Page 67 of Don't Cross Mo Ellery

I’m about to hyperventilate, but in a good way. We have the perp, we have the motive,andwe have actual proof.

“We need to send that doorbell video...” I force myself to say the words casually. “...to the cops. Can you do that?”

Marlowe nods and then kicks a plastic dinosaur—but not as hard as she could’ve. I figure giving her something to do will help.

I have a brief spasm of guilt at making a tween protect me from the cops.

But if the rest of the cops are anything like Mierzwiak, they’re going to need some convincing to take this seriously. Ideally by someone who’s not me.

And Marlowe’s not the only one who feels helpless right now.Ineed something to do too. I take a deep breath to clear my head.

“Okay,” I say. “The video puts Benny at the scene of the crime, so next step, maybe the cops’ll bring him in for questioning. And I’ve got, not to brag, a pretty airtight theory here, but we still need proof. Something concrete. Otherwise the video is just, what’s it called—”

“Circumstantial evidence,” says Marlowe.

Something’s been nagging at me about the video. I feel like I’m missing something. Something important. I run through the video in my head. Benny comes to the door. Ducks down. Opens the mail slot. Pops back up—

Bingo. I snap my fingers. This is a toothbrush situation.

“What?” Marlowe says.

“Benny put something in the mail slot. Maybe it’s still there.”

“Still? No way.” Marlowe frowns. “That place was crawling with cops and firefighters and gas company people. They would’ve found it.”

“I don’t think so.” I start running, Marlowe close at my heels. We jog through the playground gate and around the side of the school, back toward Claudia’s house across the street. The gas van and cop car are gone, and only the fire truck is there. The front door is still wide open, confirming my suspicion. “They’ve had the door open this whole time. They weren’tsearchingthe house, they wereairing it out—they probably just threw the door open and left it that way. Whatever the thing is could still be wedgedbehindthe door.”

Marlowe jumps from foot to foot excitedly. “They’re gonna seal up the house,” she says. “We don’t have much time.”

My phone buzzes in my pants pocket, and it’s a number I don’trecognize. I’m thinking (hoping?) it’s Tasha, so I answer it, still peering around the corner.

“Hello there,” I say, in a smoldery but quiet voice.

“Hi, is this... Mo Ellery?” Ah crap, it’s a dude. At least it isn’t Mierzwiak.

Marlowe makes a hand gesture like she’s going to run across the street and distract the firefighters. I try to stop her but she’s too quick.

Shitballs.

I realize I’ve said this out loud into the phone, when the voice clears his throat awkwardly.

“Anyway,” he says, “this is Eddie from LookShopNow—”

“Oh, no thanks, I’ve already got one,” I say.

“Wait!” he says as I’m about to hang up. He chuckles nervously. “No, you don’t understand. You applied for our marketing writer position? We’d love to schedule an interview.”

Oh...

Right.I sent out tons of applications weeks ago, right after Kendra canned me. Most places didn’t even respond. I should jump on this. Like Benny, I need money. I don’t want to end up vulnerable to bribery, especially with how rampant bribery seems to be in this neighborhood.

I can do this. I’ll schedule an interview real quick. Just put on my corporate-whisperer voice and pull out my calendar, and—

Across the street at the front of the fire truck, Marlowe gives me the all-clear signal.

“You still there?” Eddie says.

“Um...”