“Did you handle this, Serena?”
“I found his sweatshirt in my room.” Her voice cracked. “He left stuff at my house sometimes. He was absent-minded that way. I felt something in the pocket. It was that bottle. I took it out of the pocket. But as soon as I realized what it was, I put it in that bag, in case there were fingerprints on it—besides mine and Ethan’s. You know, maybe the person who gave that to him.”
“Do you know who that person is?”
She launched into her tirade against Coach McGruder. “He must have hidden his past,” she said. “Otherwise, Mrs. Dekes would never have hired him.”
Mrs. Dekes looked uncomfortable. “Let’s discuss the matter in my office.”
Detective Martin agreed. He and Aunt Ginny followed Mrs. Dekes and Serena inside. I trailed after them. I needed to get some things out of my locker before classes started.
Nobody concentrated on schoolwork. Everyone was talking about what Serena had said. Was it true? Is that why the team had done so well since Coach McGruder came to the school? Were other members of the team using steroids? Were other teams using steroids? Was Coach right when he said that taking steroids was the only way to ensure fair play, to level the playing field? And then, of course, there was the bigger question: Did Coach kill Ethan to stop him from telling anyone what was going on? If he got fired again for the same reason, his career would be over—permanently.
“You heard Tonka,” someone said. “Crawford was the smallest guy on the team. Maybe he decided all by himself to bulk up. Maybe Coach had nothing to do with it.”
“Ethan would never do anything that stupid,” another kid said. “He was a smart guy. Sure, football was in his blood, but that doesn’t mean he’d take chances with his health just to play high school football.”
“What if it led to a scholarship?” a third kid fired back. “Do you know how many guys would do anything to get an athletic scholarship or to end up going pro?”
Someone else scoffed. “Steroids or no steroids, Ethan was too small. He was never going to go pro.”
As for me, I assumed that, at the very least, football practice would be canceled until Mrs. Dekes could sort out exactly what had happened and who had done what.
I was wrong.
Coach McGruder was on the field as usual. So was the team. Coach didn’t say anything about Serena’s accusations, and no one asked. He also didn’t blow his whistle as often or as loudly. Nor did he yell at any of the rookies or assign extra laps to players who messed up their drills. The minute practice was over, he left the field.
“Poor Coach,” Tonka said. “Do you think it’s true what Serena said—about him getting fired from his last job, I mean?”
“So what if it is?” Andes asked. “He’s the best coach we’ve ever had. This school has been to the provincials six times since he’s been here. We made the national semis twice. You know what Coach always says—if you’re not in it to win it, you shouldn’t be in it at all.”
“Yeah, but what if you only win because of steroids?” someone else asked.
The two veterans turned on the rookie who had spoken. They looked like two mountains turning on a tiny anthill.
“Who asked you, rook?” Tonka said. Side by side, he and Andes advanced on the kid, who stumbled back a step, turned and ran off the field. “Twerp,” Tonka muttered.
I hesitated. I was sure Aunt Ginny and Detective Martin would follow up on Serena’s accusations. I hoped they would. But Coach could have an alibi for the time Ethan died. Serena could turn out to be wrong about him or wrong about what she had found in Ethan’s pocket. For right now, Charlie was still the prime suspect. I couldn’t begin to imagine how terrified he must be. I had to do something to help him. I drew in a deep breath and approached the two football players.
“Andes, can I talk to you for a minute?”
He looked down at me. I’d never felt so small in my whole life.
“What do you want?”
Tonka was watching me, curious.
“It’s kind of private,” I said.
Andes’s shoulders heaved in complete indifference. But he nodded at Tonka, who took the hint and wandered away.
“It’s about what you told the police,” I said to Andes when we were alone. “About what you saw on the roof before Ethan died.”
“What about it?”
“Well…what did you see exactly?”
His eyes narrowed. “What’s it to you?”
“Charlie Edison is my friend. I can’t believe he’d ever intentionally push someone off a roof.”
“Whatever,” he said. “All I know is what I saw.”
“Which is?”
He looked me over as if he was trying to decide whether or not he wanted to answer. “I saw what I saw,” he said. “You sure you want to hear it, Charlie’s friend?”
I nodded. I was pretty sure.
“I was looking for Ethan.”
“When was this?”
“You going to let me tell this or not?”
“Sorry. Go on.”
“It was right after I got sprung by Cavendish.”
“Cavendish. You mean the chemistry teacher?”
Andes crossed his arms over his chest.
“You going to keep on interrupting me?”
“Sorry.”
“I got sprung by Cavendish and I went to look for Ethan. I knew he was working out on the roof. He was always working out, trying to bulk up. But when I got to the top of the stairs and opened the door, I could hear right away that he was having an argument with someone.”
“Did you see who it was?”
“Not right way. I heard them. Well, I heard Ethan. He was doing all the talking, and he was angry.”
“About what?”
“He was telling your friend, Watch out, or you’re going to be sorry. It wasn’t hard to figure out what that was about. There was no way I was going to walk into the middle of a fight over a girl, so I left.”
