Lincoln sat quietly on his bed, his shoulders were propped up against his headboard and his head drooped forward. His eyes were downcast and his mouth was set in a frown. He had been in this position since finishing his dinner, the remains of which were on a tray, set next to the closed door. He imagined Lucy in a similar pose in her room.

Their father had picked them up at the police station. He had not said a word to either Lincoln or Lucy on the drive home. Once home, he had directed them to sit at the dining room table and proceeded to chew them out about their antics at the police station. Lincoln had never seen his father so angry or stressed out. He had tried to explain that they were there to help clear Luan, but Lynn didn't care to hear it, they had done wrong and were going to pay for it. How dare they cause the family more issues and worry while they were dealing with what was going on with Luan. The pair were not to leave their rooms except to use the bathroom until after breakfast the next morning and they were not allowed to leave the property for two weeks with no TV. Lynn Sr. and Rita were going to be assigning them extra chores once they had decided on them.

Lincoln sighed. He felt that he was close to the truth, he just needed a little more time to investigate. But, where to go now? He was at a loss. Unless he could find the mystery girl, he didn't think he could go any farther on the case, but he couldn't find it in him to give up. Luan was counting on him. The police had certain rules they had to go by, it was easier for him to get around those rules due to both his age and his not being an officer of the law.

The eleven-year-old got out an old spiral notebook that he'd used in math class. He flipped through it until he came to an empty page about two-thirds of the way through. He wrote the main points of the case as he knew it now, the mystery girl seen hanging around the Crane house up until the party, a similar girl at the pawn shop to pawn glass diamonds, she knew how to pick locks, she used a discarded lunch bag to return the bracelet, minus several diamonds.

Lincoln looked at his list. He wrote, Luan's prints on the bag like she was holding it. He made a bullet point underneath that and wrote, why did she return the bracelet? Because worthless to her?

Luan must have used the bag for her lunch, he thought. I wonder how long before the incident she used it. It wouldn't have been at school, it's done for the year.

Lincoln got up from the bed, tore a blank page from the notebook and snuck from his room. He stuck the page in a pocket and made it look like he was heading to the bathroom in case one of his parents saw him. He quietly slipped into Luan and Luna's room and closed the door behind him. Luan was lying on her bed, reading a novel, much like she had been doing since returning from the juvenile detention center. She looked up as he sat on the side of the bed. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and lack of sleep. Her hair was frizzier than normal.

"Hey, Lincoln," she said, quietly.

"I'm here to ask a few questions."

"About my case? If dad finds out, you'll get in even more trouble."

"I don't care about getting in trouble with dad. You are the one who is in real trouble."

"Yah, I really am," she said, sadly. "But, you don't need to be too."

"Like I said, I don't care. When was the last time you took a sack lunch out?"

Luan gave her brother a puzzled look.

"I don't remember when the last time was…the last day of school maybe?"

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I know I took lunch on that day," Luan said.

"OK, what did you take for lunch?"

"Um, a PB & J, string cheese, an apple and some Nutter Butters."

"Did you eat all of the sandwich?"

"I-I don't know! I really don't feel up to answering questions right now, Lincoln! Especially about stupid things like what I ate at school."

"The bag the bracelet was found in had your fingerprints on it and remains of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a string cheese wrapper inside."

Luan looked at the underside of the top bunk for a few moments.

"On Friday, the last day of school I was at lunch with my friends in the cafeteria. I was late because I had to use the bathroom and there was a long line. We were laughing and joking, so I didn't eat very fast. I ate my sandwich last, but I had the apple earlier in the day, in the morning…I don't recall if I ate all the sandwich or not."

"What did you do with the bag?"

"I don't know…Wait, I was in a hurry, so I shoved it in my backpack. I was so preoccupied with getting ready for Ben's birthday party and then what happened afterwards I didn't clean out my school stuff from my bag until the Wednesday after the party, just before I was taken to the police station for questioning. I had put all my stuff from my locker in there. I'm sure I saw the bag at the bottom or near the bottom of my pack. I put it in the pile of papers and stuff I didn't need and threw it in the garbage cans."

"On Wednesday?" Lincoln reiterated.

Luan nodded.

"Garbage pick-up is on Fridays on our block and that was Wednesday, so the garbage cans would have been nearly full for the week," Lincoln said, more to himself. "The bag would have been right at the top."

He processed that fact for a moment before speaking to Luan again.

"Were you alone when you threw the bag away?"

Luan thought for a moment.

"Well, I was, but Leni was outside nearby with Lyra and Amanda, they were on the porch, and Lynn was setting up a ramp in the driveway. Lana was in the backyard yelling about something or other."

