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Britannica Blue knew many things. She knew the entire publicly available history of Peachyville like the back of her hand, she knew algebra (which was very advanced for her age), she knew how to bowl, and most importantly, she knew that most things could be solved with a little elbow grease and a clever trick or two. However, as much as BB detested it, there were many things she did not know as well. She did not know why all the girls in her class didn’t want to be her friend, not that she’d want to be their friend anyways, but it would be nice to know. She also did not know how the True Bowl-eviers had managed to sabotage their opponents in every single game that they had played the entire season. At least she could figure that one out.
Bowling was a very serious endeavor and manipulating it so that you can win is simply a type of despicable that BB could never stand for.
It started off with an anonymous tip she received and after spending some nights watching the True Bowl-eviers compete, she had to agree. They were definitely cheating. Did she know how they were able to do so? Not yet, but that’s what her detective work is for.
She started the investigation like the way she started most, snooping. She would, of course, plead the fifth if asked whether she followed any members of the bowling team to their homes, because that was technically considered stalking. However, if she had done that, then she would have learned that they were having secret meetings with people. She could never see what was happening in said meetings because even on her tippy toes she did not hit five feet and trying to bring around a chair or something similar to stand on would have blown her cover out of the water.
So she never did see what was happening in those secret meetings and unfortunately, that particular line of exploration did not come up fruitful. So she decided to take a different approach. According to Big Shane Silva, trying to get a confession from people while they were in their place of business is harassment, but he said nothing about spending time in a person’s place of business to see if they did anything suspicious.
For many afternoons she found herself sitting quietly in Peachyville’s public Library, waiting to see if Brian would do anything to indicate that he how his team kept managing to change a ball's entire course without touching it. BB was becoming discouraged after this method once again brought up nothing. She decided that there was only one option from here.
To return to the scene of the crime.
She biked down to the bowling alley about an hour before it opened and gave the door three hearty knocks. Milton Friedman, owner of the bowling alley, answered the door with an unamused look on his face.
“Britannica Blue, to what do I owe the pleasure, an hour before we open?” he asked.
“Sorry Mr Friedman,” she apologized shifting on her heels, “I have reason to suspect that the bowling competitions are being rigged and I was hoping that I could check the allies to see if I could find any solid proof.”
He leveled her a look. “If I say no, are you going to sneak in later tonight?” She gave a sheepish smile.
“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” she said, face as straight as she could make it. He sighs, opening the door wider.
“Fine, make it quick kid,” he conceded.
BB was so happy she could jump for joy but she was a professional so she did not. Instead, she followed him inside, taking in the empty bowling alley, strange in its silence. Milton turned toward the shoes and started walking toward the back.
“I’m heading to the office, holler if you need anything and if you break something, your parents are going to be paying for it,” he threatened before slinking off. By the time she had moved to give a salute he had already disappeared.
All competitive bowling games were played on the same lane, for the sake of fairness. In a way, BB lucked out in that regard, she only had to check one lane. On the other hand, maybe if multiple lanes were used, this manipulation would not have been possible. Perhaps she should bring this concern to Milton when she is done. No matter, there is evidence to look for.
She had seen them do it time and time again and knew that the ball would always be pulled into the gutter around the middle of the lane, so that was where she started. It felt weird, standing in the middle of a lane typically only meant for bowling balls. The gutter looked inconspicuous, just a simple divot where dreams and bowling balls go to die. She gave a huff, this mystery was not turning out in the way she envisioned.
It felt strange physically moving the pins out of the way so she could get a better look at the pinsetter, hoping it might hold some information that might crack this whole case wide open. There wasn’t much, just a small, hidden compartment that put the bowling pins back into place.
Wait, a hidden compartment! Of course they would never put whatever contraption they were using blatantly in the gutter, people would be able to see that. BB ran back down the alley, her mary jane’s clicking with every step. She stuck her hand back into the gutter, firmly pressing it against every side. Running it along the edges, she found a slight bump. Jackpot.
