Rah Rah Rah Chapter 6

6 Secret Agent Girls

Well, that's sort of what we felt like that night figuring out what we did about Sheri/Tess, like those detective shows!  And Mom was the best detective of the bunch of us!  Just from one little accident, we figured out that Sheri was really Tess, and from one little sleepover we figured out that she and her mom were on the run from somebody they were afraid would kidnap Tess.  That's some pretty good detective work, if you ask me!

Now as for Sheri/Tess, she pretty much slept all the rest of the night, so soundly that Weirdo could carry her all the way back down to the basement and put her in her sleeping bag without Sheri/Tess so much as making a peep!  I guess she really was as tired as Mom said!  Well, we were pretty tired too, the rest of us, because we all went down to the basement too and fell asleep pretty quick ourselves.  We managed to stay awake enough to decide that we would do our best to protect Sheri/Tess and figure out why she and her mom were running away and who they were running away from.  And Merri?  She pulled her sleeping bag over right next to Sheri/Tess's bag and slept there, like she was already protecting her.  But that's just Merri for you, the sweetest girl in the world!

Now I usually get up pretty early (not as early as Weirdo, but way earlier than Snotface, who slept through the whole thing, by the way!), but by the time I woke up the next day, the sun was streaming in from the basement window and I heard a voice upstairs that I already knew was Ms. Price.  I finally saw a clock and it was like nine in the morning!  I never sleep until nine!  So I got up out of my chair and sneaked upstairs to get dressed, and maybe listen a little to what Mom was telling Ms. Price.  Now the top of the stairs opens into the kitchen, and it sounded to me like that was where Mom was talking to Ms. Price, so I had to stop before I got all the way to the top if I wanted to listen to them without Mom knowing I was there.

Ms. Price was apologizing to Mom about not being completely honest with her, but Mom interrupted in her feel-good voice.  "Adrienne, no one can fault you for trying to protect your child.  If I had my way, sometimes I'd like to keep my kids wrapped up in bubble wrap with all the danger they get into!"  So Ms. Price's name wasn't really Ellen—it was Adrienne!  A pretty name, but why did they both change their names when they came here?  "But I think you're not giving little Tess enough credit, Adrienne, I really don't.  Your heart is in the right place, honey, but right now that little girl is feeling frightened and confused.  She's been taken away from everything she knows, put in a whole new place with a whole new identity, and warned about someone trying to abduct her.  Tess is a very strong little girl, Adrienne.  That's how she's managed to hold herself together this long.  But she deserves to know exactly why she's in this situation.  Besides, she's naturally honest, and the deception has been wearing on her.  I think if she knew why she had to change her identity, she'd handle it very well.  And having some friends who really know her for who she is would be a blessing to her."

"But Dr. Mabrey"—

"One advantage to having daughters with a bunch of snooping little amateur-detective friends is that they're very good at keeping secrets.  Serenity and Charity are both good that way, even though they tend to eavesdrop sometimes."  And the way she said that last part just about made me faint, because the way she said it told me she knew I was there!  How does she do that?  Anyhow, I decided I might as well go on up before Mom called me out to embarrass me in front of Tess's mom!  "Good morning, sleepyhead!" Mom greeted me just like she didn't know I was listening in to her and Ms. Price, "Mrs. Vandiver and I were just talking about last night."  Mrs. Vandiver?  They even made up their last name too!  "I was telling her that you and your friends would be very helpful with Tess, that you'd be some friends who really knew the real Tess."

"Well…sure, Mrs., ah…"  And I forgot her real name!  "Yeah, I mean, if she needs somebody to talk to who knows who she really is, we can do that!  Merri really likes her a lot!  Me and the rest of us too, like Alyssa and Jillian, but Merri will be really great for her.  But why did you and…well, Tess, why did you have to change your names?"  The way I saw it, the worst that could happen was that this Mrs. Vandiver would just not answer my question!

"I suppose you deserve to know, Charity, since you and your friends have been so nice to little Tess," Mrs. Vandiver said.  "But I have to confess I've not been completely honest with her, either.  I've never really told her everything about why we had to come here and change our identities."  She was kind of twisting her hands in her lap like she was nervous.  "Just don't take it out on her.  If anyone's to blame, it's me."  She sighed like she was trying to work up her nerve to do something, like I feel whenever I have to try a suicide squeeze or throw a 3-2 pitch.  "But your mama's right, Charity.  Tess deserves to know.  And she needs friends.  She's had so few."  Mom looked over at me, and I knew what my job was!

