pointed to the card on his side of the Field.
"How?" Blake asked.
"That's the oddest thing," the owner said from the counter. "After you all left, it showed up over here," he explained, pointing to the spot in front of him.
"So it just appeared out of thin air?" Bo asked incredulously.
"I don't care if aliens used a transporter to put it there," Nick said happily. "I got my card back, and that's all that counts."
Bo and Blake looked at Shirley, who was deep in thought. In her mind, she processed the information she had acquired.
From a distance, someone was watching. Seeing Shirley pondering what was going on, she smiled.
* * * * *
"Well, that went well," Bo remarked as he leaned back in the old chair in Shirley's attic. "Someone's making people go insane, and now the Strangers want us to stay out of it." He thought for a moment. "Hey, maybe that isn't such a bad idea after all..."
"I've found something," Shirley said from her laptop computer. Once she and the boys had come up to the attic, she had been doing some web surfing based on what she knew.
Blake leaned over Shirley's shoulder. "What'd you find?"
Seeing how close Shirley and Blake were, Bo shot out of his seat and marched towards the computer. He almost stepped on Shirley's pet basset hound Watson, who somehow found the energy to move out of the way. "So, what'd you find?" he said, standing on Shirley's other side.
Shirley pointed to the screen. "According to this, a George Shutton of New York was arrested by police yesterday for murdering his ex-girlfriend, her parents, and her six-year-old daughter."
"So?" Bo said while glaring at Blake sideways.
"When the police arrested him, they found him disfigured and mouthless," Shirley stated while moving the pointer to Shutton's face.
"Eegh," Bo said, wincing at the sight of the ugly, mouthless man.
Blake skimmed the article. "According to this, Shutton was allegedly quite the ladies' man and a smooth operator. He acted as his own lawyer during the trial. In fact, the D.A. believes he took a juror in his case out to dinner and influenced her to vote 'not guilty,' resulting in a hung jury."
"Look at this," Shirley said, pointing to another piece of text.
Blake read it out loud. "'According to a neighbor of Shutton, he seemed to be engaged in a game of dice.'"
Bo blinked. "A game of dice?"
"Yeah, that's what it says," Blake said.
Shirley changed windows and revealed an article from the online version of the Redington Tribune. "Look at this," she said, pointing to the front page headline, which read "MYSTERIOUS HAPPENING AT AIRPORT."
Bo skimmed the article. "Some guy got stuck in a wall?"
"From the looks of things, he became part of the wall," Blake commented.
"For about five minutes," Shirley said. "Apparently, after he confessed to the crime, he became normal." She read more. "Also, he mentioned that he was playing some sort of game with some girl and he lost, resulting in his rather unusual predicament."
Blake thought for a moment. "Wait a minute," he said suddenly. "I'd better get my Current Urban Legends out of my bag."
"Use mine," Shirley said, pointing to a nearby book on the table.
"Thanks," Blake said, picking up the book and turning to the table of contents. "Yes!" he exclaimed as he found what he was looking for and began turning the pages.
Bo raised an eyebrow at Blake. "Uh, Blake, what are you...?"
"Found it!" Blake declared.
Shirley got out of her seat and walked up to Blake. "What did you find?"
"The Gamer of the Dark," Blake answered.
"The what?" Bo asked.
"Listen to this, guys," Blake said, skipping the introduction of the section he had opened to. "'The Gamer of the Dark is believed to be responsible for numerous abnormal punishments onto accused or confirmed criminals around the world. According to the surviving victims, she makes them play a game where losing results in a punishment that reflects the victim's crime or vice.'"
"Whoa," Bo remarked.
"Hmmmm..." Shirley said.
"Here's an example," Blake said, paraphrasing the case in front of his eyes. "A man in Ireland was accused of killing and mutilating female college students in Dublin. Later, he was found badly mutilated by the police, yet still alive."
Bo winced. "Ouch."
"There's more, but what's there just says that whenever someone plays a game with this girl and loses, they really pay the price," Blake said.
"So, how could the author find any first-hand accounts of the Gamer's activities?" Shirley asked.
"Well, according to the book, confessing the truth to the public will end the punishment," Blake said. "However, most of the victims still suffer from nightmares about the experience and try to stay on the straight and narrow."
"Talk about being scared straight," Bo said.
"I guess the same will happen to that guy in the alley once he admits he stole that kid's card," Blake said.
"Has anyone ever died because of this Gamer of the Dark?" Shirley asked.
Blake flipped through the chapter. "Um, this one guy was thought to have drowned little girls in Italy. He was found one day lying on the floor of his living room, dead."
