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Calvin needn’t have worried. Gertrude slept the entire drive north. He poked her a few times to ask for directions, but then she would drift off to sleep again. It was starting to get dark out when he gave her arm a good shake.
“What? Where—”
“Stay awake. I think we’re close.”
She rubbed her eyes and cracked the window.
“I’ve got the air conditioning on,” Calvin said.
“Need a bit of fresh air to wake me up.”
“And I need you to stop ruining my gas mileage. Now roll the window up.”
She rolled her eyes, and the window up.
“There!” she cried.
“What?”
“Right there! Up ahead, on the right.”
He slowed down.
“You don’t need to slow down yet.”
He ignored her, and crept up to the driveway. “There’s no mailbox.”
“I don’t think he gets much mail.” Gertrude looked around. “His truck’s not here. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“Me neither. I wish we’d gotten here before dusk. Or even better, not come at all.”
Gertrude got out of the car and then wrestled her walker out of the back.
Calvin climbed out too, grumbling the whole time. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. Now I’ve got to drive home, a hundred miles, dirt roads, probably hit a moose and die ...”
Gertrude knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again. Nothing. The knob turned easily in her hand. She pushed the door open.
“Gertrude!” Calvin tried.
Gertrude went inside. Her fingers found a light switch, and she flicked it, but nothing happened. Her stomach sank. All the furniture in the room was still there, but the room still looked emptier somehow. Gertrude looked to her left. The gun cabinets were empty. She saw a piece of paper on the table. She went to it. It read:
Gertrude, I assure you, I am not a criminal, and I beg you to not try to find me. I was happy to help you ladies, but now I really just want to be left alone. — Dave
“Well, I’ll be darned,” Calvin said, reading over her shoulder. “He knew you were coming.”
Gertrude looked around the now-empty cabin. “That rascal. I wonder where he went.”
Calvin put his hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go, Gertrude. We’re not going to find him. Let’s get you home. We should start studying for your driver’s test.”
“Can I practice driving on the way home? It’s all dirt roads! No traffic!”
Calvin laughed all the way to the car.
Turn the page for a sneak peek at Gertrude Book 4!
1
Gertrude rushed out of her trailer, leaving the door flapping behind her. Cats spilled out in her wake, scattering in a blur of fur. Gertrude flew down her steps and hurried toward Calvin’s trailer, two doors down.
She was moving quite swiftly, given her abilities, but of course, she had her walker, so she looked a little like a large orange-haired rabbit hopping across the trailer park.
She arrived out of breath and rapped on Calvin’s door.
“What?” Calvin called out from within.
“It’s me, Gertrude!”
“I know. What do you want?”
“Calvin! Let me in! I got the date!”
There was a bit of banging from within and then the door opened. “What date?”
Gertrude used her walker to push past him into his trailer. “The date for my driver’s test. What else?”
Calvin shut the door and turned to face her.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“I just thought you’d be happy. If I get a driver’s license, you won’t have to drive me around ... as much.”
Calvin walked by her and returned to his recliner. “As you’ve made it painfully clear in the past, even if you get a driver’s license, you still won’t have a car.”
“What do you mean if?”
Calvin rolled his eyes as he reclined. “I believe my meaning was clear. I’m not really convinced you will be successful at this endeavor. Why are you holding a newspaper?”
“What?” Gertrude looked down at her hands. One hand clutched her letter from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The other held the newspaper. “Oh, this,” she said, remembering. “Yes, this is the real reason I’m here, but now you’ve ruffled my feathers will all your nasty doubts.”
He didn’t seem to feel terrifically guilty about the alleged feather-ruffling. “Is that newspaper recent, or is it from your collection?”
Gertrude was incensed. “You know what? I don’t know why I put up with you. I came over here with two handfuls of exciting news, and you have ruined my parade!” She turned and stalked haughtily to the door.
“It’s rained on my parade, Gertrude.”
Gertrude stopped and looked over her shoulder. “What?”
“It’s rained, not ruined. Now, tell me what’s in the newspaper.”
Gertrude considered her options. She wanted to stay mad. She also wanted to tell him about their new case. She decided she could be angry later. She returned to the living room and plopped down on Calvin’s couch.
“Have a seat,” Calvin muttered.
“Thanks. I just did. So, I brought you this paper because I think we need to go to Portland.”
Calvin guffawed. “Oh! Portland! Of course!”
“Calvin, there isn’t any crime here. No one has been kidnapped or murdered for months!”
“Well isn’t that a shame. And someone has been kidnapped or murdered in Portland?”
