Kate and Sydney spent the rest of the day at the pool, swimming with Dexter. It was nice to enjoy some fun time. Kate thought about the first time she met Sydney and the other Camp Club Girls at Discovery Lake Camp. What fun they’d had, solving their first case and getting to know each other. Now they were all great friends. And on days like today, swimming with Sydney, Kate could almost forget the Phillies and all of the problems Andrew and his dad were going through.
Almost.
After a few minutes of fun, Sydney announced, “I need to swim one hundred laps. Hope you don’t mind, but I want to make the swim team this year and I need to work on my speed and strength.”
Kate shrugged. “Okay. No problem.” She went to the shallow end and sat on the steps. Two women her mother’s age sat on the steps next to her. She couldn’t help but hear their conversation.
“They need to kick that Tony Smith off the team,” a woman in a black bathing suit said. She fanned herself with her hand and rolled her eyes. “Seriously, he needs to find someplace else to go!”
The other woman—dressed in a green suit—reached for a diet soda and took a sip. She shook her head and said, “He’s hurting the morale of the other players. His attitude is terrible! And lately he hasn’t even played well!”
“Excuse me…,” Kate started to say.
The woman looked her way. “Yes?” the lady in the black suit said. “Can we help you?”
“Oh…never mind.”
Kate wanted to explain that it was all a big mistake—that Tony actually loved the Phillies—but decided not to. It would be better to prove them wrong than to tell them they were wrong. And she would do that—with the help of her friends.
The afternoon ended too quickly. Kate’s mom and dad took the girls out to eat at an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet that evening.
“I love, love, love this place!” Kate said as they entered. She stopped inside the door and drew in a deep breath. “Do you smell that? Do you? It’s the most wonderful smell in the world. Smell the garlic? Smell the pizza crust baking? Smell the pepperoni and sausage? Oh, I think that’s the best smell ever!”
“You’re funny! You know that?” Sydney laughed. “Just smells like pizza to me. But look at that salad bar! They have great veggies. I’m going to love this place.”
“Veggies?” This was one of Kate’s favorite places to eat, but she’d never noticed the vegetables before. Oh well. She grabbed a plate and got in line. She loaded up on the good stuff…three pieces of sausage pizza, one slice of pepperoni, a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, and two slices of dessert pizza.
Sydney grabbed a bowl and filled it with salad, loading it with bright orange carrot sticks, round red tomatoes, and lots of green cucumbers. Afterward, she took a tiny slice of cheese pizza.
Kate looked at her, stunned. “That’s all you’re eating?”
“Sure.” Sydney shrugged. “Why?”
“Oh, no reason.” Kate tried not to feel bad about all of the food she ate as they shared the meal together, but she had to wonder if she was the only one who loved pizza. She even made a second trip back to the buffet for two more slices of pepperoni. Her mother looked at her and said, “Hollow leg!” Kate just laughed.
They arrived home at ten minutes until seven.
“Don’t forget to feed Biscuit,” Kate’s mom said. “And take him outside for a few minutes.”
Kate filled Biscuit’s bowl with food and watched as he chomped it down. “Slow down, boy! You’ll end up weighing a ton! You won’t be a very good crime solver if you’re too chubby to chase the bad guys!”
Biscuit never even looked up from his food. He just kept eating and eating.
Afterward, Kate took him outside. Sydney went with her. They stood in the backyard talking about the case while Biscuit roamed the yard and chased a squirrel. From inside the house, Kate heard the grandfather clock chime seven times.
“Oh! We’re supposed to be online to meet the other girls!”
They raced back inside, where Kate signed onto the Internet. She giggled as she entered the chat room. Bailey—the youngest in their group—was already there.
Bailey: Hey Freckles! Whazup? U said it was important!
Kate: Wait till the others sign on. I’ll tell u everything, I promise. Something is happening and we need ur help!
Bailey: Okie dokie.
“Who is it?” Sydney asked, settling into the chair next to Kate.
“Bailey.” Kate pointed at the screen. “She’s the first one to sign on.”
“Of course!” Sydney laughed. “Bailey might be the youngest, but she’s always ready to roll!”
