The Great Shelby Holmes (19 page)

I needed to get Shelby away from everybody so I could share my theory with her, but she jogged off with Tamra upstairs. I followed to find a woman dressed in an actual
maid's uniform (I thought that was only in the movies!) dusting the bureau.

“Karina,” Tamra addressed the maid, “please show us exactly where you found this.”

The maid nodded, unaware of the excitement that finding a piece of glass had caused. “I was going to vacuum the rugs. When I bent down to plug in the vacuum, I saw the glass under the bureau. I picked it up, didn't think anything of it, and that's when you came along, Miss Tamra.”

How
convenient
for Tamra to appear right when the piece of evidence, which she had to have planted, was discovered. If memory served, I believed it was Tamra who realized that the frame was missing in the first place. She also basically accused Zareen of knocking it over because she sleepwalks.

It was all coming together.

At this point, I could only hope that Shelby wouldn't fall for it.

Shelby knelt down and looked behind the bureau. “I can't believe I didn't see it yesterday.” She clenched her teeth together. Shelby probably wasn't used to missing anything. But she had.

“Shelby, can I talk to you?” I asked in a low voice, hoping I could tell her that I figured it all out before she swooped in and declared that Zareen had done it.

“What's going on?” Mrs. Lacy came upstairs, with Zareen behind her.

“Look what Karina found!” Tamra handed her mother the glass and gave a quick glance at Zareen.

She was so ready to set her up. I couldn't stand by and let an innocent person be accused of something that they didn't do. This wasn't fair! Zareen had been through enough.

“Shelby …” I tried to get Shelby's attention as she was busy measuring the length of the bureau. Then she bent down to measure the small sliver of hardwood floor between the rug and the wall.

“What is it, Watson?” Shelby took a step back and looked at the bureau with her head tilted in one direction and then the other. She then took a few paces from Zareen's room to the bureau.

No, no, no …
She needed to know there was a conspiracy afoot!

“Can I talk to you?”

“Yes.” Shelby closed her eyes and walked into the bureau.

Zareen studied Shelby's actions with tears welling up in her eyes. She knew what was coming.

If only I could get Shelby alone.

“Oh, this?” Mrs. Lacy attention finally went from Shelby to the glass that was placed in her hand. “You know it wasn't expensive. It's only a frame.”

“But!” Tamra said excitedly. “It was broken during the night that Daisy went missing. We all know that Zareen sleepwalks, so she must've broken it!”

“It wouldn't be the first time Zareen has broken something, honey.” Mrs. Lacy gave her older daughter a warm smile, but Zareen returned it with a grimace. “It's just a broken picture frame. It doesn't really mean anything.”

“Actually, it does,” Shelby interrupted. “How would a frame break when there is carpet on all sides of the bureau, except for the back? It would've had to have been a precise hit to this small opening, and there's only one angle that would work.”

“Shelby,” I warned her. “I really need to talk to you.”

“In a minute,” she said, dismissing me.

All eyes were on Shelby. She went to the entryway of Zareen's bedroom and began to shuffle her feet as she walked forward. Her foot hit the thin runner that ran along the majority of the hallway. She then slowly pretended to fall. Her body moved in a deliberate, almost graceful manner as her shoulder hit the corner of the bureau where the broken frame would've been the night of the crime.

“This is what happened to the frame,” she declared as I stared her down, willing her to stop talking. “Zareen was sleepwalking; her foot caught on the rug, which propelled her body forward. As she is six and three-eighths inches
taller than me, her arm would've knocked over the frame, which would've hit the wall”—Shelby took masking tape out of her bag, tore off a piece, and stuck it on the wall—“right here!” She rubbed the tape a few times before pulling the piece away.

She held up the tape for us to see that there were tiny particles of glass, nearly invisible to the naked eye, on the tape.

“I don't remember breaking it—I swear!” Zareen protested. I stood beside her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

Somebody
needed to be on her side. She certainly wasn't getting any support from her family or Shelby. In fact, if she had taken Daisy, I wouldn't have really blamed her.

“That's not the point I'm making,” Shelby replied. She turned to the maid. “So you didn't clean up the broken frame prior to the discovery of this missing piece?”

“No.” She shook her head. “This was the first time I saw anything. Whenever I discover anything broken, I always report it to Mrs. Lacy.”

“What does this mean?” Tamra asked, practically begging Shelby to accuse Zareen right here and now.

“It means that yes, Zareen broke the picture frame the night Daisy disappeared, but that doesn't necessarily mean she cleaned it up.”

Zareen relaxed slightly upon hearing this.

“It also doesn't mean she didn't.”

Her shoulders skyrocketed back to her ears.

I couldn't take it anymore. “
Or
it was someone who was trying to set Zareen up and left the frame piece as evidence against her!”

Zareen gave me a grateful smile through her tears, while Tamra began to protest. It appeared that Tamra was all too eager to lay the blame on somebody else.

“What this does mean,” Shelby said with a raise of her eyebrow, “is that the person who cleaned up the broken picture frame was the person who took Daisy.”

“I'm not sure I understand,” Mrs. Lacy said with a sigh, becoming unnerved from all the clues that
hadn't
led us to the person who took Daisy.

“What happens when you wake up to discover that Zareen has broken something in her sleep?”

“We clean it up,” she stated before stealing a glance at Karina. “Well, Karina cleans it up. And we make sure Zareen's okay, of course.”

Interesting that the safety of her daughter was her second thought. Maybe Mrs. Lacy did it! Maybe she was the one framing Zareen!

