Part 2 (1/2)

”Me, too,” said Stacey. ”It reminds me of Robert.”

”Oh; Robert, Robert, Robert,” I said, grabbing a pillow and bopping her with it. We giggled some more.

”Order!” said Kristy, suddenly.

”Is it five-thirty already?” I asked. I glanced at the dock on my night table. Sure enough, it was time for our BSC meeting. It was a Wednesday, three days after we'd done all that picture-taking, and my friends were gathered in my room for our meeting. I still hadn't had a chance to develop the photos I'd taken on Sunday, mostly because I'd been working on my portrait series. The pictures of my friends were almost ready, and I could hardly wait.

Kristy reached over and snapped the radio off.

”No!” I cried, snapping it back on. ”You can't do that!”

”Why not?” she asked. ”It's time for our meeting.”

”I know,” I said. ”But WSTO is playing a whole hour of Billy Blue right now. There's no way I'm missing that.”

”Who's Billy Blue?” asked Kristy.

”WHO'S BILLY BLUE?” Stacey and I shouted together.

”Kristy, I don't believe you,” Stacey said. ”Sometimes I think you live under a rock or something. Billy Blue is only the best singer since - since - ”

”We're wasting time here,” said Kristy impatiently. ”How about this? We can leave the radio on, but you'll have to turn it down.”

”Cool,” I said. I reached over and inched the volume control down, just the tiniest bit.

”Lower,” said Kristy, giving me a Look.

”Okay, okay,” I said, turning it way down. I could still hear Billy Blue, but just barely. Still, it was better than nothing. Right then he was singing another song I love, called ”Your Sweet Kiss.” Stacey and I grinned at each other as we mouthed the words silently. Kristy pretended to ignore us.

”Any new business?” she asked.

n.o.body said anything. Stacey and I started to sing very softly along with Billy. Kristy reached over as if to turn the radio off again, and we broke off in mid-song. ”Sorry! Sorry!” I said. ”We'll stop, I promise.”

Kristy just gave me another Look and turned to ask Stacey about the state of the treasury. ”My Kid-Kit is almost due for some new stickers and markers,” she said. ”Do we have enough money?”

”Sure,” said Stacey, instantly serious. She always knows exactly - and I mean to the last penny - how much is in the Treasury. ”I need some stickers, too.”

”We should plan a shopping trip,” said Mary Anne. ”I'm all out of those little coloring books, and Suzi Barrett has a fit if I show up without one.”

”Do you have a job with them soon?” asked Shannon.

”With the Barretts and the DeWitts,” said Mary Anne. ”Kristy and I are sitting for both families together next week.”

”Whoa!” said Jessi. ”That should be a challenge.”

Just then, Billy Blue stopped singing, and this time Kristy wasn't responsible. ”We interrupt this program for a special bulletin,” I heard an announcer say. I held up my hand. ”Hey, listen, you guys!” I said.

”This is exactly why I don't want the radio playing during - ” Kristy began, but Stacey shushed her. She had just heard the same thing I had heard - a mention of the Stoneybrook Bank.

”Hold on, Kristy,” she said. ”This could be important.”

I turned up the volume, and we all listened.

”A recent surprise audit has uncovered a major deficit in the bank's holdings,” the reporter said, sounding very serious. I wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that, but as she kept 'talking, it became pretty dear. There was a ton of money missing from the bank, and no way to explain why.

”Hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Mallory whispered, echoing the reporter's words. ”I can't even imagine what that much money looks like.”

The reporter went on to say that the police had already ruled out the possibility of ”transaction error” (Stacey said that meant, like, if a clerk had put ten too many zeros after a number or something), and that the bank's video cameras showed no signs of a robbery or forcible entry. Then she said that the bank was asking for anybody with information or tips to call a special number. Then the bulletin ended, and Billy Blue came back on, in the middle of singing ”I'm Lost Without You.”

This time, I was the one to reach over and turn the radio off. Kristy looked at me in amazement. ”That was big news,” I said. ”I mean, that could be our money that's missing.”

”Do you have an account at that bank?” asked Shannon.

”Well, no,” I admitted. ”But I might have opened one, if I ever decided to save my money. Anyway, I was just thinking - wouldn't it be wild if there was a due to the crime in one of those pictures I took on Sunday? I mean, I must have shot a zillion pictures of that bank.”

”Oh, Claud, you've been watching too many late-night movies,” said Stacey.

”There is a movie about something like that happening,” Mary Anne said thoughtfully. ”I can't think of the t.i.tle, but it's about this photographer who takes a picture of a murder - by mistake, I mean. He only finds out about it later, when he develops the pictures.”

”See?” I said. ”It could happen.”

”Sure it could,” said Kristy. ”But it doesn't seem too likely. I mean, we don't even know when the crime took place. If d be a major coincidence if it happened last Sunday.”

”Kristy's right,” said Stacey. ”I mean, this isn't Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Bank.” She poked me in the side and giggled. The rest of my friends joined in the teasing, but I tried not to pay attention.

”I don't care what you all say, I'm going to develop that film - tonight,” I said.

And that's exactly what I did, right after dinner that evening. Janine was out with Jerry, and she wasn't due home until pretty late that evening, so even though I hadn't gotten around to making that Darkroom in Use sign for the bathroom, I knew it would be safe to develop film in there. I set everything up, stuck the towel under the door, and turned out the lights. I was only developing one roll of film. The other roll, which only had a few bank pictures, was still in my camera. It didn't take long to load the film in the tank, and once that was done I turned the lights back on and got to work with the chemicals.

When the film was finished, I hung it up to dry. I could tell that the pictures were all clear and that the developing had gone well, but I wouldn't be able to get a good look at them until the film was dry and I could make a contact print. I left the darkroom and got to work on my math homework. Then I had a snack (some Fritos, with a Three Musketeers bar for dessert) and read a few chapters of The Clue of the Tapping Heels, one of my all-time favorite Nancy Drew books. I think I must have read that one about four times, but I still love it.

Finally, at around ten-thirty, I figured the film must be dry. I knew my parents wouldn't be crazy about my working in the darkroom that late, but I couldn't resist going in to make a quick contact print.

A contact print is a great way to look at negatives. Here's how you make it: You just lay the negatives down on a piece of photographic paper, s.h.i.+ne some light on them, and then develop the paper. In order to see what you're doing during this kind of work you use a ”safelight” - a red light that doesn't ruin pictures. I just replace the bulb in the bathroom light with a special red one. When you're finished, what you have is a print of the negatives that you can look at with a loupe, so you can tell which shots might be worth enlarging.

My heart was beating fast as I made the contact print and developed it. Then I hung it up to dry - but I was too impatient to wait. Even though it was still damp, I brought it out to my desk and started to peer at each picture through the loupe. I examined them one by one, and by the time I finished, my heart wasn't beating so fast anymore.

The pictures didn't show a thing.

Oh, there were some great shots of the bank's facade, with its columns and carvings. And there were a few people in the pictures, too: a mother pus.h.i.+ng a baby carriage appeared in a lot of them, and so did a man in a suit. But that was it. What a let-down.

The funny thing was this: During our meeting, my friends had been teasing me about the slim possibility of dues turning up in my pictures. But guess who showed up at my house as soon as I got home from summer school the next day? Kristy, Mary Anne, and Stacey. They couldn't wait to see what I'd found on the roll of film. ”Not much,” I told them, showing them the contact print. One by one, they peered at the pictures through the loupe.

”You're right,” Kristy said, after her turn. ”Not much at all.”

”I wonder how old the baby is,” said Mary Anne, after she'd looked.