Free Partners in Crime (9780545463119) by Kim Harrington

was one of those days that had started off cool in the morning, but now the afternoon sun had warmed the air up. I didn’t need my jacket, so I stopped to tie it around my waist.
    â€œHold on a second,” I said.
    Darcy waited while I fumbled with the jacket arms. After a minute, I was ready. “Okay, let’s go.”
    But someone came up behind us and said in a bubbly voice, “So whose house are we going to today?”
    Darcy and I turned around slowly to face Fiona.
    â€œFor what?” Darcy snapped.
    â€œTo talk clues, of course,” Fiona whispered. “I want to work with you guys and find out what you’re learning as we go. Plus, I don’t have cheering today.”
    â€œSo we’re not cool enough to talk to during the school day, but we’re good enough to do all this work for you?” Darcy crossed her arms and made her angry face. It was only slightly different from her normal face.
    Fiona looked at me — the nicer one — for support, but I just shrugged. Darcy had a point.
    â€œListen,” Fiona said. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings by not chatting with you guys at all today. But I figured we’d want to keep this whole thing secret until we know what’s going on.”
    That made sense, but I could tell it wasn’t enough for Darcy. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
    â€œSee? I even wore my pearls.” Fiona pointed to the string of pearls that hung around her neck over her pink sweater. She grinned. “Like Nancy Drew!”
    I couldn’t help but soften. Only Fiona would match fashion to mysteries. “Okay, we can go to my housetoday,” I offered. Working on the investigation might be easier with Fiona, since she could have more information that she hadn’t even thought of yet.
    Plus …
    I motioned with my eyes at the pink notebook Fiona held clutched to her chest, then looked back at Darcy.
    My best friend smiled. “Yeah, let’s go to Norah’s. It’ll be fun.”
    Darcy had understood my look. At my house, we’d find a way to peek into Fiona’s notebook and find out if her motives were for real …
    â€¦ or not.

At first it felt strange walking home with Fiona. For one, it was always just Darcy and me. So adding a third anytime would have felt a little unusual. The fact that our third wheel was Fiona Fanning made it überweird.
    But after a while, it was okay. We talked about classes and how one of the lunch ladies was so nice and the other so evil (they’d been nicknamed Mrs. Angel and Mrs. Devil). And before we knew it, we were at my house.
    I opened the door and called out, “Hey, Mom! I have friends over!”
    A moment later, Mom came around the corner, and her eyes lit up. “Hi, girls!” she said excitedly.
    â€œHey, Mom,” I said. “This is Fiona Fanning.”
    Fiona smiled sweetly and gave a little wave. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Burridge.”
    â€œOh, I know Fiona,” Mom said. “You did great at that runway show fund-raiser the PTA held last year.”
    Of course Mom recognized Fiona. Everyone in town knew who she was. Pretty, popular girls tend to be memorable.
    â€œI love your nails,” Mom said, taking one of Fiona’s hands. “Did you do this yourself?”
    I hadn’t even noticed, but Fiona’s nails were painted a glittery pink (probably to match her sweater) with a little design in the middle of each one.
    â€œOh, I had them done at Stylish Nails in the center of town,” Fiona said gleefully. “Didn’t they do a great job?”
    â€œThey sure did,” Mom said. “I’ve been meaning to try them sometime. Do they do pedicures, too?”
    â€œOf course!”
    Darcy and I shared an eye roll. I started to pull Fiona away. “Okay, nice chatting with you, Mom, but we’re going to go upstairs and do our homework now.”
    â€œOh, okay,” Mom said. I sensed