I felt my cheeks color. He was staring at me as if he was trying to understand what Ethan had seen in me.
“It wasn’t about me.” I don’t know why I cared what he thought, but I wanted to keep that straight.
“Whatever. Is that it? We done?”
“You said you just heard their voices. Did you actually see them?”
“You calling me a liar?”
“No. I was just wondering when you saw their faces.”
“I didn’t have to see their faces. I recognized Ethan’s voice, and I saw that stupid jacket.”
“What jacket?”
“That yellow one. Makes your friend look like a giant happy face. What’s with him anyway? Is he color blind?”
“So you saw Charlie’s yellow jacket, but you didn’t actually see Charlie. Is that what you’re saying?”
“It was him. He’s the only person in town with such puke taste.”
In other words, he hadn’t seen Charlie’s face.
“You didn’t go out onto the roof? You didn’t actually see Charlie and Ethan standing together?”
“I just told you—I didn’t want to get involved. I backed off.”
“You heard Ethan’s voice and you saw Charlie’s jacket. Was he wearing it?”
“No. He had it in his hand.”
“Which hand?”
“How do I know which hand?”
“Think.”
“His left hand. He had the jacket in his left hand.”
“But you didn’t actually see Charlie.”
“I know what I saw. Like I told the cops, it was Edison.” He scowled at me. “Now we’re done.”
“Wait!”
He loomed over me.
“Do you think Ethan was taking steroids?”
He snorted. “You kidding me? You saw him. Did he look like a guy on steroids?”
“What about the bottle Serena found in his sweatshirt pocket?”
At the mention of Serena’s name, his face softened.
“
I don’t know. I really don’t. Maybe he was thinking about taking them. Maybe he was tired of being the runt. He was fast, that was for sure. And he could kick. But he took a beating every time he was on the field. But even if he was thinking about it—and even if he started taking them, which I don’t know—that doesn’t mean Coach had anything to do with it.”
“Did you ever hear Mr. McGruder talk about steroids?”
“Okay, that’s it.” He held up a hand. “You’re starting to sound like a cop. I got nothing else to say.”
He left me standing alone on the field, thinking about what he had said. He was right about what Serena had found. It was a big leap from finding drugs in Ethan’s sweatshirt to concluding he must have gotten them from Coach McGruder. But if not from Coach, then from whom? You need a prescription to get steroids, and I knew from some quick online research during my spare period that they were rarely, if ever, prescribed to teens. Besides, there was no pharmacy prescription label on the bottle, which meant the bottle must have come through another channel. Serena had said Ethan was acting strangely before he died. Had that behavior been the result of steroids? Andes had heard him raging at someone. Had it been a steroid-induced rage? Did Ethan have steroids in his system when he died?
And what about that yellow jacket or raincoat? Everyone knew Charlie was jealous because Ethan was hanging around with me. And everyone knew Charlie had a bright-yellow jacket. Maybe someone else had the same jacket. Maybe the cops would find that person—if they decided to look.
I needed to talk to Charlie. I dug my phone out of my pocket and called his mother.
NINE
Charlie had been released on bail and tagged with a GPS ankle bracelet that allowed him to go no more than a couple of meters outside his house before it sounded an alarm that would dispatch the police.
“The nearest youth detention center is down in Toronto,” he said glumly. “My lawyer had to argue pretty hard, but he got the judge to agree to let me stay home. They charged me with manslaughter, Riley, and the Crown attorney said that charge could be upgraded depending on how the investigation proceeds. Right now they say two different people saw me on the roof with Ethan right before he died, that one of them heard Ethan shouting at me and that it’s obvious I was in a fight. They wanted to take a saliva sample for DNA.”
“Did you let them?”
“My lawyer wanted to force them to get a warrant, but I told them to go ahead. I went up to the roof, and I talked to Ethan. But I didn’t hit him, and I didn’t push him off the roof.”
“Why did you go up there, Charlie?”
He shook his head. “It’s bad enough I had to tell the cops. I had to tell your aunt, Riley.” He let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Whatever. You’re just about the only person who doesn’t know. You know that four-leaf clover I gave you?”
“About that, Charlie…”
“I took it off your backpack.”
I gaped at him. “You took it? Why?”
“Because I was mad. Because I thought…because of Ethan. I took it because I thought you were going to get rid of it anyway.”
“I would never do that.”
“And then, I don’t know, I saw him up there, looking over the railing, and he yelled something at me. About my jacket. So I threw the charm at him. I don’t think he even noticed. He was gone from the railing by then.”
“I was looking everywhere for that charm, Charlie. I didn’t want you to think I didn’t like it or that I’d been careless.”
“I went up there right after school to see if I could find it. Ethan wouldn’t let me look. He barely let me through the door. He said he was busy. From the way he was acting, I think he was expecting someone.”
“What do you mean?”
“He kept checking his cell phone.”
There had been a phone on the roof. Ethan’s phone. With the missing SIM card.
“I argued with him, but I didn’t get into a fight. I swear it. I left after maybe two minutes. I figured I’d go back another time when he wasn’t there.”
