The Ties that Bind ...."
                              Part Three: Tricks



      "Lemmee see that last clue again," Zack said.  "I've never been this
tired in my life."  They had found this final clue just after Ivy escaped.

      "Maybe you should lay off and stay behind," Derry suggested, looking
askance at him.  "You're still not fully recovered."

      "Forget it.  If Ivy's gone bad, I'm going to catch her," Zack said
angrily, slamming his coffee back down on the table.  It splashed and he
grabbed a napkin to wipe it up.  He felt like he was being torn in two;  
Ivy had to go to jail for what she'd done, but he didn't want to see 
her in jail.  "It came upon a midnight clear;  she's as bad as Carmen."

      "Christmas song," Derry identified.  "I hate that song."

      "Why?  It's not that bad," Zack asked.

      "My mother plays it twenty thousand times every Christmas," Derry
replied, slumping in his chair.

      "Chief?  Any ideas?"

      "Maybe I should resign!" the Chief said, bitterly.  "Look at this!  
My two best detectives, my best friends, quit and turn bad.  I'm a 
bad influence! I'm a bad father!  I don't believe this!  First 
Carmen, then Ivy!  Lee doesn't count, I never liked him anyway.  
Ooh, this is horrible!"

      "Chief, I'm still here," Zack said, hurt.  "Don't I count for 
anything?"

      "Oh, of course you do, Zack," the Chief said apologetically.  Then
urgently, "Promise you're not going to go bad?"

      "I promise, Chief.  Do you have any ideas about this clue?"

      "Well, there was that time Carmen kidnapped me for the holidays," 
the Chief said.

      "Right on, Chief," Ivy said, appearing in the doorway, hurling a
smoke bomb.

      "Ivy!  Stop!" Derry shouted, knocking his chair over as 
he stood up.

      Ivy threw another smoke bomb and sidled around the edge of 
the room.  The Chief's protests and voluble yells for help suddenly 
cut off, and as the smoke cleared, they saw Ivy dashing out of the 
room with the Chief.  Zack threw himself at her, trying to tackle her, 
but fell short.  Derry pounded out of the room after her while Zack 
scrambled back to his feet, gasping for breath.

      "Ivy!" he screamed, chasing after them both.  She managed to 
elude them and every other detective in Headquarters, sending them 
tripping into each other, to jump in a strange car and drive off.

      He sat down, hard, and stared after her, picking up a little 
clue, a postcard of the Columbia River, with a note on the back, 
'Oh Maple Leaf so close to me, a sight so fair I never saw, where the 
rivers read the stars."

      "I can't believe it," he said, staring blankly at the card.  His 
heart felt like it had been turned into lead.  Molten lead.  He didn't 
know whether to be depressed or furious;  it was becoming a common state 
for him.  "My own sister, turned criminal.  I thought Carmen was 
tough."

      "Oh, I still am," Carmen said, from where she was looking over 
the roof at him.  "I'm certainly impressed, though."

      "Carmen!" Zack said, searching for a way up and his handcuffs.  
"Did you put Ivy up to this?" 

      "I'm as surprised as you are, Detective," Carmen said.  "I'm 
afraid I can't stay," she went on, backing away from the edge of the 
roof.  "But if you find a place with a view of a river to the future, 
you might find what you're looking for."  She disappeared backwards 
and escaped.

      "Derry, did we come up with anything on the envelope Ivy sent us?"

      "The lab brought up the postmark;  it was mailed from somewhere near
Portland, Oregon."

      "The only river I can think of near there is the Columbia, but it
doesn't tell the future," Zack said.

      "Wait a minute ... wait a minute ... she has to be somewhere near 
the river, from Ivy's clue," Derry said.

      Zack paced irritably.  "I don't get it.  I just don't get it."  
Suhara had come by his house one afternoon, when his parents were out, 
to talk;  they had talked well into the night, and Zack, by this point, 
fully understood why Suhara had resigned when Carmen turned thief.  He 
wished he could take back his complaining from the first time he met 
the older detective, but he suspected Suhara understood that.  Maybe 
he should resign.  He didn't understand anything right now;  he would 
have sworn that the absolute last thing Ivy would ever do was turn 
thief.

