Kidnapped

Chapter 16: Betrayal

After Ms. Jacob left the room, we all stood around the doll. Some of us were still hungry, despite the meal we devoured while most of us wanted to get out of here.

Jeff walked up to the doors and tried to open them, but they were sealed shut. "We're trapped!" Jeff muttered. "Thank you for reminding us, Captain Obvious." I groaned.

"What should we do?" Madison asked. "Maybe we use ourselves as a ram," someone suggested. "No," someone shouted back. "We need to try the doors again." Suddenly, everyone was starting to talk all at once.

Most of my classmates were suggesting that the room must have a secret door or something, so they spent hours feeling the walls and floors, searching for a knob.

A few of them began to argue and bicker at each other. I slapped my head in frustration. This is getting us nowhere! While my classmates were arguing, Luke motioned me forward to inspect the doll.

"Check this out," he murmured. He pointed at the purple lines around the doll's neck. I suggested that he might be strangled by something. "Based on the suit," Luke said. "He might come from a wealthy family."

"Look at the ring," I said. "He's married, right?" "It's like the Study in Scarlett, he's divorced for a very long time." "But didn't the book say that the ring was missing?" I asked.

Luke bit his lip. "We need to look for something else that was missing from the body." I gasped when I saw the doll's feet. "Where's its shoes?" I asked. "And his socks?" Luke added.

"So, we need to find the person who is very strong and steals socks and shoes," I explained. "But who could have done it?" Luke stared at the jocks, who were busy yelling at each other.

"I think I know who it is," Luke said. I raised my eyebrow. Luke maneuvered around the crowd and rung the bell. The classmates quieted and looked at him.

Ms. Jacob appeared into the room and gazed at Luke. "You know who killed him?" she asked. Luke nodded and pointed to one of the jocks. "It was Marcus, wasn't it?" he guessed.

Ms. Jacob raised her eyebrow. Marcus with a black suit, wavy black hair, and brown eyes looked at Luke. "That's correct," Ms. Jacob said. "How did you know?"

"Marcus has a reckless reputation of giving people noogies and stealing boys' socks and shoes out of their gym lockers." Luke explained. "And he didn't appear at the dining table or the ballroom. So, it was Marcus."

"Good job," Ms. Jacob answered, shaking Luke's hand. "Marcus come with me." "What?" Marcus shrieked. "But I didn't steal those shoes and socks!" I snuck behind him and checked his coat pockets. There were definitely shoes and socks inside them.

"What were these doing here?" I asked. "But that wasn't me!" he protested. Ms. Jacob took Marcus by the hand and led him out of the room. "We'll be right back," Ms. Jacob beamed.

On the other end of the door, we could hear Marcus blubbering like a baby, telling Ms. Jacob that he didn't take the shoes and socks. After his screams quieted down, Madison turned to look at Luke.

"You were always such a smarty pants," she swooned. Madison tried giving Luke a hug, but he backed away from her. "Don't touch me," he rasped.

While we were waiting, I thought about what Marcus had said. If he didn't take the shoes, then who planted them in his coat pockets?

"Hey Cole," Luke said. "What's wrong?" "Nothing," I lied. "I forgot to say thank you," Luke mumbled. "For solving this case with me." "What?" I asked. Luke's face turned bright red. "Thank you," he repeated. "For solving this case with me, Cole." I nodded very slowly.

"You look beautiful in that dress," Luke complimented. I patted my black curls neatly and blushed.

"Aww," I crooned. "You do have emotions." "Shut up," Luke growled. I laughed then said, "You too, Luke." The door suddenly opened as Ms. Jacob returned from her trip.

"Come on children," Ms. Jacob smiled. "Let's go." We marched in a single file line and trudged against the carpet. We didn't ask about what happened to Marcus, only fearing that she might hurt us.

I catch a glimpse at a servilance camera, watching us get out of the room. Luke saw the camera too and pinched my arm.

"Keep your head down," he instructs. I did what I was told. Ms. Jacob took us to another room with a plastic doll. This time it was a woman.

"You know the rules," Ms. Jacob said. "Good luck." She opened the door and left us to ourselves. I saw the servilance camera turned on and stared at us. I swallowed a gulp.

The kids were looking at us impatiently. "What?" I asked. "You guys solved the last one," Madison sneered. "Let's see what you can do." "Didn't the lady tell us we have to-" Someone began.

Madison looked at him sharply, making him shut up. Her friend grabbed her arm. "He's telling the truth Maddie," she said. "Let's just follow her rules."

"Oh please," she said, fluffing her glittery peach colored dress. "Like she's ever going to notice." That's when I spoke quietly, "She is watching us."

The others turned to see the servilance camera watching them like hawks. "Is she serious?" Jeff joked. "Look this isn't one of your mystery books, alright?"

"She's telling the truth," Luke whispered. "Why are we whispering then?" Jeff asked. "Some kind of game?" "Because Bully of the Century," I whispered in an angry voice. "so that the demented witch and her naive slave wouldn't notice."

Something very static and noisy came from underneath the camera. It was the PDA speaker. "I AM NOT DEMENTED!" the speaker boomed. The voice belonged to Ms. Jacob. "See," I said to Jeff. "What did I tell you?"

"You think you are so smart Cole, well I am very certain that you all will fail this game!" Ms. Jacob shouted. I thought of an idea. "Yeah we're smart," I bragged. "And you're dumb so we'll probably figure this puzzle out in the next ten minutes."

"Cocky, are you?" she sneered. "I bet you are so dumb that you couldn't figure this out as well." "I am not dumb, young lady." Ms. Jacob snapped. "I am very smart!" "Then prove it," I challenged.

The kids oohed and aahed at my bravery. Madison, however, shrugged and brushed her puffy white scarf. She bursted into the room and stared at me with cold eyes. "Where is it?" she asked. I pointed at the doll

She walked up to the doll and stared at its clothes. The doll had a torn raggedy dress, blonde hair, and no makeup. When she got closer, she saw the black pen swept all over her forehead. It spelled out FREAK.

Ms. Jacob pointed at the girl with a green dress. "It was her," she explained. It was Madison's best friend. Madison turned and looked at the doll.

She started to cry. "Was that supposed to be me?" Madison sobbed. Ms. Jacob stormed at Madison's friend and took the black pen in her green purse.

"She was always jealous of you," Ms. Jacob went on. "She hated how pretty and talented you are." "Kimberly," Madison said. "Is that true?" Kimberly bit her lip as she nodded.

"But I didn't do that," Kim said softly. Madison slapped her across the face. "LIAR!" she screamed. "Go away, I hate you." Ms. Jacob dragged Kimberly's arm and left the room with a slam.