Singing in Seattle by Tracey West

Author:Tracey West
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US

“I think I am going to be seeing whorls and ridges in my sleep!” Aly complained.

The girls had gone back to the hotel after the reception. AJ had set up a mini-detective lab on the desk in the hotel room. She and Aly lifted prints from the five cups Jim had collected: Henry, Austin, Josh, Bree, and Rainbow. Then they started to compare them to the print from the guitar case. But it wasn’t easy.

They checked Austin’s prints first. His had a distinctive whorl in the center, just like the print on the case.

“That looks like a match,” Aly said.

“I know,” AJ agreed. “But we should check it against the others to make sure.”

So at AJ’s insistence, they compared all of the other prints to the print on the case. They saw lots of loops, whorls, and arches.

“I still think Austin’s print looks the closest,” Aly said.

AJ nodded in agreement. “Let’s take another look.”

They used the magnifying glass to examine Austin’s print one more time.

“This definitely looks like a match,” Aly said. “See that swirly thing under the whorl? And those arches on the right?”

“You’re right,” AJ said. “Nobody else comes close. I think we need to talk to Austin. It looks like Heather was telling the truth.”

“I still don’t think he’d do something like that,” Aly said, frowning. “But you’re right. We should find him. It’s still early. Should we call him?”

“He’d probably think I was calling for a date,” AJ said. “I’d feel bad getting his hopes up. Let’s head down to Howl and see if he’s there.”

AJ’s hunch was right. They found Austin standing outside the club, talking to Henry. Austin’s eyes lit up when he saw them.

“Looking for me?” he asked, his voice full of hope.

“As a matter of fact, we are,” Aly said.

Henry nodded. “I’ll see you guys inside.”

The tall boy went inside the club. Austin nodded after him.

“Lucky. He and Bree are going out. Love at first sight, he says.” Austin looked at AJ. “I hear that happens sometimes.”

AJ flushed a little. “Listen, Austin, I wish we were here for a different reason, but we need to talk to you about Claire’s notebook.”

Austin looked annoyed. “I already told you, I didn’t take it.”

“But we found something,” Aly said. “Proof. Your fingerprint is on the handle of Claire’s guitar case.”

Austin looked shocked. “My fingerprint? But how . . .”

“Do you want to tell us what happened?” AJ asked.

Austin sighed. “You’re not going to believe me,” he said.

“Try us,” Aly told him.

“I did open the guitar case,” he said. “But I didn’t steal Claire’s notebook, I swear. I just . . . looked at it.”

“Why would you do that?” AJ asked.

Austin ran a hand through his hair. “It was stupid, I know. It’s just that Claire is my biggest competition in this thing. I mean, she’s really good. I was just curious to see what she was planning. Then I felt weird about it, and I dropped the notebook. I left the guitar case open. Maybe somebody took the notebook then.

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