SVT #36 Mary is Missing
For once, a title that makes sense and a plot that is relatively decent, although entrenched firmly within young adult fiction. Well done SVT!
A Plot
Jessica calls her friend Mary Wallace. Mary hasn’t been at school for a few days, and has missed the Unicorn’s ice cream party as well as the Unicorn meeting where she’s supposed to give the treasurer’s report. The Unicorns have a treasurer? Are there membership fees? Mrs Wallace answers the phone, and is rather evasive as to Mary’s whereabouts. Point is, she’s unreachable.
Jessica talks to Elizabeth about Mary’s absence. She’s concerned; Elizabeth is too, because Mary is normally reliable. They think maybe she’s run away, because she’s been arguing with her mother a lot recently. Elizabeth pooh-poohs the idea.
Mary’s Exciting Backstory!
When Mary was younger her mother’s friend Annie DeSalto kidnapped her! She stayed with her for a long time, until Annie disappeared. Mary lived with a number of foster families, including the Altmans, who lived down the street from the Wakefields. Eventually Mary’s real mother came looking for her, and now they live together. Because the police couldn’t match up a missing child report with a found child.
Mary’s mother has remarried, and although Mary and him get along, he’s been away on work for a few weeks, and she and her mother have been left alone arguing.
End Backstory!
Amy goes to visit Mary. She assumes she’s sick, and she needs an article for the Sixers that Mary promised to type up for her. She runs into Lila and Ellen on the way. They tell her not to bother, because Mary’s not there, and her mum isn’t say where she’s gone.
The twins’ brother Steven has become absent-minded because he’s in love. He forgot to give them a phone message earlier this week - something about had money or needed money and had to get away or needed to get away. Could it had been Mary? Did she take the Unicorns’ money? Was Mary embezzling?
Jessica goes to Mary’s house under the guise of getting a library book that is due back that Monday. Technically correct, but she’s actually here for some major snooping. She even goes through Mary’s drawers! Mary’s room, normally very neat, has clothes strewn over it, and Mary has left her teddy bear, Max, behind. Mary is very attached to Max, because of that whole being taken away from her mother at a young age by a crazy woman. But if Mary has run away, why didn’t she take Max with her? But Jessica can’t tell Lila about what she found as promised, because nobody else knows about Mary’s problems with her mother. Wow, Jessica keeping a secret! Well done!
When Lila calls her, Jessica tells her she didn’t find the treasury, as she was hoping, and just says all she found was some clothes and her teddy bear. Lila thinks it’s strange that Mary disappeared just as she was about to give the treasury report. Definitely embezzling. Jessica consults Elizabeth, who is also surprised about the bear.
Elizabeth and Jessica go to the mall. They decide to see a film, and find a newspaper left on a bench to consult the film times. Elizabeth notices there are holes in the headlines, where someone has cut out words. The first missing word is “police”, because the rest of the headline is “ ARREST MAN FOR JAYWALKING.” Oh, Sweet Valley. Nothing happens unless it happens to the twins. Elizabeth takes the newspaper with her.
Lila and Ellen see the twins leaving the film and accuse Jessica of avoiding them because she knows something about the disappearance of Mary and the treasury. Jessica laughs it off.
Elizabeth looks at the newspaper. There are a number of missing words, which spell out “YOUR DAUGHTER IS SAFE WILL BE IN TOUCH SOON DON’T CALL POLICE” How incriminating! Obviously this will relate to Mary and nothing else. Elizabeth shows it to Jessica, who tells her she called Mary’s house and her mother was rude to her and told her not to call again. All signs point to one conclusion: Mary has been kidnapped!
Amy comes over, and the twins consult over the likelihood of a kidnapping. Amy tells them about the missing article, another out of character act for the reliable Mary. Really, is there any characterisation worse than being considered reliable? When was the last time you heard someone say “She’s such a great person - so reliable!”? She also saw Mary’s mother at the bank yesterday, looking worried. Was she there to pay the ransom? There is no other reason for Mary’s mother to be at the bank. Nobody ever needs to make routine bank enquiries. Amy suggests Annie DeSalvo as a possible kidnapper, reasoning that she may have found out that Mary was living with her mother again. They decide to call a policeman they know, Officer Carey. Some reasoned thinking! He says he’ll investigate.