      "Me either," Josha said, coming in.  "Hi, Zack.  I got the news 
and came in;  I might have something to help us find the Chief."

      "What is it?" Zack demanded.

      "His circuitry is very unique, and gives off a special signal when 
it's working," Josha said, displaying his new device.  "If this works as 
projected, it should let me track him within about ten miles."

      "Better than nothing," Derry said.  "You're coming?"

      "You don't know how to work it," Josha replied.

      "Right," Zack said with a sigh.  He wanted to get hold of Ivy 
himself and get her to tell him what was going on- before he had to 
throw her in jail.  His stomach lurched.

      Josha ignored that.  "What clues have we got?"

      "It's a suburb of Portland, from a letter Ivy sent us, and it has 
to be near the Canadian border, because of the maple leaf."

      "A sight so fair I never saw ... a view. ... Fairview!"  Josha
exclaimed, looking at a map of Oregon.

      "Well, then, let's get going!  We can't C-5 without the Chief, 
so it's gonna be a long trip," Zack exclaimed.

      "Ivy, I don't understand!"  the Chief wailed in the little shop. 
"Why are you doing this?"

      Ivy absently flipped through a book on astrology, leaning casually
against the wall in a pose reminiscent of Carmen.  "You'll find out, Chief. 
Now hush, you're going to attract attention."

      "Good!" the Chief shouted.  "I want attention!  Lots of it!  I want
every Acme detective in thirty miles to hear me!  I - "  Ivy turned 
his volume down to almost inaudible.

      "I warned you, Chief," she said.

      "I don't believe this!  This is as bad as Carmen!  Oh, I rue the 
day we ever hired Lee!" the Chief went on, nearly inaudibly.  Ivy was 
trying not to smile.

      Zack, Josha and Derry arrived in Fairview hours later.  "The local
police have set up roadblocks," Derry reported.

      "Sis, you're not getting away this time," Zack mumbled, trying to
toughen himself up.

      "I think I found what Carmen meant," Josha said.  "Look!"  he 
pointed to a small flyer.  It read, 'Tarot read, horoscopes cast, 
reasonable prices.  Jennifer Rivers, 555 Main, two doors up from 
the Columbia Cafe.'

      "The river to the future!" Zack exclaimed.

      "And Rivers reads the stars!" Derry added.  "I think they 
overdid it."

      "Come on!" Josha said.  They commandeered a car from one 
of the local agents, and took off.  "Look, it has to be, there's
the Chief's signal!"

      "It took them long enough," Ivy grumbled, hearing the car 
screech to a stop.  She stood up and waited, then heard someone 
at both doors.

      Zack pounded on the door, then tried it;  it swung open.  It was
completely dark inside, and two someones were moving around.  Josha 
and Derry pounded in behind him, and somehow the door slammed shut.

      "Ivy, give up!"  Zack called, easing forward.

      "But the game's hardly begun, little bro," Ivy called back.  
Someone lit an oil lamp, casting a dim glow over the whole scene.  
Ivy moved to grab the Chief, and Josha went after her, while the other 
person started to move for the door.

      "Carmen!" Derry shouted, moving for the unnaccounted-for person.

      The room devolved into total chaos.  Zack tripped over the Chief 
and landed on Derry, who grabbed Ivy by the ankle.  She kicked him off 
as they disentangled themselves.  Josha collided with Carmen, who 
flipped him over her shoulder and danced out of reach, grabbing the 
Tarot cards and some of the books as she did so.  The items disappeared 
into her coat, and she started making for the back door, diving around 
Derry as Ivy dodged them both.  Zack grabbed the lamp before it could tip 
over, and set it somewhere out of the way.  The Chief was yelling 
imprecations, demanding to know what was going on.

      Ivy turned and ran for the back door, only a few steps 
behind Carmen.

