“You know what the pills are?” I asked. Was it possible that Chet had solved our case before we had?
“What pills?” he said, staring at me blankly.
Joe sighed. “Chet, have you ever even looked inside the packages you carry for Huang?”
“No,” he said. “I just come here twice a week, get the packages from Duke, and bring them back to Huang.”
“Haven’t you ever wondered what you’re carrying?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Not really. Huang says they’ve known each other forever. I just figured it was some old friend thing.”
“Did he tell you how they met?” Joe asked.
“Yeah. Ten years ago they took the same martial arts class—in reform school.” Chet watched us anxiously, expecting us to be shocked.
“Just like we thought,” I said. Joe nodded.
Chet looked disappointed. “But did you know they met Finn Campbell there too?” he asked.
“No,” Joe said.
Chet pumped his fist in the air. “Finally! I know something you guys don’t!”
I bit back a smile. Chet has always wanted to be a detective.
“But Finn is older than Huang and Duke,” I said. “How could he have been in reform school with them?”
“He wasn’t. He was the one who taught their martial arts class,” Chet said.
Now that was interesting. I’d assumed all along that Finn was just the accountant and the office manager. It never occurred to me that he knew karate, too.
“How do you know all this stuff about Finn?” Joe asked.
Chet’s cheeks turned red. “Liz told me,” he murmured.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Joe teased. “Liz told you? You mean you’ve actually spoken to a girl?”
“Shut up,” Chet said, embarrassed. “I was trying to get information to build my case. She offered to help out.”
That’s why she was hanging around the other day when I climbed out the window of Huang’s office, I realized. Maybe she’d even been in there snooping before me. The place had been a wreck, after all. Still . . .
“Hang on,” I said. “Liz is Finn’s daughter. Why would she help you find out any dirt on him?”
“She’s worried about him,” Chet replied. “She thinks Huang is a bad influence on her dad. Finn was out of work when Huang gave him this job, and now Finn thinks he owes Huang something.”
“Liz thinks Huang is blackmailing Finn?” Joe asked.
“Finn doesn’t seem like such a great guy to me,” I said. “I saw him practically threatening Billy Lee.”
Chet shrugged. “All I know is that Liz thinks he’s in over his head.”
“In what over his head?” Joe asked. “What exactly do you think is going on?”
Chet made a big show of looking around to make sure nobody was listening. Then he leaned in closer to us. “Huang’s a fraud,” he whispered.
“He’s scamming the students for money?” I asked.
“Is he embezzling funds from the Rising Phoenix?” Joe asked.
Chet frowned. “No.” He paused for a moment, for dramatic effect, and then revealed, “He’s not a black belt.”
I glanced at Joe. He looked as confused as I felt. “Huh?” he said.
“I asked Duke about Huang and his martial arts background,” Chet said. “They both took classes when they were in reform school. And Duke kept taking classes afterward, but Huang didn’t.”
“And . . . ?” I just didn’t see where he was going with this.
“And he claims to be a master karate teacher,” Chet cried. “But he’s not even a black belt!”
“So what?” Joe asked.
“So kids are paying to take lessons from a black belt,” Chet said, speaking slowly as if that would make it easier for Joe to understand. “He’s lying to them. They’re not getting what they paid for.”
“Okay,” Joe said. “But what does that have to do with the pills that Huang is giving Billy Lee?”
“Or with those two kids who ended up in the hospital?” I added.
“Or the private investigator who got killed yesterday?” Joe asked.
Chet looked from me to Joe and back again. “I—I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” he said.
“Those packages you’ve been carrying are filled with little white pills in unlabeled bottles,” I told him. “Huang gives them to Billy—and probably a lot of other students. And it seems like he expects students to pay for them.”
“Plus, Russell got mugged and another kid collapsed. And a guy with the same tattoo as Huang murdered a PI from InSight Investments in an alley about two blocks from here,” Joe added.
Chet’s face fell. “So it’s not just about Huang lying to students?” he asked.
“No. We think it’s about the pills that you’ve been transporting,” I said.
Chet banged his hand on the seat of his bike. “I can’t believe it! I’m the worst detective of all time. I never even thought about the packages. I just figured that acting as his courier was a good way to get Huang to trust me.”
“That’s a great idea,” Joe said quickly. “You wanted him to trust you and be relaxed around you. That way he’d let down his guard and you could get the dirt on him.”
“Classic detective strategy,” I agreed.
But Chet wasn’t having it. “You two have been here for a week and you already know more about what’s going on than I do. I didn’t solve the case, did I?”
“No,” I admitted. “But you can be a huge part of helping us solve it.”
“I can?” he asked hopefully.
“Absolutely. But it might be dangerous,” Joe told him.
“I don’t care,” Chet said. “I can handle it. What’s my mission?”
“Simple. Just go into the diner and get the package from Duke like you always do,” I said. “Act normal. Then, after you have the pills, you’ll meet us at the Rising Phoenix. We’ll take one of the pill bottles so we can send it to be tested and find out what the pills are.”
“Then you give the rest of the package to Huang like you always do,” Joe put in. “You’ll have to act as if everything is normal so Huang doesn’t suspect anything.”
“Can you handle that?” I asked.
“Definitely.” Chet grinned. “Awesome!”
I smiled back at him. Chet was a great guy. I was beyond relieved that he wasn’t involved in Huang’s illegal activities—at least not on purpose. “It is awesome,” I agreed. “We’re psyched to have another detective on our team.”