Strawberry Summer by Cynthia Blair Page A

surveillance of the Lake Majestic Realty Company’s offices told them exactly what they needed to know. Every day, at around noon, two men and a woman left the office, sometimes together, sometimes separately, but always at about the same time. The twins figured out that they were the real estate agents, Tom and Pete and Doris, the three people Chris had overheard talking during her very first “visit.” Then, about fifteen minutes later, the receptionist, whom Chris had also spotted that first day, left, locking the office door behind her. All four came back between one and one-thirty. That meant the office was completely empty between twelve-fifteen and one o’clock—a full forty-five minutes.
    “There’s something else I realized,” Susan reported to Chris one afternoon, after returning from her shift. “The receptionist never goes out to lunch with anyone from the Taylor Temps office.”
    “That’s good!” Chris understood immediately what she was driving at. “That way, when I tell her I’m a Taylor Temp, she won’t find out over lunch with the Taylor Temps people that I’m a fraud!”
    It wasn’t until Wednesday, the day of the public land auction, that Chris felt she was ready to go ahead with the plan. It was just as well, she decided; if the real estate people did figure out that something funny was going on, they wouldn’t have enough time to do anything about it. The auction was scheduled for two o’clock. That would give her just enough time to get her “proof” and hurry over to Town Hall. Susan, back at camp, would tell Alan everything at lunch, and he would drive over in his pickup truck, take her to Town Hall, and accompany her to the auction, where she would deliver the evidence—all in time to stop the Reeds from signing their land over to the Lake Majestic Realty Company. The plan sounded completely foolproof.
    Even so, when Wednesday morning dawned, Chris was nervous. There were a lot of things that could go wrong ... but she tried not to think about them. Instead, she tried to concentrate on the fact that she was doing what was best for Camp Pinewood—-and the Reeds.
    Now, if only I can carry it off successfully, she thought, glancing in the mirror one last time before sneaking away from Camp Pine wood, wanting to be certain she looked like an office worker and not a camp counselor. Acting was something that came to her easily, and she did have some experience, what with all the times she and Susan had traded places, pretending to be each other.
    But as she headed for the Lake Majestic Realty Company’s offices, there were butterflies in her stomach. This acting role was definitely the most challenging— and the most important—she had ever faced.
     
Chapter Thirteen
     
    “Good afternoon!” Chris said heartily. “I hope I’m not late!”
    She had just strode into the front office of the Lake Majestic Realty Company, where she was confronted by a very surprised-looking receptionist. It was the same woman she had been watching for the last few days, and she felt almost as if she knew her—even though she didn’t even know her name.
    The woman behind the desk looked at her blankly. “Can I help you with something?”
    “Actually, I’m here to help you. I’m from Taylor Temps. You know, the temporary typing agency....”
    “Yes, I know the name. But I still don’t understand why you’re here....”
    “Oh.” Chris pretended to be puzzled. “Well, gee, I was hired to fill in for the receptionist here during lunch hour today. I guess that’s you, right? Apparently your office is expecting some important phone calls, and they wanted to make sure someone was here to take them.”
    The receptionist frowned. “No one said anything to me about this.”
    “Really? Well, frankly, I don’t know too much about it myself .Just that I was supposed to report to someone named Tom, at noon sharp.”
    “Oh, Tom. That figures.” The receptionist sounded exasperated. “He never