Mark raised his head, but he couldn’t look his wife in the eye. “I’m sorry, Ruth.”
“You’ve said you were sorry before,” Mrs. Shelby burst out, fighting back furious tears. “Then the next time you lost your temper you forgot you were sorry. If you don’t want me to press charges, you have to take anger management classes.”
“You’re right,” Mr. Shelby said. “I should have to prove I’ll really change. I’ll sign up tomorrow, first thing. I swear. I never meant to hurt you. Believe me.” For the first time, Madison thought he seemed genuinely contrite. “I don’t know what gets into me sometimes. And you got your point across. I was scared out of my mind when I was in jail, and I feel bad that I made you feel that way in your own home. I just want you to come back.”
“Well, I won’t. I don’t believe you’ll change. This last time was the final straw. I’m staying with Sarah and I’m not coming back.”
Mr. Shelby hung his head. “Why did you even come in and clear me now?” he asked his wife.
Mrs. Shelby turned toward Madison. “This young lady convinced me that it was the right thing to do.”
“How did you find Mrs. Shelby?” Judge Young asked.
Madison looked at Jake. He nodded at her, seeming to say, “Take it away,” so Madison told everyone about her investigation. When she came to the part where she’d tricked Mr. Shelby into letting her into his house so she could see the photograph of Ruth and her sister more clearly, Mr. Shelby said, “I thought I’d seen you before.”
Then Madison explained how she’d gotten the idea that Mrs. Shelby might be hiding after going to Prescott-Mather and learning that Ann hadn’t been murdered but was only hiding from her friends because she was embarrassed about her parents’ divorce.
A big grin appeared on Madison’s face when she finished her explanation by telling the judge how she and Jake had followed Mrs. Shelby’s sister. She was a hero, Madison told herself, and the reason she was a hero was because of her sleuthing abilities. Her father had to be so proud of her. Maybe she would be the greatest lawyer detective ever. She was certainly off to a good start.
Hamilton cleared his throat. “Did you pretend to have a cold so you could cut school and go to Prescott-Mather to look for Ann?” he asked.
Madison’s grin disappeared. “I had to, Dad.”
“And did you cut school today?”
“I had to,” Madison said again, hearing her voice sound a bit desperate.
“Did you ever think of telling me your idea about following Mrs. Shelby’s sister so I could put my professional investigator on Mrs. Tucker’s tail?”
“Well . . . no, but—”
“Or telling me last night about finding Mrs. Shelby?”
“You never take me seriously, Dad, when I try to help you solve a case. So I decided to prove to you I can help by showing everyone just what happened in court, like Max Stone does in his books.”
“I appreciate what you did for Mr. Shelby, but I’m grounding you for one week for cutting school and interfering in one of my cases after I specifically told you not to.”
“If I hadn’t snooped around, Mr. Shelby might have gone to prison for life.”
“That’s why I’m only punishing you for a week. But you have to learn that there are consequences for your actions.”
“I had to find Mrs. Shelby on my own because you wouldn’t have listened to me if I tried to talk about the case. You still think I’m a baby who doesn’t understand a thing you do, but I’m in middle school and I’m smart, Dad. I want to help you, and I think I’ve just proved that I can.”
Hamilton’s brow furrowed, and he took a good look at his daughter.
“I guess you did.”
“I can help you with other cases, too, if you’d just trust me.”
“I do trust you, Madison. And you’re right. I don’t give you enough credit. I promise to take your ideas more seriously from now on.”
“Are you still going to ground me?” Madison asked hopefully.
“Did you play hooky from school to go to Prescott-Mather and to come to court today?”
Madison colored and nodded.
“Then I have to ground you.”
“Can I go to soccer practice?” She knew everyone was standing around listening, but she had to find out.
Hamilton thought for a moment. Then he nodded.
“The first game is this weekend. Can I play in it?”
“Yes, but don’t expect to celebrate if you win. It’s home for you as soon as the whistle blows. And I’ll be there watching to make sure you behave yourself.”
Judge Young had been listening carefully to the exchange between Hamilton and his daughter. When she saw that the lawyer was done, she smiled at Madison.
“I agree with your father. Playing hooky is serious. And going into strangers’ houses is not a safe thing to do. But I also admire your brainwork. You showed great initiative, Madison. Maybe we can get you in here interning when you’re in high school—but just please promise me that you won’t put yourself in harm’s way again.”
The judge’s remark erased some of the sting of being grounded.
“I promise, Your Honor. Thank you,” Madison said, her brain whirling. An internship at the courthouse would be a fantastic step on her way to law school . . . or maybe her own detective agency? Jake punched her arm, as if to say “congrats.”
Judge Young looked at the district attorney. “Under the circumstances, Mr. Payne, I think a motion to dismiss is in order.”
The DA nodded his head. “I’ll do it right away, judge.”
Chapter 21
Not Bad for a Seventh Grader
The Grove’s first regular-season girls’ soccer game was against Reston Middle School. Madison knew she wouldn’t start because she was an alternate, and she had little hope of getting into the game at all because of the way she’d screwed up in the scrimmage against Prescott-Mather. The coach hadn’t even glanced in her direction throughout the whole game. Madison was resigned to riding the bench.
Ann, Jake, Becca, Lacey, Jessi, Peggy, and her dad were in the stands. Every once in a while she would look over her shoulder and someone would catch her eye and wave or give a thumbs-up to encourage her, but all that did was depress her because she knew they were just trying to cheer her up.
There were only a few minutes left till the end and the score was tied at one to one. This wasn’t the time for a coach to put an untested seventh grader into the game. Then Carrie Metzger collapsed. She was the girl who had injured her ankle during the scrimmage at Prescott-Mather, opening a chance for Madison to play. Carrie’s ankle had still been bothering her and she’d missed most of the practices the week before the game. She’d been playing on guts, but now she was rolling on the ground in agony and clutching her ankle.
The game stopped while Carrie was helped to the sidelines. Coach Davis looked at her bench for a moment. Then she pointed at Madison.
“Get in there for Metzger,” she ordered. It took a second for Madison to realize that the coach was pointing at her.
“Yeah, you, Kincaid. Hop to it.”
Madison jumped up and ran onto the field. Marci was giving the team a pep talk.
“There’re less than three minutes left in the game and this is probably our last drive. Reston is one of the worst teams in the league, but we’re playing like crap. If we tie we can kiss our chances to repeat as champion good-bye. So suck it up and let’s show Reston what The Grove is made of.”
The referee blew the whistle and Marci dribbled the ball downfield toward the Reston goal. Reston’s defenders started moving toward Marci. Marci looked to her left toward one of her best friends and saw that she was covered. Then Marci looked right and saw Madison. It was just like the scrimmage. Marci and her friend had no shot and Madison had only one defender between her and the goal. Madison could read Marci’s mind. Marci didn’t like Madison and she had to be remembering Madison’s unplanned flight through space that cost The Grove the win over Prescott-Mather. But Marci had no choice. Madison was the only player with a chance to win the game, so Marci gritted her teeth and passed the ball.