Follow That Suspect!

My brother gets a phone call during breakfast. A guilty look crosses his face, and I know he has a secret.

"Got to go!" Kyle shoves his phone into his pocket as he jumps up from the table.

"But I'm making you another crepe Benedict." Dad frowns at Kyle. Chef Dad takes his cooking very seriously.

"Give it to Kelsey." My brother is already dumping his dirty plate and silverware in the sink. "A friend needs my help."

I study my brother, suspicious. Since we lost our house and moved into this apartment, all Kyle does is apply for college scholarships and study, study, study. He has zero social life.

"What friend?" I ask him.

"My buddy Jake really needs my help with, um, some heavy lifting. You remember him from our old neighborhood?"

Oh, I remember him all right. I also remember the distinctive ringtone Kyle assigned to Jake's number — a blaring disaster alert. But the ringtone I just heard was music. Either Kyle changed the ringtone or he's lying. I sense a big whopper of a lie. I don't know who called Kyle, but it wasn't his buddy Jake.

So I do what any spy would do.

I follow him.

Unfortunately I only take a few steps before Dad's voice stops me.

"Kelsey, are you leaving too?" He sounds hurt. "Aren't you going to finish your crepe?"

Drats. I've insulted Dad's culinary pride. Before Café Belmond closed, he was known as the best baker in Sun Flower. Now he can't find a job and is home way too much.

"The crepe was delicious," I say. "It's just that I have to —"

My brain goes blank. I have to ...

Seriously, a good spy needs to create a believable story in a split-second. And Dad is staring at me the same way I just stared at Kyle: full-on suspicious. I can't use school as an excuse because it's Saturday. I can't say I'm full because I didn't finish eating my crepe. The only reason Kyle got away so easily was because he'd already devoured four crepes.

"I'm late for a meeting at Becca's house." This isn't a lie. Leo sent a message saying he solved a mystery. (What mystery? I have no idea — it's a mystery to me!) He asked Becca and me to meet him at noon at the Skunk Shack. That's more than two hours from now, but a half-truth is more believable than a total lie.

"What sort of meeting?" Dad asks.

This is where belonging to a top-secret club gets tricky because I can't tell Dad about the Curious Cat Spy Club. Becca, Leo, and I started the CCSC to care for three rescued kittens. While our families know we're friends, they don't know we help animals by finding lost pets and solving mysteries.

But I can talk about the Sparklers, a school volunteer group that Becca belongs to. I touch the silver crescent-moon necklace that the Sparklers loaned me since I'm helping them plan a booth for the Humane Society fund-raiser.

"Becca and I are meeting to discuss ideas for the Sparkler booth," I tell Dad.

"She can wait until you finish your breakfast." He gestures to my plate. "Another ten minutes won't matter."

But in ten minutes Kyle could be gone.

When all else fails, resort to bodily functions.

"I have to go ..." I shift anxiously and glance down. "You know ... go."

"Oh." He nods, understanding. "Well, don't let me keep you."

Before he can say any more, I'm out of the kitchen.

I don't go farther than my brother's room, where I hear hurried footsteps and banging drawers. When the footsteps move my way, I dash across the hall and duck into the bathroom.

Cracking the door open, I spy on Kyle. Slowly, his door opens. He looks furtively up and down the hall, then steps out holding a large, white rectangular box.

What's in the box? It can't be very heavy or breakable since he tucks it under one arm before hurrying down the hall.

He's definitely up to something sneaky, and I'm going to find out what it is.

I wait until he's out of sight then rush into my room. I push a stool to the closet and climb up to grab the hidden green backpack. Slipping my spy pack over my shoulders, I race out of the apartment in pursuit of my brother.

A chilly wind, much too cold for early April in California, slaps my face and tosses my long hair into tangles. Should I go back for my jacket? No time. A glance over the second-floor railing shows Kyle at the bike rack strapping the large box onto his bike.

He jumps on his bike and rides off.

I run downstairs and hop on my bike to follow my brother.

My suspicions are confirmed when he doesn't make a right toward our old neighborhood where Jake lives, but a left toward downtown Sun Flower.

It's easy keeping up with Kyle, especially after he pulls over to adjust the straps holding the box to his bike. Also, he's big on obeying rules so he stops at every intersection, even when there's no stop sign.

Kyle is such a Percy, I think, remembering the sleepover when I played a game matching family members to Harry Potter characters with friends from my old neighborhood. My twin sisters are obviously the Patel twins. Dad with his cooking passion and high emotions is Mrs. Weasley. I couldn't decide on Mom since she's an animal lover like Hagrid and obsessed with gardening like Professor Sprout. But Kyle is definitely arrogant overachiever Percy.

I chose Luna for myself, but as I bike past familiar homes and businesses, I feel more like a character from my favorite book, Harriet the Spy.

I love the scenes when Harriet bikes on her spy route, jotting down what her neighbors are doing in her notebook. I keep a notebook too, not about what people are doing, but the secrets they hide. Becca knows I collect secrets, but I've never shown my notebook of secrets to her or anyone. Like Harriet's, my notebook is for my eyes only.

At a stop sign, my brother glances over his shoulder. Quickly, I duck behind a parked truck. Whew! He almost saw me. To be safe, I stay about a block behind him, keeping him in sight but not close enough to be noticed.

We're pedaling now through downtown Sun Flower, which isn't very big, just a few blocks of businesses. Kyle makes a left into a U-shaped mini mall. I pick up my speed, but when I roll into the parking lot, Kyle is gone.

Where did he go?

Straddling my bike seat, I peer up and down the mini mall. The entrance and exit open on this street, so Kyle has to be here. But I don't see him or his bike. Did he go into one of the businesses? Paul's Pawn Shop, Legal Eagle Associates, Friendly's Café, and Prehistoric Pizza are dark with closed...