Joe parked the van across the street from Ms. Westerman's house, and the two boys got out and went up the sidewalk to the front door. They knocked, and waited for a response.
"Listen," Frank murmured. "I hear the dog barking."
At that moment, Ms. Westerman opened the door. She looked slightly startled to see Frank and Joe standing there, but she politely invited them in. A large German Shepherd dog stood further back in the hall, ears pricked alertly.
"Joe, you've already met my baby, but I want to introduce Frank to him. Frank, this is Caramel." She fondly patted the big dog. Frank stretched out his hand, fist closed, to let Caramel sniff. The dog did so, and then wagged his tail in a friendly fashion, and allowed the boys to stroke his furry head.
That dog looks familiar, Frank thought, but I can't place where I've seen it before.
"Ms. Westerman, we'd like to ask you a few questions, if we may." Joe broached the subject.
"Why, certainly, Joe." The teacher smiled. "Let's go into the living room and sit down. There's no reason we can't be comfortable while you ask, is there?"
Once settled in the living room, Frank and Joe started their inquiries.
"Ms. Westerman, do you have any enemies?" Frank began.
"Enemies?" She chuckled softly. "I can't think of any, aside from a few students I've had to give failing grades to. Why?"
"This is going to sound crazy," Joe began. "but there's this website on the Internet that has mystery stories – and all of a sudden, there's this one story that is predicting things that have happened to us – and you're in it. I mean, there's a teacher in it that has been attacked, just as you were. We think whoever is writing that story is a local person, and is manipulating events to match the story line."
"How very strange!" she marveled. "Do you think it's someone from school?"
"That's exactly what we think." Frank told her. "And furthermore, I think it's someone from the English department."
"Why?" Ms. Westerman's response was immediate, but neither boy noticed anything unusual about the rapid reply. She went on, naming everyone in Bayport High's English department, including herself. "No one seems likely to be doing this from that group." she commented. "Are you sure it isn't a student?"
"I doubt that it's a student." Frank replied. "A student doesn't write that well."
"There were no grammatical errors, no dangling participles, no slang, and the spelling – unlike mine – was perfect." Joe chimed in.
"And you know this how?" Ms. Westerman teasingly asked him, knowing Joe's English grades bordered on B-minuses.
"Ms. Westerman, when the intruder broke in here, are you sure nothing was taken?" Frank asked, now. "No photos, no mementoes, no jewelry?"
"No, I'm positive nothing was taken." she replied firmly. "I really don't know why he broke into my house, whoever he was. And the fact that he did it twice really bothers me." She shivered slightly. "I'm really glad I have Caramel back from the vet now, to protect me! He was trained as a guard dog."
"But wasn't he here the first time someone broke in?" Joe asked. He realized that although he and Frank had seen no dog that time, Ms. Westerman had said later that she'd had to take him to the veterinarian. Why didn't I think to ask her about it the first time? he thought.
"He – he was in the basement." Ms. Westerman said, after a tiny hesitation. "He spends a lot of time down there, sniffing around. Maybe he smells mice, or something!" She smiled, but the boys remained sober.
"Thanks for your time, Ms. Westerman." Frank got to his feet. "We need to go now. Let us know if you remember anything further about the intruder, won't you?"
"Yes, of course." Ms. Westerman walked with them into the hallway, and Caramel followed docilely. As the boys were about to open the door, the big dog whined and pushed against Joe's leg, demanding to be petted. He laughed, and complied, and Frank followed suit, stroking the shepherd's thick pelt.
Frank got behind the wheel as they prepared to leave, but didn't start the motor right away. Instead, he sat and thoughtfully surveyed Ms. Westerman's house.
"Joe," he said. "I recognized that dog. It's the same dog that Callie and I saw in the park – the one that was attacking the little boy and his mother. It had on the same red collar."
"Ms. Westerman's dog was the one that attacked?" Joe repeated incredulously. "That nice puppy?
"That nice puppy wasn't so nice at the park." Frank said grimly.
"But you said it broke off the attack and just left." Joe ruminated. "Why would it have done that?"
"Dog whistle, I suspect." Frank guessed.
Joe turned his head to survey the teacher's house, and saw a stealthy movement as a curtain was allowed to fall back into place. "You think Ms. Westerman is our culprit?" he murmured. "She wasn't on the list of new teachers that I got from Mrs. Gamble."
"No, I know," Frank agreed. "She was my teacher, too." He turned the ignition key to start the van. "But she was in charge of the carnival booth where I won that teddy bear for Callie." he added. "How would our intruder have known what item to take from Callie's house? Callie has lots of stuffed animals!"
Joe wasn't quite ready to concede that Frank might be right. "What about the male intruder?"
"She could have made him up." Frank theorized.