They hang around by the pool for a while (nobody gets pushed in, although there is a lot of splashing) and Officer Carey calls back. He called Mary’s mother, who says she’s on a trip. So no missing person enquiry. Jessica is unconvinced - what if Mary’s mother denied everything because of the ransom note? Elizabeth and Amy think they should wait until Monday to see if Mary’s at school.
Jessica decides she needs some followers more willing to believe her. She chooses Lila and Ellen. I would never choose Ellen for anything ever. They don’t believe a word of it, and accuse her of covering up… something. Jessica suggests staking out the Wallace house, which will “prove” that Mary has been kidnapped. They can look in her house, and “if” Mrs Wallace has her windows open, they can listen to her phone calls! What is it with listening to people’s phone calls? Jessica seems to do it on a weekly basis. Ellen thinks it sounds boring. Lila is intrigued by the possible phone call listening, thinking that Mary might call and they could find out her location, and therefore, the location of the treasury. God Lila, it’s less than fifty dollars. You probably have more than that in your sofa. Let it go.
Unicorns on a stakeout! Like snakes on a plane, but tedious! Nothing happens, until the phone rings. And here’s Mrs Wallace’s conversation in full:
“Yes, of course. I was just getting ready to leave. No, of course I won’t be late. And I’ll bring what I promised - all of it. None of it’s marked, of course. It’s all small stuff. Yes, I understand. But it’ll take me longer to get the rest of it together.”
Now that’s pretty damn suspicious.
Obviously they assume she’s speaking to the kidnapper. Mrs Wallace leaves the house with a suitcase, a bundle of Mary’s clothes, and Max the bear. The suitcase is full of money! She’s bringing clothes and the bear because… Mary needs a change of clothes? They follow Mrs Wallace on their bikes, but lose her in traffic. They decide to give up, get some chocolate milkshakes, and go back to the house an hour later. That’s some quality surveillance. When they return, Mrs Wallace comes back, sans suitcase etc. After some initial confusion about the paying of ransom versus return of Mary, they decide that this was only the first of many payments.
Meanwhile Elizabeth and Amy are researching their report on Mexico at the library. It’s a very quiet day (libraries aren’t even open on a Sunday round here) so they can hear everything. Elizabeth hears the tearing paper - someone is tearing up a book! This part is worth quoting in full:
Elizabeth could feel anger boiling up inside her. Somebody was tearing up a book! For Elizabeth, who felt very passionate about books, destroying one - especially one that belonged to a library - was a horrible thing to do.
Elizabeth pushed back her chair and stood up. “Somebody’s tearing pages out of a book,” she whispered back. “And I’m not going to let them get away with it!”
But when Elizabeth moves to lecture a stranger, she finds the woman in question already leaving, and placing a newspaper back on the reference shelf, not a book. Is this the same person who cut up the last newspaper? Of course it is. Elizabeth and Amy look at the newspaper - a week old Los Angeles paper. An article is missing. Elizabeth, queen of the library, tracks down the microfilm of the paper and finds the missing article, entitled KIDNAPPING STILL UNSOLVED. A girl has been kidnapped; the family paid the ransom, but the kidnapper wanted more. It is only then that the family called the police. The girl has yet to be found.
Elizabeth and Amy conclude that the kidnapper is the woman who cut out the article. Because clearly the kidnapper would need to read about the details of her own kidnapping. Perhaps she keeps a scrapbook.
Elizabeth, Amy and Jessica are at the Wakefields to have dinner. Somebody comments on Steven’s absentmindedness. Elizabeth remembers the missed phone call - could the money referred to be the ransom money? Did Mary manage to get away and call somebody? Anyway, they all share the information they found that day. They decide they must do something.
The Unicorns discuss Mary’s absence at lunch. Mrs Arnette walks pass them and tells them that Mary has gone to Mexico for the week. The Unicorns decide that such a simple explanation is impossible. Occum’s Razor, people!
