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Wellington. A nice rich lady with a big house. She gains the old lady’s confidence. Next she introduces Tom. They get the old lady to move into an old people’s home. For her own good, they say. They talk her into letting them handle selling her house and everything in it. The old lady never suspects a thing.”
    The Spotlight Clubbers stared.
    “You know what happens next? It’s happening right here! Jenny Mayflower and Tom Foster—those are just names they are using this time—have sold this house. Now they’re selling everything in it. For cash. They have the money from the house and from the sale and they disappear. They move fast. Nobody has any time to ask questions. The sale of the household goods is just announced the day before it begins. They’re clever! We’ve got to catch them before it is too late.”
    “So Jenny and Tom will leave today?” asked Dexter. Alex Baxter nodded. “Exactly. You’ll see. No one from Kenoska will ever hear from them again. They will move to another town, use other names. They will find another old lady. Unless we stop them. Unless we stop them—you and I.”
    Cindy’s thoughts were racing. “But that’s not true, what you said about Jenny and Tom. It can’t be! It just can’t!”
    Alex Baxter shrugged his shoulders. “Young lady, this is going to be very hard for you. Perhaps you should not try to be a detective. It is a very sad, very difficult business. To accuse someone you like…” He turned to Jay. “It is difficult for your sister. I am so sorry.”
    Cindy squared her shoulders. “Jenny told me she was going to spend the whole day at her new apartment. She has to wait there for the furniture to be moved in. And then Tom is going to meet her there. And then they’re going to drive to the airport to meet Tom’s parents.” Cindy looked down at the floor. “She was so excited.”
    Alex Baxter stared at her. “Do you still believe that?” he asked gently.
    Cindy nodded. Then she shook her head miserably. “I don’t know what I believe.”
    “Everyone trusts Jenny,” Alex Baxter said with a smile. “Everyone. You are not alone.”
    Cindy looked at Alex Baxter. He understood how she felt. He didn’t seem to want anything for himself.
    Jay nudged her. “See? Just because you like people doesn’t mean they can’t be bad guys. If you’re a detective you have to suspect people you like as much as you suspect people you don’t like.”
    Alex Baxter flashed his narrow teeth at Jay. “I can see you’re a fine detective already, young man.”
    Jay flushed.
    “And now,” Alex Baxter said, lowering his voice and looking over their heads, “I see Tom Foster looking in our direction for the second time. It won’t do to arouse his suspicions. Agreed?” He looked at the three detectives. They nodded slowly.
    Dropping his voice still more, he said, “We must leave. All of us. We cannot have Tom Foster link us together. You three leave first. Go to one of your homes. Which shall it be?”
    The Spotlighters looked at each other. What else could they do but obey? Cindy thought of the iron dog under her bed. They should go there. “Our house,” she said. “It’s the white one with the big porch.”
    She glanced at Jay and Dexter. All three were thinking one thing. She should tell Alex Baxter about the iron dog. But Cindy held back. She had to talk with Jay and Dexter first. Anyway Alex Baxter was giving directions.
    “All three of you must watch this house very closely. You must make sure that Tom does not leave without your seeing him.”
    “He’s not leaving until three thirty,” said Cindy. “That’s what he and Jenny said, anyway.”
    Alex Baxter turned to her. His eyes narrowed until they became slits. “Young lady, I have told you once, twice, three times. You cannot trust either of them.”
    He patted his pockets and frowned. “I’ll need your telephone number. And both of your addresses.” He patted another pocket. “Ah, here we are.”