Free Double Trouble by Steve Elliott

just as they were before.”
    “But you always took over everything before anyway ,” Janice reminded her. “Now we know why . It’s because you know everything about everything.”
    “No, I don’t ,” disagreed Stephanie. “I’ve always listened to your opinions, haven’t I? You don’t think I’ve been a Miss Bossy Boots all this time , do you? Why didn’t someone tell me?”
    “You haven’t been anything of the sort,” I comforted her, patting her hand. “You’ve always been the acknowledged leader of the group, that’s all. Carry on, sweetie, we’re listening.”
    “Okay then,” Stephanie continued, a little nervously, “this is what I think, but shout me down if you think I’m wrong. The opposite of a devil would be an angel. So where are angels found?”
    “ Heaven ?” I suggested.
    “Yes, true” agreed Stephanie, “but we can’t go there right now. Anywhere else?”
    “ Christmas decorations?” Maureen volunteered.
    “ Wrong time of year,” Stephanie disagreed. “Janice? You were right about the lake . What do you say?”
    Janice’s face became blank as she thought. “I think it’d be more of a place , than an actual angel,” she said slowly. “And the one place that represents the antithesis of evil would be a holy place - a church , in fact.”
    Stephanie clapped her hands in glee. “I believe you may have hit the nail on the head, Jan,” she enthused. “Girl, you are sooo good at this. I didn’t think of a church, but now that you say it, the answer is obvious. It ties in with the rest of the riddle too. Well done , that girl!”
    “How does it tie in?” I wanted to know.
    “The harmonies , my dear,” she answered. ‘The harmonies reign supreme’. In a church, you always have a choir singing hymns. The clue must be the choir loft.”
    “But which church?” Maureen questioned. “There are at least three or four around where we are.”
    “You’ve forgotten the first bit of the riddle, darling,” Stephanie advised. “The bit about being ‘opposite to sunrise’, remember? How many churches are to the west of us?”
    “Just the one !” Maureen interjected, excitedly. “The Ecumenical Hall! It must be in there !”
    “Very well done!” Stephanie congratulated everyone. “We’ve all played out part in the answer. Now, let’s enjoy the rest of the day. Thanks to you lot, my first job will be to have a bath.”
    “I’ll give you a hand, Stef,” I said. “There’s cake all though your hair and everything. You look a right mess!”
    She poked her tongue out at me and I grinned. “That’s your fault,” she argued. “I saw you throw that cream cake.”
    “No, that was Jan ,” I objected, “I deny any responsibility for your cakeicide .”
     

Chapter 15.
     
    Stephanie stripped off her clothes and commenced to wash herself. I knelt beside her and tackled her cake- caked hair ( tricky wordplay, eh?), endeavouring to tease her locks into some semblance of order.
    “Maureen has a royal crush on you, you know that, don’t you?” she murmured, as I sloshed water over her head. I paused in my head rinsing action.
    “She does ?” I asked. “How do you know?”
    “Honey, it’s so obvious ,” Stephanie replied, with a small smile. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it? She can’t keep her eyes off you. When you were getting into your bikini, she was staring at you so hard I thought her eyes would pop right out of her head. Face it, sweetie, you have an admirer .”
    An admirer……? I inhaled sharply. “Stef, you don’t suppose that Maureen is the one writing those notes?”
    “It’s possible ,” Stephanie replied thoughtfully. “I know she has a thing for you. And she is shy. Has she said anything about being in love with you?”
    I shook my head forcefully. “No, not a thing.”
    “Well then, it’s quite possible that’s she is the culprit. One : she’s too shy to tell you, and two : you do have her admiration.”
    “But what are