The Great Shelby Holmes Meets Her Match

  “I certainly do. Your cries for attention are practically deafening. Tell me, are you doing all of this to try to impress people at school since you don’t have any friends?”

  Hey! That came from me! I finally made a correct deduction. I had to be right for Shelby to use it. Although now I felt a little bad that it was being thrown in Moira’s face.

  Shelby wasn’t done yet. “Or is this all a ploy to get your father’s attention, since he’d rather be working than be home with you.”

  Ouch. Now I did feel sorry for Moira.

  Shelby gave me a quick glance, probably knowing how much her comment might’ve hit home with me because of my relationship with my dad.

  Shelby sucked in a breath. “I GOT IT!”

  She did! What did she have?

  Shelby folded her arms as a smile spread across her face. “How was your St. Bart’s vacation with the Lacys?”

  WHAT? Moira knew the Lacys? They went on vacation together? How on earth did Shelby figure that out?

  Shelby wagged her finger at Moira. “I knew I’d seen you recently. Granted, it took me a while to put the pieces together. But you were in one of the photos on the Lacys’ bureau. You, your parents, and the Lacys at a resort in St. Bart’s. Last Christmas, I presume?”

  Moira’s jaw went slack.

  Shelby was right! One of the clues to the Lacys’ dognapping case had to do with a missing picture frame on a bureau in the upstairs hallway. I’d glanced at those photos when we were there, but I hadn’t really observed. Part of me couldn’t believe Shelby remembered those photos so clearly, but the other part of me was grateful she did. Because now we knew more about Moira.

  Moira’s eyes were glued on Shelby as she paced the room.

  “Yes. Your family is friends with the Lacys. My impressive exploits no doubt came up through them. And you recalled being in school with me. How upsetting it must’ve been to be reminded of the first grader who came to your school and advanced a grade after only a month. Who was heaped with praise by all the teachers. I was put in a few of your classes, even though you’re three years older than me. Yet even though you were older, I knew more than you. Even then. That must’ve hurt. Being outsmarted. I wouldn’t know. It’s not a feeling I’m familiar with. And then a few years later, you had to listen to your parents gush about the abilities of the same brilliant young girl.” Shelby then turned to Moira. “That really got to you. You’re an only child, used to having all the attention. You’d become accustomed to being the smartest in class once more. And then I came along … again. Even now, when we’re in different schools, you can’t compete with me.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Moira replied, but the quiver in her voice said differently.

  “Ah, yes, it’s coming together. You needed to prove to yourself that you could beat me. How petty, how naive, how utterly unsuccessful. Oh, Moira, you may have money, but you don’t have the talents.”

  “I fooled you!” Moira growled. “I did. I got the best of you. I have the watch!”

  “You do, for now. But then what? You said you were going to return the watch to Mr. Crosby. Why even bring him into this?”

  “Because when I found out he was now teaching at your school, I knew he was the way to get to you. That your ego couldn’t resist swooping in to save the day.”

  Point Moira.

  “Okay, so you return Mr. Crosby’s watch. Then what?”

  Moira began to stammer. “I—I—”

  Shelby replied by mimicking Moira’s tsking. “You haven’t thought this all the way through, have you? Revenge can be a powerful motivator, but it also doesn’t allow people to think clearly.”

  “Isn’t that why you’re here?” Moira asked as her eyes narrowed. “Revenge.”

  Shelby looked confused for a moment. “Not at all. You have to actually care about someone to want revenge. For me, this is simply about completing a task for a client. Let’s get back to it. Yes, you knew my steps up until this morning. While that is impressive, you don’t know what I’m going to do next.”

  So Moira and I had that in common, because I was also clueless.

  Shelby looked like a lion that was circling its prey. “You never imagined we’d get this far. You thought your security desk was going to stop us. You planned on having a normal lunch, and if you saw us, you were going to have security swoop in to save the day. Once you realized we were in the building, you decided to bring us here. So I ask you again, Moira, now what?”

