asked.
âIâll give you the short version,â Kelleher said. âThere are so many girls under eighteen in the event that they have a separate locker room that the media isnât allowed into because the parents freak out about men seeing their daughters half-dressed. Since female reporters are allowed in the menâs locker room, male reporters are allowed into the womenâs. But not where there are women under the age of eighteen. Itâs been a huge controversy for years because all the players freak out about us being in the locker room. The point is the junior locker room doorâs not even marked and they usually donât even have a guard on it because they donât want to call attention to it. If you take your press credential off, you can probably walk in there like youâre a player.â
âHow do
you
know where it is?â Susan Carol said.
âCarillo showed me. Come on, letâs start walking. Iâll show you where it is. Meantime, Stevie, I want you in the playersâ lounge. Once youâre past the guard, take your credential off and just walk around and listen. Iâm going to the menâs locker room. Weâll meet back here in thirty minutes and compare notes.â
âWhat exactly are we listening for?â Stevie asked as they started to walk down the long hallway.
Kelleher shook his head. âI have no idea, Stevie,â he said. âBut people will be talking and someone must know
something.
â
âAnd what do I do if I manage to get in?â Susan Carol said. âWonât the other players know Iâm a fraud right away?â
âSit in front of an empty locker as if itâs yours and listen. Youâre dressed like a player. There are so many different events going on here at once that no one knows everybody. You never know when youâre going to be in the right place at the right time. If weâre in three different places, our chances are three times as good of hearing something helpful.â
âBut what do we think is going on here?â Stevie asked.
âThat,â Kelleher said, âis the multimillion-dollar question.â
5: KIDNAPPED
STEVIE HADNâT been in the hallway under the main stadium yet. Like the media center, it was filled with people running in different directions shouting at one another.
âKeep your heads down, keep walking, and act like nothingâs going on,â Kelleher said.
âArenât we allowed in here?â Susan Carol asked.
âYes, we are,â he said. âBut everything changes when the most famous female player in the world has just gone missing.â
There were signs on all the walls pointing out where different things were. When they reached a point that would have been a four-way stop with traffic coming in all directions, Stevie noticed a sign pointing to the left that said STADIUM COURT .
âTurn right,â Kelleher said. They turned and walked halfway down the hall, where Kelleher stopped. âOkay, Susan Carol,â he said. âRight around the corner there, youâll see an unmarked door.â He glanced around. No one was paying attention to them. âOkay, take your credential off.
If
thereâs a guard on the door, just say you left your player badge inside your locker.â
âAnd what if he wonât let me in?â she said.
âWeâll wait here until we know youâre in,â Kelleher said.
She nodded and started walking. Stevie had been tempted to make fun of her in the morning for wearing a tennis outfit. Now it seemed like an awfully good idea. She disappeared around the corner and Stevie held his breath. âWeâll know quickly,â Kelleher said.
They waited a full minute. They heard and saw nothing.
âStevie, walk to the end of the hall and turn the corner,â Kelleher said. âIf you see a guard and no Susan Carol, act as if you made a wrong turn and come
Melissa Schroeder
Jane Kirkpatrick
Penny Rudolph
More Than Memory
Suzanne Young
Nigel Quinlan
Debra Cowan
Donna Andrews
Dervla Murphy
Susie Mander