Kris-Crossed

Before this story begins, two bad things have happened in Odyssey. Someone dressed all in black has broken into Jacques Henri's art gallery and smashed the prize-winning sculpture called the Egg. And at a Model UN event, a girl named Kris Metcalf has accused Emily Jones of threatening, bullying, and assaulting her. Because Emily's friend Suzu lied in a letter claiming she was with Emily the whole time, Emily has been removed as student body president and now faces possible expulsion.

The story opens with Morrie Rydell catching up to a discouraged Emily. He apologizes for his sister Suzu's lie and reminds Emily that she is a great detective with a team behind her. The only way out, he says, is to prove her own innocence, because "It's what friends do." Emily agrees to investigate, though she asks Morrie to leave Suzu out of it for now. Digging into Kris Metcalf, Morrie learns that while Kris really does have a disability, she is also a talented actress who has starred in many school and community theater plays, which means she could lie convincingly. The two also puzzle over the photo from the Model UN that appeared in the Connellsville school paper. Neither of them remembers a photographer even being there, so Emily decides to ask Andy Rome, editor of the Odyssey Owl, to find out who took the picture.

Meanwhile, Cooper Calhoun coaxes a gloomy Suzu out of the house and to the golf driving range, where she has been hiding at home watching Mr. Whittaker's collection of old movies. Cooper admits he had another reason for coming: Barbra Haynes, the sculptor who made an angry scene when the Egg beat her artwork, practices there. When they question Barbra about the smashed sculpture, she produces a time-stamped photo and a sign-in sheet proving she was at a Connellsville Arts Society board meeting out of town the night of the crime. Her alibi is rock solid, and she smugly tells them, "Next time, make sure you have actual evidence before you accuse someone." Cooper and Suzu visit the gallery and watch the security footage of the vandal pounding the Egg with a metal pipe. Something about the swing strikes Cooper as strangely familiar.

The clues come together at Emily's house. Morrie notices the security video is flipped, since the writing on the paintings behind the Egg appears backwards. Emily learns from Andy Rome that the mystery photographer at the Model UN was none other than Barbra Haynes, and Morrie discovers that Barbra is Kris Metcalf's aunt. Then Suzu arrives with an idea from one of the old movies she has been watching: two strangers who swap crimes, so that neither one has a motive for the crime he actually commits, and each has an alibi for the crime he wants committed. If the video is flipped back the right way, the Egg-smasher becomes a lefty, and Cooper suddenly recognizes the distinctive, hitching left-handed swing of Antony Cross, a young man he met at the driving range.

The team confronts Barbra and Antony at the range and lays out the whole scheme. Years ago Antony was a star athlete and class president until he committed a crime, went to jail, and lost everything. The judge who sentenced him was Emily's father, Judge Jones, who is now up for re-election. Antony offered to smash the Egg for Barbra, guaranteeing her the top prize, if in return Barbra would persuade her actress niece Kris to frame Emily, disgracing the judge's family. As Antony coldly put it, all he wanted in return was "to ruin someone's life." The proof is Cooper's side-by-side comparison of the security footage with an old video of Antony batting: the swings are identical. But Antony and Barbra simply laugh it off, point out that a matching swing is not real evidence, and walk away. The deflated detectives admit they were called on their bluff, and Morrie suggests they leave the matter in God's hands. Only later does anyone notice that Suzu has quietly disappeared.

The next morning, Officer Burke arrests a stunned Barbra at the driving range for vandalism and criminal conspiracy, telling her that Antony has been picked up too and that Kris has confessed everything. Emily is cleared and will return to school. But Morrie finds Kris's sudden confession suspicious, and Suzu comes clean. She tracked Kris's phone, confronted her, and tricked her by showing a photo of a receipt for Kris's new smartphone signed by Aunt Barbra "for a job well done." Suzu lied that Barbra had already confessed, recorded Kris admitting the whole plot, and made sure the recording reached the police. She even found the receipt by secretly searching Barbra's car. Morrie is dismayed: his sister has lied again and broken the rules, even if it caught the bad guys. Suzu protests that she was only trying to help and that it worked, but Morrie stands firm that doing wrong to do good is still wrong, telling her, "Sorry, sis, but no, it's not," before saying good night.