Chapter 12

It was a long ride out to the Smart Cell Superstore, and Abigail knew that she was taking a chance with the entire case.

If none of Jeremy's belongings were on the shelves at the Smart Cell, she and Timothy might have

enough time to check another location, but they

wouldn't have much more than that. If they had nothing to show for a full day of looking,

it seemed likely that her brother would call off the search altogether. That bothered Abigail,

and she wasn't sure why. She disliked the idea of giving up on a case before it was

solved, but this wasn't like some of her other adventures, where word had spread and established

her reputation in the business. However the search for her brother's lost treasures ended,

it wasn't likely to have much of an impact on the agency. So that

couldn't be what was worrying Abigail. Nor was at the loss of the princely sum of five dollars a day,

a fee that was far greater than Abigail had charged before. She liked making money and keeping busy,

but something else would come along, so it probably wasn't that either.

As they neared the smart-cell superstores parking lot, Abigail was forced to admit to herself that it was possible, just possible, mind you,

that the reason this case had become so important to her, and the reason that she was so desperate

not to go home empty-handed, was because of her brother. She was not sure if she wanted to help him,

or if she wanted his approval, and in fact she did not know what possibility she considered

more personally appalling.

She locked up her bike and breezed through the store's automatic entrance like a girl on a mission,

Timothy at her heels, shuffling the list that Jeremy had given her,

to which he had added his own notes.

The good news was that there was a toy section in the smart cell. The bad news was that it seemed to

...