The Adventures of Mademoiselle Mac 2-Book Bundle Read Online Free PDF Page A

door.
    â€œLet’s go. Leave now. Please.” She sank into the seat as we drove away. She didn’t seem to notice that Rudee had been too surprised to turn off the organ music that poured like mud from the speakers. I leaned forward and switched off the sound. Rudee did the same with the taxi radio, and we travelled in silence. The only accompaniment was the soft swish of the tires over the rain-soaked streets as we made our way to Sashay’s apartment. When we arrived and Rudee pulled up and parked, no one said anything for a minute.
    â€œThere is something so very wrong, Rudee my dear. I’m sorry I doubted you, because now I believe there is a plan, a conspiracy of some sort involving these strange characters who have been showing up lately at the club. They have tables on the balcony that they occupy every night. They pay no attention to the show, they only smoke and laugh their strange laughs and are rude to everyone. Tonight as I passed their tables, they were raising their glasses in a toast, and one said, ‘The Sun King is dead. Lights out, Paris.’ They all laughed loudly and clinked glasses as they would at a celebration. Rudee, what could this mean?”
    â€œSashay,” he replied seriously, “did you hear about Les Invalides?”
    She gave him a quizzical look, and he continued. “A symbol of the city that we love has been stolen — the cross from the Domed Church is gone and the dome has been painted black.”
    Sashay paled even more than usual as Rudee went on. “Mac, the domed church was built by Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King,’ and is one of the greatest monuments to a golden age.” His tone grew sadder and a silence followed. “We must find out more. I saw Magritte, and the police don’t take this seriously. They think it’s vandals, and they’re waiting for a handsome note or something.”
    â€œRansom, Rudee, a ransom note.” Sashay’s voice sounded like it was coming out in little spurts. “Tomorrow night, they’ll all be there. It’s a party for the new owner.” She didn’t hide her disgust. “I can’t get too close. They all stop talking when I come by and say rude things under their breath, and I think it’s just a matter of time before they try to get rid of me anyway.”
    Rudee was shaking at this point, but before he could offer to defend Sashay’s honour, I jumped in. “Let me go. You can get me in ... somehow. They wouldn’t suspect me.” Rudee was shaking his head back and forth so hard, his comb-over hair was trying to catch up.
    â€œYour daddy would kill me, Mac, no-can-be.”
    Sashay was mulling over the idea, I could tell, and I knew that her opinion would win. I turned to her and tried to sound serious. “I’ll listen and try to find out something about their plans, and that’ll be it. Then we can go to Magritte with something concrete, okay?”
    â€œShe’s right, Rudee,” Sashay interjected calmly, “and I know how to get her in to the club. Come to my place, ma cherie , an hour before Rudee picks me up tomorrow night.”
    When she smiled at me, I knew that there was a special understanding between us. The danger seemed far away.

Nine
    I was glad to be back on my curved wooden bed in my room in the Église Russe after all that had happened on my first day in Paris. I wondered if my class had seen the church before it was vandalized and hoped that Penelope was being inventive with her explanations for my absence, knowing I wasn’t going to be rejoining them any time soon. I opened the hunk of a book I’d been looking at the night before, but it wasn’t long before my eyes were swimming over pictures of beautiful old buildings, ancient churches with gleaming spires, golden domes, and crosses melting in the sun.
    I thought someone with very bony fingers was rapping on my door the next morning, but as the