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“You said you broke his leg because he got in your way!”
“Yeah, playing football. We were supposed to be playing a friendly game of touch, but I got carried away and I tackled him. I feel awful about it too. Pops was going to take over Rocko’s route, but it was a lot of work, so I offered to help.”
?
??Oh. I see.” My voice sounds little. I wish I could make the rest of me little too or better yet disappear. Preferably to Siberia or somewhere else far away.
“So the gun…yes, yes, it makes sense now. But why did you lie to me about never being near a crime scene?”
“Because I didn’t want to get into the whole cop thing. My chief was right. That last case messed me up. I even thought about quitting the force. Coming down here and opening a diner or something.” He does a double take. “Wait. How did you know I lied about never being at a crime scene?”
Everyone turns to look at me.
Oops. I shouldn’t have let that slip.
“Um, lucky guess?”
“Who is this El Tigre?” Mike asks. “I think I have a right to know.”
“No, you don’t. You can go now,” says Agent Billings. “Please accept the Bureau’s apology for the misunderstanding.”
“Yeah, whatever,” he says, clearly disgusted.
Agent Rollins hands him back his wallet with a shrug. Mike goes to leave, but before he gets to the door, he turns to look at us. “To think, I actually thought about relocating to this crazy town. No, thanks, give me Jersey City any day.”
“I’m so sorry,” I rush to say. “Please forgive me. It was just a big misunderstanding.”
He looks at me like I’m a bug he wished he could squash but doesn’t want to waste the energy. “Next time you get the urge to play detective, go make some cupcakes instead.”
Muffins, not cupcakes! I want to say, but I don’t think that will go over very well right now.
Travis and Zeke manage to control the guests in the dining room. As far as our customers know, the “super-elite state CSI team” had a breakthrough in the murder of the guy found in our dumpster and they needed everyone to stay put while they checked it out. Now that the situation has been resolved, everyone is free to go. Will and the library crew are the first to leave, but not until he makes me promise to call him as soon as I get a chance.
Everyone else leaves one by one, including mom and dad and all their friends. Mom insists that I come to dinner tonight and for once, I’m not going to argue. It will be nice to be around people who actually like me, as opposed to everyone who was in the kitchen when I accused Mike of being a mafia hitman. None of whom are very happy with me right now, except Sarah, who is always so supportive and upbeat. And Paco, of course. But he’s a dog, and he’d love anyone who fed him, so he doesn’t count.
“It’s an innocent mistake. It could have happened to anyone,” says Sarah, trying her best to console me.
How could I have thought Mike was El Tigre?
I’ll never forget the look on his face when he walked out. I should have listened to Will and left this to the professionals instead of always thinking that I know more than anyone.
Since Sarah, Brittany, Tara, and Man Bun were all present in the kitchen when the action went down, they know that the secret elite team is really the FBI. Agent Billings and her crew grilled them on what they saw and made them promise not to tell anyone on penalty of “extreme repercussions.” Tara threatened to sue them, but that just made them all laugh.
She gathers her things in a huff. “C’mon, Wade, let’s get out of here. We’re going to Catfish Cove.”
“For the last time, it’s Wayne! And you can go yourself, you ridiculous cow, because I quit!”
The look on Tara’s face is almost funny. “You can’t quit.”
“Sure I can. I just got the call. I’m getting my old job back at the public access channel. You can stick your cable channel where the sun don’t shine!” He picks up the pieces of his broken camera, then stomps out the door.
Tara takes off after him, and Brittany runs after them both. “Wait! Does this mean Whispering Bay is out of the running for Battle of the Beach Eats?”
Brittany comes back a few minutes later looking defeated. “Well, that’s that.”
“I’m sorry,” I say cringing as I wait for Brittany to blame me for all this.
But instead of chiding me and telling me this is all my fault she does something worse. She blinks back tears and hugs me. “Everyone is right. I’m a disaster. The only reason I got the chamber of commerce job is because of Daddy. And now I’ve let everyone down. I have no idea how I’m going to justify buying all those door wreaths!”
