Read Minerva Clark Gives Up the Ghost for Free Online Page B

half back in the container.
    â€œSorry. I’m just a little stressed. I grew up in this store,” he said, all sad-dog-looking.
    â€œI get that,” I said. “It’s just that I’m not sure how I can help you. I mean, Robotective in there is about to rule it an accident. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe you just don’t want to face that your parents, you know,
should
have replaced the gas pipes, or whatever. Maybe there’s no mystery here.” As soon as I said that, I understood that I didn’t want it to be true. I wanted a mystery. I needed a mystery. I had become a mystery-o-holic.
    â€œOh, there’s a mystery,” he said. “There’s always a mystery.”
    If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought Angus Paine was going to lean over and give me a smooch, right there, sitting on the curb smack in the middle of the day, with the sun baking the parts in our hair and the occasional car tootling past and Deputy Detective Chief Inspector Whatever inside Angus’s family’s store making notes on his clipboard and … and …
    Oooo-oooo-oooo-ahhnn!
Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa.
Oooo-oooo-oooo-ahhnn!
Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa.
    My phone! I jumped, knocking my half of egg-salad sandwich into the gutter and kicking Angus in the leg at the same time.
    Angus laughed. “Nice ring tone.” He reached down and untied my shoelace. Flirt monster.
    â€œI got it from my friend Reggie, who got it fromsomeone who works at some famous zoo. It’s not just any gorilla, it’s a gorilla in the wild, and she’s a she, not a he.” I flipped open the phone. Why was I nattering away like this? I was no stranger to dealing with flirt monsters! Well, all right, actually I was. The only true flirt monster I’d ever come into contact with was Kevin, who was now my boyfriend, whom I would probably marry in seventeen years.
    It was Mark Clark. “Where ARE you?” The annoyance in his voice practically leaped out and bit me on the nose. The instant I heard his voice, I remembered that I was supposed to be home. I told him I was on my way. I spared him a lame excuse. Mark Clark was the kind of person who would let you mess up once in a while without wondering whether it would be better off for everyone if you were sent to a teen boot camp.
    â€œMom’s waiting,” said Mark Clark. “You know how she gets when she thinks she’s going to be late. She’s already starting to rearrange the furniture.”
    â€œTell her I’ll be there in a minute,” I said.
    â€œWould that make me a liar?” said Mark Clark. “Because that’s all I need, Minerva.” He sighed so loudly it hurt my ear. Life hadn’t been easy for Mark Clark lately. Normally Mark Clark was in charge, which meant he got to make up the rules. Then Mrs. Dagnitz showed up out of nowhere, and her rules won out over Mark Clark’s rules, but Mark Clark was still somehow in charge.
    â€œI’m on my way,” I said. I leaped to my feet and started powering my way back down Corbett Street toward the bus stop. Angus caught up with me easily, his black trench coat flapping out behind him. He strode beside me, as if I’d invited him along.
    â€œSo it shouldn’t take you longer than ten?” Mark Clark asked. “Where are you, Chelsea’s?”
    â€œWhat?” I said loudly. “You’re breaking up. See you in a few minutes.” I snapped the phone shut.
    â€œI’m late for a doctor’s appointment,” I said to Angus, who bopped along beside me, his lopsided grin permanently plastered on his freckled face. It seemed as if he’d forgotten all about the arson.
    â€œReally?” he said. “You look very healthy to me.”
    We hurried past the grocery store. Robotective Huntington stood in the burned-out doorway writing something on his clipboard. His eye stared at us over the top of a pair of reading glasses.