Free The Case of the Missing Mascot (A Sherlock Shakespeare Mystery Book 1) by Sydney Katt

say?"
    After yet again coming up empty on my search for Champers, dealing with Jamie's over-the-top temper tantrum and Tom's Jekyll and Hyde routine, I was starting to get fed up. "What do you want me to say? I snooped. You caught me. I apologized. Get over it."
    "What do I want? I want to know why you're spying on me."
    "Spying on you?" I let out the mother of all dramatic sighs. "Hardly. I needed to know where the guys at that school were going to be Sunday night, so I used your profile to find out."
    Watson stood in the doorway glaring at me in some kind of stunned silence for several long moments. I guess that wasn't the answer he'd been expecting. "Why did you need to know where they'd be?"
    "So I could follow them, obviously."
    He took off his glasses—unlike me, he couldn't function without his glasses because he could only see three inches in front of his face—and pinched the bridge of his nose before replacing them. "Sherlock, you've always been a little odd, but why are you following around guys from our rival school?"
    I started to answer, but what I was going to say made me feel so stupid that I dropped my head so that I wouldn't have to look into his eyes when I said the words. "I thought they might've been the ones to steal Champers."
    More stunned silence. "Were they?"
    "Nope. But it's okay. I have another lead I'm following up on."
    Watson crossed the room and sat beside me on the edge of the bed. "Spying on suspects, following up on leads... what's up with you?"
    I turned the phone over in my hands several times before I looked up at him. "Tom."
    He nodded with some hesitation. Watson had never exactly been Tom's biggest fan. "I heard about that. Are you two even still together?"
    I wasn't sure how to answer that question, so I told him as much. "I don't know. He calls me an irrational bitch in one text and then tells me he loves me in the next."
    "You are pretty irrational, but your boyfriend probably shouldn't call you a bitch if he loves you." From the glint of hate in his eyes, I could tell he wanted to say more, but knew better than to trash Tom to me while we were possibly still together. Instead, he patted me on the shoulder. "Relationships are hard. This reminds me a lot of when Dorothy's ex called her to get back together after he left his wife. It was a tough situation, but Dorothy finally made the right decision. You'll figure it out."
    Seriously? I'm on the verge of breaking up with my boyfriend of two years and Watson was talking to me about an episode of The Golden Girls that wasn't even anything like what I was going through? Par for the course.
    "I get that you're trying to help and everything, but I really don't think TV wisdom is going to help right now."
    "Are you kidding? Those four ladies have the answer to any situation when you put them together."  
    He jumped up and started singing the theme song at me. How was it that my dorky little brother who spent all his school vacations at Nana's house watching The Golden Girls reruns was infinitely more popular than I was? I should post this little performance on social media to show to all his friends.
    Or not. It would probably just make Watson seem even more awesome to the world.
    "The biggest gift would be from me and the card attached would say..." Watson stopped singing in the middle of the line and did this ridiculously cheesy pose where he pointed both his fingers at me as though he were waiting on me to finish the line for him. Sure, I knew it. Anyone who spent any real time with my brother would be forced to learn the theme song at some point, but I couldn't bring myself to give in to his obvious attempt at cheering me up. "Get the hell out of my room."
    He straightened abruptly. "Sure thing. Good talk."
    My door closed with just as much force as it had opened, leaving me alone again. Alone with my phone. Alone with my thoughts.
    Alone with that damn text from Tom.
    I should call him. I navigated to the screen for his contact, but