Part 3

We left and began heading back to meet Meowth.

“Surely no one could suspect Erika of murdering James’s parents!” said Misty.

“Yeah, she loves her Pokemon but not enough to shoot people for them. And she may not even know she gets the money from the will,” said Ash

“I’ll bet she does know,” I said. “I’m not saying she’s a murderer but we ought to talk to her.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t mind seeing her again,” said Brock.

“I wouldn’t either, now that you mention it,” said Ash.

“Ash, I doubt she’ll recognize you in boy’s clothes…” snickered Misty.

Ash turned red.

Brock looked at me nervously. “Didn’t you guys burn down her gym?” he asked.

“Look, are you going to help me, or not?” I snapped. “I’m not going to burn this one down, at least not until I get James out of jail.”

We had to take a bus for part of the trip and Misty sat next to me.

“Listen, I know you’re concerned about James,” she said.

“Look, I’m grateful for your help but you don’t have to pretend to be my friend,” I said.

Misty shook her head. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. You may not be able to do this by yourself, even with our help. It might be up to James’s attorney.”

“James can’t afford to hire a decent attorney. Neither can I.”

“And you’re really all he has. And even though we’re not friends… I feel bad for you,” said Misty.

“And he’s really all I have. And that’s almost OK, until something like this happens.”

I turned away from her, and she settled down in her seat for the rest of the ride.

We got back and met Meowth, and I pulled him aside for another conversation.

“What happened?”

“Well, it wasn’t easy. First I had to get into headquarters, the guards don’t want to let in an unattended pokemon. Eventually I snuck in behind some new trainees, the guard thought I was one of theirs. Then the Persian was in with Giovanni as usual, but finally he stepped out and we had our little conversation.”

“And?”

“Well, Persian didn’t want to talk much, but since I’m a Team Rocket pokemon and I tried flattery…”

“What happened?” I almost screamed.

“Persian’s never heard the Boss mention the Morgans, and he doesn’t talk much about James either, except to laugh a little bit. And Persian hasn’t seen any hit men around in a while. I really don’t think the Boss was in on this.”

“O.K.” I said. “Now you need to come with us while we interview Erika.”

“The woman with the wimpy plant gym? Right, like she murdered James’s parents…”

“Just shut up and I’ll explain on the way.”

When we got to the gym we all went in. Erika did remember all of us, and she did call Ash “Ashley” a couple of times just to see him blush. When she first saw me she said she was going to call the police. I told her I didn’t think I had warrants out for me here so the police might not listen. She eventually calmed down.

I told her as quickly as I could about James, his family, and the accusation. None of it seemed to surprise her.

“You knew they were dead?” I asked.

“I did know, but only because the police were already here this morning.” she replied. “And I didn’t even know they had a son; I thought they were giving me the money out of generosity, not spite.”

“But you are the beneficiary of their will,” I said.

“My foundation is,” she replied. “I don’t get any of that money personally. Surely you’re not suggesting I’m… involved in this somehow.”

“No, no,” interrupted Brock. “We would never suggest that!”

I wanted to hit him. But even though I was more objective than he was, I agreed with him. I didn’t think I could accuse this girl of murder.

All the same, I asked her. “What were you doing yesterday evening?”

“As I told the police, I was rounding up the vileplumes at dusk, it’s their spore season and I need to bring them inside where the spores can’t hurt people. My employees can tell you that! I think you’d better leave now.”

That was about the time of death of the Morgans, and this place was miles away. Unless all her employees would lie for her she was probably innocent.

We left. Brock was still sulky that we had interrogated a pretty girl.

“There’s only one option left.” I said. “Jessiebelle.”

“You really think she killed James’s parents?” asked Ash.

“I don’t know, I can’t really think why she would. But maybe she knows something else about their upper class friends that will help us.”

Even Brock wasn’t eager to see Jessiebelle. But even going with the twerps would be better than going on my own, and eventually I convinced them to go with me. We would set off tomorrow morning, and see if I could possibly help James by talking to his worst enemy.