"That's not exactly weird," Bo said.
"The autopsy showed he was drowned, yet he wasn't wet, and his wife told police her husband had never left the house that day," Blake clarified.
"That's weird," Bo said.
"Incidentally, a diary containing the man's confessions to the murders was found, and some of the entries were published in the local paper thanks to the wife," Blake continued.
"A little too late for him, though," Bo said. "Any idea what she looks like?"
Blake shook his head. "The victims don't remember much except for a spiral. They're not sure why, but although they don't remember what she looks like, they can only remember a spiral."
Shirley paced the room. "So, it appears that the Gamer of the Dark is in Redington."
"Looks like it," Blake said, replacing the book on the table.
"Now, what's missing is why she's here, not to mention why the Strangers are after her," Shirley said.
"They probably see her as some big supernatural threat," Bo guessed. "After all, taking away someone's mouth and sticking a man into a wall? That's pretty extreme."
"Wait," Blake said. "Although her methods are pretty out there, from what I skimmed, the Gamer's some sort of supernatural vigilante. A ghostly good guy, if you will. She probably returned that kid's card."
"Nevertheless, we need to find out who she is and why she's here," Shirley said. "If she keeps running around Redington, someone's going to end up like that man in Italy."
"You know, for once, why can't we just stay out of it?" Bo asked. "The Strangers said they'll take care of it, and I say we should let them. We're not sure how powerful this girl is, and the Strangers are better equipped than we are to handle her."
"Perhaps," Shirley said, "but I'm sure nothing bad will happen to us if we find her."
"What makes you so sure?" Blake asked.
"I do have some pieces of evidence, but I'd like to see if they fit the hypothesis I've formulated," Shirley said.
Blake looked at his watch. "I'd love to help you out, but I'd better get home. Dinner time, you know."
"Aren't your parents out of town?" Bo asked.
"Yeah," Blake said with a sigh, his sad eyes not escaping Shirley's watchful eye.
"You could stay here for dinner with us," Shirley offered.
Bo narrowed his eyes at Blake, but his demeanor cooled down when the other boy said half-jokingly, "Thanks, but Rosa said she'd be making something good for dinner, and if I don't eat it, I'll be kicked out onto the street."
"You could stay with us if that happens," Shirley said, trying her best not to sound too hopeful.
"I'll keep that in mind," Blake said with a laugh, but only he noticed Bo glaring at him.
Bo looked at Shirley, and for a moment, he considered staying, but instead he blurted, "I've got to go home too. Gotta throw myself onto the mercy of the court, so to speak."
"Okay, I'll let you know how things go tomorrow," Shirley said.
The two boys said their goodbyes and made their way down the hidden staircase. Outside the Holmes residence, they stood their bikes up. As he did, Bo looked upward and wondered if he made the right choice.
"You know, you could've stayed," Blake said.
"I can't," Bo said, mounting his bike without looking at Blake.
"Can't, or won't?" Blake asked.
Bo froze, and he turned to Blake. "Leave me alone," he said seconds before kicking off.
Watching Bo disappear into the distance, Blake sighed and began riding his bike toward home.
* * * * *
Once returning home, Blake found a note from Rosa and headed straight for the kitchen. As he expected, Rosa had left something for dinner, a pan of enchaladas on top of the stove. He got a plate and fork and helped himself.
After getting some food and settling at the table, Blake read the note to himself.
'Dear Blake,
Sorry I couldn't be home for dinner, but a friend from church isn't feeling well. I thought I'd bring her some menudo and some company to cheer her up. I know you're a big boy now, so I'm sure you can take care of yourself. I'll be back later tonight.
Love,
Rosa'
Blake sighed. "Story of my life," he muttered as he chewed on his dinner. His father was somewhere in Israel investigating a possible ENIGMA crime, and his mother had left yesterday to participate in a dig in Africa. Considering current events, he hoped they would've chosen to stay home, but his father was one of the most prominent figures in the fight against ENIGMA, and his mother was considered an expert in the field of archeology. *My parents, the risk takers,* he thought. *No wonder I turned out the way I am.* Unable to take it anymore, he tried to focus on a happy memory, and he ended up seeing Shirley in his mind. However, a little guilt accompanied the mental image.
Suddenly, the phone rang and interrupted Blake's thoughts. Standing up, he allowed the phone to ring a second time and grabbed the receiver as quickly as he could. "Hello?" he asked.
After a few seconds of conversation, Blake felt his eyes widen in surprise.
END OF CHAPTER 4