Gertrude unfolded the newspaper. “I think so.”
“You think so?”
“Well, I heard about one suspicious death on the news. Then, in the paper, I saw another suspicious death that occurred the very next night. Now, the news didn’t connect the two—”
“But you did?”
“Yessirree. I got on Facebook and found out that these two were at the very same event the night before the first one died. The other one died the very next night. Coincidence? I think not.”
“What was the event?” Calvin looked intrigued.
“A poetry slam.”
“A what?”
“It’s a competition poetry reading. People read poems and judges judge them. Someone wins.”
“How do you know this?”
“I read the description on the Facebook event page.”
“You’re turning into quite the Facebook aficionado, aren’t you?”
Gertrude nodded. “I’m not sure how anyone ever solved crimes without Facebook.”
Calvin smirked. “Indeed. So I suppose you want me to take you to Portland?”
“Yep. I’ve got a plan. My driver’s test isn’t until Wednesday, but the next poetry slam is on Monday. So I’ll need you to take me. I’m going undercover.”
Calvin guffawed again. “Undercover? As what? A poet?”
“Yes. As a poet.”
Calvin barked out another round of laughter. His face grew red and tears began to leak out of the corners of his closed eyes.
Gertrude wanted to slap him. “I’m not sure why that’s so funny.”
Calvin took a deep, albeit shaky, breath and said, “I’m just not sure it’s necessary for you to be a poet. I mean, can’t we just go to the poetry reading as spectators? Do you really need to participate?” He pushed out this last word, which sent him into another fit of giggles.
“Calvin, stop tee-heeing like a little girl. I’ve given this some thought, and I think it would be a little weird if we just show up as spectators and start asking questions, but if we participate”—she mocked his use of the word—“then we have more of a reason to be nosey. Just trust me on this. I know what I’m doing.”
Calvin took another deep breath and this time seemed to have gained control of his emotions. He wiped at his eyes with the back of one hand. “All right then. Let me see the paper.”
She hoisted herself off the couch and crossed the small room to hand him the opened newspaper. He took it, and then she leaned in and pointed to the article she wanted him to see.
“Ah, got a big headline, I see.”
“No, not yet,” Gertrude said, completely missing his irony. “They don’t know yet that it was a murder.”
“And you do?”
“Just read.”
Calvin read. But not for long. “Gertrude, this says he died of alcohol poisoning. That’s not suspicious.”
“But,” Gertrude said, pointing at the paper, “his blood alcohol level was only 0.25 percent. That’s not enough to kill a person, Calvin.”
“How do you know?”
“I looked it up on the Internet. With my jitterbug.”
Calvin looked up at her, though her face was hovering only inches from his own. “Why? You saw this article about a kid drinking himself to death, and you just thought you should investigate blood alcohol levels?”
“I was looking for a case. And I already knew about the girl who died the night before. She was from the same college.”
“You were looking for a case,” Calvin repeated incredulously, seeming not to hear the rest of Gertrude’s explanation. “Gertrude, I know I’ve said this before, but maybe you should find a new hobby.”
“Calvin, there are two dead ‘kids,’ as you call them, in Portland. You really want to ignore that?”
Calvin sighed. “OK, show me the other one.”
“I can’t. She’s not in the paper. I saw her on the news. But you can find her on the Internet, if you want.”
“No, thanks. I don’t want to get out of my chair. Why don’t you just tell me about her?” He handed her the paper.
She took it and returned to her spot on the couch. “The first victim’s name is Abby Livingstone. She died the night before John did. In a car accident—”
“Gertrude, a car accident is not suspicious!”
“Would you let me finish? She was drinking too, and she supposedly drove her car off a bridge. But I’m telling you, Calvin, they are at the same college—”
“They are at the same college? As in right now?”
“Well not right now because they’re both dead.”
Calvin sighed. “No, I mean, they were going to college now? It’s July!”
“That’s what the news said. Now, will you let me finish? So, same college, they were both at the same event on Monday night, and then they both die of alcohol related causes within 24 hours of each other? Something isn’t right.”
“I agree. Something isn’t right with the amount of alcohol college kids consume nowadays. Of course, they can afford to, because my tax dollars are paying for their tuition. If they had to pay for it themselves, they probably would be more—”
“Calvin,” Gertrude interrupted, “let’s not get distracted. The point is, we’ve got two dead youngsters on our hands. I think they knew each other. Let’s just go to this poetry thing and check it out. Maybe it will amount to nothing. Maybe we’ll get to catch another murderer.”
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