From The Everywhere Girl Diaries – a work of fiction

Second week of March, year one

Dear Diary,

Wow, that Spectrum is good.  He did it.  He hit Rainbow Motors and no one was able to stop him.  The police are humiliated.  They had 24/7 surveillance and a guy on the inside.  Mr. Mallard is beside himself.  I think he’s been sleeping in the parking lot.  And the mayor?  He’s just pissed.

I blame it on Mr. Butler.  I think he was asking for it.  He ordered some fancy car (a Ferrari, I think) with a European custom rainbow paint job.  He wanted it    for permanent display on the showroom floor.  Why didn’t he just send Spectrum an engraved invitation?

So, last night, around 2 am, this quarter of a million plus dollar car blew up, taking the showroom and half the parts department at Rainbow Motors along with it.  Mr. Mallard says that preliminary reports indicate a device must have been placed in the car after it was delivered and inspected. The device was detonated last night, probably remotely.

The good news is that they have a person of interest – a salesman who didn’t show up for work today.

The bad news is that when I saw his face on TV, I recognized him.  The last time I saw him he was standing behind a potted plant in the Dubai International Airport.

From The Everywhere Girl Diaries – a work of fiction

Second week of March, year one

Dear Diary,

I don’t think Mr. Mallard knows what to do with me.  On one hand, he’s not at all happy that I talked to that guy last week.  He says that I put myself in danger.  On the other hand, I know he’s proud of me for finding out that the guy works for Spectrum and was a plant at Butler’s.  He’s now even more convinced than ever that the car dealership will be one of Spectrum’s seven crimes.  Now, if he can just stop it. The police have increased their surveillance and have their own plant – an undercover cop who’s pretending to be a news salesman.  I just hope it works.

All of this intrigue is making me a little tired, so I’m actually glad that I’m out of town the first part of this week. I’m at Ferris State with the speech team. Being with Mrs. Gosling is always a good thing.   I went to a bank with her today and we had a great time.  I mean all we were doing was getting some cash, and it was so much fun.

From The Everywhere Girl Diaries – a work of fiction

First week of March, year one

Dear Diary,

I cannot believe what I did yesterday.  I was feeling a little restless so I decided to go for a walk.  I ended up on the street where I’d seen the weathergrams and where the shooter had stood when he put a hole through purple. It’s a nice street in a nice neighborhood – one of those neighborhoods full of old houses and young artists.

I was looking down to see if I could remember where I’d stuck my bubble gum and almost ran into a guy who was carrying a big box to his car.

After the initial embarrassed apologies on both our parts, I recognized him. It was Chad – the salesman from Butler’s!

Me (taking a deep breath):  I was just in Butler’s last weekend.  I asked for you, but they said you’d quit.

His response was a mumble, something about not really “quitting”.  He moved the box in his arms just slightly and that’s when I saw the rainbow tattoo on the inside of his wrist.

Me (taking another, this time deeper breath and trying to half laugh): What, did Spectrum fire you?

It was a long shot, but I figured if he didn’t know Spectrum, it would be no harm, no foul.  If he did, I just might get some information.

His eyes narrowed, and I thought maybe I’d made a mistake. Then his gaze traveled to the rainbow patch I’d sewn on my backpack last summer.

Him (rather cautiously): I wasn’t fired, – just reassigned, to Chicago.

The way he said reassigned and Chicago, I knew he wasn’t happy about it.

Me (wishing I had never started this conversation):  Yeah…  Spectrum, he can be hard to work for.

I started to move past him, but he stopped me.

Him: So, what does he have you doing?

Me (in total panic and trying to think of what I should say): Me?… What does Spectrum have me doing? Oh, he just has me keeping my eyes open.

And then, I scurried away.

From The Everywhere Girl Diaries – a work of fiction

First week of March, year one

Dear Diary,

I’ve been thinking more about studying abroad – maybe something just for the summer.  I’ve talked to some people here at school and have been researching a bunch online.  The USNEI (US Network for Educational Information) has a great site for students who are coming here.  If I do end up going somewhere, I hope I can get as much good information as they provide.

All this research has taken quite a bit of time that I didn’t really have.  I’m also getting ready for our next debate, studying, and trying to keep Mr. Mallard calm.

He’s really stressed out about this Butler Motor’s thing. Mr. Butler has been less than cooperative with the police because he thinks their presence is scaring away the customers.   Nobody really knows if he’s had any previous dealings with Spectrum, but Mr. Mallard says most businessmen in town have. Apparently they’re often reluctant to admit it or, at the very least, to give specifics.

I was at Butler’s three times over the weekend.  I’ve really gotten good at pretending that “Daddy” is buying me a car, although I had to make up a story about why I didn’t get one for Christmas, just in case they remembered me. I was hoping I’d get the same salesman as I’d had in December and then maybe I’d remember where I’d seen him before.  He wasn’t there on Saturday, so I asked for him on Sunday.  He was easy to describe and I remembered that his name was Chad.

Chad apparently doesn’t work there anymore.  The salesman even let it slip that he’d left abruptly.

I didn’t see anything really noteworthy on my visits, but I did find a red Porsche I like.

I think Mr. Mallard might be staking out the place at night.  He’s kind of grumpy and I think he must not be getting enough sleep.