I didn’t get a chance to talk to Vince the rest of that school day. He and I didn’t have a single class together that year other than homeroom right away in the morning, and that wasn’t even a real class. So the only times we ever really saw each other during the day were at recesses and lunch. I was pretty sure the administration had rigged our schedules that way on purpose.

After school Vince had to rush home to babysit his little sister like usual, so I was left to track down Tyrell alone.

The trouble was I didn’t really know where to look for Tyrell anymore. I started my search down at the new plastic playground, but he didn’t seem to be there like he sometimes was. Then I checked the old playground on the top of the hill.

I was close to giving up when the blue mailbox on the corner right by the old playground talked to me.

“Mac!” it said.

I let out a yell and practically jumped up into the small tree next to me.

“I heard you’ve been looking for me,” the mailbox said. “Do you have something to mail?”

“Huh?” I wondered if I’d accidentally eaten some of those mushrooms that grow behind the Shed down near the new playground that everyone said gave you weird visions.

“Just kidding, Mac,” the mailbox said. “One second.”

There was a clanking sound from within the large blue box. Then I heard metal sliding against metal, and a hand came out from the bottom of the mailbox, followed by an arm. Then Tyrell’s face appeared and grinned at me. He squeezed the rest of himself out of the mailbox and replaced the false bottom.

“You cut that hole?” I asked, once again astounded at the kid’s ingenuity.

Tyrell shrugged. “Yeah, I mean, technically it’s a federal offense, probably even a felony, but normal laws don’t really apply in the name of deep covert surveillance, you know.”

I nodded even though I didn’t really know at all. Tyrell was the best spy in the world, or at least in our school. Spies had a whole list of their own rules that I couldn’t even pretend to understand fully.

“Besides, it’d be worth it even if I did get caught. You’d be amazed at how much great stuff you can witness from in there.”

I laughed and then asked, “Did you really know I was looking for you?” I wasn’t sure how that was possible since Vince and I had only decided earlier that afternoon to come talk to him.

“Of course,” he said.

I waited for him to explain how he could have possibly known, but he simply left it at that and said nothing else. The kid was a marvel, and it usually was in your best interest not to even bother trying to ask how when it came to his methods. So I left it at that, too.

“So, what do you need, Mac? I thought you were retired?”

“I am,” I said. “But just the same, I’m sure you’ve heard about Jimmy Two-Tone?”

Tyrell nodded slowly. “Yeah, he even tried to employ me once, but I passed. I mean, I don’t do garbage assignments. He’d wanted me to spy on his sixteen-year-old neighbor or something.”

“Ugh,” I said.

“Yeah, Tyrell don’t do no dirty, petty missions, guy,” he said, doing an uncanny Jimmy Two-Tone impression. We both laughed.

“Yeah, well, anyways, I am retired and all, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that something is up. I mean, on the surface, Jimmy Two-Tone seems to be a great businessman, but there are a few things that don’t add up,” I said. I then told him about everything Vince and I had seen and heard up to that point. “I mean, Ears said he heard Jimmy wasn’t involved in creating the problems but . . .”

Tyrell made a face. I’d forgotten that he didn’t really much care for Ears. Tyrell didn’t trust anybody who operated solely on second- and third-hand information. He always said, “Mac, the only things you can really ever truly trust are what you see with your own eyes and what you hear with your own ears.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I should have come to you in the first place. But I’m here now. Can you check it out for me?”

“Sure thing, Mac,” Tyrell said.

“Thanks,” I said as I shook his hand.

He pocketed the twenty-dollar bill that we’d exchanged during the handshake, his upfront fee, and then was gone. I had been standing right there, but I’m telling you I couldn’t even have told you what direction he’d gone if I had been under oath and hooked up to a lie detector. He was that good. I shook my head in awe.