Part 6 (1/2)
”What if he was?” asked Mary Anne. ”He's a nice guy, right? So, he talks to people at the mall. Why should that mean anything bad?”
Kristy sat down on the floor, and I stood up and took her place pacing around the room. I was thinking about Mr. Morton. I went over everything we knew about him. He had only managed the mall for a few months. He was a really nice, likable guy. He was willing to do all kinds of things to improve the mall and its image. The mall was in financial trouble.
”I wonder if - ” Mary Anne began, but I interrupted her.
”Whoa!” I said. ”I think I just figured it all out!” I stood stock still, next to my desk. Mary Anne and Kristy looked shocked. ”Well, maybe not all of it,” I went on. ”But listen. I think I know what's going on. You know how everybody says Mr. Morton is such a nice guy? Well, that's the problem.”
”What do you mean?” asked Kristy.
”What's wrong with being a nice guy?” asked Mary Anne.
'I'll tell you,” I said. I started to pace again, around and around. Past the desk, past the closet, past the bureau, past the bed. Then I started talking fast. ”That's how he got himself - and the mall - into such a mess. He's such a nice guy that he can't say no to anybody. He wants to do everything he can to help the mall and the community. So he says yes to benefit concerts, special discount programs, and even day-care centers.”
”But those are all good things,” said Mary Anne, looking confused.
”I agree.” I stopped pacing and stood near my current favorite poster (it's a photo of a ba.s.set hound with a funny-sad expression). ”But they cost money. In order to do those things, Mr. Morton must have run through all the money in the mall's account. Then maybe he started to, well, 'misappropriate funds,' like it said in the newspaper, to cover up his mistakes.”
”Ohhh!” said Mary Anne. She was beginning to look excited.
”And then,” I went on, ”it came out that the mall was dose to bankruptcy. So he couldn't play around with the accounts anymore. But he didn't want to start saying 'no' to everybody. So then - ”
”So then he started stealing things!” said Kristy, jumping to her feet. ”All those big things, the camcorders and the treadmills and the wide-screen TVs!”
”Oh, no!” cried Mary Anne, putting her hand over her mouth.
”Oh, yes!” said Kristy. ”Stacey, you're a genius! This explains everything. Mr. Morton must be the one stealing that stuff, because he's the only one who would know how to get around security to do it. He'd know how to dodge them on their rounds, and even how to avoid the video cameras so he wouldn't show up on tape.”
”He couldn't have stolen all those big things by himself, though,” said Mary Anne.
”No, he must have people working for him. People who would know where to sell the stuff, and people to help him take it. Like that guy you ran into in the stockroom, Stacey.” Kristy was really excited now, and so was I. Mary Anne just looked dismayed. She can't stand to think the worst of anybody, even if it's somebody she barely knows, such as Mr. Morton.
”The guy in the stockroom,” I mused, remembering that scary, masked face. Then I had a terrible thought. ”Maybe those three kids are working for him, too!” I said.
”Oh, no,” said Kristy. ”He wouldn't do that. Too risky. I mean, that's really serious business, getting kids involved in a crime.”
”But what if,” Mary Anne said slowly, ”what if the kids found out what he was doing?” She glanced up at her and I saw how frightened she looked.
For about thirty seconds, there wasn't a sound in my room. Mary Anne sat staring at her hands. I looked at the ba.s.set hound poster, without really seeing it. And Kristy plopped down on the bed again and just sat there, frowning.
”If they found out,” I said finally, ”I guess Mr. Morton would be pretty scared. Maybe pretty angry, too.”
”He'd have to do whatever it took to keep them quiet,” said Kristy in a low tone.
”And now they're missing,” Mary Anne whispered.
There was another silence.
”Maybe they're just hiding,” I said hopefully, after a minute. ”Was.h.i.+ngton Mall is huge, but they probably know every inch of it by now, if they really are living there. I bet they'd know how to stay hidden.”
”That's right,” said Mary Anne, grabbing at the chance to feel optimistic. ”They're probably hiding.”
”I hope they are,” said Kristy. She stood up, and suddenly she looked full of energy. ”But I'm not counting on it. It's time we found out. We have to get to the mall right away!”