Amy and Elizabeth at the grocery store. Amy spots the woman from the library. They move to follow her, but Amy knocks over a load of cookie boxes and they have to stack them up. They follow her car. Luckily there’s heavy traffic, so they can keep up on their bikes. The woman drives to an old part of town, to a house which has weeds in the driveway. Not weeds! How awful! They decide the house is creepy.
After dinner the twins and Amy return to the house. Lila and Ellen come too, because they do. Ellen begins chickening out immediately. They hide in the bushes. The kidnapper is in the house. Ellen thinks that because they can’t go in the house, they should go home. Elizabeth and Amy check out the house. The backdoor is boarded over; the best bet for entry is the basement window. A light is turned on upstairs, with silhouettes on the shade - one moving around, another sitting on a chair not moving. Everyone agrees to return at 6.30 the following day.
The next day Jessica and Lila are late, because they called Bruce Patman after dinner. This sounds so great. I can imagine them arguing over who was going to call, and going “Oh my god I can’t! I’m too embarrassed!” Then when they do call, it consists of really long silences between sentences, and when they put the phone down they shriek.
Anyway, they’re late, and they better hurry because the twins have to be home by 8.30. That’s some good surveillance. The kidnapper leaves the house, leaving the perfect opportunity to save Mary. Ellen is scared again. Amy calls her chicken. Before they know what’s happening, Ellen runs around the back of the house into the basement window! The power of peer pressure. Amy follows Ellen, whilst Elizabeth waits for Jessica and Lila.
Inside the basement, it’s too dark to see anything. Amy can’t see Ellen. She goes up the stairs. But then the kidnapper comes back! Amy hides behind the sofa.
Jessica and Lila show up. Elizabeth explain what’s happening. They dither over distracting the kidnapper and calling the police.
“We ought to come up with a better plan.”
Elizabeth stared at her. “Well, what then?”
”I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” Lila muttered. “Give me a minute, will you?”
But a minute came and went, and then two minutes, then three. And still Lila hadn’t come up with a better plan.
Meanwhile, the kidnapper is in the kitchen putting away stuff. Fastest shopping trip ever. Amy sneaks out from behind the sofa and moves up the stairs, all stealthy like. Amy goes to the likely room that they saw from outside. Ellen is inside, with a big bruise on her face. An overturned chair has a leg fallen off it. Apparently the door was booby-trapped; there was a chair behind it. Nice trap. Also, impossible to create from outside. But the kidnapper is coming up the stairs! Amy and Ellen move to hide in the closet, but Ellen isn’t fast enough because of her head injury. The kidnapper finds Ellen. Ellen runs to the window, but it won’t open. Ellen knocks into the lamp, breaking the bulb so the room is dark. And all Amy can hear is Ellen screaming.
Everyone outside hears the scream, and saw Ellen at the window. Lila wants to call the police, ready to run in the opposite direction. The twins want to run in and save everyone. They decide to run in and save everyone. In through the basement they go, Lila complaining of cobwebs as they go. Priorities, Lila. They make their way through the house, up to the room. They find Ellen, who is ok, and Amy, who is sitting on top of the kidnapper, whom she knocked out with the chair leg. But where was Mary? They find her “in a dark alcove”. Yeah, that must have been a frigging dark alcove, if they didn’t notice her in the room right away. Anyway, she’s tied to a chair facing the wall. But wait! This isn’t Mary! This is a completely different girl! Her name is Becky, and she’s from LA. Also, the kidnapper isn’t Annie DeSalvo, but Rita Partman. At some point Lila called the police, and she announces they’re on their way.
The police arrive, and even they don’t know where Mary is. A reporter from the Sweet Valley News congratulates, interviews and photographs Amy. There is a mention of flashbulbs popping. Lila attempts to gain credit, but the reporter doesn’t buy it. Lila decides to leave in disgust, but Ellen stays behind enraptured with Amy.
Mary returns. She has, in fact, been in Mexico, with her former foster parents. The garbled message was because she had very short notice (two hours) to get ready. She was trying to explain how much money there was in the unicorn treasury. $49.10, that’s how much. Jessica lets slip that they thought she’d been kidnapped. Mary is surprised. Explanation time: Mary’s old clothes were taken to the church bazaar. Max was being taken to the cleaners, because he was filthy. Mary is really proud that she spent a week away from Max, which I find incredibly endearing.