      "No!" Zack shouted, gathering himself.  He made a flying leap 
and caught Ivy around the waist, dragging them both to the floor.  
Every abused muscle and bone in his body was screaming in protest.

      "Carmen's getting away!" Derry shouted, running after her.  They 
heard the roar of a motorcycle engine a few seconds later, and Derry 
came back.  "I lost her!"

      "Ivy, I'm never going to forgive you for this," Zack said bitterly,
digging the cuffs out of his pocket.  Josha turned the Chief's volume 
control back up.  Derry found the light switch and turned on the lights, 
then put out the oil lamp.

      Ivy's hair seemed to be off kilter;  in fact, it was a wig.  He 
pulled it off.  "Carmen??!"

      "Carmen?"

      "Then who?"

      "Ivy!" Josha exclaimed.

      Carmen groaned.  "Zack, how much do you weigh?"

      "Not that much," he said, pinning Carmen's hands behind her 
back and cuffing her.  "What's going on?"

      "Get off me and I'll tell you," Carmen snapped, trying to shove 
Zack off her.  "Chief, are you all right?"

      "All right?  All right?  You made me think Ivy had gone bad!  I'm
furious!  I'm hurt!  I'm confused!"

      "So am I," Zack said, bewildered by the sudden turn of events.  Ivy
wasn't a thief;  he understood that and held to it like a drowning man 
with a rope.  "What were you doing?"  he demanded angrily, letting 
Carmen up once the cuffs were secure.  Carmen must have been trying to 
blackmail Ivy into VILE when she found out Ivy'd left Acme.

      She rolled over and sat up, crossing her legs beneath her.  "Ivy's 
been running this fortune-telling shop.  I didn't think it was her, so 
I ... ah ... I came in and had her read the cards for me.  I was hoping 
the masquerade would flush her out of hiding ... but it didn't work the 
way I expected."

      "You what?" the Chief said.  "You had your cards read?  I don't 
believe this."

      "I don't either," Carmen said ruefully.  "I think she took off with my
motorcycle," she went on indignantly.

      "Well, she was dressed for the part," Derry said, looking around the
shop.  He spotted an envelope on the shelf, addressed to Zack and Carmen. 
"Only joint mail you'll probably ever get," he quipped.

      "But why dress up like Ivy?  Why come back as yourself to stop her 
and give us another clue?"  the Chief asked.  "Did you want to 
blackmail her into VILE?"

      Carmen shrugged, and thought ruefully that Ivy had outthought her.  
"The thought did cross my mind," she said.  "But no, I thought she 
needed to see you again, and she's too stubborn to do it on her own.  
As I said, I thought the masquerade might flush her out.  Chief, I never 
talked to you as myself on this entire caper.  That must have 
been Ivy."

      Josha just shook his head, and went out the front door.

      "Carmen, you could have just told us where she was," Zack said, 
opening the envelope.  It held a single piece of paper.

      "That would have been too easy," she replied.  "Besides, Ivy 
would just have fled if I had."

      Zack read Ivy's letter and laughed.  "'Carmen:  You look better 
in my clothes than I do!  I'm jealous.  But do me a favor - stop 
trying to ruin my name and complicate my life, I do that perfectly 
well on my own.   Zack:  Little bro, the next time you think I turned 
thief, find out where Carmen is first!  And you'd better clear my name, 
or Mom's going to find out just what you did ...'  Uh, never mind about 
that," he said hastily.

      Carmen started laughing.  "Zack, she tricked us both, just like I
tricked you that Halloween."

      Zack started laughing in shocked relief.  "She did, didn't she?  
That's my sis!"


      Ivy had packed up her stuff, changed clothes back into her 
Jennifer Rivers image, and started driving, leaving Carmen's motorcycle 
in the building lot.  She wasn't sure where she wanted to go ... maybe 
New Mexico, this time.  Maybe she could get a job teaching martial arts 
this time.  For one brief moment, she'd thought about going back to 
Acme ... and then the specter of Lee's battered face had risen up before 
her, and Carmen holding her away from him.  There was no going back from 
that.  Zack looked almost like his old self;  he looked hurt, probably 
at her apparent betrayal, and she sighed at the pain that must have 
cost him.  She didn't remember his partner;  Derry something or other, 
she thought.  She supposed Josha had been called in to help track 
the Chief.

