The Great Shelby Holmes (5 page)

I shook my head. Mom always wanted to have “open conversations” about how I was feeling about the divorce and being so far away from Dad, who moved back to Kentucky.

She gave me a tight smile and pulled me in for a hug. “I understand how difficult this has been on you and know you'll adjust to life here. You'll be in school in three weeks and won't have any trouble making friends—you never have.”

Three more weeks of being alone in this city? I mean, I know I wasn't
alone
alone, but Mom had work. I had only boxes to keep me company.

“Tomorrow afternoon I want you to come up to the medical center to meet with your new diabetes doctor. I made an appointment with her at four, and then afterward I'll show you around my new workplace. I'll leave you some money on the counter for a taxi. I don't want you taking the subway or bus by yourself just yet. We both need to get used to the city first. Sound good?”

I said the only thing I could: “Yep.”

Because I really didn't have any other choice. Or anything else to do.

CHAPTER

5

I
spent
the
next
morning
unpacking
more
boxes
until
boredom
got
the
best
of
me
. A
fter
an
early
lunch
, I found myself sitting on our outside stoop again. While I had my journal in my hand, I realized that I was waiting. I almost didn't want to admit it to myself, but it was very clear what I was waiting for. Oh, who was I kidding? I was waiting for a
who
.

After almost an hour, the front door opened and I tried not to seem too desperate. I stood up as she passed me. “Hey, Shelby!”

She turned around with a scowl on her face. “Do I have to start walking you now, too?”

Sir Arthur looked up from the tree that had his attention for a moment before going back to sniffing.
He
didn't really seem to mind …

“I just thought, you know, like I could, um, walk around with you, and, um …” I stammered. I never had this tough
of a time connecting with someone before, but generally, when I'm talking to somebody, they aren't looking at me with contempt.

This was a bad idea.

Shelby turned on her heel. “Well, come on, then.”

Not the most welcoming gesture, but I followed her. I wasn't exactly sure what my plan was, but hanging out with Shelby was way better than being alone in the apartment.

“So you're a detective?” I asked to break the silence. Plus, how cool was that? A detective!

“Yes,” she replied as she kept up her speedy pace.

“Um, but, like, how?”

“By solving cases.”

“So did you just always know how to—”

Shelby cut me off. “Watson, what is it that you want?”

What did I
want
? I didn't understand why she was so angry all of a sudden. “I want to get to know you better, that's all. I think all the stuff you do is really cool. I'm sorry if I seem nosy, but whenever I got to a new post, I liked to get to know the friends I met.”

“Oh,” she said with a softer voice. “I'm not used to people asking me things without wanting anything.”

“It's okay.” We walked in silence for a few minutes. I didn't want to push her, but it was clear she didn't want to talk.

“It's something that I've always been good at,” Shelby
finally said. “Ever since I was little, I could remember facts and have been curious about how things work. My brother's the same way. Well, in the fact that he's intelligent, not something that I would ever admit to him, but he's also extremely lazy.”

“So you have a photographic memory?” I've heard about people who can remember everything they read or see.

“You're referring to eidetic memory, and no. I don't merely regurgitate random facts back. I observe. I analyze.
That
takes talent. It was a hobby, but then two years ago there was a rash of thefts at the school library. I studied the evidence and was able to pin down the culprit using simple powers of observation.”

“Wait.” I did the math. “You solved your first crime at
seven
?”

Shelby looked upset. “Sadly, yes. I wish I had started sooner so I could have more experience under my belt, but luckily there's enough action in the neighborhood to keep me busy.”

“So people, like, call you or—”

“When you're as good as I am, you get a reputation. A
good
reputation. People know each other in this neighborhood. They talk. They know what I can do. Some people like it; others don't.”

We turned the corner back onto Baker Street. It was a much shorter walk than yesterday. I couldn't help but wonder if I had anything to do with that.

As we approached our building, I saw somebody standing outside. It was a girl with big brown eyes and curly black hair. “Shelby! Something awful has happened!”

“Really?” Shelby responded to bad news with an enthusiasm that was a little unsettling. “What's going on?”

“Daisy has gone missing! I can't find her anywhere, and the big show's in three days!”

“You've come to the right person, Tamra.” Shelby's lips curled into what appeared to be an actual, genuine smile. “This sounds like a case for Shelby Holmes. I'll be right back.” Shelby bounded up the stairs with Sir Arthur while I was left alone with the girl.

“Hi, I'm John.”

The girl wiped away a stray tear on her cheek. “I'm Tamra.”

“I'm sorry about your …” I realized that I had no idea who Daisy was.

After a beat of awkward silence, Tamra finally answered, “Daisy's my dog.”

“Oh, that's awful. Are you friends with Shelby?”

She shook her head. “Not really. We go to school together.”

“I'm going to the Academy, too!” I said with a little too much exuberance to someone who just lost her dog, but I was excited to meet another classmate. “I'm in the creative writing program. What about you?”

“Dance.” She gave me a tiny smile. “So you're new to town?”

Finally! Someone who knows how to have a normal conversation. Someone who can't guess everything about me.

“Yeah, I just moved here. Into this building.” I pointed at the four-story brownstone that Shelby was now exiting.

“Let's go!” Shelby called out as Tamra walked over to a slick black car that was parked across the street.

I didn't know what to do. Shelby was definitely going to do that Shelby thing she does, and I didn't want to miss it. So for the second day in a row, I found myself calling out to her. “Wait!”

Both girls turned around and looked at me expectantly.

“Can I come along?” I asked, feeling foolish and a little guilty knowing that Mom would definitely not approve. I was basically getting in a car with strangers. And who knew what we were going to get up to?

Tamra looked at Shelby. “Does he work with you?”

Shelby scoffed. “I work alone.”

“Well, maybe I can help? I did grow up on army posts and have a lot of experience with the military.” Okay, that was stretching it, but maybe there was something I could do to help? Crazier things have happened. (See: everything Shelby Holmes had done in the last forty-eight hours.)

Shelby rolled her eyes at my puffed-up statement. I should've known better than to try that in front of her.

I was about to head inside the house when Tamra shrugged her shoulders. “It's fine with me.”

I ran so quickly across the street Shelby didn't have a chance to object. Before I knew it, I was in the car with Shelby and Tamra on our way to solve a crime.

CHAPTER

6

S
helby
H
olmes
doesn
'
t
waste
time
.

“Tell me everything that's happened,” Shelby ordered Tamra. “And don't leave a single detail out.”

Tamra wrung her light brown hands in her lap as she started to fill us in. “There's not much to say. I woke up this morning and Daisy was just … gone. She sleeps in bed with me, but at some point in the night she'll go downstairs.
So when I woke up and she wasn't there, I didn't think anything of it. But when I went downstairs, she didn't come to greet me. I called her, but she didn't come, and she
always
comes. Then we all looked around the apartment and couldn't find her. At first, I thought that maybe she was locked in a closet, but we looked in all the closets. We looked everywhere. Dad called security and the doormen hadn't seen her since I walked her last night before bed. It's like she vanished.”