"She kick you out of the house for lasting two seconds?"
Phineas paused while still half-asleep as he walked into his kitchen. It had been a long, restless night with him and Jake returning to their homes well after 1 am. They'd stayed at Tarr Manor for several hours after the break-in. Regina's whole demeanor changed after the Mask Brothers attempted to steal the diary. She'd dropped the seduction act while Phinn waited outside her bedroom after checking every hiding place so the young woman could put on more clothes before the police arrived. During that time, several neighbors came over to see what had happened. A few of Regina's friends showed up shortly after the police arrived due to a message she'd sent them.
The pair of unofficial private detectives had reviewed what happened with the police multiple times as the Edgewater Police Department slowly realized the home invasion might become a high-profile case. First, they'd dealt with the initially arriving officers. Then, it turned into a sergeant before Detective McCall of Robbery interrogated the teens with increasing attitude. Eventually, Deputy Police Chief Reyhall rolled into the crime scene around midnight while several of Regina's friends helped board up the broken windows. Deputy Asshall, as the teen sleuths nicknamed him long ago, warned them in no uncertain terms that he'd gladly send them to the juvenile detention center out in the boondocks if he caught them anywhere near the treasure hunt again.
"Putnam Glynn Farris!"
"Busted," Phinn whispered with a smirk as their mother scolded his thirteen-year-old brother for his comment.
"What? They talked about him on the news this morning. Didn't you warn him about that?" Putnam challenged.
While Phinn poured a glass of orange juice, he paused to see Pamela hesitating. Before she could agree, Phinn countered his annoying brother's argument.
"Jake and I saved Regina. Imagine what would've happened if we hadn't been at her house. The cops might not want to admit it, but her neighbors and friends called us heroes."
"Heroes? Haha! Try pests who are going to end up--"
"That's enough, Putty. Your brother did a good deed last night," Pamela declared after she convinced herself first.
"Mom!"
"Stop bickering. Can you please get along long enough for me to check on the laundry?" Pamela asked, although her sons knew it to be more of a warning than a question.
Phinn waited until she'd gone down into the basement before he finally decided to respond to his brother's initial comment. Bringing up his phone, Phinn found the picture he'd slyly taken at one point last night.
"Hey, Pug, does this look like Regina kicked me out of bed?" On the screen, the busty brunette's big tits nearly escaped her sexy red and black negligee. "Don't jerk off too much."
"Wha--How...No way!" the cocky Farris brother sputtered.
"Tell Mom I went next door," Phinn said, walking out the house's back door.
It only took the teen twenty seconds to leave his house, walk across to the Magnums, and enter their kitchen. Aware that Mrs. Magnum started an important trial today, Phinn knew her husband would continue their tradition of being in the courtroom until the first break to support her. That left only Libby, who was likely sleeping in the Magnum house at this time of day.
"Yo, Jake, you got anything to eat. I'm starving, and Pugsley's acting up again," Phinn called out, opening the refrigerator.
Disappointed by what he saw inside, Phinn started to close the door before stopping. Looking down, he spotted a pair of pleading eyes staring up at him. The little wag sealed the deal. Finding a couple of pieces of sandwich turkey, Phinn broke them into smaller pieces and dropped them in front of Bandit.
"Can't disappoint my little buddy."
While the bulldog gobbled down his extra morning treat, a woman in her late fifties of Hispanic heritage entered the kitchen and immediately placed her hands on her hips. Taking in the scene, she frowned at the kid from next door.
"Phineas! He's going to get fat," she scolded with a finger wag.
"The poor guy was starving, Esmeralda," the bespectacled teen defended his action.
"He was not. I bring him treats every time I come here, and you know that!" the Magnums' part-time housekeeper reminded.
"Oh, right. Sorry," Phinn apologized before mouthing, "Not sorry" at Bandit. The bulldog rubbed against his ankle in thank you.
"Now let's see. Aha!" Esmeralda exclaimed, finding what she expected in the cabinet. Spotting Phinn about to leave the room, the housekeeper pointed at the kitchen table. "No, no, no! You sit. I'll make pancakes."
"You don't have to do that, Esmeralda. It's not part of your duties," Phinn pointed out. He suddenly felt guilty for yelling out about breakfast.
"I wouldn't have any duties if it weren't for you. I never forget," the older woman stated, walking past Phinn and poking his ribs. "Besides, you need more meat on those bones. Being that skinny is not healthy."
"You sound like my mom," he groaned.
"Mothers know best. Remember that!"