  Moira was shaking with anger, her face red (although that could’ve been from the heat, but I was pretty sure it was from Shelby). “I bested you! I did!” Moira started stomping her feet. “I was the one who figured out a way to get you to come to me. I knew you’d find a way into Ms. Semple’s office and do something to get her to reveal her hiding place. I gave her a very generous check from my father this morning to ensure that she would look at her safe. That was me. I did that. I was able to think one step ahead of you the whole time. You’ve been my puppet. I am the one pulling the strings. Everything has happened because I planned it. Not the great Shelby Holmes. Somebody needed to put you in your place, and I decided that person was me.”

  Moira started laughing like she had us. But she didn’t.

  Did she?

  We were stuck in a basement. There was only one way out. There were two of us, and only one of Moira. And Moira was unraveling.

  “We’re more alike than you think,” Moira said.

  “You wish.”

  “I find school to be dreadfully boring. The people in the school, idiots. I have a restless mind. I know you do, too. So I knew that if I gave you a series of hoops to jump through, you’d be more than happy to do it. But I also realized that you’d be so distracted by these bizarre complications—blackmail, a stolen watch, Ms. Semple—that you’d never see me coming.”

  She had us there.

  “Do you also find this conversation boring?” Shelby asked as she yawned.

  Moira narrowed her eyes at Shelby. “You think you’re so smart.”

  “I don’t think I’m smart, I know I am,” Shelby fired back. “Although I’m not so insecure that I require validation, so this ends now. You hand over the watch, or your sterling reputation at Miss Adler’s is finished. After all, I don’t think Ms. Semple would have any problem expelling you after she finds out you hacked her e-mail, blackmailed a former teacher, and threatened a beloved alumnus. But then again, you getting expelled would perhaps finally get you the attention from your family that you so desperately crave. Please let me know if you require an autograph as proof that you’ve met me.”

  “You’re … I don’t need to …” Moira was stumbling over her words. It was clear that Shelby had hit a big nerve. “Like you have a ton of friends and a perfect family.”

  Shelby laughed. “It goes without saying that nobody has a perfect family. However, we have the opposite problem, Moira. I don’t want all the attention my parents try to heap on me. But that’s how they show affection so it’s difficult to argue against it. As for friends, well, I don’t crave them. Watson suits me fine.”

  Um, thanks?

  Moira’s hands were balled into fists. I had a feeling that Shelby was making this worse. I couldn’t imagine Moira simply handing over the watch now.

  Maybe it was time to stop being mute and try to really reason with Moira, without threats or painful blows to her ego.

  “All right,” I said as I stepped between them. “It’s time we think this through. Moira, you have something we want. If you hand it over now, we’ll go on our way and you’ll never see or hear from us again. We won’t make any trouble. But if you don’t, well … I can’t be held responsible for what Shelby will do.”

  Okay, it was kinda nice to threaten her.

  Moira rolled her eyes (it was a little eerie how much she had in common with Shelby in terms of her mannerisms). “I thought you were only here to protect Shelby, Watson. I didn’t realize you actually s
poke.”

  Shelby sneered. “I don’t need protection.”

  Moira looked at Shelby’s tiny stature and laughed.

  Shelby took a step forward. “Would you like me to prove it to you?”

  I reached around Shelby to hold her back. (Why was I protecting Moira from Shelby? Maybe I should let Shelby get a few karate kicks in.)

  I was struggling to contain Shelby. I probably weighed fifty pounds more than her and could see over her head, but I felt weak. I wanted to blame the heat. And the fact that I was hungry. And thirsty. And suddenly really tired.

  Moira took a step to the side so she was between the exit and us.

  “Okay, fine. Yeah, I didn’t think you’d find a way into my apartment building. Clearly, my father will be having a talk with security. But here you are. Well, Shelby and Watson, since you’re such geniuses, good luck finding your way out.” Moira walked through the door, slamming it shut behind her.

