Uncovering Sadie's Secrets Read Online Free Page A

some cream on her face that smelled like cucumbers and looked like guacamole. New Age chant-like music was coming from her CD player, and a bottle of nail polish was open on her dresser. After she let me in, she went back to polishing her toenails a deep red color, sitting in an old rocking chair by the window. I sat on the edge of the bed. “What can I do you for?” she asked.
    “You know, I forgot to mention this. That friend who I gave your card to—her name was Sadie but she said the friend that needed help was Bobbie McCormack. Did Bobbie McCormack call you yet?”
    I saw her pause for maybe a nanosecond as she decided whether to share any information with me. Then, she finished polishing her right toe nails, capped the bottle, and spread her feet in front of her as they dried.
    “Bianca, part of being a private investigator is keeping people’s business private.”
    “Come on, Connie. If she called and left a message, you haven’t even had a chance to talk to her. So, it’s not really private yet.” Strange reasoning but enough to do the job.
    “Okay,” she said. “Yeah. Some gal named Bobbie called today. But she didn’t leave a number. She just said she’d call back.”
    What a sleuth I was! I just found out something—that I already knew! Sherlock Holmes, watch out.
    “Well, I didn’t tell you but she said this friend was being framed for murder,” I said.
    Connie leaned back in her chair and got serious. “Murder? That’s nothing to fool around with. And that would be in the police reports, in the papers. That’s not something that goes unnoticed.”
    “I thought it was kind of odd myself.”
    “What’s your friend like? The one who said her friend is being framed?” Connie asked.
    “She’s new to school this year. And she’s different. Keeps to herself mostly. Really skinny. Nobody knows much about her.”
    “Maybe you should get to know her,” Connie said, and I perked up immediately. Wow. Connie was asking me to help on a case.
    “Yeah. That would help. I could find out stuff.”
    Connie frowned. “No, you dufus. I meant maybe you should get to know her because she’s new and it would be nice for somebody to reach out and make her feel at home.”
    “Oh. Yeah. I was getting to that,” I said. In the distance, the phone rang. I ran down the hall to grab the extension in my room before Tony could pick it up.
    “Bianca! I’m so glad I got you,” Kerrie said breathlessly on the end of the line. “Nickie just called and told me the most incredible news. . .”
    “What? What?”
    “She said she saw Sadie going over to Doug’s house.”
    My heart sank. I sat down on the bed and pretended not to care, and listened while Kerrie told me the whole gruesome tale.

Chapter Three
    B Y THE time Monday morning rolled around, I had imagined a hundred different scenarios for why Sadie Sinclair, Woman of Mystery, would be visiting Douglas Patterson, My Own True Love, on a Saturday night.
    The Saturday night after the afternoon in which he had punched me in the shoulder and called out my name.
    Unfortunately, none of the scenarios was really good for me. They ranged from torrid romantic liaison to secret science project cloning the school’s star basketball player.
    So, I wasn’t in such a great mood when I showed up at St. John’s at eighty-thirty a.m. in my perky plaid jumper and white Peter Pan blouse. As I rolled the dial on my locker lock, Kerrie came up to me. We had already exchanged numerous calls and email messages throughout the weekend filled with speculation on the reason for the Sadie-Doug rendezvous, and she had promised me she would find out for sure by Monday morning.
    “Hi,” I said, trying to keep myself from grabbing her, shaking her by the shoulders and screaming out— What did you discover? Tell me, for goodness sake! Tell me!
    “So what’s up?” I asked.
    “I tried Marsha twice last night and couldn’t get her,” she said, trying not to look me in the eye.