A few seconds later, Alex signed into the chat room. Kate smiled when she saw her name. Alex knew everything there was to know about solving tough cases. Surely she would be able to help!
Next Elizabeth Anderson signed on. Elizabeth was fourteen—older than any of the others. She always knew just what to do. Kate had enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth at camp. She was so mature, and loaded with godly wisdom!
At five minutes after seven, McKenzie joined them. McKenzie was thirteen and never gave up on a case, even a really tough one like this. Kate could hardly wait to share the news.
McKenzie: What’s up?
Kate quickly filled them in on the story, sharing everything about Tony Smith and his problems with the team. Afterward, she typed, We need all of you!
Elizabeth: We’re here! Whatever u need, just tell us!
Kate: Sydney and I have assignments for you.
How do u feel about that?
McKenzie: Gr8!
Bailey: Cool! Assign away, oh Chief.
Kate smiled as she typed.
Kate: McKenzie, you’re a deep thinker. And you’re so smart! We need you to think of all the reasons why someone would want to do this to Mr. Smith.
McKenzie: I’ll put on my thinking cap.
Kate: Alex, you’re so encouraging! We want you to put together a team of kids to write letters of encouragement to Mr. Smith. Those letters will lift his spirits, and he really needs that right now.
Alexis: Sounds like fun.
Kate: Elizabeth, you’re such a prayer warrior. I would feel better if I knew lots of people were praying! Could you help with that? Put together a prayer team, maybe?
Elizabeth: I’d be happy to! I’ll ask lots of people to pray at certain times of day.
Bailey: What about me? What can I do?
Kate: Keep posting comments to our new Phillies blog. Write some great things about Tony Smith. Let people know what a terrific guy he is. It would be great if all of you could do that…and ask your friends and family members to post their comments, too. The more, the better! Just ask them to say nice things only. Okay?
Kate quickly gave them the link to the new site and they all agreed to help.
Kate: We also need someone to do some research on the Phillies and their history. We also need good stuff on Tony Smith, like how much he’s helped kids with muscular dystrophy…that sort of thing. Internet searches may be enough, but it may also mean a trip to the library. Anyone game?
Bailey: I can do that, too. I’ll dig out Phillies info, Philly Queen Mystery Solver! My fam is going to Chicago this weekend, so I’ll look at one of the big libraries there.
Alexis: And I can help by finding out stuff about Tony Smith.
As they ended the chat, Kate turned to Sydney.
“What do you think?” she asked. “What else can we do? It will be a few days before Bailey gives us information. And it’ll take awhile for the rest of the Camp Club Girls to get going, too. What can we do…right here, right now?”
“Hmm.” Sydney wrinkled her nose as she thought about it. “I suppose we should find some local people who Tony Smith has helped in some way. Get some personal interviews of lives he’s touched.”
“Great idea!” Kate agreed. “And when we’re done with that, let’s figure out the best possible way to get people to notice our new blog site.”
“How do we do that?” Sydney asked.
“It’s not as hard as you think. Just takes time.” With the wave of a hand, Kate explained, “I can announce the site to all of my friends here in Philadelphia and ask them to send the link to their friends, and their friends’ friends, and so on. Before long, people all over the country will know! Also, I’ll go to some of the other Phillies blog sites—the ones saying the bad stuff about Mr. Smith—and leave comments with a link to our site. That’ll get ‘em there, I’m sure!”
“I’ll do the same thing,” Sydney agreed. “I know lots of people who love sports. As soon as our blog site is up and going full speed, I’ll send the link. Before long, we’ll have the best Phillies site on the World Wide Web!”
Kate couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s funny, isn’t it? A few days ago I knew nothing about baseball. And now I’m writing about it. Go figure!”
“It’s all for a worthy cause,” Sydney said with a nod. “And besides, you’ll fall in love with baseball, I promise. It’s such a great sport. And with players like Tony Smith, what’s not to love?”
Kate shrugged. She still wasn’t so sure about the whole baseball thing. But maybe next Saturday’s game would be the true test. Perhaps there she could solve a mystery—and at the same time fall in love with the game of baseball!