Then they stood back and stared at their handiwork. “It’s awesome,” Cassie breathed.
Emily wasn’t sure the effect was awesome, but it was definitely striking. The tree looked scrawny without any adornments. A bunch of needles had scattered all over the floor, and there were dusty spots from where the presents had been. Without the festive wreaths, candles, and tinsel garland decorations, the dining room seemed a bit shabby and sad, just like what the houses in Whoville looked like after the Grinch had stolen all of their decorations. What would the country club proprietors do when they found the place like this at brunch tomorrow morning? Sing peacefully around the tree, like the Whos did? Right. This was the Rosewood Country Club.
They hefted the door open once more and pushed the wheelbarrow out into the cold. The cart was especially full this time, and it took all five of them to push the thing up the hill. Every creak of the wheels, every elf giggle, made Emily tense. They were so close now. She didn’t want someone hearing them.
They made it to the tennis courts, dumped the rest of the gifts, and ditched the wheelbarrow without incident. The elves started over the hilly golf course to the car. And that was when Emily realized: They had done it. They were running to freedom.
Emily’s heart lifted as she ran after them. Never before had she felt so exhilarated in her life. She grabbed Cassie’s hand and let out an excited whoop, and Cassie whooped back.
“Long live the Merry Elves!” Heather hollered.
When the floodlights snapped on, Emily thought it was just an automatic timer and kept running. But then a bullhorn sounded through the crisp winter night. “Down on the ground! We see you girls! The police are here! They’ve already surrounded your car! There’s nowhere to go!”
Emily froze. All of a sudden, blue and red lights flashed over the bluffs. Her heart dropped to her feet. “No,” she whispered.
“I said, down on the ground!” a second voice said.
Both voices were familiar. Emily turned toward them. Two figures in heavy winter coats stood by the tennis courts, staring squarely at Emily, Cassie, and the others. One of the figures was tall with graying hair. The other wore a felt jacket with a varsity letter R on the front. Even though Emily hadn’t seen the back, she knew intuitively it would say ROSEWOOD SWIMMING in big blue letters. It had been Jake’s old jacket when he swam varsity for Rosewood; now it served as the all-purpose coat for anyone in the Fields family when they were doing dirty work outside—shoveling snow, digging in mud, or climbing up and down the hills of a golf course, tracking down vandals.
Emily’s mouth fell open. The first figure was Mrs. Meriwether. The second figure was her mom.
Chapter 13
A Mole Among Us
“Down on the ground!” Mrs. Fields bellowed again through the bullhorn.
Slowly, the elves dropped to their knees and put their hands up. Emily did the same. Mrs. Meriwether and Emily’s mother barreled up the ledge like FBI agents on a drug raid and surrounded them.
Mrs. Fields grabbed Cassie’s arm and pulled her to her feet again. “You think you’re so clever,” she hissed in a gruff voice Emily had never heard from her before. “Your pranking days are over.”
“We’ve got the whole thing recorded.” Mrs. Meriwether held up a digital camera. “A good half hour of footage of you ravaging that Christmas tree and taking away all of the presents. Don’t you know some of those gifts go to children? You should be ashamed of yourselves!”
“We didn’t get rid of the presents,” Cassie spat, squirming. “They’re on the tennis courts! Don’t you see? The country club owners can just put everything back tomorrow!”
“It’s vandalism of private property.” Mrs. Fields held fast on to Cassie’s arm. “It’s a very sad thing that you girls don’t understand how wrong that is.”
A police officer in a West Rosewood PD uniform bounded over the hill from the opposite direction, his flashlight shining and walkie-talkie squeaking. Emily stared at him. It was Officer O’Neal, the same guy who’d brought his daughter to Santa Land a couple of times, promising her every gift imaginable.
“These are the girls who’ve been causing so much trouble?” O’Neal jogged to Mrs. Fields, took Cassie from her, and pinned Cassie’s arms behind her back. Cassie let out a whimper and went still.
“That’s right,” Mrs. Meriwether piped up. “They broke into the country club. These are also the girls who vandalized all the other properties. The Sign of the Dove Church. All the front lawns. They’ve been causing mayhem for weeks.”
The cop looked the elves up and down and shook his head. “Come on, ladies,” O’Neal said, corralling the girls toward the SUVs. The elves trudged off with their heads down, not saying a word. Emily began to follow them, not daring to look at her mother.