I mean, someone had to have done it. At this point, I was willing to throw out any possibilities as long as it wasn't Zareen.

“So you'd be aware that something had happened. Having broken glass in the hallway would've certainly tipped you off to the fact that Zareen, or somebody else, was wandering around the house late at night. So whoever cleaned it up either didn't want you to know she did it—”

“But I didn't!” Zareen howled. “Even though I never remember sleepwalking, the bell always wakes somebody up! I couldn't have done it!”

Shelby held up her hand to silence Zareen. “I believe I have successfully proved that you did sleepwalk that night and did indeed break the frame. But as I was saying, it was either Zareen
or
someone who didn't want attention brought to the fact that Zareen was sleepwalking, so they cleaned up the mess.”

“So she was set up!” I nearly screamed. It was about time that Shelby realized that she was barking up the wrong tree.
Ugh
. Now
I
was starting to make bad dog puns.

“No, Watson. Whoever did this
didn't
want Zareen to be accused or they would've left the entire shattered frame for us to point the finger at her.”

Tamra quickly did just that and pointed her finger accusingly at her sister. “She did it. She was covering her tracks!”

Zareen's entire body was shaking as she lost her battle against a tidal wave of tears. “You believe me, Watson?” she asked between sobs.

“I do,” I replied. I turned to Shelby. “I really do, Shelby. She didn't do it.”

Shelby replied with a roll of her eyes, a reaction I was getting used to.

“Listen, sweetie,” Mrs. Lacy said to Tamra. “I think we have to call the dog show organizers to let them know that you aren't showing Daisy tomorrow.”

Tamra began to protest, but Shelby cut her off. “Don't do that. I have a theory that I need to test out by watching the security footage.”

“Which is?” Mrs. Lacy prodded her.

“I'd rather wait for all the evidence to come forward before I give my verdict, but, Tamra, trust me. You will be showing Daisy tomorrow. You have my word.”

“Your
word
? I'd rather have my
dog
,” she said, sulking. She then grabbed her sister's arm. “This whole thing would be a lot easier if you just confessed to what you did to my dog!”

“I.
DIDN
'T.
TAKE
.
HER
,” Zareen screamed before marching into her room and slamming the door.

Great
. We were now back to the Lacys fighting.

“Shelby,” Mrs. Lacy said, her voice hoarse, “I don't want to seem like I don't believe you, but this is tearing my family apart. How confident are you that you can locate Daisy soon? I don't care about the competition tomorrow. I care about my family.”

“I promise. A detective is only as good as her reputation, and if you ask around, you'll find that mine is flawless.”

Mrs. Lacy didn't seem too convinced. “Well, I certainly hope so.” She started to rap lightly on Zareen's door.

Shelby began walking down the stairs. “Where are you going?” I called after her.

“I've got security footage to watch. Don't you have a game of the basketball to play?”

“It's just ‘basketball,' ” I corrected her, although it cracked me up that she referred to it as “
the
basketball.” Man, she really knew nothing about sports.

“Yes, but you seem to be eager to play.” (My grammar lesson apparently went over her head.)

I had been looking forward to playing ever since I saw Zane with a ball in his hands when we first met. This was my chance.

“Are you sure you don't need my help watching footage?” I offered.

“I think I can manage more than adequately on my own.”

“Listen, Shelby.” I looked around to make sure nobody could hear us. “I know that Zareen didn't do it. Tamra is setting her up. Or maybe Mrs. Lacy? Or the trainer? All I know is that Zareen didn't do it.”

“Is there a member of this family you don't have a crush on?” She snorted.

“Shelby …”

“You want to know why it's not a good idea to make friends, especially ones involved in a case?” she asked with her arms folded. “Because it can cloud your vision. I don't let feelings and emotions influence me. The facts will speak for themselves. That's the only thing I'm interested in. Having friends only complicates matters.”

I stood there with my mouth open. I felt like I was making some headway with Shelby, that she was beginning to trust me. That she and I were becoming friends. But how wrong I was. I never felt so stupid around Shelby as I did then, and that was saying something.

Shelby ignored me as she dug her hand in her backpack, while anger grew inside me.

She only thought of me as a burden. It was clear she wanted me to leave so I could get out of her hair. I was only useful to her if I was locking a door or walking her dog.

“You know what?” I snapped. “I care about others. People are humans with emotions, not merely pawns in your investigation. Maybe you'd get further in your cases or, I don't know, with people your own age if you didn't treat them with such spite. It's like you don't care about anybody or anything, except your cases.”

Shelby looked at me blankly. It was then that I realized she was holding out something in her hands. It was a
bottle of water, an orange, and a string cheese wrapped in plastic.

“What's that?” I asked, confused why she wasn't mad at my outburst. Why she wasn't fighting back. She always had a quick reply ready.

“I brought you a snack to ensure that you had proper energy before you played with the basketball. Shouldn't you have an afternoon snack?”

With everything going on with the case, she was concerned about my diabetes?

“Oh, thanks.” I took her offering meekly, ashamed of my outburst.

Hold on
. How did she know that I was even going to play basketball this afternoon? This
was
her plan all along: dump me off on Zane. All Shelby wanted was to find Daisy, not make friends, especially with me.

But then why would she bring me a snack? Maybe she did care?

Apparently, Daisy's disappearance wasn't the only mystery around here.

“Well?” Shelby opened the door and gestured for me to leave the apartment with her. “Ready?”

I didn't know what to say. How to feel about everything she had said. It wasn't like I could take a nutritional snack as an offering of friendship.