Chapter Twenty-One

“I’m not investigating on an empty stomach,” Ivy said, shutting her locker with a snap. “Any evidence that’s been sitting there all week is not going to disappear in the two seconds it’ll take me to buy lunch.”

My stomach growled before I could answer, and Ivy laughed. “Exactly,” she said. “Come on.” She hauled me by the arm of my lucky coat, speeding through the doors of the crowded cafeteria. I spotted a familiar face as Ivy zipped over to the relatively short lunch line.

“Hey,” I said, sliding into a chair next to Leyla at the bake sale table. “I didn’t know you were part of the Arts Council.”

She smacked at my wandering fingers, making their way toward a butter tart, and rolled her eyes. “I’m not,” she said. “Ashi roped me into watching the table while she looked for Mrs. Pamuk. Apparently Mr. Williams is trying to kick them out of this spot so the team can sell tickets for Saturday. It’s a whole thing.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“Meh,” Leyla said. “I’ve got articles to write up, and she was freaking out. I can work here just as well as anywhere else. Hey!” She pointed at a group of kids walking by. “Buy some cookies. You look like you can spare two bucks.”

“Two? Ashi told me four.”

“She had you pegged.” Leyla chuckled. “Your own fault for not reading the sign. I knew I liked that kid.” She stuffed the money she’d collected into a little tin and waved at Ivy as she walked up. “Hey, Ivy. I’m teaching Howard about supply and demand.”

“Please don’t.” Ivy grimaced around her sandwich.

“I know plenty,” I said, grabbing a cookie off the table, ignoring Ivy’s squawk. “Trust me. Ashi owes me this one.”

“Speaking of . . .” Ivy said, “where is Ashi? I thought she was in charge of the table today.”

Leyla filled her in on the impending eviction by the basketball team, and Ivy let out a low whistle. “Ellis is going to flip out,” she said.

“Incoming.” Leyla dipped her chin toward the far end of the cafeteria. Mr. Williams was on his way over to our table.

“We’d better go find Ashi and Mrs. Pamuk before Mr. Williams shuts you guys down.” Ivy poked at my shoulder, motioning for me to get out of the chair. “Leyla, can you distract him for a bit?”

“Definitely,” Leyla said, a terrifying grin cutting across her face. “I want to ask him a few questions for our upcoming issue.” Leaving the situation in her intense hands, Ivy and I quick-marched out of the caf and through the doors.

“Where do you think they’ll be?” Ivy did a 360 check of the hallway. Process of elimination meant investigating the most likely spots first. I weighed the odds.

“Let’s go to Mrs. Pamuk’s classroom,” I said, turning left. Ivy and I kept our pace on the fine line between brisk and suspicious. Leyla could only stall for so long. We couldn’t afford to waste time being hauled aside by a teacher for questioning.

Rounding the next corner, we spotted our target. Ashi stood in front of Mrs. Pamuk’s room, brows drawn together in a frown, green glasses sliding down her nose as her fingers flew over her phone. Message complete, she stuffed her phone into her bag and took off at a jog down the hallway. My detective senses were tingling. I didn’t know if it was the set of her jaw or the fact that she’d hosed me on the cookies, but Ashi was looking pretty shifty. I grabbed Ivy’s hand to stop her from calling out.

“Wait,” I said. “I want to see where she’s going.”

“Probably to the cafeteria to deal with the table situation,” Ivy said.

“Caf’s behind us.” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “Think she’s taking the long, long way around?”

My partner looked back at Ashi’s retreating form, an argument dancing on the tip of her tongue.

“There’s something I can’t put my finger on,” I said. “Trust me?”

“Ugh, okay, fine,” Ivy said. “But if we’re doing this, we’d better get going because she’s losing us without even trying.”

Matching Ashi’s pace, Ivy and I kept a safe distance as she led us through the halls. I held Ivy back at the last corner as our final destination became clear. “I think she’s going to the music room.”

“Maybe Mrs. Pamuk wasn’t in class and she’s meeting her here. Or—”

“Ashi.” A whispered shout cut off Ivy’s theories. We peeked around the corner to see Scotty shuffle running from the other end of the hall toward Ashi. They held a whispered conversation, too low for us to hear, but punctuated by a great deal of arm waving. Ashi shushed Scotty into submission, and he opened up the door to the music room, ushering her inside.

