"So our plan is ready? He has no chance?"
"None whatsoever. The snare is set, and our prey will be caught, of that I am sure."
"We are wasting our time, mes amis! We must strike swiftly!"
"We will sir, we will. Let's just make sure we follow our plan to perfection."
"The guys are right. If we don't execute perfectly, he'll get away."
"Don't lose your cool, blondie. We know how to do our part, just make sure the rest of you get your jobs done. We may be young, but we aren't stupid."
"No, young man, you aren't stupid, but you are rude! Do you understand what is at stake here?"
"I'm sure they do. I'm still not sure if this is the best way to do it, but it has to be done. We can't fail now."
"WE are agreed? All of us?"
"Agreed!" said all of the voices in unison.
The alarm went off with an ear-splitting noise as Qwill awoke with a start. He rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair as Koko and Yum Yum were looking expectantly at him, silently demanding their breakfast.
"Oh, all right, you little dictators! I'll get your breakfast!"
Stumbling downstairs, he opened some canned lobster for the cats, and noticed again that Koko had managed to turn his computer on, and had brought up the bookstore web page again!
"Koko! What are trying to say? Why is a bookseller's web page all that important? Is Edd in danger?"
With that, Koko looked in disdain at Qwill and went back to his breakfast.
Qwill managed to fix himself some coffee and sat down to read the Moose County Something. He scanned over the front page quickly, but noticed something missing! His column was no longer there! In its place was a big advertisement announcing that Dave Barry would be bringing his syndicated column to the paper! How could they do this? Qwill practically ran for the phone and dialed.
The second the phone was picked up on the other end, he bellowed into the receiver, "Put Arch on the phone, NOW!"
"Riker here."
"Arch! What the hell are you doing?????? Putting someone else in my spot? How could you?"
"Well, Qwill, it's like this - your last column you sent in was asking the readers to submit their favorite folk remedy for athletes foot. Is this supposed to be journalism? Is it supposed to be entertaining? It isn't!!! I have a paper to run, and I need real stories and real columns in it, not some part-time hack millionaire who thinks he's some great writer!!! You used to write good stuff, now you're just hacking your way through every assignment! Remember Down Under? The Daily Flux? Award winning stuff? It's been ages since you wrote like that! I'm sorry, but that's the way it is! Try writing some good stuff, and maybe you could freelance. Now I have to go! Goodbye!" With that, the line went dead.
Qwill stood there in disbelief. Kicked off of the paper he owned and financed. He had been being treated so rudely lately. He wandered through the barn muttering to himself.
"Why? A late night meeting? Rudeness? Arch kicking me out? A bookstore webpage? What is going on? I thought these people were my friends!? I HAVE to figure this out!"
With that, he quickly went upstairs and dressed himself, and zipped back downstairs to look at his first clue, the webpage.
"Now, Koko, WHY did you get this particular page? What about a bookstore is so important? What do I need to see here?"
He scanned the screen to note that the site offered numerous types of books - fiction, children's, history, etc. - but could see nothing unusual until he noticed a link to mystery novels had been selected previously. He clicked on the link, but all it brought up was a selection of novels by different authors, nothing or no one in particular, and there were no links that had been selected.
"Does this mean there is simply a mystery to be solved? If that's the case, Koko, my friend, I knew it already!"
He shut the computer off and turned around to look at his two friends. Koko was watching him intently, but Yum Yum was playing with something just under the sofa, trying to get at it. He wandered over to see what she had been trying to grab. He looked under and pulled out a pipe. And it was not one of his! Although he no longer smoked, he still had several pipes he kept for sentimental reasons, but this was not one of them! Whose pipe was it? And as Yum Yum was not an outside cat, WHERE had she gotten it? He looked under the sofa again, but could find nothing other than dust. Had someone been in his home? He began to check all of his doors and windows, seeking some clue to an intruder. Downstairs, he found nothing in the house, but footprints of three different types of running shoes outside one of his windows, and none of them matched any shoes Qwill owned! Upstairs, he found two odd things - a bit of yarn that matched nothing he owned, as Yum Yum was known to pull on loose threads and such, and a cigarette which featured Cyrillic writing on the band! Qwill couldn't read or write Russian, but he knew it when he saw it! What could it mean? He had noticed a large influx of newcomers into Moose County yesterday, but none of them Russian. True, he had met two men from England, but they didn't seem to be the type to smoke Russian cigarettes.
He set out to town, seeking more clues, thinking the entire way.
"Okay, strangers that I don't know, but they know everyone else? Who are all of these people and why are they coming to town now?"
He could not come up with any answers, but as he was nearing the library, he decided to see if Polly would at least be civil to him and maybe give him some information on her visitor! To his surprise, the old lady was sitting quietly in one of the library chairs, knitting away - with the same color of yarn he had found in his house! Rushing over, he snatched the yarn out of her hands.
"Been wandering around other people's houses much? A little spot of breaking and entering for kicks?"
"QWILL!"
He turned to see Polly standing there with an expression of rage on her face.
"What are you doing, attacking my friend? What is your problem?"
Qwill realized that his actions did indeed look suspicious, snatching yarn from an elderly woman.
"Polly...I know this looks odd, but I have my reasons."
"I do not believe there can be any reasons to attack an elderly woman! Because we WERE friends, I'm not going to call for the police, but get out of here, right now!"
"Polly...I..."
"Get out! NOW!"
As Qwill turned to leave, he heard the screech of tires and saw the two young men Brodie had introduced him to tearing out from in front of the library parking lot.
Now what was that all about?
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