Ellen wants to invite Amy to the Unicorns’ party. Somebody’s got a big lesbian crush!
B Plot
A particularly inane storyline, incorporated purely to set up the next book. Lila and the other Unicorns are annoyed that the Sixers never print any news about the Unicorns. Examples of things gone unreported are Lila’s fanletter from Donny Diamond, an ice cream party, a party for Johnny Buck’s birthday and Ellen’s trip to Santa Monica. Some pretty big stuff there.
I’m not sure ice cream parties occur in Britain. Do they just mean loads of people going to someone’s house for ice cream? Or would there be a party where ice cream features heavily.
Lila says “You know, I think the Sixers staff is leaving the Unicorns out of the newspaper on purpose.” Ellen adds “The only explanation is that we’re being deliberately discriminated against.” Local media is known for its anti-Unicorn bias. Lila thinks that because Elizabeth doesn’t like the Unicorns and is editor of the newspaper, it’s a personal grudge. They only get mentioned if they do a fundraiser! Ellen thinks it is a “plot against the Unicorns”. Oh, if only. That would be the best book ever. Especially if they call it that. Jessica is ordered to speak to Elizabeth about it, but don’t mention that they consider it a plot.
Elizabeth and Amy think it’s ridiculous to put most Unicorn activities in the paper because they’re so inane. Amy compares it to writing an article about the Monopoly game they played last week. I don’t know, Monopoly can be intense. Games can go on for days, players become resentful when the banker won’t lend them money… I could continue.
Once all this mystery malarkey is over with, Lila orders Jessica to speak to Elizabeth again. She does, and argues that the Sixers is a class newspaper and so should reflect everyone. Got her! Elizabeth allows Jessica to write two hundred words on Unicorn activities, and even says she’ll put it on the front page. Will Jessica do it? I don’t care.
Overall, this book was pretty good. Slightly ridiculous, but it followed its internal logic pretty well, they attempted to call the police, and the clues did seem suspicious. I used to really hate it in Nancy Drew books that she did everything herself. Call the police Nancy!
And the title is accurate too.
A Plot
Jessica calls her friend Mary Wallace. Mary hasn’t been at school for a few days, and has missed the Unicorn’s ice cream party as well as the Unicorn meeting where she’s supposed to give the treasurer’s report. The Unicorns have a treasurer? Are there membership fees? Mrs Wallace answers the phone, and is rather evasive as to Mary’s whereabouts. Point is, she’s unreachable.
Jessica talks to Elizabeth about Mary’s absence. She’s concerned; Elizabeth is too, because Mary is normally reliable. They think maybe she’s run away, because she’s been arguing with her mother a lot recently. Elizabeth pooh-poohs the idea.
Mary’s Exciting Backstory!
When Mary was younger her mother’s friend Annie DeSalto kidnapped her! She stayed with her for a long time, until Annie disappeared. Mary lived with a number of foster families, including the Altmans, who lived down the street from the Wakefields. Eventually Mary’s real mother came looking for her, and now they live together. Because the police couldn’t match up a missing child report with a found child.
Mary’s mother has remarried, and although Mary and him get along, he’s been away on work for a few weeks, and she and her mother have been left alone arguing.
End Backstory!
Amy goes to visit Mary. She assumes she’s sick, and she needs an article for the Sixers that Mary promised to type up for her. She runs into Lila and Ellen on the way. They tell her not to bother, because Mary’s not there, and her mum isn’t say where she’s gone.
The twins’ brother Steven has become absent-minded because he’s in love. He forgot to give them a phone message earlier this week - something about had money or needed money and had to get away or needed to get away. Could it had been Mary? Did she take the Unicorns’ money? Was Mary embezzling?
Jessica goes to Mary’s house under the guise of getting a library book that is due back that Monday. Technically correct, but she’s actually here for some major snooping. She even goes through Mary’s drawers! Mary’s room, normally very neat, has clothes strewn over it, and Mary has left her teddy bear, Max, behind. Mary is very attached to Max, because of that whole being taken away from her mother at a young age by a crazy woman. But if Mary has run away, why didn’t she take Max with her? But Jessica can’t tell Lila about what she found as promised, because nobody else knows about Mary’s problems with her mother. Wow, Jessica keeping a secret! Well done!