"But the cut brake line – how would she know what to cut? And how did she manage to break into Callie's and Vanessa's houses while they were at school?"
"I don't know," Frank admitted. "Maybe she has a partner. But there's nothing that says women can't know about cars, Joe; that brake line could be a woman's work as easily as a man's. And I'm willing to bet we've found our web mistress."
"I thought you were convinced it was a guy." Joe reminded him.
Frank gave him a brooding glance. "So I was wrong."
"Okay, just for argument's sake, let's say it is her." Joe said. "Why would she target us? She knows our reputations. She's been at Bayport High for awhile."
"Who knows?" Frank shrugged. "Maybe, because like you said, it would be news. We may not want to make the front page, but that doesn't mean we haven't – repeatedly! We're well known, whether we want to be, or not!"
Joe shook his head, running over the previous days in his mind. "I know – I know, Frank! – that she was there for my class…and if she planted the bomb, she had to have been there after school that same day."
Frank blew out an exasperated breath. "Yeah, I know. Let's just check out her whereabouts while all these things were going on, huh?"
"Okay," Joe acknowledged the wisdom of the plan. "But it's Sunday, and there isn't much we can do right now. Let's go home."
When they reached their home, they found Laura watching a movie on television.
"Hi," she smiled as the boys entered. "I've been checking the story site, but no new posts of chapters, or messages relating to Truth and Consequences or you two have appeared."
"We're getting a suspicious feeling about Ms. Westerman, Mom." Frank said soberly, perching on the arm of the couch. "Too many things don't add up – or maybe they do add up." He and Joe told Laura what conclusions they were drawing.
"I'll call Dorothy Gamble right now," Mrs. Hardy declared. "And talk to her."
"We're going to go out and shoot some hoops, Mom." Joe told her. "Come and tell us if you find anything out from Mrs. Gamble, would you please?"
When Laura finished her call, she went outside. Frank and Joe had been having an intense one-on-one game, and both of them were dripping with sweat. They stopped the game as she approached.
"Well?" Frank asked eagerly.
Laura looked grim. "Ms. Westerman left the school for two class periods, on the day in question." she reported. "Andrew Peabody covered her classes. She had a doctor's appointment – or, so she said."
"I don't suppose you have the name of her doctor?" Frank asked, hopefully.
Laura shook her head, no.
"Opportunity…" Frank murmured. "Motive – the money from the sites…."
"How did she get Mom's credit card number?" Joe asked.
"A hacker could do that," Frank replied. "And we've already figured out she has hacker capabilities."
"We've figured out that the bad guy is a hacker." Joe corrected him. He still wasn't willing to concede that Frank was right; to condemn Ms. Westerman.
"Let's call Phil and see if he's come up with anything new." Frank suggested gently. He knew that Joe was feeling badly about this situation.
Laura held up both hands, halting the boys' progress into the house. "Showers first." she ordered. "And put those soaking-wet shirts in the laundry hamper, please."
"Okay, Mom, okay!" Joe made a move as if to hug her, teasingly. "What? You don't want me to hug you? Oh, my feelings are damaged irreparably…" He broke off, laughing, as she swatted him, and he and Frank hurried up the stairs to clean up.
As Joe was about to log onto the computer, a short time later, the phone rang. Laura picked it up in the kitchen.
"Joe, honey – it's Vanessa!" she called.
Joe got up and went to the kitchen to take the call, as Frank moved into his chair and accessed the mystery website.
No new chapter posted…. Frank noted. I think I may have scared Ms. Westerman a little bit. I'm absolutely positive she's the one responsible for all this!
Joe re-entered the den. "Anything?" he asked, looking at the computer monitor.
"No." Frank shook his head.
"Well, I'm going to meet Vanessa at the park." Joe announced. "You don't mind going to Phil's alone, do you?"
"No, that's fine—" Frank frowned. "I'll take Mom's car to Phil's; you can have the van….but be careful, Joe, okay?"
"Sure, sure, always." Joe assured him, and departed, swinging the van keys nonchalantly.
When Joe reached the park, he got out of the van and looked around for Vanessa's jeep. Hmmm…must've gotten here ahead of her! Joe walked around in the parking lot, noting the presence of an old navy blue Chevy van parked nearby. He walked a bit closer to it, then halted abruptly as he heard loud, menacing barks and growls, coming closer and closer. He whirled around, and found himself confronting a familiar dog – Ms. Westerman's German Shepherd, Caramel.
"Hey, Caramel, it's me, remember?" Joe attempted to calm the big canine as he swallowed the lump forming in his throat.
But Caramel was no longer the friendly, furry creature Joe had played with before – he was in attack mode! Snarling and snapping, the big dog forced Joe backwards, towards the blue van. As he reached it, the side door slid open, and Joe suddenly felt the hard pressure of a gun shoved into the middle of his back!
