My Spy 3: Murder Mayhem

Voodoo

I don't know why people leave a key under the mat. Everyone knows to look there, so burglars are practically invited in.

I drop the welcome mat back in front of the door and watch as a cloud of dust fluffs up onto the paint-chipped deck. I unlock Ryan and Austin's front door with the borrowed key and we both quietly cross the threshold.

Annabeth is tightly holding onto the brown paper sack with the pregnancy test stuffed inside. We had to drive fifteen minutes outside of town to find a drugstore nobody would recognize us at. I did not need my momma calling me asking why I was buying a test at eleven at night. Like I told Annabeth, I am avoiding her belt.

"Total bachelor pad," Annabeth says as she looks around the small sparse living room. Before we get caught, I tug her hand towards the creaky wooden staircase and she follows close behind me to the end of the hall. I knock on Austin's white wooden bedroom door to make sure no one is home. There are no lights on and no cars outside but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry.

After being greeted with silence, Annabeth grins to me and we push his door open. I let out a light laugh as I realize he set up his new room exactly like his room at my momma's house- the boy has no creativity.

"Okay, should I just dump the test in the trashcan in his bathroom?" She asks me and I shrug with uncertainty. We really didn't lay out a game plan since we were more panicked about someone recognizing us while buying the test. I can't believe I agreed to help her with her lame prank, but now that we have it, we don't know what to do with it.

We are still standing in the dark and for some reason, we are feeling the need to say everything in a whisper.

"You can still just walk outta here, thirteen dollars poorer but with a clean conscience," I tell her as she lingers outside of the bathroom door.

"No! I've made it this far."

"Why do I have a feeling this is going to totally backfire?" I say out loud but am not necessarily expecting an answer.

"Shut it, Sawyer and help me!"

I roll my eyes at her and glance to the paper bag.

"You should unwrap it and try to hide it under other trash," I say as she pulls the box from the bag. "It has to look like Margot was trying to be sneaky."

She nods to me and begins pulling the small white test from the box. She smashes the box into a ball and I give her the go-ahead to open the door to Austin's bathroom.

She flicks the light on and I am pleasantly surprised at how neat Austin keeps his bathroom. There are no sprinkles of blonde facial hair littered around the sink and all the towels are neatly hung on racks. His white baroque flooring is freshly swept and his trash can only contains a few tissues. I look to Annabeth as I say, "I was expecting him to be messy. There's not much to hide the packaging under."

I watch her grimace as she replies, "I'll just leave the test under the tissues then. That way it ain't so obvious."

She hands me the crushed packaging and goes to drop the test into the trash. I shake my head.

"You gotta pee on it! Otherwise, it's just a blank test in the trash."

She looks to me like I am insane but then realizes I am right.

"I guess if I am gonna do this, I gotta go all the way."

She giggles and I turn away from her as she shimmies her jean skirt up and pees on the test. I wait for the flush before spinning back around.

"I didn't try and do anything properly. So hopefully something in the test window will even pop up," she says as she caps the test and drops it in the trash. We are both startled by the front door slamming shut and we whip our heads towards the open door.

"Shit!" I say quietly to Annabeth, who is now slightly covering the test with a crumbled tissue. I wave her forward and we both dash from Austin's bedroom making it into the hallway to see Ryan trekking up the stairs.

"I was a bit surprised to see Annabeth's car here," Ryan says with a questioning stare. I glance to her as I try to think quickly.

"We were just having a drink at Mel's and she wanted to see your place. Thought it would be alright to give her a quick tour."

Ryan stops at the top of the stairs and flicks the hallway light on.

"It's probably easier to actually see the house with the lights on."

He grins to me and I know he's not buying my story. I shrug and then try to distract him.

"How was work? Did y'all talk to Jackson?"

I stuff my hands into my jean pockets as Ryan slumps against the hallway wall on his shoulder.

"Yeah, surprisingly he didn't throw you under the bus. He didn't mention you at all."

I am as surprised as Ryan is and he nods to my stunned expression.

He continues, "He might be actually trying to protect you."

I roll my eyes.

"Oh lord. What if he thinks I am still in love with him?"

Ryan shrugs.

"I don't know what the man's thought process is, all I know is that he didn't say anything about y'alls tiff. He also had no idea that the Penderghasts were broke. Came as a shock to him."

"Well, after the whole Whitney debacle I'm sure Poppy wasn't confiding in him about her financial issues," Annabeth says and I nod in agreement. Scarlett and Betty may have had an idea but it looks like they didn't confide their suspicions to Jackson. They weren't dating for that long so I'm sure Poppy wanted to wait a bit longer before she let that cat out of the bag.

Ryan nods and says, "Mason did ask him if you had ever taken him to that hidden opening that leads onto the golf course though."

Annabeth cuts in.

"We all have snuck onto that golf course. It's not like Sawyer holds the password to open up some hidden passageway."

Ryan nods.

"Jackson did say that most people in the area are familiar with the seventh hole entrance from the woods. He said it's not much of a secret."

"Good. I do not need people thinking I whacked Poppy with a golf club. I just got a decent reputation going around here," I say with a smirk.

"Anything else you can tell us?" Annabeth asks but Ryan shakes his head.

"Not yet. We're going to be talking to the Historical Society members tomorrow. We are still trying to piece together a full timeline of Poppy's last day."

Annabeth and I nod in silence and the giddiness from the stupid prank has worn off. We've both been hit with our morbid reality again. I glance to Annabeth and say, "Well, now that the tour has ended are you ready to take off?"

She nods and I can feel her rambunctious energy is gone too. I look back to Ryan as he pushes himself off the wall. He comes and pulls me into him as he says, "You can stay you know? It'd be nice to have some company."

I give him an ornery grin back and reply, "Company in bed?" I bounce my eyebrows up and down as he laughs.

"We are one date shy. So, if you decide to stay it will be to sleep." I give him a dramatic frown but decide to accept his invitation anyway. I look back to Annabeth who is already striding toward the staircase.

"Message received. Call me tomorrow, Sawyer." She winks to me and waves to Ryan. We watch her descend down the staircase and as soon as the door snaps shut Ryan glances at me.

"So why were y'all really here?"

With a casual shrug I reply, "Annabeth needed a sample of Austin's hair so she could perform some voodoo thing. No biggie."

Ryan is staring at my blank expression and he can't tell if I am joking or not. I give him a smirk as he shakes his head.

"Actually, I don't want to know."