"Did you see anyone digging through the garbage cans?"

"No, I just dumped the trash in there and went back to the house."

"Did you see anyone else nearby?" Lincoln asked.

"Not anyone that I didn't know," she said. "I don't know Lyra and Amanda very well, but they are around a lot. Lyra has been around a lot for the past few days. She's been trying to comfort me and help me out. Says she feels so bad for me."

"Has she tried hanging out with you before?"

"Never before. Now I can't get her to leave me alone."

"Has she said why she has a sudden interest in you?"

"She says she just feels so bad for me. I heard her say something about knowing what it was like to be shunned by society. She's only not here now because dad told her to leave me alone for a while. She was starting to bother me."

"Thanks, Luan, you've been very helpful."

Lincoln snuck back to his room and laid out on his bed wondering about who it was who took the bag out of the garbage can. He wrote out the names of all those Luan had said were nearby.

Leni

Lyra

Amanda

Lynn Jr.

Lana

There could have been more of their siblings and others about, but these were the ones that Luan had noticed for one reason or another. Lana was being loud, Lynn was building something, Leni and her friends were on the porch. Of the five, only Lynn would have had the garbage in view. He knew that Leni, Lynn and Lana wouldn't have had the bracelet in their possession. He doubted Lyra and Amanda had anything to do with the bracelet, they had known Leni for most of their lives and always got along with the rest of the Loud kids, even if they didn't hang out with them. Lincoln continued to ponder about who would have taken the bag for some time, but there was something bothering him about what Luan had told him. He didn't know what yet. To distract himself, he decided to move on to the next thing he could, question the possible witnesses to whoever took the bag.

He realized that anyone who lived on the property was a potential witness. He made a list of potential witnesses and why they would be a witness.

Mom (Rita): lives here

Dad (Lynn Sr.): lives here

Lori: lives here

Leni: lives here

Luna: lives here

Lynn Jr.: lives here

Lucy: lives here

Lana: lives here

Lola: lives here

Lisa: lives here

Lily: lives here

Lyra: was here day bag put in trash

Amanda: was here day bag put in trash

Mr. Grouse: nosey and grumpy

Clyde: was here day bag put in trash

He was planning on starting with those who were there when Luan put the bag in the trash, but he had one person he wanted to talk to first. He stealthily made his way to Lucy's room. She was asleep, hugging her Edwin bust to herself. Lincoln shook her awake.

"What do you want Lincoln?"

He quickly explained about how the lunch bag found its way into the thief's possession.

"I need help interviewing the family quickly."

"Forget it, Lincoln. Don't you think we are in enough trouble as it is?"

"Lucy, we can't just give up when we are so close! Plus, Luan is counting on us. The cops are never going to look into where specifically the bag came from like we will."

Lucy shook her head and looked away from Lincoln.

"Fine, Lucy, I'll do it on my own," Lincoln said, stomping out of her room.

Once he was back in the hallway he realized he forgot to ask her if she saw anything on Wednesday, but he decided just to move on and talk to those who were there first. He didn't know where Lynn was at that moment so he headed to Lola and Lana's room. They were both there.

"What are you doing out of your room, Lincoln?" Lola said. "I'm telling dad!"

"Wait, wait, I've come to ask you questions about Wednesday, before the cops showed up the first time."

"About what?" Lola asked.

Lincoln quickly explained about the lunch bag and Luan had done with it.

"I was inside until those cops came," Lola said. "I didn't see anything."

"I was trying to teach Izzy some tricks in the backyard," Lana said. "I never went near the garbage cans that day, never saw anyone."

Lincoln thanked them and went across the hall to Lisa and Lily's room. Lisa was there. She hadn't seen anything useful that day. None of his other sisters were on the second floor so he went back to his room and sat down on the side of his bed.

What to do, what to do? He thought.

He decided to wait until more of his sisters came up to their rooms and was sitting quietly on his bed when the high pitched sounds of Leni and some other girls talking came wafting through his small open window from the driveway below. He grabbed his chair and placed it under the window. If he stood on it on his tippy-toes, he could just see out the window.

Leni was disappearing wound the corner of the house as Lincoln peered out the window, leaving her friends standing in a group by the closed garage door. It was Lyra, Amanda and another one of Leni's friends, Rebecca Morris.

Oh, good, he thought. I can talk to Leni, Lyra and Amanda.

The boy watched the girls for a little while. Leni returned with a large box and they spread out a large tarp on the asphalt. The teens began setting out arts and crafts supplies on the tarp. It didn't look like they were going to be coming up to the second floor anytime soon, so Lincoln began formulating a plan to sneak down to them. He couldn't risk shouting out of the window at them and attracting the attention of his parents.