There was a cord that looked to stretch the length of the entire lane, snaking through the gutter, nearly invisible. Unfortunately, as smart as she was, she was not an expert in wires and technology. Apparently they don’t give that scouts patch until you’re at least thirteen. She does know someone who would know what this is though.
And that’s why she got Blake Lively, plumber extraordinaire, down to the bowling alley, about fifteen minutes before the place opened. She was cutting it close and wanted to get this done as soon as she could.
“BB, why did you bring me here?” Blake asked, his face rested on the comfortable confusion he always seemed to have.
“Well Mr Lively, you’re a plumber and we have worked on many cases together,” BB began.
“Yes.”
“And I ran into something that I was unable to identify but thought maybe you could, given how much time you spend in people’s walls.”
“Hmmm, yes, show me the problem.”
As she brought him over to the part of the alley where she found the wire, he moved frustratingly slow. She pointed to the cord, giving him an expectant look. He blinked slowly, staring into the gutter.
“This is a wire, I do not work with wires. I cannot help you, goodbye,” Blake stated before turning on his heel to leave.
“Wait!” BB called, “I know this is not your specialty, but I thought that maybe you would be able to at least recognize it. I just need to know what it is.”
“Hmm, okay. You are lucky that I learned about wires during the war,” Blake said before kneeling down to carefully examine the gutter and the aforementioned wire. She had no idea why he would be learning about wires in the war, but she had discovered after working with Blake for a while that it was better to simply not ask as it typically ended up leading to more questions.
After a few moments, he gave a few contemplative sounds before turning back to the girl.
“This is an electromagnetic cable,” he stated before getting up and heading toward the exit. Luckily for BB, part of her wealth of knowledge does include what electromagnetism is. However, there had to be some form of on and off switch that the team needed access to or else all balls would end up in the gutter. She checked the time. In two days her bowling team would be facing these cheaters and she knew the best time to try and figure out what their plot was would be then. She sauntered out of the bowling alley with a smirk on her face.
The days passed in a whirlwind and BB knew she had to be prepared. She knew the team was tough and if she wanted to succeed against them she would have to put all of her focus onto figuring out how to stop them.
And then she watched as they blatantly pulled out a little switch and pulled Kelsey’s ball into the gutter. Maybe she just anticipated people being smarter than they actually were. No matter, she had a plan to sabotage.
BB asked Trudy to distract Buddy for a few minutes so she could slip the batteries out of the remote. Well, she didn’t phrase it like that exactly, it was more phrased like, “You should talk to Buddy to see if he knows any good electronics that you could buy your husband considering they work in similar fields”. Trudy agreed despite the fact that BB really shouldn’t be as aware as she was of the occupations of the adults around her. It’s not technically lying, after all. Simply a suggestion made with an ulterior motive that really in the long run was better for all of them.
That line of thinking will certainly help her sleep at night.
While the teams stood in pointed confusion at Tony’s pre-bowling stretches, BB took the opportunity as the perfect time to strike. Pun fully intended. She slipped her tiny hands into Buddy’s pockets while Trudy yapped his ear off about something or the other. She had a way with words like that, maybe not necessarily in a good way but who was BB to judge? With her handy screwdriver she kept in her pocket at all times she quickly removed the plate on the back of the remote and popped the batteries into her hand. With a fluid motion she put the remote back together and back in Buddy’s pocket before anyone was the wiser. She smirked to herself, knowing that she had both solved a case and protected the sport of bowling.
BB’s not entirely sure when that moment turned from a moment of triumph into a moment of regret. Perhaps as she ran from her kidnappers and desperately dialed Trudy’s phone number at a far off phone booth. Maybe it was as she and Milton were being held as sacrifices to a horrific god. Maybe it was when she saw Francis, bloodied and battered, missing a leg and fresh off a suicide attempt. She spent a lot of time considering this as she sat in Doctor Dog’s office, waiting to hear news on the rest of her teammates. As she wondered on the days since the fateful game at the bowling alley, she thought back on something Molly had said to her many times before and considered that she might have been right.
Maybe she should have just minded her own damn business.