“If he was waiting for someone and didn’t want anyone else around, why didn’t he lock the door?”
“It’s a door to the roof, Riley. It locks from the inside.”
Charlie’s story was different from Andes’s story. But why? Was Andes lying? Or had he made innocent assumptions about what he had seen?
“How did you hurt your hand? I’ve heard two different stories.”
“I punched a wall. After Ethan made me go.”
“What about your jacket?”
“I got rid of it. Geez, when I wore it, everyone acted as if I was committing some kind of fashion crime. And now that I’ve gotten rid of it, the cops are acting like I committed another kind of crime.”
“What did you do with it?”
“I threw it out. I got tired of being teased all the time. A guy can only take so many banana, lemon, bumblebee, traffic light, canary, pee stain—”
“Someone called you a pee stain?”
“That jerk Tonka. So I ditched it. I put it in that clothing-donation box down near the church.”
“Did you tell the police that?”
He gave me a withering look. “Of course I did. They sent someone down there right away to get it. They probably want to test it for DNA too. For Ethan’s DNA, I mean. But I wasn’t wearing it when I was on the roof. I got rid of it before then. I told the cops that. They didn’t believe me. Nobody believes me.”
“Someone saw a person leave the stairwell carrying something the same color as your jacket. And someone else saw you on the roof with it.”
“You sound like the cops,” Charlie said. “I told you. I didn’t bring it to school that day. I’d already gotten rid of it.”
“The person who says he saw you says he went up to the roof to find Ethan. When he opened the door at the top, he heard Ethan’s voice. He was angry about something. He also saw your jacket.”
“I don’t know who you mean, but if someone is saying that kind of stuff about me, I bet it’s one of the guys from the football team. And he’s lying if he says I had that jacket. He’s also lying if he says he opened that door while I was up there. No one opened that door. No one.”
“He says he didn’t open it all the way. He says he started to open it and then closed it again once he realized Ethan was yelling at someone.”
“He’s lying.” Charlie shook his head again. “That door didn’t open so much as a crack.”
“How can you be sure, Charlie?”
“Because the whole time I was there, Ethan had me boxed in. I thought he was just being a jerk. Maybe he was. He wouldn’t let me past him to look—” He broke off abruptly and took a deep breath. “He just wanted me to leave. The whole time I tried to get him to let me on the roof, he kept looking at the door, like he was expecting someone. It was making me nervous, and I kept looking at the stupid door too. Trust me, it never opened a crack. So if someone says he saw me—”
“He said he saw your jacket.”
“Which, as I keep telling you, I wasn’t wearing.” He was annoyed now, probably at having to tell me the same thing repeatedly. “And anyway, where I was standing, anyone who opened that door a crack would have had a perfect look at me. He’d have seen my face, not my jacket.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Where were you standing?”
“Ethan had me up against one of the vents.”
“What vent?” I asked.
“The one opposite the door. You believe me, don’t you, Riley?”
I nodded. I also wondered how long it would take to get results from the DNA tests. Days? Weeks? Longer? And when those results finally came in, what would they show?
“I answered a lot of questions for you. Now you have to answer one for me,” he said.
“Okay.” I hoped our friendship wasn’t about to get complicated. Not now anyway.
“What did he want?” Charlie asked.
“You said he wasn’t interested in you. Then what did he want? Why did he break up with Serena and start hanging around you?”
“I don’t know, Charlie.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Honestly, I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. Serena says he changed somehow and he never had time for her anymore. She blames me for that, but I only talked to him a couple of times. And mostly I felt like he was interviewing me.”
“What do you mean?”
“He knew who I was. I thought that was kind of strange. I’m new, I’m younger, and he’s a star athlete. But he knew stuff about me, and he wanted to know more.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“How I figured out what had happened with Mr. Goran and the fire. What my aunt thinks about me getting involved in things like that. What it’s like living with a cop. What Aunt Ginny is like. Does she hang around with other cops all the time or does she have other friends.” As far as I could see, she didn’t have any friends. “If it’s true what people say about cop culture.”
“It sounds like he was more interested in your aunt and cops in general than he was in you,” Charlie said.
Now that I thought about it, Charlie had a point. “Maybe he was. So, you see, I had nothing to do with him breaking up with Serena. And he didn’t ask me out, not once. He just seemed to want to know things.”
“About cops.”
“Yeah.” But why?
I met Aunt Ginny forty-five minutes later as she made the turn into the parking lot behind the police station. She lowered her window.
“Sarge told me you were on your way back in,” I said. I handed her the extra-large latte, two sugars, that I’d bought for her. She took it warily. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She regarded me with suspicion as she sipped her latte but finally nodded.
I ran to get in the passenger seat and closed the door.
“Are you still working on Ethan’s case?”
Aunt Ginny handed me her coffee cup while she parked the car. When I gave it back, she took a sip before she said, “Okay, spill. I know you want something, Riley.”
“Charlie said you took a DNA sample from him and that you also want to examine his jacket to see if Ethan’s blood or DNA is on it.”
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