When I woke Tess up and told her that her mom was here, she ran upstairs crying to her mom that she's been bad and to please not take her away again.  By the time Merri, Jill, and Alyssa woke up and followed me upstairs, Tess was already wrapped up in Mrs. Vandiver's arms, with her mom telling her real sweetly that it was all right, that she hadn't done anything wrong, and Tess was holding onto her mom like she wasn't going to ever let go!  "But it was 'cause of me you had to run away, wasn't it, Mama?" she was saying.

"We ran away to protect you, baby," Mrs. Vandiver said back, "but that's not at all the same as it being your fault.  You might just as well say it's my fault, because it's just as likely they'd come after me as it is you.  If it was just me, I'd have stayed and dared them to come after me, but I can't take that chance with you, baby."

"So somebody's after you, is that right?" I asked.  "You and her both?"  She opened her mouth like she wanted to answer, but then she stopped and looked at Mom.

"Is there someplace a little more private to talk?" she asked, and that was when I noticed that Mrs. Vandiver was taking quick nervous little looks at the windows, like she thought that somebody bad was right outside listening to her!

Mom seemed to notice it too!  "Adrienne, I think you might be overreacting a little.  This is a quiet neighborhood, and I don't think anyone could be sneaking up on us without us seeing."

"But it's happened before!" Mrs. Vandiver said back at her.  "Those cultists, right here in this very house, they took Charity.  I read about it last night!  When you called this morning, I was terrified something had happened to Tess!"

"We're more careful here now," Mom said.  "Most people up here have good alarm systems, and we've learned the hard way to keep an eye out for each other."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Mabrey, I don't mean to offend you, but these people are ruthless.  They have resources behind them, and if they know where Tess and I are…"  She didn't say anything more, and Mom said we could all go down into the basement.  It was cooler there anyway.  We all sat downstairs and listened to Mrs. Vandiver tell us all why she and Tess were there.

"I don't know if you've heard of the Vandivers, but the family goes back a long time, and, well…"

"You have lots of money, I know that," Jill said.  "I saw Sheri—I mean Tess's—bathing suit on a catalogue website, and it was so expensive!  And it fits her perfectly, so I'm guessing you had it tailored for her."  Both Vandivers blushed…

"Well, yes, Jillian, my father…well, that's sort of why everything's happening.  George Altamont.  My maiden name is Adrienne Altamont."

"Altamont?" Mom asked.  "I've heard of the name, some kind of, well.."

"Yeah," Mrs. Vandiver said.  "I know what you're thinking, Dr. Mabrey, robber barons.  My great-great-great-grandfather made a fortune in the California gold rush, and made himself into one of the biggest businessmen in the state.  The family…well, we're well off, I guess.  At least when it comes to money.  Dad started a technology company about thirty years ago, and it does…well, a lot of business with the federal government.  But don't talk about that, please, it's a very…private company that…well, anyway," she said like she was trying to change the subject, "you might have heard of the Vandivers too.  Another substantial family out there.  Well…"

"But I don't get it, Mrs. Vandiver," Jill asked.  She can be so annoying when she gets really going on a mystery!  "If you're in some kind of trouble, can't your dad help out?"  And boy, all of a sudden it looked like Mrs. Vandiver was going to be sick!  She had a look on her face like, well, like the one that was on Tess's face when she didn't know if she should talk to us last night!  Then it looked like she made up her mind!

"You…you can't tell anyone about any of this, all right?" she asked, practically in a whisper, and you could tell that even Mom was freaked out!  "It's dangerous…"  For a second it looked like she was about to cry, but she get it back in a second.  "Dad's disappeared," she whispered.  "See…Mark—my husband Mr. Vandiver—his family…they wanted…Mark said they wanted to invest in ADAS—Altamont Data Analysis Systems, Dad's company, but Dad was always very secretive about the company.  Their work with the government.  Then…"  And, if you can believe it, Mrs. Vandiver got even quieter!  "I…I found out…Mark was after…he…he has connections with…with a foreign government…not a friendly one…"

"And they got your dad?" Weirdo asked.  It made sense—that was why her dad disappeared!  That Mr. Vandiver, Mrs. Vandiver's husband, was trying to get secrets from Mrs. Vandiver's dad and they grabbed him to make him tell!  Boy, when I find a mystery, I find a really big one!

"I…I don't know," Mrs. Vandiver said, kind of upset.  "Dad…I can't get in touch with him!  "I think…it all happened one night.  Dad…it's a pretty big house, a couple wings, Dad built up another wing when I was little, and…well, Mark and I separated when I found out about his connections, and that night…men…they broke in…I heard them break in, running all over the house—and I heard Mark!  He was there, calling for Dad to come out!  He was with the men who broke into the house!  I wanted to go find Dad, but he was in the new wing, and they were all over the house, turning everything over to find him!  I think he got away—he had panic rooms and passageways built in the house—and then—then—they were coming into the old wing where we were, Tess, and"—

"I remember, Mama!" Tess squeaked, her eyes big and wet like she was going to cry too!  "I heard them yelling!  That was when you put me in the little room!"