When Lila calls her, Jessica tells her she didn’t find the treasury, as she was hoping, and just says all she found was some clothes and her teddy bear. Lila thinks it’s strange that Mary disappeared just as she was about to give the treasury report. Definitely embezzling. Jessica consults Elizabeth, who is also surprised about the bear.
Elizabeth and Jessica go to the mall. They decide to see a film, and find a newspaper left on a bench to consult the film times. Elizabeth notices there are holes in the headlines, where someone has cut out words. The first missing word is “police”, because the rest of the headline is “ ARREST MAN FOR JAYWALKING.” Oh, Sweet Valley. Nothing happens unless it happens to the twins. Elizabeth takes the newspaper with her.
Lila and Ellen see the twins leaving the film and accuse Jessica of avoiding them because she knows something about the disappearance of Mary and the treasury. Jessica laughs it off.
Elizabeth looks at the newspaper. There are a number of missing words, which spell out “YOUR DAUGHTER IS SAFE WILL BE IN TOUCH SOON DON’T CALL POLICE” How incriminating! Obviously this will relate to Mary and nothing else. Elizabeth shows it to Jessica, who tells her she called Mary’s house and her mother was rude to her and told her not to call again. All signs point to one conclusion: Mary has been kidnapped!
Amy comes over, and the twins consult over the likelihood of a kidnapping. Amy tells them about the missing article, another out of character act for the reliable Mary. Really, is there any characterisation worse than being considered reliable? When was the last time you heard someone say “She’s such a great person - so reliable!”? She also saw Mary’s mother at the bank yesterday, looking worried. Was she there to pay the ransom? There is no other reason for Mary’s mother to be at the bank. Nobody ever needs to make routine bank enquiries. Amy suggests Annie DeSalvo as a possible kidnapper, reasoning that she may have found out that Mary was living with her mother again. They decide to call a policeman they know, Officer Carey. Some reasoned thinking! He says he’ll investigate.
They hang around by the pool for a while (nobody gets pushed in, although there is a lot of splashing) and Officer Carey calls back. He called Mary’s mother, who says she’s on a trip. So no missing person enquiry. Jessica is unconvinced - what if Mary’s mother denied everything because of the ransom note? Elizabeth and Amy think they should wait until Monday to see if Mary’s at school.
Jessica decides she needs some followers more willing to believe her. She chooses Lila and Ellen. I would never choose Ellen for anything ever. They don’t believe a word of it, and accuse her of covering up… something. Jessica suggests staking out the Wallace house, which will “prove” that Mary has been kidnapped. They can look in her house, and “if” Mrs Wallace has her windows open, they can listen to her phone calls! What is it with listening to people’s phone calls? Jessica seems to do it on a weekly basis. Ellen thinks it sounds boring. Lila is intrigued by the possible phone call listening, thinking that Mary might call and they could find out her location, and therefore, the location of the treasury. God Lila, it’s less than fifty dollars. You probably have more than that in your sofa. Let it go.
Unicorns on a stakeout! Like snakes on a plane, but tedious! Nothing happens, until the phone rings. And here’s Mrs Wallace’s conversation in full:
“Yes, of course. I was just getting ready to leave. No, of course I won’t be late. And I’ll bring what I promised - all of it. None of it’s marked, of course. It’s all small stuff. Yes, I understand. But it’ll take me longer to get the rest of it together.”
Now that’s pretty damn suspicious.
Obviously they assume she’s speaking to the kidnapper. Mrs Wallace leaves the house with a suitcase, a bundle of Mary’s clothes, and Max the bear. The suitcase is full of money! She’s bringing clothes and the bear because… Mary needs a change of clothes? They follow Mrs Wallace on their bikes, but lose her in traffic. They decide to give up, get some chocolate milkshakes, and go back to the house an hour later. That’s some quality surveillance. When they return, Mrs Wallace comes back, sans suitcase etc. After some initial confusion about the paying of ransom versus return of Mary, they decide that this was only the first of many payments.