      "What's all this about, Officer?" she asked at the roadblock.

      "Didn't you hear, Miss?  That rogue detective was here 
in town!"

      Ivy's eyes widened.  "You're kidding!  I hope Acme catches 
her."  She handed over her ID.  "I got an emergency call.  My sister's 
got to go to hospital and needs someone to stay with her kids.

      "Thanks, Miss Rivers.  Have a good trip," he said, after a cursory
examination.  "Hope your sister gets better."

      "Thank you, Officer."

      She drove off to the east, intending to pick up 90 south in an 
hour or so.  In the meantime, she was starving, and stopped about 
40 miles out at an all-night restaurant, hoping they were too occupied 
with Carmen to come after her yet.  Of course, Carmen being Carmen, 
she had probably slipped out of reach already.

      "Ladies' room is through there," the waitress said.  "You look tired, 
honey.  Work late tonight?"

      Ivy nodded.  "Yeah."  She went into the ladies' room, used the 
facilities and fixed her makeup.  "Long night?"

      "Honey, they're all long," the waitress said.  "Booth or table?"

      "Booth please."  The waitress seated her and left her with a 
menu and a glass of water, and brought a hot cup of tea a few minutes 
later.  "You ready to order?"

      "I'll have the vegetable soup and a hot ham sandwich," she said.

      She leaned back against the booth and fought the urge to close her 
eyes. It had been a good night's work, after all, even though she was 
still annoyed with Carmen for making it look like she'd turned thief; 
handing her over to Acme made her feel better, though.  Even if they 
lost her, she'd managed to outfox the thief for a change. She regretted 
the loss of the shop;  most of her money had been sunk in it, and this 
repast and a motel tonight would take a chunk of what she had left.  Her 
eyes did close for a few minutes, only to be startled by the waitress 
arriving with her food.

      "You gonna want coffee later, honey?"

      "Yeah," Ivy said, startled back from her drowse.  "There any 
motels near here?"

      "Not that any honest person wants to stay in," the waitress said
disapprovingly.  "You go on up to Hood River, another ten miles or so. 
There's a good, clean motel called the Riverview up there."

      Ivy dug in and devoured the food;  it was good, plain fare, and 
reminded her of the innumerable restaurants her family had eaten in on 
the interminable trips they'd taken when she was a kid, complete with 
hours of fighting with Zack.  Other customers came and went, and she 
paid very little attention to them, until one slid into the booth 
across from her.

      "Hi, Ivy," Josha said, setting his elbows on the table and his 
chin in his hands.

      She choked on her soup and spent a couple minutes coughing.  "What 
are you doing here?  How did you find me?"

      He shrugged.  "Well, once we figured out that was Carmen, not 
you, we knew you had to have dressed up like Carmen.  I figured you'd 
use the chance to take off again, so I guessed you'd head east, not 
west, and that you'd be hungry."  He shook his head.  "That blond hair 
doesn't suit you, you know.  And where did you get those clothes?"

      "Nice work.  Now leave me alone."  She decided to ignore the rest 
of his comments.  Josha would throw in inessentials.

      "No.  Ivy, come on.  We need you."

      Ivy finished her tea.  "That's ridiculous," she snapped, feeling the
wound crack open and start bleeding again.

      "No, it isn't.  Ivy, Acme's not the same without you."

      "That's still ridiculous," she retorted, feeling the pain rise up 
again.  "Look, Josha, just go away and leave me alone.  I resigned, I 
can't go back, and you're not helping any."

      The waitress was watching them, talking to a big man, probably a 
cook or a dishwasher.  Both of them looked slightly worried.

      "Ivy, what about Zack?"

