Small Steps (Holes 2)

Detective Debbie Newberg put away her badge as she stepped inside. “Hi, Ginny.”

“Hi,” said Ginny.

“I need to speak to Theodore alone, if you don’t mind.”

If Armpit’s mother was surprised by any of this, she didn’t show it. Armpit figured nothing surprised her anymore.

“C’mon, Ginny, let’s see how many people take our picture,” Armpit’s mother said. She took Ginny by the hand and led her outside.

Detective Newberg joined Armpit on the sofa. “You’re quite the hero,” she said. Her cheeks flushed pink.

Armpit shrugged.

“I just wanted to let you know I’ve been assigned to another case. I told my superiors that all my leads had dried up. And really, for just two counterfeit tickets, it isn’t worth the resources.”

“So you’re not going to try to find the ticket scalper?”

Detective Newberg shook her head.

“I see,” said Armpit, trying to sound as if the matter was of little importance to him, but a little bit of a smile slipped out despite his efforts. He never had a very good poker face.

“Can I sign your cast?”

“Uh, sure.”

He gave her the same marker Ginny had used.

Detective Newberg held his cast as she prepared to write. “So do you want it to Theodore, or to Armpit?”

“Uh . . .”

If this was a test he had just failed it.

She winked at him. “Don’t worry. Like I said, case closed.”

“So how’d you find out? Did Felix tell you?”

“Felix? He knew?” She seemed genuinely surprised. “No, I just put two and two together and came up with four.”

He always knew she would. “I really didn’t know the tickets were counterfeit,” he said.

“Oh, I figured that, too. The man who bought the real tickets told me that X-Ray had been reluctant to sell them because he’d promised them to a friend. At the time I thought it was just X-Ray trying to jack him around, but then it hit me . . . you were the friend.”

“X-Ray’s really not a bad guy,” said Armpit.

“He’d be all right if he just learned to keep his mouth shut,” said Detective Newberg.

He watched her sign her name. “I always liked you,” he told her. “I thought you were really cool, and smart, and I really felt bad about lying to you and everything.”

Detective Newberg looked up and smiled. “No harm, no foul,” she said, then dotted the “i” in her name.

Kaira opened her eyes to see the blurry image of Fred looking down at her. He was wearing a paper-thin blue hospital gown. She might have laughed if it hadn’t hurt so much.

“How ya doin?” he asked her.

She tried to talk but could just barely move her mouth. Her face was heavily bandaged. The only nourishment she got was from the IV tube sticking into her arm.

There was something wrong with her vocal cords as well, and she was only able to speak in a kind of raspy whisper. Fred leaned close to hear her.