Chapter Nine: Notorious Phone Calls

Anastasia stared incredulously. What had she just heard her friend say? "What?" she asked slowly.

Cassie turned and faced her friend. "Yes."

"Yes...what?"

Cassie pushed her golden curls away from her face. "Yes, I am going to join the Loewens' band."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Suddenly, Anastasia snorted and got to laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. Cassie calmly watched as Anastasia curled up into a ball and laughed her heart out. A small smile crept across Cassie's face as Anastasia started choking and gasped for air. Anastasia finally got control of herself and sat up straight. Wiping tears from her eyes, she stated, "Oh, for a moment there I thought you were serious."

Cassie folded her legs. "I am serious."

Anastasia froze, which looked rather funny, considering she was in the process of wiping her eyes. "I don't believe you, Cassie."

Cassie forced a smile as she replied, "What's so hard to believe?"

"Well, for one, the only instrument I've seen you play is the piano, and I don't take Crystal and Company as the kind of people who respect that style of music." Anastasia held up a second finger in the air. "Two, I've never seen you as the kind of girl who lives on music." A third finger popped up. "Three, I don't know how you and Crystal can survive each other for more than a few hours a day. Cassie, if you join her band, you'll have to be around her gum-popping airheadedness for hours practically every day of every week of every month."

Cassie's smile deflated. "Okay, so it's a challenge. You know I love challenges. I also am finding that Crystal and Company aren't all that bad. And you know I can sing; you heard me the other day out in front of the college. Ana, I can do this. I wouldn't have gotten myself into this if I didn't believe I could."

Anastasia shook her head stubbornly. "Fine, if it's really what you want. But I keep my word that you and Crystal won't be able to get along forever. She's irritating and conceited, and those are just a few of her problems." With that retort, Anastasia stood and, her back turned to Cassie, began to get ready for bed.

Cassie's eyes narrowed. "You know, I think you're the one who has a problem with Crystal."

Anastasia scoffed and bitterly replied, "Why me?"

Cassie held out her left index finger and mimicked her friend. "One, you seem to have a short temper sometimes, and Crystal can be awfully irritating when she wants to be. Two, she latched onto Dimitri's arm the other day," Cassie said a little more smugly than she meant.

Anastasia's shoulders slumped slightly. Turning her head 45 degrees West, she asked scornfully, "Are you done?"

Cassidy lowered her hand and quietly replied, "Yes."

Anastasia proceeded by removing Mr. Jingles from her slipper and placing him on her bed. Then she turned off the light and crawled under the cover, leaving Cassidy sitting on her bed, sorry and fully dressed. Cassidy sighed and fell backward. "Good night," she whispered.

Ring!

Anastasia was the first to wake from the earsplitting screech of the phone, and she quickly looked over at Cassie, who was sprawled at a right angle across her bed. Cassie woke immediately, groaned, sat up, and shared an inquisitive look with her friend.

Ring!

"Ugh," Cassie moaned, "it's gonna give me a headache." Anastasia frowned in agreement. "Ana, what time is it?" Anastasia hastily lifted her clock and focused her eyes. Just as quickly her eyes bugged out of her head. "Ana, what time is it?" Cassie repeated.

"2:13 in the morning-"

Ring!

Cassie collapsed and covered her face with her pillow. "Make it stop!"

"Something's not right," Anastasia mumbled to herself as she reached for the phone. Before Anastasia could grab the receiver, the answering machine picked up.

"Hi, this is Ana. And this is Cassie," the girls' tinny-sounding voices spoke from the machine. "You've reached the Astrid and Greene residence. Sorry we cannot come to the phone right now. Please leave your name, number, and message after the beep, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you...Beep!" Anastasia could be heard shouting from the background, "Cassie, how many times do I have to tell you not to 'Beep!'? The machine does it on its own!"

Anastasia heard Cassie's laugh, despite it being muffled by the pillow. Anastasia glanced at her friend with the slightest of smiles. "Some things will never change..."

At that moment the machine beeped and a man's voice was heard. Anastasia recognized the voice before he even got out his name. "Hello, Ms. Greene. This is Lieutenant Carl Weinberg." Cassie shot up, now fully awake. Anastasia jumped for the receiver. "If you could please pick up-"

"Hello, hello, this is Anastasia Greene," Anastasia yelled into the machine as she pressed the speakerphone button.

"Ms. Greene, we believe we may have found our men. I'm going to pick you up personally. I'll be there in less than three minutes."

The lieutenant hung up, and Anastasia turned off the speakerphone. She glanced over at Cassie, but to her surprise she was already dressed and pulling out a jacket and shoes for her. Anastasia looked at her curiously as Cassie handed over the items of clothing. Cassie knew that look: How in the world did you get ready so fast? "You didn't give me a chance to get undressed earlier tonight," Cassie answered the unspoken question. "And I'm beginning to believe that all late phone calls are notorious."

O~o~O

The girls climbed into the back of Lieutenant Weinberg's patrol car. As Cassie snapped her belt in place, she exclaimed, "Wait a minute! Lieutenant Weinberg, you said that you may have found our men?"

Anastasia's eyes widened. "I didn't catch that over the phone. So you mean there are more than one?"

Lieutenant Weinberg shut his door and buckled his seat belt. "There may be."

The girls were left to ponder the possibilities on the way over to San Francisco Police Headquarters. But they didn't have long to think, for in no time they reached their destination and were being led into the interrogation area. They entered the observation room in which one wall was made of glass. Anastasia and Cassie hardly had any time to collect their bearings before Aunt Phlegmenkoff was led into the small cubicle. Aunt Phlegmenkoff nodded curtly at her niece and then swung her gaze to Cassie. Cassie smiled politely. Aunt Phlegmenkoff sniffed and stated, "Well hello, Miss Astrid. Why are you here?"

Before Cassie could snap out of her shock, Lieutenant Weinberg stepped in. "Under normal circumstances she would not be here, ma'am, but seeing that she has been involved from the beginning and that Ms. Greene claims she needs her, we allowed for an exception." Aunt Phlegmenkoff pivoted back toward the glass, and Lieutenant Weinberg entered the interrogation room.

And together the three of them, Anastasia, Cassidy, and Aunt Phlegmenkoff, awaited the criminals to enter the adjoining room.