Chapter 85: Chapter Eighty-Five - None Shall Pass

Nadine had parked her uncle’s silver Corvette in the alleyway right behind Isabella’s house. How very brazen of her. Either she was feeling the pressure of being found out, or…yeah, that was probably it.

I smiled. I loved making criminals squirm.

Since I didn’t know the proper way to land a broom, I uttered my levitation spell and crash-landed like a meteorite anyway. Good thing for motorcycle helmets and Isabella’s soft green backyard.

Studmuffin waited for me on top of the wooden fence closest to the alley. “She’s still inside,” he whispered.

I noted the broken glass in the back door of Isabella’s house, nodded, and turned toward the gate that led to the alleyway. “Think she left her car unlocked?”

Studmuffin narrowed his luminescent eyes. “What are you up to?”

I grinned. “You’ll see.”

Quickly, I swiped Boxy’s phone from my back pocket and called 911 yet again. Already, sirens rang out across Belle’s Cove, but it could’ve been because of the hole in the ground that was formerly Nadine’s house.

“No, this isn’t Jinx,” I whispered as soon as the dispatcher picked up. Then I explained the break-in in progress and hung up.

Next, I leaned Nadine’s broom next to Studmuffin on the fence, and with a quick glance over my shoulder at Isabella’s, I wriggled the lock free on the back gate. “Can you figure out a place to put her broom in case she knows the broom-finding spell too?”

A second later, it vanished. “Done. I put it with my cake pans in the ether. Now, what are you up to?” Studmuffin trotted closer across the top of the fence, his murder mittens effortlessly balancing him on the thin posts.

The back gate creaked as I opened it and slipped out. “We have her broom. Time to take her car too.”

The sirens grew closer.

He swished his mood noodle excitedly. “She won’t be able to escape.”

“You catch on quick. If she locked her car, though, we won’t have time to call Travis to come with his lock-picking kit.” My stomach sank at the thought of him. “Not that he would anyway, but still.”

“A real shame,” Studmuffin said with a sigh. “I miss him, pet. He should be here with us at a time like this.”

“I know. I miss him too.” Luckily, Nadine’s car was unlocked, so I opened the driver’s side door and fumbled around blindly in the dark for the lever to pop open the hood.

There were a number of ways to disable a car. Some didn’t require entry into the car itself. Of course there was the old stuff a potato or banana into the tailpipe, but Nadine wasn’t a fool. She could notice that right away when she came out of Isabella’s and then eat the potato/banana. Another way to disable it would be to let out the air from the tires, but that would take too long.

Kind of like finding the lever to pop open her hood. Where was it?! I’d found every single lever except for the one I needed. It was like I hadn’t done this exact same thing a thousand times before.

“Uh, pet,” Studmuffin whispered. “She’s coming, and she’s coming fast.”

Argh. Now I couldn’t use the light from Boxy’s phone to help me look because she might see it through the fence posts.

“Whose idea was it to do this in the dark?” I muttered. Oh, right. Mine. Finally, my fingers closed around the correct lever, which I hadn’t thought was an actual lever before now. “Don’t let her see you.”

“I’m more worried about you. She’s coming.”

Yep, I heard her footsteps loud and clear, even over my jack hammering heart.

After bouncing up from my squat, I closed the car door as quietly as I could. Some of the coming sirens helped to cover the sound. Then I booked it to the Corvette’s hood, opened it, and retrieved the distributor cap within seconds. That I could do in the dark apparently.

The gate lock on the other side of the fence rattled.

Gently, I lowered the hood. It wouldn’t matter so much if it wasn’t closed all the way since Nadine wasn’t going anywhere anyway. Just as the back gate began to open, I spun around and dove behind a recycling container on the side of the alley.

“Oh, hi.” Studmuffin poked his head underneath my bent leg and blinked up at me. “Fancy seeing you in my hiding spot.”

“Fancy indeed,” I whispered. “Now hush.”

Nadine closed the gate behind her while humming softly, not a care in the world, even with the nearing sirens. She thought she’d won. She thought she still had some insurance named Victoria Fox back at her house she could use in case she got caught. Ha!

As she opened her car door, the interior light lit her victorious smile. She climbed inside with Isabella’s red book in her hand. She hadn’t even noticed the police car at the other end of the alley slowing to a stop, all of its lights and sirens turned off. I sure had a feeling she’d notice soon enough.

She closed her door, which meant I could no longer see anything but her shadow inside, but I could just imagine her trying to start her car.

“Be ready when she runs,” I muttered.

“And then what? You and I chase after her? ” Studmuffin shook his furry head. “I used to hate chasing. I still do, but I used to too. Now I just bake and nap.”

“Yeah, I hate chasing too.” I glanced behind me in case another police car had parked at the opposite end of the alley to block her in. No such luck. “I’ll think of something.”

After a moment, Nadine rage-stomped out of her car while fuming words that could make a pirate blush. Just as she did, the police car flashed its lights and sounded its siren as it pulled up fast behind her. Nadine raced in the other direction toward us.

“Now,” I hissed. Now what, I had no idea though.

I reached into the recycling container I was crouched behind for some kind of weapon. A comb. I pulled out a comb.

With a roar, I jumped out in front of Nadine and waved the comb around my head like a complete lunatic.

She pulled up short when she saw me and gasped. “You.”

“None shall pass.” I said it in a great, booming voice I didn’t even know I was capable of. On the inside, I cackled. There was nothing quite like bringing out my inner troll. On the outside, I waved the comb at her threateningly.

Just then, Isabella herself came out of her back gate. “People who steal library books are criminals, same as those who eat Cheetos while flipping pages and those who thumb to the end of a mystery to see who did it and why. No need to try to convince me I’m wrong”—she jabbed her finger at Nadine—“because you will fail.”

“I won’t argue with that,” I said. “She is a criminal who doesn’t just steal library books.”

Nadine blinked at her, at me, the police officers rushing from their car toward us. She clutched the red book she’d stolen tightly in her hand, the very definition of being caught red-handed.