Phinn nodded. He could never argue with Esmeralda. One of Busybody, Incorporated's first cases had been proving the housekeeper's innocence after a client accused her of stealing. She'd been forever grateful that the three youngsters had exposed the client's college-aged son as the actual thief. Since the allegation, Esmeralda sought to maintain a professional distance from her clients, with the lone exception being the Magnums and their son's two friends.
"I see you boys made the news again. You be careful. Gold fever causes men to do crazy things," Esmeralda warned while starting his breakfast. She peppered the junior private eye with questions while she cooked. Although she had no clients in the Tarrs' neighborhood, Esmeralda passed on gossip she'd heard from other housekeepers.
"We need to give Jake a tutorial about laundry soon," Phinn revealed before launching into the tale of his shrunken swim trunks.
"No!" Esmeralda gasped when Phinn told her about how Jake washed his new swimsuit. "That boy..."
"I know. This needs to be addressed before college. Can you imagine his wardrobe after the first few weeks?"
"I'll talk to his mother. Liberty learned after some time," Esmeralda declared, returning to her cooking.
The pancakes turned out as delicious as always. Both Phinn and Bandit thought so.
"Phineas!"
Phinn's head shot up guiltily after he'd been caught slipping a piece of bacon under the table to Bandit. Just as he threw his hands up in the air, Jake finally entered the kitchen. Spotting the pancakes, he grinned.
"You only get Phineas' leftovers. I have cleaning to do," the housekeeper declared, having a schedule to keep as she had two more homes to clean on Mondays.
"Ah, but I love your pancakes. Is that bacon?" Jake queried, looking at Phinn's plate.
"Not anymore. Bandit and I took care of it," his partner cracked, dropping the last piece in his mouth.
"Wait, I can do some of the cleaning if you make me more," Jake offered.
"Ha! I know how you clean, Jacob. You should've gotten up sooner," Esmeralda said, wiping the grill.
"I was in the shower."
"Taking that long in the shower is a sin," Esmeralda admonished, causing Jake to blush.
"I wasn't...No, I didn't do anything besides wash myself. I swear!" the stocky teen protested, causing Phinn to smirk.
"And where is your sister?" the housekeeper inquired. "Still sleeping the day away?"
"I don't know. Probably. She wasn't in the bathroom with me!"
Phinn started to choke on his final piece of pancake at how Jake's statement inadvertently came out.
"What? Eww! Get out...that's disgusting."
Esmeralda cursed under her breath in Spanish before leaving the room.
"You said it," Phinn replied after gulping down a large sip of milk.
"I tell you, I think Sleeping Beauty has a fake ID. I heard she's been seen out at the bars with her friends," Jake whispered conspiratorially. "We should bust her."
"We're not ratting out Libby. Besides, we have a fricking case already," Phinn reminded, rolling his eyes.
"I know. Damn, you look like shit," Jake noted, digging into the pair of remaining pancakes.
"Kinda hard to sleep after last night," his fellow detective responded. "Tell me again what you overheard."
"Something like 'This has gotten out of hand. It better. You promised.' but I can't be a hundred percent certain. I think Regina's last line might have been a threat. It's hard to tell the tone when cops are all around," Jake said.
"I'm not complaining. I could only hear her muffled voice through the door while she changed earlier. I should've thought ahead and placed my phone in the room while I checked the closets and under the bed," Phinn chided himself. "Who knows what she might have told her friends or family."
"You know, I should've been the one who checked for another intruder. I'm bigger," Jake reminded.
"And more likely to lose your mind and get in a quickie with the big-breasted suspect."
"Is Regina a suspect?"
"What do you think? She's lying through her teeth, slipping into lingerie, and whispering during suspicious conversations," Phinn stated, sighing at his friend's disbelief that a sexy woman could be a criminal.
"Fine, fine. I won't trust Regina... for now," Jake replied. "What's our next move?"
"Let's go over what we found in Clara Livingston's diary," Phinn began. "First, she appears to have been Jason Tarr's friend-turned-lover. There isn't any evidence in the entries about an engagement--"
"But Regina said they were engaged," Jake interrupted to point out.
"Regina also claimed a short time earlier that Jason didn't have a favorite or special woman in his life. So, take her statement with a grain of salt," Phinn directed. "Clara's entries don't mention Thornbeard. However, there are vague mentions of Jason's hunt for a fortune that will claim the fame he always wanted. Several comments also imply she visited Jason at the harbor as he outfitted
Fleetwing
for the hunt."
"What about Jason's partner?" Jake brought up.
"The initials EJ aren't much to work with, but they are at least a start," Phinn said. "We've found ways to use less in the past."
