Ann Martin - Stacey And The Mystery At The Mall

"Can I help you girls?" asked Ms. Munro. "Aren't you friends of Mallory's?"

"No — I mean yes — I mean, we are friends, but we don't need any help, thank you," I stammered. "We're, uh, just looking." It wasn't a lie. We were just looking. We weren't looking for books, though.

Four-twenty-five: We met at a table in the food court. "Nothing to report," said Claudia. "The Artist's Exchange was pretty empty."

"Same with Critters," said Mary Anne. "I did spot Mr. Morton on my way down here, but he was on the "up" escalator. He looked kind of preoccupied."

"We have something to report," said Kristy. "According to this guy Harry, who works at Casa Grande with Logan, somebody used the kitchen again last night."

"So the kids are still around!" said Mary Anne. "What a relief."

"We still have to find them, though," said

Kristy. "And they seem, to be lying low. Charlie and I are going to check the second-floor bathrooms next."

"I'm going to go back upstairs to Cinema World," said Jessi. "Maybe I can find out if anybody slept there last night, if I ask carefully."

"Mary Anne and I can check the women's room down here," said Claud. "Although I doubt we'll find anything there. This is beginning to seem hopeless! How will we ever find three kids in this huge mall?"

"We just have to keep trying," I said. "I want to stop in and see April. How about if we meet by the fountain in a few minutes?"

Five-oh-five: April was busy at Toy Town, so I couldn't really talk to her. But Sarah, her assistant, was setting up a display of new rubber stamps, and I spent some time talking to her. She mentioned that two "really polite kids" had been hanging around about an hour earlier. "I was amazed," she said. "They played with the Legos, but then they put them back neatly."

"I guess their mom came for them?" I asked casually.

Sarah wrinkled her brow. "I don't think so. An older girl stopped by — maybe their sister? — and herded them out of the store. I heard her say something about naptime."

Five-ten: "Naptime," said Kristy, when I met the others (who hadn't found any sign of the kids in the bathrooms or Cinema World) and told them what I had heard. "Where would they go to take naps?" She thought for a moment. "It would have to be someplace quiet, someplace hidden away. I know! There are some empty offices back by security. Let’s check them out."

Five-twenty: After an extensive check of the offices and rooms near security, we had found absolutely nothing. Kristy led us through a maze of hallways that I had never known about, but every room was empty.

"What are we going to do?" wailed Jessi, looking at her watch. "Our time is almost up."

"Naptime," I muttered to myself. "Nap-time." Suddenly I snapped my fingers. "I've got it!" I said. "Those mats the Exercise Shoppe donated for the day-care center! They're piled up in the back room of our storefront."

Five-twenty-eight: We were off and running almost before I had finished my sentence. But as we approached the day-care center, its door and windows soaped up until the center was ready to open, Kristy held up her hand. "Hold on," she said. ''We better do this carefully, so we don't scare them away. If they take off now, we'll never find them in time."

She seemed so sure that they were in there. I wasn't as positive, but I didn't have any better guesses. "Do you still have the key, Kristy?" I asked.

She nodded. "I've had it ever since the painting party," she admitted. "I forgot to turn it in to Ms. Garcia."

"Good thing," Charlie said. "Now, are there any nearby exits from the store?"

"One," said Mary Anne. "Down that hall." She pointed.

"I'll head down there and guard the door," said Charlie.

"Maybe a couple of us should guard this one, too, while the others go in," said Mary Anne. She and Jessi decided to stay by the door.

Five-thirty-one: "It’s okay, we're on your side," Kristy was saying. She and Claud and I had opened the door as quietly as possible, tiptoed through the storefront, and entered the back room.

There, sound asleep on the mats, were the two younger children. The older girl sat nearby, reading a copy of A Wrinkle in Time. She was the one Kristy was talking to. When we entered the dimly lit room, she looked up in alarm. There was no time for her to run, though, so she just stayed seated, staring up at us with frightened eyes.

"Are you all right?" asked Kristy. "We were worried about you. We haven't seen you in days."

"We're — we're fine," said the girl. "How did you know about us?"

"We've been working at the mall," I explained. "And we've seen you around. I'm Stacey, by the way. This is Kristy and this is Claudia."

"I'm Mara," said the girl. "And that’s Kyle," she pointed at the boy, who was sitting up and rubbing his eyes, "and Brenda." Brenda sat up too, and yawned. "I'm twelve, Kyle's eight, and Brenda is six."

"And you live at the mall, right? Why?" asked Kristy bluntly. "It’s kind of a long story," said Mara. "In that case, let’s go get the others," I said. "They'll want to hear it, too."

A few minutes later, we were all gathered in the back room, seated on mats. And Mara began to tell her amazing story.

"We haven't lived here for very long," said Mara. "We used to live in those apartments over on Sycamore Street, with our mom. We never had much money, but we got along." She swallowed. "But then Mom had to go to the hospital. And my aunt was supposed to come take care of us, but she never showed up. I didn't want to worry my mom, so I just

decided we could take care of ourselves. We did okay for a while, but then the money she left ran out, and the electricity got turned off, and the rent was due. I knew the landlord would be coming around, so we had to get out of there fast. This was the only place I could think of." She blurted out her tale so fast my head was spinning.

"We didn't steal anything," said Kyle, suddenly. "I mean, nothing we didn't need, anyway. And we were going to pay the stores back as soon as we could."

"We didn't steal big stuff, like Mr. Morton," added Brenda. Mara shot her a warning glance.

"You knew about him?" I asked.

Mara nodded hesitantly. "But then he found out about us, too. He found us sleeping in the movie theatre one night. From then on, we sort of had an agreement. We wouldn't tell about him if he wouldn't tell about us. It really seemed like he wanted to help us, too. Anyway, it worked fine until last Tuesday."

"What happened then?" I asked, leaning forward. My heart was beating fast. Finally the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to come together.

"I guess he started to worry that we would tell on him. He kind of threatened us," said Mara, looking scared again.

"Yeah, but I showed him," Kyle spoke up proudly. "I pulled the fire alarm and shut down the whole mall. That way we had time to find a bunch of new hiding places, so he could never find us."

"But what — "I began. I had about a million questions to ask them. Just then, I felt somebody tugging on my arm. It was Kristy. She pulled me away from the group and started talking in a low voice.

"We have to call the police," she said. "I know we might get the kids in trouble, but this is not something we can handle on our own. Anyway, Mr. Morton has to be stopped."

I glanced over at the three scruffy kids who were talking with my friends. I was kind of in awe of them for surviving on their own. But they needed help — more help than I could give them. I knew Kristy was right.

Chapter 15.

"I, um, need to call my mother," I said, when Kristy and I had rejoined the group. And it wasn't a lie. I really did need to call my mom. She was planning to take me out to dinner, and she'd be wondering where I was.

"I should call home, too," said Mary Anne. "Kristy was supposed to come over for supper tonight. I better tell them we'll be late." She stood up to join me.