"Hey."

"EEP!" Lincoln jumped and fell off his chair at the sudden creepy voice from behind him.

Lucy helped him untangle himself from the chair.

"You scared me, Lucy."

"Sorry, I came over to tell you I changed my mind. I'll keep helping you in this investigation."

He realized that Lucy was wearing her detective suit.

"Good, I need you to sneak down to the driveway to talk to Leni, Lyra and Amanda. Ask them if they saw anyone around the garbage cans on Wednesday. Saw anyone take anything from them."

"Ok."

Lucy ducked out his room, closing the door behind her. Lincoln returned to the window to watch.

Lucy used the duct system to make her way out of the house. Once she got to the driveway, only Leni, Amanda and Rebecca were there. Her appearance startled the three girls.

"Where's Lyra?" she asked.

"She went to get something to drink," Amanda told her.

"Aren't you supposed to be in your room?" Leni asked.

"It's OK, mom said I could come outside now. Since I spend so much time in my room anyway, being confined there isn't much of a punishment."

"Oh, OK."

"I wanted to ask you, Leni, and Lyra and Amanda some questions about Wednesday, you know the day the police came and searched the house the first time."

"Like what?" Amanda asked.

"Did either of you see anyone hanging around the garbage cans or take anything from one of them?"

Leni's eyes glazed over and Amanda bit her lower lip.

"We were eating snacks on the porch that morning," Amanda said. "Lyra offered to take our trash to the garbage. She took all the wrappers to the cans by the garage. She's the only one I saw."

"Yah, I saw that other girl digging through your trash," a cranky and old voice said. "Thought that was odd."

The group turned to see Mr. Grouse standing on the property line his yard shared with the Loud family's yard. He was covered with dirt and holding a shovel and rake.

"I was in my garden, going after that stinkin' gopher again. I saw her dump a bunch o' candy wrappers and junk in one of the cans. Then she stopped and looked in the other. She reached in and pulled something out. I couldn't tell what it was exactly."

"Could it have been a paper bag?" Lucy asked.

"Eh…I couldn't say. It was brown though, I believe. I thought it was odd, a girl who was not one o' Louds rifling through a trash can. Hah, that's more you Loud kids' style."

With that Mr. Grouse walked off towards his house.

"Lyra, do you have an explanation for that?" Amanda called over Lucy's shoulder.

The group turned to look. Lyra had been standing by the corner of the house listening to them. Her face was pale and her eyes were jumping one of their faces to another nervously.

"Lyra, can I talk to you?" Lucy asked, taking several steps toward her.

"Don't talk to me!" Lyra shouted and turned away from the group.

Lyra started to run across the yard, but tripped over the hose which had been left out, loosely coiled in crisscross patterns on the grass. She fell and twisted on the ground, getting tangled in the hose. Lucy, Leni, Amanda and Rebecca ran forward to help her. Lincoln, who had been listening to Lucy question the girls, had come running when he saw Lyra try to run. He came rushing out of the front door as Lyra fell. He hurried towards the teen to try and help her get untangled.

The girl sat up and pushed off the hose as much as she could on her own. The other four girls pulled the rest of it away. Lucy held out a hand to help Lyra to stand up, but the teenager slapped it away.

"Lyra!" Leni exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"Leni, you keep your goth sister and your brother away from me! I don't need them prying into my life!"

Lyra got to her feet and ran off down the sidewalk.

"What's wrong with her?" Leni asked.

"Lucy, let's go!" Lincoln shouted. "I think this case is about to wrap itself up!"

Lucy and Lincoln took off down the street after Lyra. She had a good head start on them, but the eleven and eight-year-olds were quick on their feet.

"She has to be the mystery girl!" Lincoln puffed. "She would also fit the description of the mystery girl and the girl at the pawn shop!"

"But, why?" Lucy asked.

"We'll just have to ask her when we catch her!"

The pair chased Lyra down the street to the nearby park. The park had a duck pond, a jungle gym in the center and the city's dirt bike course along one side. The far end bordered an expansive wilderness area that had several bike and walking trails. She cut through the middle of the park, she appeared to be going to the wilderness area.

That's what was bothering me about what Luan said, Lincoln thought. Lyra's never taken an interest in Luan, so why start now? She felt guilt!

"I guess she can't feel that guilty," Lincoln said aloud and somewhat breathlessly. "If she is running away."

Lucy looked at him quizzically, but due to her huffing and puffing, she said nothing.

