The Grand Finale Read Online Free Page A

and then Berry hired us. We’d just about given up.”
    “This business with the Jeep isn’t gonna change things, is it?” Mrs. Fitz worried. “How bad is the Jeep?”
    “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put the Jeep back together again,” Berry told her.
    Jake downed the last of the cocoa and stood to leave. “It’s okay, Mrs. Fitz. Berry’s going to use my car until she can replace the Jeep.”
    Berry looked at him wide-eyed. “I can’t deliver pizzas in your car.”
    Jake somberly chewed a cookie. “It was my cat that started this fiasco. I feel responsible.”
    He leaned close to Berry and whispered in an aside, “Besides, I liked kissing you.”
    Berry ignored the heat that burned in her cheeks. “I can’t deliver pizzas in a megabucks car!”
    Mrs. Fitz whistled behind her. “You mean he looks like this, and he’s rich, too?”
    “I invented Gunk.”
    Mrs. Fitz’s eyes popped wide open. “That disgusting slimy stuff you can eat? I love that stuff.”
    Jake turned to Berry. “My school is just three blocks from here. I’ll drop the car off on my way to work tomorrow morning.”

Chapter 2
    Berry looked at the stacks of pizza boxes and wondered how she was ever going to get them all into Jake Sawyer’s two-seater. Eighteen large pizzas and seven small, all due at Windmere Technicals by twelve-thirty. She groaned. If it hadn’t been for these lunch contracts she would never have accepted Jake’s offer. The car was too expensive, too powerful, too exotic. What if she scratched it? The car was perfect, for crying out loud. How could anything that old look so new? We aren’t talking about a two-hundred-dollar Jeep here. We’re talking about an outrageously extravagant toy in mint condition.
    And what about Jake Sawyer? Another extravagant toy, Berry thought. Too powerful, too expensive, too exotic…and in mint condition. She’d spent half the night reviewing his kissand knew it was in her best interest to not have a repeat performance. Berry had interrupted her education once for a man, and she wasn’t about to make the same mistake again. She would borrow Jake’s car only until she could find a better solution to her problem, and she would steer clear of its owner.
    She speared the car keys with her pinky finger and pushed through the front door, balancing six large pizza boxes in her outstretched arms. She squinted into the light drizzle, wondering where Jake had parked. He’d said the car was directly in front of the Pizza Place. Berry held the door open with her foot.
    “Mrs. Fitz,” she called over her shoulder. “You took the keys from Jake this morning. Where’d he park the car?”
    Mrs. Fitz wiped her hands on her big white apron and shook her head. “Goodness’ sakes, child, the car’s right in front of you. It’s right here in front of the store.” Mrs. Fitz walked to the front of the store, and her eyes opened extra wide. “Where’s the car?”
    “Maybe Jake moved it. Maybe he changed his mind.”
    “I don’t think so. We’ve got his keys.”
    Berry felt her heart stutter. Jake’s expensive car was missing.
    “There’s probably a simple explanation,” she said.
    “Yup,” Mrs. Fitz said. “The explanation is simple all right. Someone stole Jake’s car.”
    Berry staggered back into the store and deposited the pizza boxes on the counter. The car was stolen! She’d had possession of it exactly three and a half hours, and it now had gotten itself stolen. How was that possible? Why hadn’t they seen it happening?
    “Jake’s not gonna be happy about this,” Mrs. Fitz said, shaking her head.
    “One minute it was there, and then the next minute…poof!” Berry said.
    “It was like aliens took it,” Mrs. Fitz said. “Like they just beamed it up. Right out from under our noses.” Mrs. Fitz dialed a number. “I’m calling a taxi so I can deliver the pizzas. You stay here and call the police. Maybe they’ll get the car back before Jake