Meanwhile Elizabeth and Amy are researching their report on Mexico at the library. It’s a very quiet day (libraries aren’t even open on a Sunday round here) so they can hear everything. Elizabeth hears the tearing paper - someone is tearing up a book! This part is worth quoting in full:
Elizabeth could feel anger boiling up inside her. Somebody was tearing up a book! For Elizabeth, who felt very passionate about books, destroying one - especially one that belonged to a library - was a horrible thing to do.
Elizabeth pushed back her chair and stood up. “Somebody’s tearing pages out of a book,” she whispered back. “And I’m not going to let them get away with it!”
But when Elizabeth moves to lecture a stranger, she finds the woman in question already leaving, and placing a newspaper back on the reference shelf, not a book. Is this the same person who cut up the last newspaper? Of course it is. Elizabeth and Amy look at the newspaper - a week old Los Angeles paper. An article is missing. Elizabeth, queen of the library, tracks down the microfilm of the paper and finds the missing article, entitled KIDNAPPING STILL UNSOLVED. A girl has been kidnapped; the family paid the ransom, but the kidnapper wanted more. It is only then that the family called the police. The girl has yet to be found.
Elizabeth and Amy conclude that the kidnapper is the woman who cut out the article. Because clearly the kidnapper would need to read about the details of her own kidnapping. Perhaps she keeps a scrapbook.
Elizabeth, Amy and Jessica are at the Wakefields to have dinner. Somebody comments on Steven’s absentmindedness. Elizabeth remembers the missed phone call - could the money referred to be the ransom money? Did Mary manage to get away and call somebody? Anyway, they all share the information they found that day. They decide they must do something.
The Unicorns discuss Mary’s absence at lunch. Mrs Arnette walks pass them and tells them that Mary has gone to Mexico for the week. The Unicorns decide that such a simple explanation is impossible. Occum’s Razor, people!
Amy and Elizabeth at the grocery store. Amy spots the woman from the library. They move to follow her, but Amy knocks over a load of cookie boxes and they have to stack them up. They follow her car. Luckily there’s heavy traffic, so they can keep up on their bikes. The woman drives to an old part of town, to a house which has weeds in the driveway. Not weeds! How awful! They decide the house is creepy.
After dinner the twins and Amy return to the house. Lila and Ellen come too, because they do. Ellen begins chickening out immediately. They hide in the bushes. The kidnapper is in the house. Ellen thinks that because they can’t go in the house, they should go home. Elizabeth and Amy check out the house. The backdoor is boarded over; the best bet for entry is the basement window. A light is turned on upstairs, with silhouettes on the shade - one moving around, another sitting on a chair not moving. Everyone agrees to return at 6.30 the following day.
The next day Jessica and Lila are late, because they called Bruce Patman after dinner. This sounds so great. I can imagine them arguing over who was going to call, and going “Oh my god I can’t! I’m too embarrassed!” Then when they do call, it consists of really long silences between sentences, and when they put the phone down they shriek.
Anyway, they’re late, and they better hurry because the twins have to be home by 8.30. That’s some good surveillance. The kidnapper leaves the house, leaving the perfect opportunity to save Mary. Ellen is scared again. Amy calls her chicken. Before they know what’s happening, Ellen runs around the back of the house into the basement window! The power of peer pressure. Amy follows Ellen, whilst Elizabeth waits for Jessica and Lila.
Inside the basement, it’s too dark to see anything. Amy can’t see Ellen. She goes up the stairs. But then the kidnapper comes back! Amy hides behind the sofa.
Jessica and Lila show up. Elizabeth explain what’s happening. They dither over distracting the kidnapper and calling the police.
“We ought to come up with a better plan.”
Elizabeth stared at her. “Well, what then?”
”I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” Lila muttered. “Give me a minute, will you?”
But a minute came and went, and then two minutes, then three. And still Lila hadn’t come up with a better plan.
