He left and closed the door. From Ron's expression, I could tell that she and Dan had jumped to the same conclusion.
"She gets on my nerves," she said defensively.
"What?" I said. "No, I want to talk to you about investigations. This is important. When you're trying to solve a mystery, never get excited. Never get angry, never get upset. Let everybody else get upset, and watch what happens. Take information in, don't give it away."
She nodded. "That makes sense." She gave me a sidelong look. "I thought you were mad at me because I cursed at Miss T."
"She's a teacher. She can figure out how to deal with that." I smiled as I stood up. "Of course, if you ever curse at me like that, I'll paddle your bottom."
She winced. "With a stick?" she asked quietly. "That really hurts."
I lifted her out of her chair and hugged her. "No, never like that," I said after a moment. "You should know that by now."
She hugged me back. "I know," she said. "I was just checking."
"Come on," I said. "Let's go see if we can solve this thing before your mother gets here."
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