The opposition left, and after I had changed, Tricia and I went to her apartment to try and cheer her up. Her apartment was less Spartan than mine. She had paintings and other things decorating it. I sat down on a nice sofa. Tricia came back with some lemonade, for which I was thankful. I informed her about Noah’s upcoming marriage, trying to keep the topic off volleyball. We talked a little more. “Are you going to that rental agency today?”

“Yes, I think I’ll go after lunch.”

“What about now?”

“I think I’ll go over to the office and tidy up some more.”

“Oh. Well, I have to go to the Museum at 10:00.”

“When do you get off today?”

“3:00.”

“I’ll pick you up, and we’ll go over then.”

“Thanks. I’ll go change.”  She went into another room and changed into her museum uniform. I bowed my sweat covered head, and escorted her to the car, pretending to be her chauffeur. I opened the door for her, and got in the other side. I drove to the museum, got out, and opened her door again. She thanked me, and then I left for the office. Once inside I called the sergeant.

“Hey Sarge, any more info?”  I asked.

“Nothing new. The police are baffled. We need a private eye.”

“There’s no need to fear, Adam Schofield’s here. My rates are the lowest around.”

“Okay, you’re hired. Take over.”

“Thanks Sarge, you won’t regret it.”  I went to the office and called up my old neighbor, Patrick. “Hey Pat, guess what.”

“What?”

“I’m a detective!”

“Yeah right!  And I’m the President. When are you going to grow up?  You and your pretending.”

“But I am.  Seriously!”

“Umm, Hmm.  It was bad enough having to read all those dumb detective stories you wrote, but this takes the cake. I suppose there was something stolen and you’ve been assigned to the case.”

“How’d you know?”

“Let’s just call it a lucky guess. Well, if there’s nothing else. . .”

“Just a minute. Do you remember Matt Hastings, from school?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Have you seen him lately?”

“Just yesterday, why?”

“He’s my lead suspect.”

“Yeah?  He was at the Smoking Gun last night. Seems he and Noelle came in and were very nervous. I’ll call you if anything happens.”  With that he hung up. I sat down in my chair and fell asleep.

“Well, the group. . .ah, I’ll come down and get you at seven.”

“Seven? That sounds fine.” She said. Just then, the phone rang.

“Just a minute.” I said to Tricia. I picked up the phone. “Hello.”

“Hello, Mr. Adam Schoolfield?”

“Schofield!”

“Oh, Schofield. This is Heather Burnett, the sergeant’s secretary; you wanted us to notify you when we found anything?”

“Yes, thanks for calling.”

“Well, the car belonged to a dealership located on the corner of First and Green.”

“Anything else?” I asked, as I scribbled down some notes.

“Yes. They say the person who rented it was a ‘Matthew Hastings.’”

“Thanks Heather.” I said. We exchanged good-byes and hung up.

“Who was that?” Tricia asked.

“Ah, it was the secretary down at the police station. I asked them to tell me if anything came up in the case.”

“And what did they have?”

“They traced the car to rental agency on First and Green. They also found out that the person who rented the car, rented it under the name ‘Matthew Hastings.’”

“Oh.”

“I’ll go over there tomorrow to confirm this report.”

“Can I come?”

“If you want to I’m sure it could be arranged. Well, it’s getting late. See you tomorrow.” I got up, she left, and I went to bed. Noah came in around midnight, all a twitter.

“Hey Adam, wake up!!!”

“What?!! What is so important?!!”

“I proposed to Laura tonight!!”

“Oh, that’s good. . .PROPOSED!!!”

“Yeah, and she accepted. The wedding date is set for next week.”

“Next week!!? Why so soon?”

“Well, her family is leaving town next Wednesday, and if she wants to stay here, she will need a husband.”

“Well, I guess all I can say is, congratulations!”

“Adam, I would like you to be our best man.”

“Sure!!”

“Great! Now, let’s get some sleep.” We fell asleep, only to be awakened by the alarm clock saying that it was 6:30. I reached over and hit the snooze button on the clock, and rolled over. Noah got up and got breakfast from outside the door. The alarm rang again, 6:35. I got up and dressed. Getting my stuff together for the game, I remembered about my promise to Tricia, and I quickly left. I arrived at her apartment and knocked upon the door. She came and answered it.

“Hi, Adam. All set.” She said. She was dressed in uniform number 5. She came out and we proceeded to the gym, Tricia in the lead. When we arrived I gave her volleyball, and went to change. I came back out and warmed up. We didn’t play half bad, considering we had a new team-mate. We won two and lost three. I told the group that we would do better next time. Tricia was depressed, thinking that it was all her fault.

“I would have come dressed to work, but it is not appropriate for a lady to be seen dressed like I would have been dressed.”  She walked backwards and hit a can of paint. It fell on her.

“Well!  It doesn’t look like you’ll be going home in that!”

“Let me get out of these wet things.”

“Here,” I said, while mopping up some of the paint, “You go into the other room and change, while I clean up this mess.”  She went into the other room and shut all the curtains. I could make out a vague silhouette of her changing, but I quickly diverted my attention to cleaning up the paint.

“How do I look?”  She said, appearing from the other room.

“Let me think about it.”  I said, laughing. She lightly punched me in the arm and I pretended to be hurt. I got back up and started cleaning again. “You know, I think you looked better in those painted clothes!”  She started helping me clean up the paint when I said, “You know, those look like clothes to work out in a gym.”

“Yeah, I have them from college. I was on the girl’s volleyball team.”

“Yeah, well let’s see what you’ve got!”  I said, standing up. I got up, ushered her out the door of the office. As soon as we got outside, it struck her that she was dressed in gym clothes.

“I can’t be seen like this!”

“Here,” I said, handing her my trench coat, “Put this on.”  Luckily there was no paint on her gym clothes!  We both went to the apartment complex in our own cars. I went with her to her apartment, since she was wearing my coat. She went in and handed me my coat, from inside. I went to the gym, changed, and warmed up, not expecting much from my new friend. She walked out on to the court, adjusting her socks and sweatbands on her arms. “Are you ready?”

“Sure.”  She said.

“I’ll be easy on you, to start out. Let’s say we start with a volley.”  I sent up a nice volley. She returned it deep behind me, and I was unable to reach it. “Nice return. Try this one.”  I sent another one into the air. Same thing. We continued drills until it was ten. “Good game,” I said. “I’ve got something for you up in my room. After you’ve changed, why don’t you come up and get it?”

“Thanks, I will.”  She said. “Just as long as you promise to be there when I come up.”

“Okay, I promise.”  I said, as I left for the locker room. I changed and went upstairs, where I changed into more suitable clothes. I heard a knock at the door. I opened it to reveal Tricia. “Hi!  That was quick. Won’t you come in?  Noah won’t be back for a while. He’s out on a date with Laura, you know.”  I showed her to a seat. “Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thank you.”

“Oh, let me get you what you came for.”  I went into the other room and brought out the purple and white volleyball uniform once worn by Heather. “I thought you might like this.”  I handed it to her.

“Thanks. What is it?”

“It’s my team’s uniform. One of the players is leaving for Springfield, and we needed a replacement. From what I saw just now, I think I’ve found the girl.”

“Why thank you!  What time do I have to be ready?”