Lincoln wondered if there was a way to cut the girl off, but she had maintained the fifteen or so feet head start on them. Lincoln and Lucy called out for help, but the nearby adults and kids just stared at them.

Before they knew it, they had reached the edge of the wilderness area. Lyra sprinted through the line of trees and bushes on a gravel path. Lincoln and Lucy were growing tired, but followed her as fast as they could.

We have to figure out some way to stop her, Lincoln thought.

It occurred to him that they could let her go, it didn't appear she was going to slow down. Lyra was proving to be an amazing runner. She would most likely go home. They could go inform the police. Det. Paulson had listened to them even after they had been caught breaking into the police station. Lincoln felt that the man could be trusted. He was about to suggest that to his sister when there was a fast rustling noise from the bushes to their right and a flash of pink streaked out on to the path in front of Lyra.

It was Luan on Lynn's pink bicycle!

Lyra was unable to stop herself in time and she crashed into Luan's side and the two teenagers and the bike fell into a heap, with Lyra rolling ahead by half her body. A cloud of dust rose into the tree branches above.

"Don't move Lyra!" Lincoln exclaimed hoarsely, exhausted from his long run.

Lincoln and Lucy rushed towards Lyra, but the teen was not ready to give up. Unlike Luan, who was lying under the bicycle coughing, Lyra had avoided injury. The two preteens managed to grab Lyra by her shoulders as she was on her hands and knees, but the stronger girl twisted away and grabbed Lucy by the front of her jacket with one of her hands. At the same time, she threw a handful of dirt in Lincoln's eyes.

The boy cried out and clutched at his stinging eyes. While he was distracted, Lyra took Lucy's jacket in both her fists and swung her into the thick bushes on the side of the path. The thin, brittle branches only broke under the girl's weight, scratching her, as she came back down to earth. Lucy rolled down a slight embankment and stopped against a tree trunk, hitting her right elbow.

Back on the path as Lyra hurled Lucy away, Luan had extracted herself from under the bike. The impact with Lyra and subsequent impact with the ground had knocked the wind out of her. In her mind, she promised herself not to try a stunt like that again. She took a step towards Lyra, her right knee was throbbing, but she ignored it.

"Lyra, stop! What do you think you are doing?"

"I won't get caught!"

"It's already too late for that!" Luan cried, putting an arm around a sobbing Lincoln. "You stole the bracelet didn't you?"

"That's none…"

Suddenly, the group could hear several shouting voices, a man and higher pitched female voices. Lyra took several steps back. Tears were streaking down her face.

"Tell, Lincoln and Lucy I'm sorry. I overreacted. Like I always do."

Lyra sprinted away. Luan wanted to follow her, a dark urge inside her bubbling up, making her want to pound the girl to a bloody pulp, but didn't she dare leave Lincoln as he was. Luan figured there would be time for retribution later.

"Lucy, can you hear me? Are you OK?" Luan called into the bushes where Lucy had been tossed.

"Yah, I'm OK. I'm just trying to find a way around these bushes. Just a minute."

The voices got louder and a small group came into view, it was Lynn Sr. leading Leni, Amanda, Rebecca, Lynn Jr., Lola and Lana. They all had angry looks on their faces, particularly Mr. Loud. A bloodied and bruised Lucy joined Luan and Lincoln just as the larger group arrived.

"Are you three alright?" Lynn Sr. exclaimed, kneeling down and placing a hand on Lucy and Lincoln. "Luan, your knee's really bleeding."

"Where's Lyra?" several girls exclaimed at once.

"She ran off down the path," Luan said, pointing in the direction the teen had gone.

"Let's get her!" Lynn Jr. shouted, brandishing a well-used baseball bat above her head.

Luan noticed that several of the other girls also had weapons. Lola had her sturdiest twirling baton, Lana had her favorite hammer, Leni, Amanda and Rebecca had what appeared to be a handmade net. Lynn Sr. quickly snatched the hammer from Lana and stuck it through his belt.

"You will not be exacting revenge today girls," he cried, he pointed to Amanda. "Like I instructed you on the way over here, call 911 and request an ambulance to come to the main wilderness path from the Royal Woods Memorial Park, from the main parking lot. I'll instruct you on what to say next. Leni, help Luan wash the dirt from Lincoln's eyes with the water you brought. Rebecca, Lynn, Lana go to the main parking lot and direct the ambulance. Lola go as far as the beginning of the path from the park. GO!"

The girls went about their assigned tasks. Lynn turned to Luan's knee and gently brushed off the gravel that was still sticking to the nasty scrape the fourteen-year-old had received.

"You all have a lot to explain to me once we get you three patched up."