Chapter 14.
”I'll call Charlie and see if he can give us a ride,” Kristy said.
”Who else can help us?” I asked. ”We need all the people we can get.”
”I bet Claudia's back from art cla.s.s by now,” said Mary Anne. ”And maybe Jessi can come. Mal and Shannon are both sitting/ though, and I doubt Logan is done with his tryout yet.”
We got busy making phone calls, and before long Claudia and Jessi had joined us at my house. Two minutes later, Charlie (good old Charlie) had pulled up in Watson's van. He honked the horn and we came running out.
On the way to the mall, Kristy explained everything.
”Don't you think you should consider going to the police?” asked Charlie. ”This sounds serious. I mean, there are three kids missing.”
Kristy thought for a minute. ”Okay, how's this?” she asked. ”I don't really want to get the police involved unless we have to. I think it would scare those kids if they saw cops searching the mall, and they might hide themselves even better. How about if we give ourselves a deadline?” She glanced at her watch. ”Ifs three-thirty now. If we don't find them by five-thirty, we'll call the police.”
”Good idea,” said Jessi. ”I have to be home no later than six> anyway. I left Becca with Aunt Cecelia, on the condition that I would get home in time to help with dinner. So, let's synchronize our watches, like on TV.”
”Okay.” Claudia checked her Swatch and announced that she was already synchronized with Kristy. The rest of us made sure the time on our watches, matched theirs.
Charlie pulled up at the mall entrance. ”I'll drop you off and go park,” he said. ”I'll catch up to you, wherever you are. I want to help find those kids.”
We ran into the mall and gathered near the main escalators. ”I've been thinking,” I said. ”We have to be careful about this search. I mean, we want to find the kids as soon as possible, but we don't want to scare them off. Also, we don't want to make anybody suspicious, especially Mr. Morton.”
”That's right,” said Kristy. ”Plus, we don't know if anybody else at the mall is working with him. So we can't a.s.sume that anyone is trustworthy.”
”We have to work fast, and work quietly,” said Jessi. ”No problem. Should we split up into teams?”
”That's a good idea,” I replied. ”We do have a lot of ground to cover. How about if Claud and I start on the top floor and work our way down, while you and Kristy and Mary Anne work from the main floor up?”
”Okay,” said Kristy. ”What are we waiting for? Let's go for it! We can check in with each other at Critters in, say, half an hour?”
The search was on. I felt as if I were in one of those adventure movies in which the hero has to find a bomb within one hour, or else it will blow up the whole city. You know, the kind of movie where they show a dock ticking away the minutes, and you feel more and more tense as the minute hand moves nearer and nearer to midnight? Well, in our case the minute hand was moving nearer to five-thirty. Here's how our search went: Three-forty: Claud and I headed into the Cheese Outlet, and Mary Anne, Jessi, and Kristy hopped onto the escalator. In the cheese store, Mr. Williams was glad to see us and wanted us to taste some free samples. ”We're in kind of a hurry,” said Claud. ”But thanks.”
We glanced around the store, but didn't dare ask Mr. Williams if he had seen the kids. What if he were working with Mr. Morton?
Three-fifty: We checked the upstairs bathrooms. Charlie showed up just in time to look into the men's room. Report: no kids, but some sign of them. Charlie found a comb on the sink in the men's room, and in the women's room I found a towel - the stolen one? - draped over one of the stalls to dry. ”We could be right behind them!” I said. ”Let's keep moving.”
Four-ten: After searching through Stuff 'n Nonsense, the candy store (I had to drag Claud away from the jelly-bean display), and Soundscapes, we were beginning to feel frustrated. Since the bathrooms, we had seen no sign of the kids.
Four-fifteen: We met up in front of Critters. n.o.body else had seen any sign of the kids, either. We decided to re-form our teams and stay on the bottom three floors where we'd spotted the kids most often. Jessi and I went down to the BookCenter, while Claud stopped in at the Artist's Exchange and Mary Anne visited her boss at Critters. Charlie and Kristy moved ahead to the food court, where we would all meet again in ten minutes.