At that moment, Ms. Westerman opened the door. She looked slightly startled to see Frank and Joe standing there, but she politely invited them in. A large German Shepherd dog stood further back in the hall, ears pricked alertly.
"Joe, you've already met my baby, but I want to introduce Frank to him. Frank, this is Caramel." She fondly patted the big dog. Frank stretched out his hand, fist closed, to let Caramel sniff. The dog did so, and then wagged his tail in a friendly fashion, and allowed the boys to stroke his furry head.
That dog looks familiar, Frank thought, but I can't place where I've seen it before.
"Ms. Westerman, we'd like to ask you a few questions, if we may." Joe broached the subject.
"Why, certainly, Joe." The teacher smiled. "Let's go into the living room and sit down. There's no reason we can't be comfortable while you ask, is there?"
Once settled in the living room, Frank and Joe started their inquiries.
"Ms. Westerman, do you have any enemies?" Frank began.
"Enemies?" She chuckled softly. "I can't think of any, aside from a few students I've had to give failing grades to. Why?"
"This is going to sound crazy," Joe began. "but there's this website on the Internet that has mystery stories – and all of a sudden, there's this one story that is predicting things that have happened to us – and you're in it. I mean, there's a teacher in it that has been attacked, just as you were. We think whoever is writing that story is a local person, and is manipulating events to match the story line."
"How very strange!" she marveled. "Do you think it's someone from school?"
"That's exactly what we think." Frank told her. "And furthermore, I think it's someone from the English department."
"Why?" Ms. Westerman's response was immediate, but neither boy noticed anything unusual about the rapid reply. She went on, naming everyone in Bayport High's English department, including herself. "No one seems likely to be doing this from that group." she commented. "Are you sure it isn't a student?"
"I doubt that it's a student." Frank replied. "A student doesn't write that well."
"There were no grammatical errors, no dangling participles, no slang, and the spelling – unlike mine – was perfect." Joe chimed in.
"And you know this how?" Ms. Westerman teasingly asked him, knowing Joe's English grades bordered on B-minuses.
"Ms. Westerman, when the intruder broke in here, are you sure nothing was taken?" Frank asked, now. "No photos, no mementoes, no jewelry?"
"No, I'm positive nothing was taken." she replied firmly. "I really don't know why he broke into my house, whoever he was. And the fact that he did it twice really bothers me." She shivered slightly. "I'm really glad I have Caramel back from the vet now, to protect me! He was trained as a guard dog."
"But wasn't he here the first time someone broke in?" Joe asked. He realized that although he and Frank had seen no dog that time, Ms. Westerman had said later that she'd had to take him to the veterinarian. Why didn't I think to ask her about it the first time? he thought.
"He – he was in the basement." Ms. Westerman said, after a tiny hesitation. "He spends a lot of time down there, sniffing around. Maybe he smells mice, or something!" She smiled, but the boys remained sober.
"Thanks for your time, Ms. Westerman." Frank got to his feet. "We need to go now. Let us know if you remember anything further about the intruder, won't you?"
"Yes, of course." Ms. Westerman walked with them into the hallway, and Caramel followed docilely. As the boys were about to open the door, the big dog whined and pushed against Joe's leg, demanding to be petted. He laughed, and complied, and Frank followed suit, stroking the shepherd's thick pelt.
Frank got behind the wheel as they prepared to leave, but didn't start the motor right away. Instead, he sat and thoughtfully surveyed Ms. Westerman's house.
"Joe," he said. "I recognized that dog. It's the same dog that Callie and I saw in the park – the one that was attacking the little boy and his mother. It had on the same red collar."
"Ms. Westerman's dog was the one that attacked?" Joe repeated incredulously. "That nice puppy?
"That nice puppy wasn't so nice at the park." Frank said grimly.
"But you said it broke off the attack and just left." Joe ruminated. "Why would it have done that?"
"Dog whistle, I suspect." Frank guessed.
Joe turned his head to survey the teacher's house, and saw a stealthy movement as a curtain was allowed to fall back into place. "You think Ms. Westerman is our culprit?" he murmured. "She wasn't on the list of new teachers that I got from Mrs. Gamble."
"No, I know," Frank agreed. "She was my teacher, too." He turned the ignition key to start the van. "But she was in charge of the carnival booth where I won that teddy bear for Callie." he added. "How would our intruder have known what item to take from Callie's house? Callie has lots of stuffed animals!"
Joe wasn't quite ready to concede that Frank might be right. "What about the male intruder?"
"She could have made him up." Frank theorized.
"But the cut brake line – how would she know what to cut? And how did she manage to break into Callie's and Vanessa's houses while they were at school?"
