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Chapter 27

Mom had been waiting in the warm car instead of freezing with me during the photo shoot.

“Riley, hurry up and get in! I want to catch Fawn and invite her to Easter dinner. She’s about to take off.”

We both watched Fawn throw her stuff in the trunk of her car and drive out of the parking lot.

“She can’t get away. I wanted to talk to her today.” Mom stomped on the gas pedal. “Let’s follow her.”

“That’s weird, Mom. Can’t we just call her?”

“Don’t you want to see where she lives?”

If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was in the car with Breanne.

“I guess.”

“Good. I brought her some homemade cookies. I thought I’d sweeten the Easter deal a little. People can’t say no when you give them cookies.”

We followed Fawn for about fifteen minutes into an area where the rich people of Fresno live. Fawn’s car pulled into the driveway of a beautiful house with big trees and a walkway up to the door that seemed a mile long.

“I wonder if she lives with her parents,” I said.

“Probably not. But maybe she’s married to a really wealthy guy.” Mom just stared at the house.

“Fawn never mentioned being married.”

We pulled up to the curb in front of the house and just missed Fawn as she drove into her garage and shut the automatic door behind her.

“I guess she didn’t see us. Now what?” I asked. I hoped Mom wouldn’t say we were going in.

“We’re going in.”

We waited in the car for a few minutes so Fawn would have time to unload things from her car and actually get in the house to hear the doorbell. At least we weren’t breaking in on her like we did with Flip.

We walked fifty-three steps to get to the front door. There was this really fun woodpecker doorknocker that I insisted on using, but after a few minutes of pecking — no answer.

Mom tried the doorbell, and a really nice song began playing.

“I think that’s Bach,” she said.

The song played to the end, but still no answer. So we rang the bell again.

“Well, we know she’s here. Maybe she’s in the bathroom.” Mom wasn’t giving up.

Fawn finally opened the door just a crack.

“Oh, wow — it’s you guys. I thought I heard someone out here. I was way in the back of the house. Is everything okay?”

Just then, a man came running by, chasing a really big, mean-looking dog. The leash was on the dog’s neck, but the handle was dragging behind. The dog ran up Fawn’s driveway.

“Get in here — quick!” Fawn opened the door wide and waved us in.

I practically dove into the house. Mom followed behind.

Fawn slammed the door and took a couple of deep breaths. “I can’t stand big dogs. That one looked like it could chew us all up.”

Mom and I watched out the window as the man grabbed the dog and put him in a silver sports car across the street.

“Well, he’s gone now,” I said. “He just drove off.”

Fawn looked relieved. “Did you see what the guy looked like?”

“Young,” I said. “But I was too busy looking at that scary dog to notice anything else.”

“I got his license plate number.” Mom pulled out a notepad and wrote the number down.

Fawn closed the window shades. “Well, next time he better hold onto that leash or I’m going to report him to the homeowner’s association.”

Mom and I just stood there for a moment, staring. The woman we were looking at sounded like Fawn, but she didn’t look like Fawn at all.

She was wearing sweatpants, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that was sticking out of a baseball cap.

And all the makeup was gone.

And she was wearing Riley Mae running shoes.

Fawn looked down at her shoes, then back up at us.

“Uh, I was just getting ready to work out.”

“We’re sorry to interrupt. I wanted to give you these in the parking lot, but you got away too fast.” Mom handed her the cookies.

“Oh . . . um . . . thanks.”

“Can I use your bathroom?” I asked.

“Riley, that’s rude.” Mom frowned as she glanced my direction.

“But I really have to go.”

“It’s okay, Mrs. Hart,” Fawn said. “It’s down the hall, third door on the left.”

So off I went. I didn’t really have to go to the bathroom, but I did have to go down the hall to check the place out. Breanne and TJ would be proud.

Mom, however, would be mad if she knew what I was up to. I couldn’t help myself. Fawn in sweatpants just made me super curious. In fact, the stuff inside her house was kind of strange too. I couldn’t really put my finger on it, except to say that the whole place wasn’t Fawn-like. Fawn is “foofy” (that’s the word my dad uses to describe super-girly girls), and this house was definitely not “foofy.”

I snooped in the bathroom but didn’t find any clues. It just looked like a normal guest bathroom with nice nature pictures on the wall. No “foof” there either. I really wanted to find Fawn’s bedroom and look in, but I was afraid I’d get caught, so I headed back down the hallway. As I did, I noticed a framed picture hanging on the wall. It was a photo of Fawn and Flip — Flip was wearing a suit and his hair was combed — and some other guy who looked a little familiar. I think it was one of the Swiftriver employees, but I wasn’t sure.

“Are you coming?” Mom called from the end of the hallway. “We have some hungry guys at home wondering where we are, I’m sure.”

“Yeah.” On my way back, I noticed a door to one of the rooms was open. I pretended to trip over my feet and fall down right in front of it so I could have a quick peek inside. It was a huge workout room with a treadmill, a stationary bike, and weight machines. It also had a big TV hanging on the wall.

Fawn met me in the hallway.

I got up off the ground. “Wow, you must like to work out,” I said.

“I have to keep up with you sport-os. You think climbing up Half Dome is going to be easy?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Those cables are going to be tough, so I’ve been pumping a little iron.”

“Cables? Wait — are we really climbing all the way to the top? I thought we were just taking pictures by it.”

Fawn laughed. “How do you think we’re going to get by it?” She punched me in the arm. “You better get in shape, sister.”

“Riley — come on! We’ve wasted enough of Fawn’s time.” Mom was using her gruff police voice.

“Hey Fawn, how come your house isn’t foofy?”

Fawn crossed her arms. “Huh?”

“Riley — out!” Rats. The visit was over. I followed Mom out to the car.

“Is she coming for Easter?” I asked.

“Yeah. I told you the cookies would work.”