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Creelman said. “The dawn of a new day.” Then he hesitated. “Are you interested in astronomy?”
    â€œThe moon and the stars? Sure,” I said.
    I wished I had been wearing last week’s t-shirt, the one about footprints on the moon. Instead, I glanced down and was horrified to see what I had selected. I’d turn back if I were you .
    â€œHave you ever been to a planetarium?” he asked.
    â€œNo,” I admitted, somehow feeling as if this was my fault.
    Creelman’s face fell as quickly as it had risen. He turned his attention to his cronies, and they nodded toward the iron gate.
    I looked at my list. There must have been twenty-five numbers. This was going to take an eternity. Then I wondered how Merrilee was going to get out of it.
    The Brigade marched out the gate without a backward glance.
    â€œWell, boys,” Merrilee said brightly. “I believe I have a secret code to solve.”
    With that she parked herself beside a nearby obelisk and opened To Catch a Bicycle Thief to a page where she pulled out her Queen of Spades bookmark.
    Merrilee annoyed me, but I couldn’t tell if it was because as sure as the sun rises in the east, she would somehow manage to get out of today’s quiz, or that she was already chapters ahead in her book and seemed dead set on solving the mystery novel code before me or Pascal.
    I looked at my list again. Maybe if I could cut my work in half, I could catch up to Merrilee in the reading. After all, I was a pretty fast reader myself. And lately, I had plenty of time to kill in the dead of night.
    â€œHey, Pascal. How about I do the first half of the list, and you do the second half. Then we’ll share answers.”
    â€œDeal,” Pascal said with relief, and off he went.
    I gave Merrilee a smug look, but she was already lost in her book.
    I spent the rest of the afternoon traipsing back and forth between the rows of gravestones and filling in the blanks. It was tedious and never-ending.
    But thankfully, I did not come across the gravestone with the lamb.
    The Brigade returned just before quitting time.
    â€œLet’s see your answers,” Creelman demanded.
    Pascal and I handed over our clipboards to Wooster and Preeble. I kept an eye on Merrilee to see what she would do, having spent the entire afternoon reading and dead to the world.
    Merrilee boldly handed over her clipboard to Creelman.
    Then, amazingly, all three members of the Brigade began to mark our answers, Merrilee’s included!
    How had she done it? I was certain that she hadn’t moved from that obelisk all afternoon!
    Merrilee gave me a small smile as the Brigade handed back our tests.
    Pascal and I each got four wrong, three of them from Pascal’s section I might add.
    Merrilee got a perfect score.
    â€œNot bad,” Creelman said gruffly to her.
    As soon as the Brigade left through the iron gate for the day and was out of earshot, I pounced on Merrilee.
    â€œHow’d you do it?” I demanded.
    â€œSimple,” she said. “When I was in the library signing out copies of To Catch a Bicycle Thief , I found the answer sheet in the photocopy room. Creelman must have made copies for Wooster and Preeble, and he left the master list behind.”
    â€œSo all you had to do was copy out the answers,” Pascal said. “Awesome.”
    â€œIt’s not awesome!” I snapped. “We’re killing ourselves out here, and she keeps getting away with murder.”
    â€œCome on,” Pascal said, looking at his quiz. “It beats getting four wrong. If I had seen that master list, I would have done the same thing.”
    â€œReally?” I said with sarcasm. “Is that your motto?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Pascal asked.
    â€œIf I made you a t-shirt, would it read, I’d have done the same thing ?”
    Pascal grinned. “I’d love that!”
    â€œAnd if you made a t-shirt for me, what would it