Free Katani's Jamaican Holiday by Annie Bryant Page B

exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts. “Daddy has to stay back to secure the offering. He is the church treasurer. I’ll tell him you want to send an e-mail to your friends, and we’ll get the bakery key from Cousin Selvin and go on before them. Most of the people gone already, so we can peep into Ol’ Madda Bird’s yard and see if the necklace is there. It must be there! If someone hadpicked it up on the road, they would have announced it in church.”
    All I wanted to do was go home, put on my bathing suit, and go lounge on the beach. I was not cut out to be an FBI agent looking on a Caribbean island for lost necklaces, let alone a special family heirloom.
    We lingered on the road before Ol’ Madda Bird’s house, peeking over the fence, trying to spot the necklace. Suddenly Olivia grabbed my hand. “See it there. Right on the top step. The sun shining on it. Oh, no! How’re we going to get it?”
    I noticed the “we” and my heart sank even further. Just then a couple walking from the church reached us.
    “Something wrong, girls?” the man asked.
    “Oh no, Brother Percy,” Olivia answered quickly. “My cousin Katani come from America was just admiring the birds.”
    That girl could give Maeve an acting lesson or two. She was a natural.
    When the couple was gone, Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry about the lie,” she said, looking up as if she was praying, “but I’m desperate.”
    Ol’ Madda Bird was not on her veranda, but the dog came out through the open front door. It didn’t bark but stood looking at us, cocking its head from one side to the other, then it went and stood over the necklace as if to say, Gotcha! We knew we didn’t stand a chance trying to enter the yard to retrieve the necklace without making a huge stink, so we just walked by like we were minding our own business. I thought I heard an old woman laughing, but when I turned around, there was no one on the veranda. First Mr. Biggs. Now Ol’ Madda Bird. My trip to Jamaica was turning out to be more than a beach vacation, that’s for sure.
    To: Avery, Charlotte, Maeve, Isabel
From: Katani
Subject: Bad news!

    I don’t have time to enter the chat room, so I’ll just give you a quick update. Am on the way from church. Olivia’s in trouble with her mom’s necklace. She borrowed it without permission, and now we have to figure a way to get it back out of the clutches of an old blind artist with a crazy dog. This is BAD! Will tell u more next time. Wish u all were here to help us out of this jam.

    —Kgirl
    As we came out of the bakery we saw a blue SUV parked a little way down the road. Precious, who worked in the bakery, was beside it talking with the driver, and I suddenly realized that the man behind the wheel was Mr. Biggs. Now, why would Mr. Biggs be talking to Precious? Olivia was so worried, she didn’t seem to have noticed anything. Precious got in the car and they drove off right before Grandma and the others came around the bend. This was seriously suspicious.
    When we were back in the van, everybody started complimenting Olivia on her singing, but they must have noticed how subdued she was. Once or twice I saw her father looking at her closely. The whole situation was so tense I wanted to bite my nails into little stubs, but I resisted and tried to act cool. Good thing I have a lot of practice with that sort of thing.
    Back home, Olivia and I changed into casual clothes and ate lunch. We were going to the hospital to visit Aunt Faith and take some of the rice and peas and chicken to her. Grandma Ruby took one of the Banana Bliss breads she had baked for Aunt Faith to taste. I noticed her fidgeting with the container she put the bread in, trying to make it just right. She seemed really nervous about what Aunt Faith would think of her bread. I opened my mouth to tell her about Mr. Biggs and Precious, but then shut it again—I didn’t want her to have to worry about anything else.
    CHAPTER 10
Spies and Lies
    A