Cody and Wyatt made Cobra signs that said REWARD, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. They posted them all around Payton Underwood’s neighborhood, the scene of the crime.

In normal times, Cody loved doing things with her big brother. But not today. Trudge-trudge, went Wyatt’s feet. Slump-slump, went his shoulders. Whatever the total opposite of fun was, that was today.

“Ahoy!” called a too-familiar voice. “Avast, ye scurvy dogs!”

Molly and Maxie raced toward them. Maxie threw her arms around Cody’s knees. If Maxie were an animal, she’d be a koala.

“What are you doing in this neighborhood?” Molly demanded.

“This is where Wyatt’s bike got stolen,” said Cody. “What are you doing here?”

“This is where Mommy lives,” said Maxie.

“Hey,” said Wyatt. “If you see a bike with a race-face bash guard and WT-six-sixty-six wheels, let me know, okay?”

“I probably won’t.” Molly turned around and walked away.

“Won’t see it or won’t tell us?” Cody called.

If you are thinking Molly turned back and answered politely, you have not been paying attention.

Cody got a funny feeling. It was like that time she ate five pieces of pepperoni pizza and washed it down with a can of grape pop. Uneasy.

Only this time in her brain, not her stomach.

That night, Dad called from the road. He was a trucker. He was in Maine, picking up a shipment of wreaths and trees.

“The truck smells like Christmas,” he told Cody. “Here, take a whiff.”

What do you know? Cody could smell right through the phone! This was the miracle of Dad.

“How’s your brother?” he asked.

“Not good. Not good at all.”

“Poor cowboy.”

“I hate whoever stole it!” Cody said, even though hating was not allowed in this family. “Why are people so evil?”

“Most people aren’t, Little Seed. Look around. What do you see? People being good and kind and doing what they should.”

“Not all the time.”

“You’re right. Now and then, everyone takes a wrong turn. They head down the wrong road.”

“They should just turn around,” said Cody.

“Most times they do. Most times they hang a U-ey and head back in the right direction.”

Dad let her smell Christmas one more time, and then they said good night.

In bed, Cody tried to talk things over with Arctic Fox.

“Everybody around here misses something. Wyatt misses the Cobra. You miss Pearl, and I miss Gremlin. And my dad. It’s like a lost and found, only no found.”

Arctic Fox made no reply.

“What do you think Gremlin and Pearl are doing right now?”

Arctic Fox had no idea.

Arctic Fox was cute. But she had a lot of work to do in the conversation department.