Free Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash by Wendelin Van Draanen Page A

more I liked the idea. But it had to be something totally cool. Something totally unexpected.
    And then it hit me that I could actually
buy
him something! I had money! He wouldn’t have to know it was from me. I could just deliver it to his porch with an anonymous thank-you card.
    Or wait—a secret admirer card!
    Yeah, I thought as I clicked along toward the Senior Highrise, a surprise gift from a secret admirer would make Hudson feel really good. Really…happy. It wouldn’t be some cheap little knickknack, either. Hudson Graham deserved something
nice.
    After all, I had the money—why not spend it?

ELEVEN
    “There you are, Sammy-girl!” Mr. Garnucci shouted when I came through the front door. “Mrs. Wedgewood called down here wondering if I knew what had happened to you!”
    I headed toward the basement. “Hey, I’ve got my own chores at home! It’s not like I
live
here, you know!”
    He chuckled and waved, and off I went, zipping down to the basement to pick up Mrs. Wedgewood’s laundry. And when I had everything crammed into the basket, I put my skateboard upside down across the top of it, anchored the whole thing with my chin, and took the elevator up to the fifth floor.
    Now, Mrs. Wedgewood does not appreciate getting her laundry back in a big crumpled mess, and I don’t appreciate the way she micromanages the folding of her Dumbo-sized drawers. So I did what I always do when I’m stuck with her laundry.
    I went home.
    And I was actually looking forward to having a nice little folding session with Grams while I told her all about Mikey and the leash and Hudson’s Boot Camp, but the minute I walked through the door, I tripped.
    I didn’t trip
on
anything—it was just the unexpected sight of my mother that sent my skateboard clanking and the laundry and me sprawling.
    “Are you all right?” my mother gasped in her overly dramatic soap star way.
    I looked around frantically, going, “Where’s Dorito?” because the last time my mother visited, she let him out and I almost lost him for good.
    “He’s fine!” Grams said. Then she added, “He’s hiding in the closet.”
    “Smart cat,” I grumbled, standing up.
    I eyed my mother suspiciously as I put the clothes back inside the basket. “Why are you here? What happened?”
    For such a good actress, she gave a really fake laugh. “Nothing
happened,
I just thought I’d surprise you with a visit.”
    “It was a double surprise for me,” Grams laughed. “I ran into her at the grocery store!”
    My face pinched. “At the
grocery
store?” I turned to my mother. “What were you doing at the grocery store?”
    She gave me a movie star smile. “I didn’t want to show up empty-handed!”
    Grams laughed again. “I was doing Mrs. Wedgewood’s shopping, and there she was!” She leaned in a little, acting like she was sharing something top-secret. “Jewel has gone into a coma, so your mother has a few days off.”
    Jewel is my mother’s character on
The Lord of Willow Heights,
and even though comas, amnesia, sudden deaths, and resurrections are nothing out of the ordinary for soaps, her being home because her character was out of commission for a few days was.
    “What?” my mother said, because my face was still pinched. “Must you always be so suspicious?” She gave me a hug and then sat very daintily on the edge of the couch. “Can’t a mother come home to see her daughter once in a while?”
    A year ago I would have snipped, Yeah, I’ve wondered the same thing myself hundreds of times! but now I just gathered the laundry and started folding Mrs. Wedgewood’s clothes.
    The first thing I picked up was a pair of granny panties. My arms could barely stretch wide enough to hold them straight.
    “What are
those
?” my mother gasped.
    “Blackmailer briefs,” I said, folding one arm in, then the other arm over.
    “What?”
my mom said with a lot of dramatic wind gushing from her mouth.
    Grams jumped in, saying, “They’re Rose’s