Skylar is actually halfway to her feet when he says, “I want you both to make a statement about what you saw, but because you’re minors, your parents must be present. I’ll come to your homes this evening.”

Neither of us had expected this. “No, please,” I beg. “My mom will kill me.”

“We’ll be grounded for the rest of our lives,” Skylar says.

Detective Klein smiles. “That might not be a bad idea.”

He stands up and shakes our hands. “Thanks for coming in, girls. Even though I wish we’d known this sooner, what you’ve told us might be helpful.”

At the door, Detective Klein says, “For your own safety, leave solving crimes to us. Don’t get involved in things you don’t understand. Nancy Drew isn’t anything like real life.”

Skylar and I wince. We detest Nancy Drew now.

He holds the door open. We walk out feeling worse than we did before we came.

10

We haven’t ridden far when I hear someone yelling our names. I look over my shoulder and see Jason and Carter riding toward us on their fancy bikes, bent over their handlebars, pedaling hard to catch up.

We pedal harder, but a hill slows us down.

Jason pulls in front of us and Carter skids to a stop beside me. “What were you doing at the police station?” Carter asks.

Skylar tries to stare him down. “Who says we were at the police station?”

Carter sneers at her. “We saw your bikes in the rack.” He moves his bike so close to hers, the handlebars touch. “You better not have told them about that Honda. Or us, or anything else you think you know.”

“Maybe we were selling Girl Scout cookies,” Skylar says. “Cops like to snack while they drink their coffee.” She’s trying to flip him off, show him he can’t tell her what to do, but I know Skylar well enough to tell she’s getting scared. I’m already scared. There’s something different about the boys today. They’re jittery, like there’s something bad going on.

Carter nudges her bike with his foot. Skylar almost loses her balance but keeps the bike upright. “Back off,” she tells him. “Your breath stinks.”

Carter looks like he might hit her, and I grab her arm. “Come on, Skylar, let’s go.”

She shakes me off. “He can’t tell me what to do.”

All this time Jason’s been sitting on his bike saying nothing, just watching. Now he coasts closer. “Get out of here, both of you,” he says. “You got no idea what’s going on.”

Skylar glares at him. “Oh, like you know so much.”

Jason dumps his bike and grabs Skylar’s handlebars. His face is close to hers. She draws back like he’s a snake about to bite. “We know stuff that would blow your mind,” he says.