      That hurt, as badly as thinking about what she'd done to Lee did. 
Between her disappearance and Carmen's imposture, Zack must have been 
frantic. He'd looked awful when she'd seen him at the shop.  "He needs 
to start working with other people," she said. "Now, please, just leave 
me alone, and tell all of them to leave me alone.  If you didn't lose 
her, tell Carmen to stay out of my life and my clothes."  She winced 
as she felt her eyes start to tear up, and angrily swiped a hand 
across them, probably smearing the makeup again.  "Go away, Josha."

      The man came over;  he was solid with muscle, and more than a little
imposing.  "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said, in a
surprisingly soft voice.  "The lady's made it clear she doesn't want your
company."

      Josha started to argue, and the man put a hand on his arm.  "Sir, I
suggest you leave now, and quietly."

      "Ivy ..."

      Ivy ignored him, looking at her teacup as if she expected to 
divine the future there.  Josha left, escorted out the door by the 
large man.

      "Honey, you all right?"  the waitress said.

      Ivy managed to smile.  "Yeah.  I'm fine.  Thanks, Ellie," she said,
peering at her nametag.

      "Don't you worry, honey.  Steve'll see he goes.  Steve's a 
state trooper, works out here to pick up a little extra money."

      Ellie brought her coffee, cream and sugar.  Ivy left her a very 
generous tip before heading on the road again.  It was a long ten miles 
to Hood River, and Ivy debated about the wisdom of staying there.  But 
she was too tired to drive much farther without getting killed, and 
maybe if Josha actually told them what she'd said, they'd believe it.  
Maybe.  She had nightmares all night, replaying that awful encounter 
with Lee, her resignation, even a recurrence of an old childhood 
nightmare of being lost in the woods with bears all around.  She set 
out south the next morning.


      Josha, after unsuccessfully trying to raise anyone, had gone 
back to Fairview, finding that Zack and the others had moved to the 
local jail.

      "Where have you been for the last hour and a half?" the Chief 
demanded.

      "You're still here?" Josha said to Carmen.  "I tried to call, 
but you all shut off your communicators."

      "Apparently," Carmen said, sounding as if she was wondering why.  
She appeared to be still handcuffed, and had moved to sit against a 
wall in her cell.

      "Where were you?" Zack demanded.

      "I went looking for Ivy," he said, slumping down on the floor.  
"Don't they believe in comfortable chairs?"

      "No," Zack said.  "Didn't find her, huh?"

      "Yes, I did."

      "Well, where is she?  Why didn't you bring her back?" the Chief
demanded.

      Josha sighed.  "Chief, I feel like an idiot."

      Carmen chuckled irrepressibly.

      Zack rolled his eyes in disgust.  "What did you do?"

      "Tried to talk to her," Josha snapped back.  "What she said boiled
down to get out of my life, I resigned, I'm not going back."  He 
looked at Carmen.  "And she said to tell you to stay out of her life 
and her clothes.  I think she's a little upset with you, Carmen."

      "I can't imagine why."  Carmen decided this had not been one 
of her better ideas.

      "Where is she?" the Chief demanded.

      "She was about 40 miles east of here, at a highway restaurant.  I 
guess she was going to head east, at least for a while.  I didn't bring 
her back because an off-duty state trooper kicked me out of the 
restaurant for annoying her."

      Derry and Carmen broke out laughing.  Zack and the Chief 
rolled their eyes;  the Chief's was more impressive.  "Great work, 
Josha.  Now we'll never find her."

      "Don't be so sure, detectives," Carmen said, swinging her hands 
free. "Chief, you finally found a decent handcuff vendor."  She had the 
cell door open before anyone could react.  Zack tried to tackle her and 
succeeded in ripping Ivy's coat;  she dashed out the door, followed by 
Derry and Josha while Zack lay on the floor, gasping.  Derry and Josha 
came back about fifteen minutes later;  they'd lost her, despite 
various Acme agents, local police, and a mob of reporters.

      "Chief?"

      "What, Zack?"

      "Can we go back to HQ and forget this ever happened?"

                        To be continued...