“They” were Zal, CC, Wiley Kendall and Sergeant Castro. He didn’t look happy to see me. “Duncan Fortune,” he said, around his gum. “We meet again. You’re a persistent young man, Duncan. I hope it pays off, for all of us.”
“Hi, Sergeant. How’s Detective Yee?” Suddenly I was so nervous that polite was all that came out. I guess Aunt Jenn had trained me well.
“She’s fine. She’s downstairs with the car.” His glance flicked over all of us and came to rest on the big broom.
“Oh. That’s, uh, mine,” Wiley Kendall said. “Wondered where I left it.”
“Uh-huh,” said Sergeant Castro. He looked at us again. Everyone shifted uneasily. “Does this involve all of you?”
“Well, I guess it does, one way or another,” said Aunt Jenn. “We surely hope you can help us, Sergeant. This morning I found a snake in my car, frightened the life out of me, and now my nephew Duncan and his friends think it means my car was used in a bank robbery. I just don’t know what’s going on.”
“I know the feeling,” Sergeant Castro said, chewing. It didn’t look as if Aunt Jenn was going to get him shuffling and aheming. “But I’m hoping this may save me interviewing the clairvoyant who claims to have visions of where the loot is.” He looked at me. “I’m not holding my breath. All right, Duncan, let’s start with you. Take your time.”
I went through it the way we’d planned: how Zal, CC and I were trying to catch the Borsalino Bandit to get the reward and help our families with school fees, how we’d figured out a pattern to the robberies (I let Zal explain that part; the sergeant was impressed), how we’d staked out the plaza but only CC had seen what happened.
Then CC described the man she saw walk into the bank, and how she’d run out from Gator Aid and dumped Bob into the robber’s car. She said she didn’t know the kind of car, but the licence had been something like AW5. Marty/Lamar said he ran the business but had been out at the time and got back just after and that Bob was indeed gone. “Lamar Del Ray,” he introduced himself. “But I run the store as Marty Raymond.”
“Duncan named a Lamar Del Ray in his message,” said Sergeant Castro. “That you? He seems to think you did it.”
“I got confused because I was excited,” I said quickly. “I was trying to say CC thought the robber looked like him.”
“Okay,” Sergeant Castro said. “So, CC here put a snake in the robber’s car, whatever it was. How come the robber didn’t flip out? I, personally, would go through the roof.”
“Either the dude didn’t mind snakes,” said Marty/Lamar, “or, more likely, ’ol Bob headed right under the nearest seat. Milk snakes are hiders.”
“And now there’s a snake in Ms. Fortune’s car.” Sergeant Castro turned to Aunt Jenn. “Where was your car yesterday, Ms. Fortune, and where were you?”
“I took it to work at Aurora B Nurseries,” said Aunt Jenn. “I was there all day, except when I took a late lunch and drove over to Woodside Market to do our shopping. I was working overtime — it’s that time of year — and I knew I’d be too tired after.”
“What time did you shop?”
“Around two, I think. It took a while. It was a big shop.”
“It was,” Wiley Kendall agreed. “I helped her bring it in.”
“You went straight to the grocery from work?”
Aunt Jenn nodded. “It’s not far.”
“And your car was unattended in the lot while you shopped. How long?”
Aunt Jenn shrugged. “Forty minutes? Like I said, it was a load.”
“Was it locked?”
“Probably not. I know I should. Still have some small town in me, I guess.”
Sergeant Castro folded his arms across his chest, considering. “The robbery was around two-twenty. Woodside’s six or seven minutes away, tops. Someone could steal your car, use it for the robbery and return it before you even knew it was gone. Stranger things have happened. Let’s have a look at the car.”
Outside, it was already almost as hot as the day before had been. Detective Yee was in the unmarked cruiser, parked behind Aunt Jenn’s twined-off Toyota. She got out and nodded to us.
Sergeant Castro said, “We have a partial plate number, AW5.” Detective Yee jotted it down. We all looked at Aunt Jenn’s licence: OKG 853.
“This one is registered to a Jennifer Anne Fortune, of this address,” said Detective Yee, nodding at the plate.
“Well, yes, that would be me,” said Aunt Jenn.
“This the car?” Sergeant Castro asked CC.
She shrugged. “It was like this. I only know trucks. These all look the same.”
“You’re not alone. We had witnesses say Toyota, Honda, Nissan and, believe it or not, a Hummer.” Sergeant Castro stepped over the twine and peered in the car. He drew back quickly and turned to CC and Marty/Lamar. “How about the snake? Geez, it looks like a rattler.”
“Milk snake,” CC snorted. “They’re harmless.”
Marty/Lamar said, “Can I?” and pointed at the twine.
“May I,” CC corrected.
Zal and I glared at her.
