نقشه‌ی ریکی

Chapter eight

Ricki’s Plan

His friends listen carefully as Ricki explains his plan. “I want to have a party. I want to invite all the players from the try-outs. Maybe one of the players knows something about the messages and the accident!” he says.

“Do you think ‘Caper’ is going to come?” asks Stacy.

“If he’s one of the players, he’s going to be invited,” replies Ricki.

“I think it’s a dangerous idea,” says Trish. “This Caper is a dangerous person. He could do something to hurt you or Tony at the party.”

“But we want to find out who Caper is,” answers Tony. “He wants to stop us from playing basketball but I’m not going to let him.”

The friends plan the party. They’re going to have a lot of food and drinks. They are also going to have music and dancing. The party is going to be in Ricki’s back yard. Tony says he can bring his new CD player, and Trish and Stacy are going to buy the food. Ricki makes a list of twenty-five people to send invitations to.

The friends write the text of the invitation together. It says:

You are invited to Ricki’s “Get well soon” and birthday party! On : Friday, February 4th At : 9:00 p.m.

Where : Ricki Anderson’s house 495 Columbus Drive

Friday night comes at last. Everything is prepared for the party. There are hot dogs, burgers, salads and chips. Tony brings the Cokes and sodas. Ricki walks with his crutches out into the back yard. Tony is putting up lights and setting up the CD player.

“Sorry that I can’t help much,” says Ricki.

“Hey, don’t worry. You have to rest so you can get better quickly, then you can play basketball again.”

The doorbell rings.

“Oh Here is our first guest” says Ricki. “I want to answer the door. Remember our plan, everybody.” The others nod. They are going to try and find out about Caper by talking to the players during the party. They need to know who is jealous of Ricki and Tony and who drives a red Subaru. They also need to find out who uses e-mail a lot. Could the name “Caper” be a code word for something? The friends all feel excited and tense. What’s going to happen tonight?

Two of the basketball players from the team are at the door.

“Hi, Ricki” says Anthony. “Good to see you. How are you? We miss you at practice.”

“I miss it too, but Tony always tells me about it,” replies Ricki.

“You guys work hard! The party’s out back in the yard. Have fun!” Later Stacy is talking to Ricki when the bell rings again.

“Oh, hi, Pat. Hi, Kyle,” says Ricki. “Nice to see you! Come in - the party’s in the yard.”

“Thanks, Anderson. We’re here with Eric Caplin and John Roberts.”

“I don’t see them,” says Stacy, looking out into the street. “Where are they?”

“Oh, they’re parking the car,” replies Pat, looking away.

“In the next street?” asks Stacy, incredulously.

“Oh, umm. Eric’s car makes a lot of noise, so he’s parking it in the next street,” replies Kyle quickly. “He doesn’t want to annoy your neighbors.”

“That doesn’t sound like Eric Caplin at all,” thinks Stacy. “He’s not usually so considerate!”

Eric and John arrive soon after and join the rest of the party. The music is playing loudly and a lot of people are dancing. Trish notices Eric and Pat talking together in a dark corner of the garden. She looks around to see if anyone is watching her, then goes around the trees behind them so that they can’t see her. She goes nearer and listens to them.

“They don’t suspect anything,” Eric is saying. “They’re too stupid.”

“Well, it was a risk to bring the car tonight. That wasn’t clever, Eric,” replies Pat.

“I parked it in the next street so they can’t see it and the mechanic is going to change the wheel on Monday. No one will recognize my car then,” says Eric.

“I hope not. We could get into trouble.” Pat is nervous.

“Hey, don’t worry, Pat. Anderson isn’t going to play basketball again, and we’re going to stop Caruso, too,” replies Eric.

“Mmm. Let’s go back to the party before someone notices us,” Pat says. Trish quietly comes out of the shadows and goes over to Tony.

“Tony, quick! Get Stacy and Ricki and meet me in Ricki’s room in five minutes. I have something important to tell all of you.”

The four friends are sitting on Ricki’s bed looking expectantly at Trish.

“What is it, Trish?” asks Stacy.

“I think I know who the driver of the red car is” replies her friend.

“Who” asks Ricki.

“Eric Caplin. Now he wants to stop Tony too.”

Tony’s face is white. “How do you know that, Trish” he asks.

“I heard them talking in the garden. They didn’t see me,” she explains.

“What are we going to do now?” asks Stacy, afraid.

“I don’t know yet,” replies Ricki. “Let’s go back to the party before they notice we’re not there. Perhaps we can catch them out if they think we don’t know anything.”