"One of the panic rooms, baby," Mrs. Vandiver said.  "But you didn't hear what happened after that.  They were getting closer, and…and I heard Mark tell them to look for us.  That if they couldn't get Dad, they could get us and make him give them what they wanted.  They could ransom us—ransom you, baby, and…"

"And that's when you came into the room with me, Mama," Tess said, like she was suddenly understanding things for the first time.  Well, she sure wasn't the only one!  "And…you said it was Daddy…that he…"  And then Tess looked like she wanted to be sick too!  Well, if I was hearing things right, if I was in her place I'd want to be sick too!

And her mom just started bawling!  "He used me!" she cried, and Mom went over and wrapped her arm around her shoulders.  Mom's pretty good that way!  "I never meant anything to him!  I was just a way to get the information his family wanted from Dad!  I was just a pawn…but baby," she said to Tess, holding her hands real tight, "I still love you, more than anything in the world!  It's not your fault, none of this is your fault!  You can't help who your daddy is, and your mama will always love you and protect you!"

Wow!  What a story!  It was just like a movie!  Rich and powerful families, bad men breaking into houses, dads disappearing!  I bet Mrs. Giles could make a great book about it!  And it all came down to Tess's mom trying to get her away from her dad!  "Well," I said, trying to make Tess feel better, "at least they didn't get your grandfather, Tess.  If they did, you wouldn't have to keep hiding out, would you, Mrs. Vandiver?"  And Mrs. Vandiver looked like she was surprised and perked up!

"That's true!  Charity, that's very true!  If they had Dad, they wouldn't…oh, thank you, Charity!  You're so smart!"

"But why not go to the police, Mrs. Vandiver?" Merri asked, and I saw that Merri was standing right there patting Tess on the back.  "They were doing something bad, and the police should stop them!"

Mrs. Vandiver gave Merri a little smile that seemed to say that Merri didn't understand.  "Merri, Mr. Vandiver's family is very powerful.  And people who are powerful enough can keep the police from stopping them.  They have lots of connections.  Besides, they…they can learn things the police do, honey, and use that to get to people.  See, Dad has a vacation home in Colorado, and that's where we went first, remember, Tess?  We didn't tell anybody, we just went there to hide!"

"I liked that place, Mama," Tess nodded.  "I wish we could have stayed so I could learn how to ski!"

"It was because they found us, Tess," Mrs. Vandiver said.  "I recognized one of the people who work for him, and he knew I saw him.  That was when I had to take you out of school, and I even saw one of his people in your school as a janitor!  That was why we had to come here, baby," she sort of apologized to Tess.  "I had to find a place our family had no connections to, some place your father wouldn't know to look.  Mr. Jenkins our lawyer found a way to send us money that they couldn't trace, and we got our little place here.  At least…at least I think they can't trace the payments."

"Now I get why you didn't want the police to check out the money at cheer practice!" Alyssa spoke up.  "If you go to the police, those people might find out about it and know where you're living!  I see it now!"

"Yes, that's just right, Alyssa," Mrs. Vandiver said.  Wow, that was pretty smart of Alyssa!  I think she might really get this detective thing!  "I especially don't want them to find Tess, and…well, I'd heard a lot about the criminalism department here at Snowden State, and…well, I know it sounds crazy, but I was thinking that maybe they could help me find Dad.  He hasn't been in contact with anybody, not even Mr. Jenkins or me, at least as far as I know."

"So you have to still be Sheri Price until we figure everything out," I said, and then all of a sudden I thought of something!  "And the money that got taken!  You're thinking that maybe they figured out where you are and stole the money to see if it's really you?"

"That's just exactly right, Charity," Mrs. Vandiver said.  "They might not recognize us yet, but might have suspicions, so maybe they took the money to try to trace it.  So she's right, Tess," she said to her kid, "we still have to be secret.  You still have to be Sheri Price, and I still have to Ellen Price until we can stop the Vandivers and find Dad.  Can you do that, baby?"

"Yes I can!" Tess said, and it was like Mom had said to Mrs. Vandiver before about her, like she was so strong!  I was so proud of her!  "I'll help you find Grandpap, Mama, and everything!  We'll make everything better, you'll see!"

"And you girls will help Tess here, won't you?" Mom asked all of us.

"Tess?  Who's Tess?" I said like I didn't know anybody named Tess.  Everybody looked at me weird for a second, then I said, "I know a girl named Sheri Price, but I don't know anybody named Tess!"  That was when they all figured out what I meant—that I would help keep Tess's secret—and finally everybody smiled.  We really were going to be secret agent girls!