  It was completely pitch black.

  And we were locked in.

  CHAPTER

  23

  It was so dark, I couldn’t see anything. Anything.

  I heard Shelby fidgeting around, and then a beam of light appeared. Shelby pointed her flashlight in my face, I held up my hands to protect my eyes. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “You don’t appear to be in optimal health.”

  “I’m fine,” I assured her. “How are we going to get out of here?”

  Shelby shone her light around the room. “My phone isn’t getting any service. We’ll have to make noise or, even better, break something so somebody has to come down to fix it.”

  “Why’s it so hot?” I asked. I thought it was bad before, but now with the door closed there was no air in here except for disgusting damp … stuff. I couldn’t even think straight anymore.

  “We’re in the boiler room. That boiler over there heats water and delivers it to all the apartment units.” Shelby started banging on the pipes with a screwdriver from her bag. I know I should’ve offered to help, but I was feeling really out of it. “Usually it’s not this hot,” she continued, “but it’s an old building.”

  I needed something to focus on besides the heat and my racing heart. “I know you saw the picture of Moira at the Lacys’,” I said to Shelby, “but how did you know her parents ignore her?”

  Shelby stopped banging on the pipes and stood up. “It was thanks to you, actually. You got me thinking about why Moira would do this. Would it be because she didn’t have any friends? I couldn’t imagine anybody being that desperate for approval from her peers.”

  (Remember what I said about Shelby not being the best judge of what’s normal? Yeah. I mean, who doesn’t want friends? I suppose I really should ask, who besides Shelby Holmes doesn’t want friends?)

  “That led me to thinking about her family. This was before the Lacy connection. When I went online, and you know that I loathe depending on technology, I saw a headline about her father. He’s president of a huge international investment company down on Wall Street. A type of job that must be demanding. He probably doesn’t spend a lot of time at home.” Shelby’s voice sounded distant. She went over to a glass meter and banged on it for a few seconds. “Granted, I already knew she came from money, but there had to be a reason she would go through all this trouble and I wondered if there was a connection. Why would someone do that? Why would they blackmail a teacher simply to get to me? Clearly, it had to be a desperate cry for attention.”

  “That or she’s evil.” I didn’t even realize I said that out loud until Shelby pointed the flashlight in my direction.

  “Probably a little bit of both,” Shelby said in the darkness. “But imagine being in a house where you’re genuinely ignored, and then your parents go on and on about the talents of some girl from your past. It would be extremely irritating. At least I assume it would be for someone like Moira. Personally, I wouldn’t care if my parents praised someone else, nor if they thought someone was smarter than me, even if that was a pretty impossible feat.”

  “I guess …” It was really hard to breathe. My entire body was shaking now. I’ll admit that I was scared. We were trapped in some room, I was crashing, and I had no idea how we were going to get out of this mess.

  “I think you should sit down,” Shelby suggested, shining her light on me once again.

  I didn’t protest and collapsed on the floor.

  “There’s a vent up there.” Shelby pointed the flashlight to a corner of the room, where there was a small vent near the ceiling. “Maybe I could climb the pipes …” Shelby yelped as she touched one of the pipes. “Never mind, they’re entirely too hot. Instead, I’ll focus on making more noise to see if I can stir anybody to come investigate. You rest.”

  Shelby started banging loudly on one of the pipes again. The noise matched the throbbing in my head. There was no way that my blood sugar was in a good condition right now. If I was traveling for the day, I’d have insulin and a glucagon rescue kit with me, but I was supposed to be home hours ago. I thought I’d be playing basketball by now. Actually, by this point, I would’ve played ball and eaten. And had something to drink. And then eaten some more.

  My mouth felt dry.

  Shelby stopped banging on the pipes and turned her attention to the boiler. She started pulling levers and doing her best to break something. Anything that would lead somebody to realize we were down here. Maintenance would make routine checks, right?

  Oh please, let me be right.

