Funny you should mention that, loki kix, because there's an Elizabeth chapter coming up and it will indeed make mention of her holier-than-thouness (great word!)

Hitchhiking is so stale!

Claudia had called me an hour ago. She said she was stuck and needed me to come into Stoneybrook to help with the case. Of course, I was eager to be of assistance, but it did mean hitchhiking back to Connecticut. What a pain!

Things would have been so much easier for me if I'd just been able to stay at home. But I didn't have a room at the Pike house anymore. Dad had turned it into his study as soon as I left. He told us we weren't allowed to go in there, but I'd snuck a peek one day and I didn't see what the big secret was. All he had in there were videos! Most of them were misspelled, though – Star Whores and Assablanca and The Wedding Swingers – so maybe they were illegal pirated copies.

Vanessa must have been pretty mad about losing her room cause she'd moved out the next day. Well, I assume she moved out. Nobody had seen her since. And then Nicky had moved out a few weeks later! I don't know why; he got to keep his room.

But I wasn't thinking about my siblings that morning. I was too busy trying to get a ride. I knew why no one was stopping for me; it was my stupid outfit. It's hard for me to put together stylish, sophisticated outfits because my parents treat me like such a baby! They won't let me buy miniskirts or G-strings or chaps or any of the dibbly fresh things that Stacey gets to wear.

I knew that if I were wearing Stacey's bright red leather mini dress, I would have been picked up hours ago.

Finally, somebody pulled over and let me in. I looked at my watch. I was so late! I was a little worried about what Kristy would do to me when I got there. She hates tardiness.

And I had good reason to be concerned. When I arrived at Kristy's, she sentenced me to an hour in The Box. The Box is one of Kristy's many super dibble ideas. It's an old wardrobe that she locks us in so we can think about what we've done. Kristy can be a little cruel and unusual sometimes, but we all know that the club wouldn't run as smoothly if she weren't!

As soon as she let me out, I got to work. I decided to interview all of Liz's friends to see if they had any information we could use. I started with Enid.

Enid is so chilly. I talked to her for hours at Kristy's party. I was a little surprised to discover she had a seedy drug past, but who was I to judge? After all, I had eaten that rum ball at the last Pike Christmas party.

"Where are the twins parents, anyway?" I asked Enid.

Enid looked sad. "Mrs Wakefield was prescribed Valium after Liz was arrested for vehicular manslaughter," she explained. "We all thought she'd stop using it after Liz was acquitted, but that was just the beginning of the crazy adventures!"

"What about Mr Wakefield?"

Enid laughed, then clapped a hand over her mouth. "It's really not funny," she mumbled. "See… everyone always says that Mrs Wakefield could pass for the twin's sister. Cause she looks so young, right? Well…"

"Well what?" I pressed.

"Well, a bunch of cops saw Mr and Mrs Wakefield together one day," Enid continued. "And they arrested Mr Wakefield for sexual acts with a minor. They refused to believe that Mrs Wakefield was older than sixteen. I guess in some ways it's a compliment… for Mrs Wakefield, at least."

"Wow, poor Mr Wakefield," I said softly.

"Nah, he prefers things on the inside," Enid told me. "It's less dramatic than living in Sweet Valley."

"So I guess we can cross Mr and Mrs Wakefield off our suspect list," I commented.

"Wait a minute… do you think somebody close to Liz took her?" Enid asked.

I shrugged. "I may not be the sleuth that Claudia is," I told her, "but I've read enough detective novels to know that it's always the person you least suspect."

Enid paused. "What about Dana Larson?" she blurted out.

"Who?"

"Dana Larson, lead singer of The Droids." She shrugged and added meekly, "I don't know, I'm just throwing out random names."

"No, that's good," I told her. "Why don't you make a list of the least likely suspects? We'll get Claudia to do another round of calls when you're done."

Enid started scribbling away. While I waited, I called home. Mom answered the phone.

"Guess what!" she cried. "Byron moved out!"

"Another one?" I couldn't believe how rapidly the Pike kids were moving out.

"Yep." Her voice lowered. "And then there were four," she added.

"O-okay mom." I hung up quickly. There was something about her tone of voice that creeped me out.

Enid handed me the completed list. "Hey," she said slowly, as if something had just occurred to her, "what if all those suspects that Claudia called were lying when they said they didn't have Liz?"

I laughed. Enid was a nice girl, but she wasn't a detective like us. It's a good thing we were on the case; Liz wouldn't have a chance otherwise!