Free Singing in Seattle by Tracey West Page A

held Claire’s guitar and began to play while he sang. Aly and AJ loved the cute song he had written, an upbeat number about him and his friends driving around town on a Saturday night. Once again, his showmanship was the best. He worked the stage and the crowd, getting loud applause from the audience when his number was over.
    â€œThis is not going to be easy,” AJ said.
    Aly nodded in agreement. “They were all fantastic tonight,” she said.
    â€œBut one of them could be a cheater,” AJ added.
    Aly groaned. “What are we going to do?” she asked.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
    THE FINAL CLUE
    Lily took the stage.
    â€œAly and AJ have a big decision to make,” she announced. “We’re going to take a fifteen-minute intermission so they can choose a winner.”
    Then Lily led the sisters to a small office inside the theater. “I’ll give you guys some privacy,” she said, closing the door.
    Aly shook her head. “I can’t believe we have to pick just one winner!” she said. “This is going to be tough.”
    AJ opened up the folders Lily had given her and Aly at the start of the round. Each folder held a photo of the contestant, plus music and lyrics sheets for each song the contestants had performed. AJ spread out the folders for Josh, Austin, and Claire on a folding table in the office.
    â€œAll right,” she began. “The band likes Austin and Claire the best. It’s going to be tough to choose between the two of them.”
    â€œBut Josh was really good tonight,” Aly pointed out. “I dug that sound. What were those lyrics? The purple mist of morning?”
    AJ found the lyrics sheet. “Here it is,” she said. Aly picked it up and started singing the song.
    â€œCan you see me,
    Or do you look right through me?
    Fading into the purple mist of morning.”
    Aly put down the lyrics sheet and frowned.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” AJ asked. “That sounded nice.”
    â€œI know,” her sister said. “But there’s something . . . where’s the sheet for Claire’s prom song?”
    Aly shuffled through the papers in Claire’s folder until she found what she was looking for. She quickly scanned the words on the page.
    â€œHere it is!” she cried finally. “Listen.”
    â€œI’m fading into the background.
    Surrounded by my dreams.
    Shadowed by the purple mist of morning.”
    AJ gasped. “Are you kidding? I didn’t know those words were in Claire’s lyrics, too,” she said. She grabbed the sheet from Aly. “This is too much of a coincidence. How could Josh and Claire both have the same phrase in their songs? I mean, who thinks up a phrase like ‘purple mist of morning’?”
    â€œSomeone who likes purple,” Aly said. “Someone who is good with lyrics.”
    AJ nodded. “I think we’ve finally figured things out,” she said. “Come on. I want to clear this up before we make our final decision.”
    The girls left the office and headed for the backstage area. They saw Jim walking down the hall, headed for them. Heather walked by his side.
    â€œI found her hanging around the backstage door, just like you thought she might be,” Jim said.
    â€œSo?” Heather protested. “Is there a law against that? I haven’t done anything wrong here!”
    â€œYou might not have done anything wrong, Heather,” AJ said, looking her directly in the eyes. “But I think you know who did!”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
    CONFESSION
    Heather looked down at her leather boots. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.
    â€œYes, you do,” AJ said. “You know that Josh stole Claire’s notebook. You were hanging around backstage the day the notebook was returned, and you saw Josh do it. That’s why he’s giving you free pizza. It’s his price for keeping you