I looked back at my partner. “I think we should—”

“Yes, obviously,” she said, pushing me forward. “Go, go.”

We tiptoed up to the doors before realizing our predicament. There was no way to get into the room without alerting Scotty and Ashi to our presence. Ivy pointed to the grate at the bottom of the door. In a more shielded environment, it’d be an ideal eavesdropping tool. But out in the hallway, we were totally exposed. Anyone walking by would have at least one question about why we were crouched up against the door. Ivy dropped down, making the decision for us. I followed suit, keeping one ear tuned to the hallway and the other pressed up against the grate.

I was greeted by an explosion of sneezes. “I can’t do this anymore,” Scotty said, his voice muffled as he struggled to breathe and talk with a head full of snot. “The stress, the hiding, the allergies—it’s too much.”

“I know, I know,” Ashi answered. “It’s getting intense. I want to bring him back, but everyone else said no.”

“Spartacus?” I mouthed at my partner. Ivy’s eyes widened.

“What are they waiting for?” Scotty asked between sneezes.

“They said we have to prove our point, or nothing will change,” the girl said. “We’ll keep him until after the game on Saturday. Can you handle that?”

“No,” Scotty cried. “Look at me. I’m a mess. Listen, I know you can’t take him, but there’s someone who can. Someone we can trust.”

The few beats of silence had me straining closer for Ashi’s reply.

“What are you talking about? What did you do, Scotty?” A chair squeaked across the floor. I squinted through the grate, just able to see Ashi’s legs pacing around the room. “You can’t bring anyone else into this,” she said. “We had a pact to keep us all safe.”

“He understands,” Scotty replied. “He wants to help, and we can’t keep passing you-know-who around. We’re bound to get caught. No one will ask questions at his house.”

“Who is it?”

Scotty’s answer was muffled by the scrape of a chair as Ashi sat back down. Her sigh filled the room. “I don’t know,” she said. “When were you going to make the swap?”

“Today,” Scotty said. “You can come by my house after school and check it out. Ask all the questions you want.”

Her next words were covered up by a loud, wet, trumpeting blast as Scotty blew his nose. “Thank you,” he said. “I can’t wait to be able to breathe again.”

I was up off the ground the instant their footsteps headed toward the door, Ivy lightning-quick beside me. Running down the hall was a far cry from inconspicuous. We needed a quick escape. I glanced around and, decision made, hauled Ivy along with me. Flying three steps forward, I pushed us through the door across the hall, letting it quietly swing shut behind us.

Ivy stared at the urinals and yellow-tinged floor before taking in the sinks dotted with wads of wet toilet paper. She rolled her eyes at me and I shrugged. Wasn’t my fault that the boys’ bathroom was the closest unlocked room. An emergency escape is never perfect.

“Well,” Ivy said, “I understand why we never hold our meetings in here.”

I waved a hand to shush her as I listened to Scotty and Ashi’s retreat. Scotty and Ashi. My mind was whirling. Turning back to Ivy, I shook my head. “What have they gotten themselves into? What are they thinking? How many people are involved in this?”

“Excellent questions,” Ivy said. “Maybe ones we should pose to Scotty and Ashi?”

“No, no,” I said. “We need more information before giving them the opportunity to lie . . . like they have been . . . this whole time.” That was going to take a while to sink in.

“You’re in Drama Club with Ashi. You haven’t heard anything? Noticed anything?”

“Howard, I’m in Drama Club, but I’m not in Drama Club.” Ivy dismissed my question. “I go to the meetings—”

“Sometimes.”

“Unnecessary sass,” she said, pausing midpace to cut me some side-eye. “I go to the meetings, but only for fun. I don’t get involved in the politics. But Ashi does. She’s on the Arts Council too.”

We stood in the bathroom, listening to water gurgle in the drain as we processed this new development. Ivy shook her head. “They must have a good reason. They wouldn’t do something like this without a real reason.”

“Trust me, we’re going to find out what it is, but reason or not, now we’ve got facts. We know who’s got Spartacus and where.” I grinned. “Now we can steal him back.”

“Steal him?” Ivy’s eyes widened. “How do you figure we’ll do that?”

“Luckily,” I said. “We know a thief and he owes us a favor.”