فصل سی و چهارم

chapter-34

“Our next step should be tracking down this Irma Hirschman!” said Kyle. “Confronting her with the facts. Telling her she’s a phony and a fraud.” Akimi rolled her eyes. “Riiiight. That always works.” Mr. Nix had given the research team from Ohio a conference room they could use on the fifth floor of the Imagination Factory. The table in the center was amazing—a glass-topped gold fish tank.

“Let us analyze the facts we have thus far,” said Abia. “We know she never filed for a patent. Mr. Lemoncello, on the other hand, did. We suspect the board game found in the Lemoncello-abilia Room is a recently manufactured fraud.” “We also know this Irma Hirschman character lives in Smithville, Missouri,” added Akimi. “Either in a homeless shelter or a retirement home with a quilting bee, whatever that is.” “Trust me,” joked Angus, “you do not want to get stung by a quilting bee. Looooong stinger.” “Cute, Angus. Cute. But get this—according to our friend Google, the nearest homeless shelters to Smithville are actually in Kansas City.” Angus tapped his lPad tablet computer.

“Nearest airport is in Kansas City, too. We should call the pilot of the banana jet. Have him start working up a flight plan.” “Wait a second,” said Kyle. “I’m pretty sure Kansas City is the home of the Krinkle Brothers game company. Katherine Kelly told me.” “This is research,” said Akimi, tapping her lPad. “We can’t be pretty sure; we need to know.” “Fine. But all I’m saying is if this Irma Hirschman lives a few miles away from the Krinkle brothers’ factory, Mr. Lemoncello’s number one rivals might be the ones who put her up to all this nonsense.” “Boom,” said Akimi, flipping her lPad around so Kyle could see it. “Krinkle Brothers Games and Amusements. 13300 Arlington Road. Grandview, Missouri. That’s just south of Kansas City proper.” “This is interesting,” mumbled Abia, who was tapping on the keyboard attached to the computer in the conference room.

“What’ve you got?” asked Akimi as everybody crowded around the screen.

“This Wikipedia entry for Mr. Lemoncello with the story of his childhood cheating at chess as well as a link to the Justice for Irma page are new additions.” “How new?” asked Angus.

“Last week.”

“Can we tell who made the edits?” asked Kyle.

“Not really. There is, of course, a tab at the top of the page labeled “history.” However, people who are not logged into Wikipedia and wish to remain anonymous often edit articles. Even if the editor is logged in, they may be using a pseudonym. One thing I can tell: These fresh edits were made from a computer inside the Lemoncello Library.” “So,” said Kyle, “either Mr. Lemoncello felt extremely guilty last week and made the edits himself…” “A very weird way to confess,” added Akimi.

“Or,” Kyle continued, “somebody made the changes to the page on a library computer just to make it look like Mr. Lemoncello had finally confessed.” “We need to go to Kansas City,” said Angus.

Kyle nodded. “Call the pilot. I’ll ask Mr. Nix to find us a ride back to the airport.” One hour later, the four teammates were flying west to Missouri.

Somewhere over Indiana, the computer screens in all the armrests started chirping with an incoming video call.

It was Miguel Fernandez.

“Yo, Kyle. Where are you guys?”

“On our way to Kansas City, Missouri.”

“Why?”

“We think that’s where we’ll find this Irma Hirschman, the one who’s making the big stink about Mr. Lemoncello supposedly stealing her game.” Miguel lowered his voice.

“She isn’t the only one making a big stink. The mayor’s here.” “At the library?”

“Yep. There’s a whole bunch of reporters and TV cameras, too. Couple cops. And…” Miguel looked terrified, like he’d just seen a zombie slurping somebody’s brain out of an ear.

“Mrs. Chiltington is here, too!”