“Go ahead,” said Sergeant Castro. They both stepped over the twine and looked in, CC right behind.
“Hey, Bob,” said CC. “Snakes I know.”
Shut up, I thought.
“Well, it is a milk snake,” said Marty/Lamar. “Can’t say if it’s Bob. The markings don’t differentiate enough, you know? And snakes often get into strange places on their own. I took one of these out of a house near here a while back. In the dryer, came in through the vent.”
“Geez,” Sergeant Castro grimaced. “They common around here?”
“There’ll be a few. Not much habitat in the city. They eat rodents, mostly, so definitely some in Oakwood Park.”
“Been there lately, Ms. Fortune?”
“A few days ago,” Aunt Jenn picked up on Marty/Lamar’s lead. “I take my lunch there if I have the time.”
“They can go a spell without eating,” Marty/Lamar followed up. “Like I said, be happy as a clam under your seats.”
Aunt Jenn shuddered. “That thing could have been in there all this time?”
Sergeant Castro chewed harder, maybe thinking about his own car. Then he got back to business. “So, Ms. Fortune’s car is probable, right size and colour and could have been stolen at the right time to be the robbery vehicle, but we can’t confirm make or model and the plates are different. There is a snake inside, but we can’t positively ID it either and it could have been there a while, so the whole thing could be a coincidence. A strange one, but they happen.”
He looked at Detective Yee. She shrugged. He looked at his watch. For the first time, I had the feeling we were going to get away with it.
“Well,” Sergeant Castro said, “I think we’re about done for now. You’ve all been helpful. Ms. Fortune, could we just wrap this up with a look in the back of the car?”
Aunt Jenn blinked. “Go right on, it’s not locked. I haven’t had it open. I put the groceries in the back seat to take into Aurora B. It is a mess, though.”
We huddled at the back of the car as Sergeant Castro took a packet of latex gloves from his jacket pocket. He snapped them on and raised the hatchback. Inside was our usual jumble of junk: jumper cables, motor oil and washer fluid, an old blanket, a milk crate stuffed with plastic bags, some planter flats from Aurora B, a sweatshirt I’d been looking for. Sergeant Castro poked around, then lifted a corner of the blanket. Something was underneath.
He shifted things gently and lifted the blanket higher. There was a licence plate: AHW 055.
We all gasped.
“I’ll run it, contact the owner,” said Detective Yee. She shook her head as she turned to the cruiser. “Sometimes people don’t notice. We all take them for granted.”
“Find out if they were at or near Woodside Market yesterday,” called Sergeant Castro. To us, he said, “Looks as if he switched your plate with one he stole, from the same parking lot, I’ll bet. A double blind. Didn’t have time to ditch it, or he didn’t care. Look here, here, here.” Sergeant Castro pointed at the bottom of the trunk, the stolen plate and the blanket. There were flecks of bright red-orange paint, almost the colour of Zal’s bouncy ball. He lifted my sweatshirt. It was smeared with the stuff. He knelt and peered at Aunt Jenn’s licence plate. “And here too, little specks. The teller slipped a dye pack in with the stolen money. The robber must have got it on himself too.”
“So somebody stole my car,” Aunt Jenn whispered.
Sergeant Castro nodded, stood up and swiped at his knee. “Looks like this is the vehicle. Ms. Fortune, we’ll have to leave this car as is for the tech folks to sweep. I wonder if we could just go back upstairs so I can organize my notes and ask you a last couple of questions?”
I went back up with Sergeant Castro and Aunt Jenn. The others stayed in the parking lot. Sergeant Castro asked Aunt Jenn to go over the times she left work and went shopping. He made more notes.
“This is one thorough crook,” he said, flipping his notebook shut. “Changing plates on a stolen car.”
“If Aunt Jenn came back early and her car was gone,” I pointed out, “she’d report it. He wouldn’t want you guys watching for it if he was going to rob a bank.” It was the kind of extra-sneaky thing criminals would do in World’s Best.
Sergeant Castro nodded slowly. “Good point. Keep your career choices open, Duncan. You might make detective. In the meantime, I’d better get on this. Thank you for your help. This is our first break in the case. The tech team will be over later and I’ll be in touch. Sorry for the inconvenience.” He handed Aunt Jenn his card. “If you think of anything else, let me know right away.”
We’d done it. Aunt Jenn led us to the door. “I don’t know which gives me the willies more,” she said, over her shoulder, “having my car stolen by a bank robber, or driving around with a snake in it.”
Sergeant Castro didn’t answer. He was looking at Aunt Jenn’s rear end. Her leather work gloves were crammed into her back pocket. One was streaked with glowing red-orange paint.
As she turned to face us, he said, “Some crooks switch plates on a stolen car. Not many switch them back again. Ms. Fortune, I’m going to ask you to come down to the station.”