"I don't know," Frank admitted. "Maybe she has a partner. But there's nothing that says women can't know about cars, Joe; that brake line could be a woman's work as easily as a man's. And I'm willing to bet we've found our web mistress."
"I thought you were convinced it was a guy." Joe reminded him.
Frank gave him a brooding glance. "So I was wrong."
"Okay, just for argument's sake, let's say it is her." Joe said. "Why would she target us? She knows our reputations. She's been at Bayport High for awhile."
"Who knows?" Frank shrugged. "Maybe, because like you said, it would be news. We may not want to make the front page, but that doesn't mean we haven't – repeatedly! We're well known, whether we want to be, or not!"
Joe shook his head, running over the previous days in his mind. "I know – I know, Frank! – that she was there for my class…and if she planted the bomb, she had to have been there after school that same day."
Frank blew out an exasperated breath. "Yeah, I know. Let's just check out her whereabouts while all these things were going on, huh?"
"Okay," Joe acknowledged the wisdom of the plan. "But it's Sunday, and there isn't much we can do right now. Let's go home."
When they reached their home, they found Laura watching a movie on television.
"Hi," she smiled as the boys entered. "I've been checking the story site, but no new posts of chapters, or messages relating to Truth and Consequences or you two have appeared."
"We're getting a suspicious feeling about Ms. Westerman, Mom." Frank said soberly, perching on the arm of the couch. "Too many things don't add up – or maybe they do add up." He and Joe told Laura what conclusions they were drawing.
"I'll call Dorothy Gamble right now," Mrs. Hardy declared. "And talk to her."
"We're going to go out and shoot some hoops, Mom." Joe told her. "Come and tell us if you find anything out from Mrs. Gamble, would you please?"
When Laura finished her call, she went outside. Frank and Joe had been having an intense one-on-one game, and both of them were dripping with sweat. They stopped the game as she approached.
"Well?" Frank asked eagerly.
Laura looked grim. "Ms. Westerman left the school for two class periods, on the day in question." she reported. "Andrew Peabody covered her classes. She had a doctor's appointment – or, so she said."
"I don't suppose you have the name of her doctor?" Frank asked, hopefully.
Laura shook her head, no.
"Opportunity…" Frank murmured. "Motive – the money from the sites…."
"How did she get Mom's credit card number?" Joe asked.
"A hacker could do that," Frank replied. "And we've already figured out she has hacker capabilities."
"We've figured out that the bad guy is a hacker." Joe corrected him. He still wasn't willing to concede that Frank was right; to condemn Ms. Westerman.
"Let's call Phil and see if he's come up with anything new." Frank suggested gently. He knew that Joe was feeling badly about this situation.
Laura held up both hands, halting the boys' progress into the house. "Showers first." she ordered. "And put those soaking-wet shirts in the laundry hamper, please."
"Okay, Mom, okay!" Joe made a move as if to hug her, teasingly. "What? You don't want me to hug you? Oh, my feelings are damaged irreparably…" He broke off, laughing, as she swatted him, and he and Frank hurried up the stairs to clean up.
As Joe was about to log onto the computer, a short time later, the phone rang. Laura picked it up in the kitchen.
"Joe, honey – it's Vanessa!" she called.
Joe got up and went to the kitchen to take the call, as Frank moved into his chair and accessed the mystery website.
No new chapter posted…. Frank noted. I think I may have scared Ms. Westerman a little bit. I'm absolutely positive she's the one responsible for all this!
Joe re-entered the den. "Anything?" he asked, looking at the computer monitor.
"No." Frank shook his head.
"Well, I'm going to meet Vanessa at the park." Joe announced. "You don't mind going to Phil's alone, do you?"
"No, that's fine—" Frank frowned. "I'll take Mom's car to Phil's; you can have the van….but be careful, Joe, okay?"
"Sure, sure, always." Joe assured him, and departed, swinging the van keys nonchalantly.
When Joe reached the park, he got out of the van and looked around for Vanessa's jeep. Hmmm…must've gotten here ahead of her! Joe walked around in the parking lot, noting the presence of an old navy blue Chevy van parked nearby. He walked a bit closer to it, then halted abruptly as he heard loud, menacing barks and growls, coming closer and closer. He whirled around, and found himself confronting a familiar dog – Ms. Westerman's German Shepherd, Caramel.
"Hey, Caramel, it's me, remember?" Joe attempted to calm the big canine as he swallowed the lump forming in his throat.
But Caramel was no longer the friendly, furry creature Joe had played with before – he was in attack mode! Snarling and snapping, the big dog forced Joe backwards, towards the blue van. As he reached it, the side door slid open, and Joe suddenly felt the hard pressure of a gun shoved into the middle of his back!