Page 47 of The Family Guest

I climbed up onto his bed, and shared everything I’d just learned. Tanya’s origins were beyond a doubt dubious. She was for sure not the English exchange student she claimed to be.

“What about you, Sherlock?”

“My dear Watson, I’ve made a tad bit of progress.”

“Elaborate.”

“The bad news: There are thousands of Mary Burtons scattered all over the world. Most of them in the US, Canada, and the UK. It’s quite a popular name. One is even a New York Times bestselling author. The good news: According to Intelius, there are only ninety-eight Mary C. Burtons registered across the United States.”

“What’s Intelius?”

“It’s an online people-tracking site. It gives you their phone number, and sometimes their home address, and their email.”

“Were you able to get any info about Mary C. Burtons living in the UK?”

“Intelius only gives out information for US residents.”

I frowned. “That’s too bad.”

“Cheer up. From all the evidence we have, it is highly unlikely our suspect would have stolen a computer from someone in England, but I will ask Scotland Yard to do their own investigation.”

I laughed again. My spirits brightened.

“Did you look up Tanya?”

With a smug smile, my little brother lifted a knowing finger. “I knew you would ask, and indeed I did. I could not find a Tanya Blackstone in their database.”

“That makes me even more suspicious. Does it cost an arm and a leg to subscribe to this service?”

“I got a one-week trial rate for ninety-nine cents.”

“Excellent. So, what’s the next step?”

“Elementary, my dear Watson. We start to contact these Mary C. Burtons. Ask if they’ve recently had a MacBook stolen.”

I sighed. “That’s still a boatload of people to contact.”

“We shall divvy them up.” He reached for a colorful plastic folder—one of his many homework folders themed with robots, spaceships, and aliens. He opened it and pulled out two sheets of paper from the pockets. He handed one to me and kept the other.

“What’s this?” I asked, eyeing the list.

“It’s an Excel spreadsheet. I’ve listed all the Marys with their phone numbers. I’m not sure if they’re mobile numbers or landlines, and I’ve also included their email addresses if available.”

“Impressive. How did you learn to do this?”

“Dad taught me.”

“Nice of him.” Well, at least he spent some quality time with my brother. Geeky Will was not exactly the Little Leaguer my dad had hoped for, though he did play soccer.

“I’ll do the first half, you the other.”

“Deal.”

Each grabbing a pencil, we got to work, contacting all the Mary C. Burtons, mostly by calling or texting. It took us all afternoon. No luck.

Drained and despondent, and about to give up, I got a text back. One short, shouty word in response to our query: Was your MacBook recently stolen?

YES!!!