A/N: Not much to say, other than thank you for reading and reviewing. This is a much longer chapter than usual. I hope you all like it! Here we go…

It was Wednesday and X Middle School was closed because of parent/teacher conferences. Ingrid and Fillmore were lying on the floor in Ingrid's room, looking at the files for all the X cheerleaders.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Fillmore picked up a file, put it down, and picked up another one.

"Something that seems odd for a cheerleader to have in her file. Like uhhh, like a weird club or a behavioral problem."

"Are you serious? Ingrid at X we have a wrapping chess player and a safety patroller who was almost expelled."

"It's the best I've got. What do you think there should be?" Ingrid picked up Tandi's file and opened it.

"She's the cheerleading captain. You think that she would be out to ruin the team's chances of winning?" Fillmore smiled in his familiar manner.

"Well, I don't think she would but we have to check out everyone." Ingrid put the file down and picked up Debbie's.

Fillmore gave a little smile. "Ingrid, are you still mad about Debbie?"

"I already told you, I was never mad. I was just surprised."

Fillmore looked at her, disbelievingly.

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "Let's go to the kitchen."

"Sounds good, we're done here anyway aren't we?"

"Hold on; let me just check Libby's file." Ingrid took about two seconds to read it thanks to here photographic memory.

"Anything strange?"

"Not unless you count your choice of accessories."

Fillmore looked at the picture; Libby was wearing three necklaces, two pairs of earrings, and about twenty bracelets. "Well other then overkill on the jewelry, we've got nothing."

"I should have known; they're just files."

"I guess you're just gonna have to figure it out under cover."

"Yeah, let's go. Are you hungry?"

"Ingrid, this is me you're talking to."

Ingrid smiled, "why do I even ask?"

After Fillmore left, Ingrid was sitting in the living room reading.

"Ingrid, I'm glad you're here. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What's that?"

Mr. Third sat down. "Ingrid, Katherine's coming over again tonight. Now, I would really like you to put forward an effort to get along with her tonight. Will you?"

Ingrid sighed, "Sure, is Matthew coming over too?"

"Actually, yes, so after dinner you two can go upstairs and "hang out" in your room if you want."

Ingrid shrugged, "Alright, when will they be here?"

Mr. Third hesitated, "Ummm, any minute now."

Just then the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Ingrid got up and walked over to the door. "Hello Miss Delaney, hey Matthew." She tried to be polite as she led them into her living room. She then turned to her dad, "I'm going to go get Ariella."

She walked upstairs and knocked on her sister's door, "Ariella, it's me. Can I come in?"

"Sure"

Ariella was lying on her stomach on her bed, doing her homework that had been assigned Tuesday. "What's up?"

"Katherine is here," Ingrid didn't attempt to hide the displeasure in her voice or face.

Ariella studied Ingrid for a moment before replying. "Can I ask you a question, Ingrid?"

"Well, you just did." She smiled, "but yeah, you can ask me another."

Ariella looked her straight in the eye. "Why don't you like Katherine? When dad used to talk about her you never minded. He and Katherine and other people did things together. And he even took her for coffee a couple of times."

Ingrid thought for a minute, she was pretty sure Ariella was trying to trap her into saying something and then use against her by relating it to something in her life. Ingrid didn't want to make it too easy for her, so she chose her words very carefully. "I'm not really sure. Before it was different because they went out and did group things. And then he took her out to coffee as friends. And when he took her out to coffee the last couple of times he was seeing Miss Baxter, so it seemed, you know, safe."

"Safe?"

"I don't really know the word I'm looking for. But if I had known that he was going to stop seeing Miss Baxter for Katherine then I would have been mad about coffee and things like that."

Ariella smiled the little smile that she saved for times when she got what she wanted.

Ingrid sighed, "You're going to use that in a lesson or something, aren't you?"

Ariella smiled again, "as long as what I think is going to happen, happens. Anyway, another question, what is so wrong with Katherine."

Ingrid sighed, "There's nothing wrong with her as a person. I just don't see as someone who's good for dad."

"Sometimes things like that surprise you with people. Give her a chance."

Ingrid gave another sigh, "Sure, can we go now, please?"

The girls made their way downstairs.

"Ah there you two are I thought you'd gotten lost." Mr. Third turned to Katherine. "Katherine, I don't believe that you ever actually met my daughters. This is Ariella and this is Ingrid." He pointed to each of his daughters in turn and they sat beside him on the sofa. "I'm going to go finish dinner; you and Matthew can stay and talk to Ingrid and Ariella." He left, and everything was quiet for a moment.

Katherine cleared her throat, "So, how old are you girls?"

"I'm 16; I'm a junior at Y high school." (Lame name, I know.)

Ingrid decided that she would try to make this work. "I'm 13; I go to X Middle School, I'm in the 7th grade."

Katherine's face brightened, "Matthew told me that you are on some sort of safety squad or something there."

Ingrid found that she was bothered by Katherine's improper naming of the safety patrol. "Yeah I'm on the safety patrol. My partner, Fillmore, and I are undercover right now on a case."

"Oh Fillmore, you're boyfriend."

Ingrid went a light pink. Matthew quickly corrected his mother, "Mom! Her boyfriend is Joseph Anza. Fillmore is just her best friend."

Ingrid shot Matthew a smile of thanks and decided to thank him personally later.

Katherine looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry Ingrid." She then changed the subject. "Ariella, what about you? What are you interested in?"

Ingrid let her mind wander as Ariella talked about her art…

After dinner Mr. Third and Katherine went on a walk so Ingrid took Matthew up to her room. "Thank you for correcting your mom."

Matthew looked slightly confused.

"The whole Fillmore Anza thing. Thanks."

"Oh that. Sure, I just didn't want her to think something that wasn't true. But I can see how she made the mistake."

"You can?" Ingrid looked up from the photos she had been looking at.

Matthew looked a bit taken aback by her surprise. "Well yeah, I mean, I told her so many names and stuff."

Ingrid let out the breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Oh that, I thought you meant…never mind."

There was silence for a minute before Matthew spoke. "What's that?" He picked up some of the files that Ingrid had left on her bed.

"Oh that. That's just what Fillmore and I were working on earlier. We were trying to find leads on the undercover case we're working on."

"Can I see them? Am I supposed to know about the case?"

Ingrid thought for a moment. "Not really, but I trust you. I think you can be ruled out as a suspect anyway. Besides, if you think you can help, then I'd like you to look at them."

Matthew picked up the files and flipped through them for a while. "Ingrid, I can't get much out of these but can I offer you a general suggestion?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well if you remember when I tried to teach you how to spin a vase, I told you that you have to focus on the entire thing, not just one small part. Well that's not just for pottery, that's for everything. But on the other hand; sometimes you have to break things down in order to understand them. Many different elements can lead to the final product."

Anyone not quite as quick as Ingrid would have been confused. But she understood exactly what Matthew was saying. He was comparing crime solving to art, but what he said still held true. "Thanks Matthew. Ummm were you speaking from your experience in art or have you ever been involved in the safety patrol?"

"I never have been but I always thought it would be fun I-"

Just then they heard Mr. Third. "Matthew, you're mother is ready to leave."

"Well thanks for letting me hang out with you tonight."

Ingrid smiled, "no problem."

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Mr. Third asked after Katherine had left.

Not only did Ingrid not want to talk about Katherine, but she had something more important to do. She had an idea. "I have to call Vallejo."

"Vallejo?" Ariella questioned.

"Yes, and then Fillmore."

A/N: Okay, sort of a cliffie and I'm sorry to say that it will have to hold you for at least a week. Maybe two.