CHAPTER 5: GERTIE GETS A HAND

"Now I know you's hate my guts an' all," Gertie began, "and you's have a good reason t' hate me, aftah my role in what has all happened. But, as you's probably already knows, my dad wuz killed. Shot by this dude named th' Scorpion. This dude is bad news. You's thought th' Lizard Ladies wuz bad, his gang is a lot worse. He killed my old man in cold blood.

"Now I knows that you's is thinking 'Why th' hell do we have t' help you's out, Goitie?', right? Like I said, I's gets it. But I assure ya, I ain't th' same goil I wuz when I wuz with th' Lizards. My unca toined me around an' stuff. Besides Komodo Dragon, I haven't had any kinda contact with th' otha Lizards since I wuz sent to m' unca's place. I needs you's help. And I also have imp- imp- good information that you's can use."

Black Widow and the Spiders looked at their former adversary. Without Tarantula's influence, bad grammar aside, Gertie had seemingly changed for the better. The big issue was if they could trust her at all. Widow threw all caution to the wind, just this once.

"Okay, Gertie," she finally said. "We will protect you. But know this. Any double-cross from your end, and we will take action against you. Understood?"

"Sure, Widah."

"Now you said you had some information for us," said Orbweaver. "What kind of information?"

"Before m' pop's wuz bumped off, th' Scorpion said that one of our goils had saw his men dumpin' one of those dead bodies in my pop's junkyard," said Gertie. "And that she had went into hidin' someplace."

"Which gang did he say she was from, Gert?" asked Komodo Dragon. "Was she a Spider, a Lizard, or even a Serpent?"

"He didn't say," said Gertie.

"Well we know it couldn't have been a Serpent," said Widow. "All of the Serpent Sisters Prime is still here, and the only Serpent that's no longer around is Python, but we all know she's deceased. Wait a minute! Anaconda moved back to town recently. Could it have been her that witness the Scorpion's men?"

"It could be, Widow," said Orbweaver. "Anaconda left after our last confrontation with Gertie here, Tarantula, and the rest of the Lizards."

"But if she was in witness protection, she wouldn't had made her presence known," said Komodo. "It had to have been someone from either the Spiders or the Lizards."

"But who do WE know that had disappeared without a trace?" wondered Widow.

Elsewhere, just outside of the Van Pelt home, the same mysterious figure who was at the cemetary was at the door of the Van Pelts. They had dropped off an envelope, then rang the doorbell and took off. Lucy opened the door and only got a glimpse of the mysterious person.

"Who was that strange person?" she wondered. She picked up the envelope and brought it in. Linus walked in with some sandwiches for the two of them.

"Here's your sandwich, Lucy," he said.

"Thanks, Linus," said Lucy. Linus spied the envelope.

"What's that you got?" he asked.

"I don't know. Some weird person just dropped it off there, but I only got a glimpse of them. They were dress in a trench coat and hat, and it looked like their face was hidden." Lucy then slowly opened the envelope. She took out the contents of it. Then she read the letter.

Dear Lucy,

Soon the truth about what REALLY happened in Sam's Auto Salvage Yard that fateful night will be revealed. Just have patience, my friend, and all will be revealed when the time is right. I will be in touch.

Sincerely,

a friend

Then Lucy was shocked when she saw a picture with the letter. She had turned white as a ghost. Linus had gotten concerned.

"Everything okay, sis?" he asked.

"Linus!" Lucy shuddered. "Look at the picture!" Linus took the picture and looked at it.

"Good grief!" he exclaimed. The picture was of Lucy and Python when they were at the mall. It was a picture of them in a photo booth mugging for the camera.

"What does this mean?' asked Linus.

"I don't know, Linus," said Lucy, "but I think something more than our confronting the Lizards happened that night, and it involves what happened to Python!"

MORE TO COME…

Next time, Snoopy's binge-eating comes to a head and Charlie Brown puts him on a strict diet.