  “I’m really sorry, Watson.” Shelby’s voice seemed to come from another room. “I should’ve made sure that you had something to eat or drink. I was too consumed by this case and Moira’s motives. I promise that I will get you out of here and get you the biggest bottle of juice, and whatever you want to eat.”

  Shelby’s voice had a strange tone to it. It took me a second to realize that it was laced with worry. Which meant she didn’t know how we were going to get out of there. And I was worse off than I thought.

  Because if Shelby was that worried, I was really in trouble.

  “I’ll be all right,” I said, every word an effort. “I think I might lie down for a bit.” I leaned over and curled up on the hard concrete floor. The floor itself wasn’t as warm as the air, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

  “You take it easy, Watson. I’m going to get us out of here.” The banging on the pipes intensified. Then I heard something break. “I’m going to rip the needle off one of the valves; that should hopefully do it.”

  Shelby kept talking, probably an attempt to keep me awake. It was a battle I was losing. I didn’t feel right. Why was I now feeling cold, when it had been so warm? Maybe Shelby found a fan? I was shivering. I wished I had a blanket to wrap around me. I reached up and touched my face, which was covered in sweat.

  That was weird. Why was I sweating if I was so cold?

  This had never happened before.

  I was in trouble.

  “Watson?” I heard Shelby call out my name, but it was like she was underwater. Or maybe I was the one underwater. I sensed that her hands were on my face, taking my temperature, but I couldn’t really feel it. It was like I knew she was there, but I was somewhere else.

  “Watson!” There was a light tapping on my cheek, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. It took too much effort. All I wanted to do was drift away.

  “WATSON!”

  And that was the last thing I remembered.

  CHAPTER

  24

  “John.” I heard a familiar voice in the distance and felt a hand rubbing my cheek.

  Slowly, I opened my eyes, blinking back the daylight.

  “Mom?” I mumbled.

  Mom was standing over me, her cheeks stained with tears. “Oh, honey, you’re going to be okay.” While it seemed like she was trying to assure me, I think she was saying it more to herself. “You’re going to be just fine.”

  “What happened?” It was hard to for
m words. I felt groggy.

  “Your blood sugar was so low, you had diabetic hypoglycemia.”

  “Oh …,” I replied. I didn’t have the energy to say or ask anything else.

  “What do you remember?” Mom asked.

  My mind was a bit foggy, but then I slowly remembered that Shelby and I had been locked in a boiler room. “Shelby!” I exclaimed as I sat up. It was then that I realized that I was on a gurney, near an ambulance, and had an IV in my arm. I had to lie back down because I was too dizzy … and confused. “Where’s Shelby?”

  “She’s over there.” Mom looked over her right shoulder.

  A paramedic came by and checked my vitals. It took me a few moments to take in the scene. We were outside Moira’s apartment building. There was another ambulance next to mine. Shelby was sitting up on a gurney. Her arms were wrapped in gauze and her right arm was in a sling. “What happened to Shelby?” I asked. Even saying those few words took too much energy.

  “She …” Mom’s eyes welled up again. “I think she saved your life.”

  She WHAT ? But how? She didn’t have cell reception. The pipes were too hot to climb … Had the broken needle on the boiler done it? I looked over again at the gauze on Shelby’s arms.

  “How did we get out?” I asked Mom. It had seemed hopeless, although deep down I knew Shelby would find a way.

  Shelby glanced at me. I tried to raise my hand to her to signal that I was going to be okay, but she quickly looked down at the ground.

  “Shelby wrapped herself in clothes, climbed the pipes, and then set off some sort of smoke bomb near the vent, which is how maintenance realized someone was locked in the room. Once they got you out, Shelby called an ambulance and then called me. She suffered some pretty bad burns climbing the pipes.”

  I forgot that we had that second smoke bomb in her bag. “Why is her arm in a sling?”

  “She fell the first time she climbed the pipes and dislocated her shoulder.”

  I can’t believe Shelby did all of that for me. I wanted to talk to her and find out everything.