“That was not nice,” Oscar said quietly.
Walt shook her head.“That girl is going to ruin everything, isn’t she?”
Oscar laughed a short, harsh laugh.“Which one, Madison or Butterbean?”
“It’s not even lying, right? Just fudging a little.” Madison kept talking at the elevator. Butterbean was starting to think that she wasn’t really talking to her. “It’s not like I have a choice.”
Butterbean nodded absently. Walt was right. She needed to focus on the heist, not on whatever Madison was doing. (Which, from what Butterbean could tell, was totally lying and not just fudging.)
“It’ll be fine,” Madison muttered. Butterbean stared at the floor and tried not to comment. She needed to focus on what was important. There was that weird new stain on the carpet. Butterbean sniffed it and then snorted. Biscuit. She should totally pee on it.
“I pretty much had to sign, right?” Madison said, tugging on Butterbean’s leash. “If I didn’t, they’d go looking for Ruby, and if that happened, it’d all be over anyway. So I might as well, right?”
Butterbean wagged her tail in what she thought was an encouraging way. If she peed on the stain, it would just take up extra time they didn’t have. And they couldn’t delay the heist. So she would focus. She deliberately turned her face away from the stain. Focus.
The elevator light went off and the doors opened. And Madison and Butterbean both took an involuntary step back.
Because standing in the elevator was the Coin Man.
“Ah. We meet again,” he said. Madison squared her shoulders and walked into the elevator, punching the lobby button and leaning against the far wall.
“So silent,” the Coin Man said, staring at her.
Madison flashed him a tight smile and turned to look straight ahead.
“Not lurking around my door today?” the Coin Man said. “Why were you doing that, I wonder?”
He turned sideways in the elevator to watch her as the doors closed. Madison kept her eyes on the lighted elevator numbers.
“I asked why you were doing that,” the man said, his voice harder.
“I told you. The dog got loose. Sorry about that.” Madison didn’t take her eyes off the numbers.
“Ah yes. The dog. Strange that a little dog finds its way to the top floor? Almost… unbelievable.”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_29]
Madison pressed her lips into a thin line but didn’t say anything. Butterbean leaned heavily against Madison’s legs. The thing was, it did sound like a ridiculous story. Too bad for Madison it was true.
“Your sweater is so sparkly,” the man said, reaching out as if he was going to touch one of the buttons on Madison’s cardigan.
She shrunk back closer to the wall.
“That’s what you like? Sparkly things?” the man hadn’t moved, but the elevator suddenly seemed a lot smaller.
“Lobby,” the elevator voice said.
“See ya, bye!” Madison blurted as she squeezed out of the opening elevator doors, almost tripping over Butterbean in her rush.
The man didn’t move. He just laughed quietly as he watched her go. Then he held out his arm to stop the closing doors and strolled into the lobby.
Bob was leaning on a mop, talking to Mr. Doorman, when Madison rushed over to him.
She thrust the papers into Bob’s hands, pointing at the bottom of the page. “Here you go, my aunt signed the papers, it should be all set. Okay?”
Bob stared at her.“Um, sure, but…”
“Great, thanks!” Madison bent down and picked Butterbean up, pushing past Mr. Doorman into the outer lobby.
Butterbean bounced along in Madison’s arms as she hurried to the front door. It was different, being carried. It should have felt more relaxing, but Madison’s panic was contagious.
They were almost outside when Bob’s voice drifted over from the elevator area. “Oh, that? That’s Ruby Park’s niece. You know, on eight?”
Madison and Butterbean whirled around just in time to see Bob chatting with the Coin Man.
The man was watching them over Bob’s head. A cold smile spread across his face.
“Oh great, that’s just what I need,” Madison said under her breath, plopping Butterbean down onto the pavement unceremoniously. “Let’s go, dog. NOW.”
Butterbean didn’t need to be told twice. Because now she knew two things the others didn’t know. One, the Coin Man was onto them somehow. Or onto Madison at least. And two, he was leaving the building.
This was going to be the quickest walk in the history of walks.
It was heisting time.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]
13
[Êàðòèíêà: img_4]
[Êàðòèíêà: img_30]
“WHOOHOO HEIST DAY!” MARCO CHEERED when Butterbean got back. “Did you see the Coin Man? Is it go time?”
Marco was ready for some heisting. He bounced up and down in his aquarium and didn’t even care if Madison could hear him. It was pretty obvious she didn’t speak Rat.
Butterbean nodded as Madison took the leash off.“He just left. But UGH.” She shook violently, spattering Madison with spit. “So creepy.”
Madison jerked back.“Okay, I’ll see you guys soon.” She suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Um. Hopefully.”
“She gave Bob the papers,” Butterbean said in a low voice. “The papers that she FORGED.”
“We’d better move, then. Good thing we know the Coin Man left,” Oscar squawked. If the others were going to talk openly, he might as well too.
“We don’t know the status of the other man,” Walt said. “But Chad said that he could handle his part even if one of them was there. And he’s ready. So now we just wait for Madison to leave.”
The animals all turned to look at Madison, who was gathering up her book bag. She slowly looked up, as if she could feel their eyes on her. Then she set the book bag down again and stared back at them.“What?”
Nobody moved. They just blinked at her. (Except for Butterbean. She couldn’t help doing a little tail wagging, too.)
“Um,” Madison said. “Did I forget something?”
“We should warn her to watch out for the Coin Man,” Polo said.
“She won’t understand us,” Walt said. “Besides, doesn’t she know?”
“Watch out for the Coin Man!” Butterbean barked.
Madison picked her book bag back up.“Look, I can’t stay, guys. Is that it? I’ll be back. No matter what, I’ll come back right after school, okay?”
“I don’t think she understood you,” Polo said to Butterbean.
“She’s not the best listener,” Butterbean said.
“No, but if she’s coming back after school, we need to get moving. So she needs to go!” Walt stalked over to Madison, coiling herself around her legs and pushing her in the direction of the door. Once she saw what Walt was doing, Butterbean raced over and pushed too, in a slightly less subtleway.
“Okay, I get the hint, guys.” Madison hesitated just inside the door and grinned. “You’re all weirdos, you know that?”
Walt waited until the door closed and then stood stock-still, listening until she heard the elevator ding. Then she relaxed.“She’s gone.”
“Weirdos and CRIMINALS, am I right?” Marco said, high-fiving Polo.
Walt rolled her eyes.“Right. Everyone know what to do? Butterbean?”
Butterbean picked up her squeaky carrot and nodded. She was on hallway duty. Obviously. She was pretty clearly the queen of the hallways.
“Oscar?”
“Window,” Oscar said. He snapped his beak nervously. He wasn’t big on flying outdoors, but it had to be done. He was going to be independently wealthy if it killed him.
“Marco? Polo?” Walt said.
“VENTS!” Marco and Polo cheered as they crawled out of their aquarium and raced to the sofa. “Vents, here we come. See you guys soon!”
They disappeared into the vent shaft, still cheering as they went.
“Ready, Oscar?” Walt turned her back on the vent.
“Ready,” Oscar said, taking a deep breath. Walt hurried to the ledge by the dining room table and pushed at the window crank until the window opened. “Chad will open the one upstairs. Ready, Butterbean?”