Meanwhile, the kidnapper is in the kitchen putting away stuff. Fastest shopping trip ever. Amy sneaks out from behind the sofa and moves up the stairs, all stealthy like. Amy goes to the likely room that they saw from outside. Ellen is inside, with a big bruise on her face. An overturned chair has a leg fallen off it. Apparently the door was booby-trapped; there was a chair behind it. Nice trap. Also, impossible to create from outside. But the kidnapper is coming up the stairs! Amy and Ellen move to hide in the closet, but Ellen isn’t fast enough because of her head injury. The kidnapper finds Ellen. Ellen runs to the window, but it won’t open. Ellen knocks into the lamp, breaking the bulb so the room is dark. And all Amy can hear is Ellen screaming.
Everyone outside hears the scream, and saw Ellen at the window. Lila wants to call the police, ready to run in the opposite direction. The twins want to run in and save everyone. They decide to run in and save everyone. In through the basement they go, Lila complaining of cobwebs as they go. Priorities, Lila. They make their way through the house, up to the room. They find Ellen, who is ok, and Amy, who is sitting on top of the kidnapper, whom she knocked out with the chair leg. But where was Mary? They find her “in a dark alcove”. Yeah, that must have been a frigging dark alcove, if they didn’t notice her in the room right away. Anyway, she’s tied to a chair facing the wall. But wait! This isn’t Mary! This is a completely different girl! Her name is Becky, and she’s from LA. Also, the kidnapper isn’t Annie DeSalvo, but Rita Partman. At some point Lila called the police, and she announces they’re on their way.
The police arrive, and even they don’t know where Mary is. A reporter from the Sweet Valley News congratulates, interviews and photographs Amy. There is a mention of flashbulbs popping. Lila attempts to gain credit, but the reporter doesn’t buy it. Lila decides to leave in disgust, but Ellen stays behind enraptured with Amy.
Mary returns. She has, in fact, been in Mexico, with her former foster parents. The garbled message was because she had very short notice (two hours) to get ready. She was trying to explain how much money there was in the unicorn treasury. $49.10, that’s how much. Jessica lets slip that they thought she’d been kidnapped. Mary is surprised. Explanation time: Mary’s old clothes were taken to the church bazaar. Max was being taken to the cleaners, because he was filthy. Mary is really proud that she spent a week away from Max, which I find incredibly endearing.
Ellen wants to invite Amy to the Unicorns’ party. Somebody’s got a big lesbian crush!
B Plot
A particularly inane storyline, incorporated purely to set up the next book. Lila and the other Unicorns are annoyed that the Sixers never print any news about the Unicorns. Examples of things gone unreported are Lila’s fanletter from Donny Diamond, an ice cream party, a party for Johnny Buck’s birthday and Ellen’s trip to Santa Monica. Some pretty big stuff there.
I’m not sure ice cream parties occur in Britain. Do they just mean loads of people going to someone’s house for ice cream? Or would there be a party where ice cream features heavily.
Lila says “You know, I think the Sixers staff is leaving the Unicorns out of the newspaper on purpose.” Ellen adds “The only explanation is that we’re being deliberately discriminated against.” Local media is known for its anti-Unicorn bias. Lila thinks that because Elizabeth doesn’t like the Unicorns and is editor of the newspaper, it’s a personal grudge. They only get mentioned if they do a fundraiser! Ellen thinks it is a “plot against the Unicorns”. Oh, if only. That would be the best book ever. Especially if they call it that. Jessica is ordered to speak to Elizabeth about it, but don’t mention that they consider it a plot.
Elizabeth and Amy think it’s ridiculous to put most Unicorn activities in the paper because they’re so inane. Amy compares it to writing an article about the Monopoly game they played last week. I don’t know, Monopoly can be intense. Games can go on for days, players become resentful when the banker won’t lend them money… I could continue.
Once all this mystery malarkey is over with, Lila orders Jessica to speak to Elizabeth again. She does, and argues that the Sixers is a class newspaper and so should reflect everyone. Got her! Elizabeth allows Jessica to write two hundred words on Unicorn activities, and even says she’ll put it on the front page. Will Jessica do it? I don’t care.
Overall, this book was pretty good. Slightly ridiculous, but it followed its internal logic pretty well, they attempted to call the police, and the clues did seem suspicious. I used to really hate it in Nancy Drew books that she did everything herself. Call the police Nancy!
And the title is accurate too.