A New Beginning...?
By: Athena
Part Six:
Mount Vernon, Virginia; 11:45 AM
The C-5 opened up in a tree, and Zack and Ivy fell from it, through
the tree and onto the ground.
"So, where to now, Ive?" Zack asked picking leaves from his hair.
"Carmen said that she was going to look for clues. The woman was
found on the back lawn, so lets look there first."
The two detectives walked through the house but were stopped by a
tour guide. They saw this as an opperotunity.
"Excuse me, ma'am." Zack tapped on the woman's shoulder to get her
attention.
She turned around and gave a wary look to the two rumpled detectives.
Their clothes had small tears in them and they both were convered in dirt and
leaves.
"Can I help you?"
Ivy spoke up. "Yeah, have you seen anyone suspicious looking around
here?"
"Who wants to know? You're not from the press are you?"
"No, we're Acme detectives." Zack and Ivy flashed their badges.
"Acme again?!" the woman groaned, "that's the second time today."
"Wait a minute! You said you talked to another Acme agent today?"
"Yeah. Said her name was Detective Santiago- or something like that."
Zack and Ivy glanced at each other. Carmen had definatly been here.
"What'd she ask?"
"She wanted to know what I knew about the murdered woman. I
never saw her before in my life, and neither have any of the other volunteers
here. No one knows where she came from."
"Where did the Acme agent go from here?"
"I told her that she might want to do some checking up at the local
police station, but I don't think she liked that idea."
"Thanks."
Zack and Ivy walked out of the house to the back lawn. As they made
their way down to the riverfront to think, Zack noticed something in the
grass.
"Hey, Ivy! Look!"
Zack picked up an old brass key. "Why would anyone throw this thing
way out here?" he wondered.
"Zack! That's the key to the Bastille that Carmen stole!"
"But Carmen wouldn't have any reason to be by these trees. The only
thing over here that night was-"
"The murdered woman...." Ivy finished. "So, Carmen DID kill her."
"Ive, we can't prove that! Carmen may have been way out here waiting
for us to show up!"
"But that woman showed up instead."
"Ivy, Carmen would NEVER hurt anybody. I can't even remember all the
times she's saved us!"
"Yeah," said Ivy, thinking it over.
"I think it's time we paid her back."
"I guess it couldn't hurt. I mean we might as well. Sorry, little
bro. I never thought Carmen REALLy killed that woman. I was just...."
"It's okay, Ive."
"So, Zack, if you were Carmen Sandiego where would you go?"
"I would go anywhere BUT the local police station."
"So where would that be?"
"I don't know, Ive- Hey, I just got an idea! Remember when we were
working on that case with Suhara, and he dragged us off to have tea...."
"Yeah, you couldn't sit still.... I get what you're saying."
"Carmen WAS Suhara's partner. So maybe she went someplace to get her
mind off of this stuff for a while."
"Good thinking, little bro, but where could she have gone? We're only
fifteen minutes from Washington, DC; she could be anywhere in the city."
"Carmen doesn't live around here, so maybe she asked for the name of
a good resturant."
Ten minutes later, after questioning five volunteers for Mount
Vernon, the detectives had the name of the resturant that Carmen had gone
to.
Pasquali's Italian Eatery; Washington, DC; 12:00 PM
"Just one today, ma'am?" the host asked a strange looking woman who'd
just walked into the resturant.
She mearly nodded, and the host led her to a table near a large glass
window on the side of the building. The host laid a menu down and hurried
off, thinking that there was something oddly familiar about the silent woman
in the brown fedora.
Carmen sat down at the table and glanced over the menu, finally
deciding on the Veal Parmigiana. The waiter came a moment later with some
breadsticks and took her order.
Carmen felt very uncomfortable in public. She was more than aware of
the stares given her by the host and waiter. Maybe this was a bad idea, she
thought.
Detective Sandiego looked out the window at the street. It was April,
but Washington, DC was still in the middle of a cold snap. People bustled
along the sidewalks in a hurry to get to lunch, then back to their jobs, so
they could finally join their families at home. In a way, Carmen envived the
monatony of those people's lives. They would go on this way for years, never
risking their freedom to go outside for a walk on a sunny day in Paris, or
to see a play on Broadway.
Of course, Carmen thought with a smile, none of those people will
know what it's like to have outsmarted the world's greatest detective agency
for twelve years.
Now how can I find out this woman's name? Carmen wondered. No one at
Mount Vernon had ever seen her, but she must have lived around here. An idea
came to her.
Yes, Carmen thought, I know exactly how to do this....
Having decided on a plan of action, the master theif turned detective
sat back in her chair to enjoy her lunch.
Think out your plan like a woman of action. Then act out your plan
like a woman of thought.
She smiled as she looked around the small cafe. A man was sitting on
the other side of the room reading a newspaper. Eventhough the resturant was
full, Carmen couldn't take her eyes off the man with the paper. Then she
realized why.
Her picture was on the front page with the headline, "Murderer still
at large."
Carmen knew she'd attract attention if she walked out the front door
without paying. She laid a twenty on the table and made her way back to the
ladies' room, praying that no one saw her.
Once in the restroom, Carmen noticed a tiny window that looked just
big enough for her to squeeze through. She did so and ran into the city.
Outside Pasquali's Italian Eatery; Washington, DC; same time
"Hey, that's my hand you're standing on!" Zack whispered to Ivy.
"Sh! I see her. Wait, she just left. I think she's going to the
restroom."
"I really needed to know that...."
"Quiet, Zack!"
Five minutes later the bush Zack and Ivy were hiding in was nearly
flattened by woman in a brown fedora. She'd tripped on a hole in the sidewalk
but regained her balance and quickly hurried off through the crowd.
"Hey, Zack! That was Carmen! Let's follow her."
"All righty, Ivy."
The two detectives trailed Carmen Sandiego at a safe distance to her
next stop.
Pasquali's Italian Eatery; Washington, DC; 12:15 PM
The host at Pasquali's suddenly remembered why the woman looked so
familiar. She was the murderer Interpol was after! There was a $10,000 reward
for information leading to her arrest. Dollar signs appeared before the
host's eyes as he picked up the telephone and dialed the number.
"Interpol tip line," a woman on the other end answered.
"Yeah, I just saw Carmen Sandiego!"
"You and five hundred other people, pal."
"No! I REALLY saw her. She came into Pasquali's in DC where I work."
"All right. Interpol'll send a couple of detectives to look into it."
The host hung up. A smile spreading across his face. He walked back
to the front of the resturant whistling the song, "Money, that's what I
want...."
To be continued....
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