Duncan still seemed miffed at me for Happy Canyons, but he sat with me and some of the other guys. “How much they gonna pay you to do all that work?” he said.
“We never talked about pay.”
“My mom paid one of our neighbors $100 just to walk our dog and feed our old cat,” Kael said. “I told her I would have stayed home and done it for half that much.”
“How many alpacas do they have?” Duncan said.
“About 40.”
“And they’ll be gone a whole week?”
“Yeah, why?”
“That could be some serious money. Let’s say they give you $2 an alpaca every day. That’s $80 a day. And 80 times 7—”
“$560,” Skeeter said. “You and Ashley are rich!”
“And that’s if they only give you $2 per animal,” Duncan said. “You need any help?”
I couldn’t help smiling. I hadn’t thought much about the payment, but Duncan made quite a case. “I think Ashley and I can handle it.”
Toby came to the table and sat down.
Duncan excused himself—too quickly.
“Bryce, you know you were talking about people having stuff stolen?” Toby said. “I met another kid whose parents came back from vacation last week, and the same thing happened to them.”
“Who is it?”
“Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
Chapter 45
We got our tests back in math, and my score was miserable. The only good thing was that most people—other than Marion Quidley—did just as poorly, and the teacher had mercy on us. I squeaked through with a B for the class, but just barely.
I saw Denise in the hall once, but she didn’t notice me. I wasn’t half as worried about her and Liz as I was about the alpacas. I hoped they’d be okay.
At lunch I saw Bryce talking with Duncan. A few minutes later, Bryce motioned for me to follow him. He and Toby went to the back where a scrawny-looking kid was eating lunch.
“This is Bryce and Ashley,” Toby said to the kid. “Stan, tell them what you told me about your parents’ house.”
“There’s not much to tell,” Stan said. “We had to go out of town for a funeral. When we got back, all my mom’s expensive silverware was gone, plus her jewelry. They also got a few coins my dad had kept to give us kids. Some of them were worth thousands.”
“Did the thieves break in?” Bryce said.
“No, it was almost like they walked into the place without any problem. Like they had a key or something.”
“Who died?” I said.
Bryce scrunched his face. “What?”
“The funeral—who was it for?” I said.
“Oh, an uncle of mine,” Stan said, biting his cheek. “Lived in Oregon. He had a car accident.”
“I’m sorry. Must’ve been really hard to go through that and then come back to having stuff taken from your house.”
“Yeah, Mom cried about it for days. Dad was spittin’ mad, but what could he do? What can any of us do?”
“Have the police said anything?” Bryce said.
“They don’t give us much hope. Maybe they’ll catch the people one day. I hope so.”
“One more question,” Bryce said. “Did your dad get his car fixed before the trip?”
Stan took a bite of his apple and shook his head. “We got the call in the evening on Tuesday. Then we left for the airport early the next day. There wasn’t time to get anything worked on.”
I walked with Bryce to his locker. He shook his head. “I was sure this all had to do with the repair shop or the oil change place.”
“Maybe the thieves don’t use keys,” I said. “On some of those TV shows they can get into houses without them, and it still looks like they didn’t force their way in.”
“In that case it could be anybody.”
“We can’t give up,” I said. “We have to keep following the leads until we find something. Talk to Stan’s parents. Something will turn up.”
Chapter 46
Ashley and I went to the farm as soon as school was out and made sure the alpacas were okay. Buck was there waiting for us, wagging his tail. I checked on his food and water and made sure Lewis, the parrot, had food. He squawked at me when I opened the cage and said, “Thank you for calling.”
I went to the mangled fence and saw that it was still in good shape. No more repairs needed. “We need you to be on the alert tonight,” I said to Buck, patting his head. “You take good care of these animals and yourself.”
It almost felt like Buck understood. He panted and looked at me for a long time, then trotted off through the pasture. He stopped about midway to the barn, his ears pointing up, hair bristling. He gave a low growl and looked toward the woods beyond the house, then continued to the barn.
When we got home, both Ashley and I were starved. I think it’s working outside that does it, but I felt like I could eat everything in the refrigerator—including the plain yogurt Mom eats. Mom made us wait, saying Sam would be home soon. When he didn’t come, she let us start.
Sam finally came in and apologized, saying he had had trouble with his truck coming from the airport. “Gotta take it into the shop. First time they can see it is early Friday morning.”
“You can take my car tomorrow,” Mom said.
He nodded, and I looked at Ashley. I didn’t know exactly what we were going to do, but it seemed like the perfect chance to get more information.
Later in Ashley’s room, she came up with the plan. “You hide in the backseat of Sam’s truck. He’ll think you’re at the farm already or sleeping in after the last day of school. When he leaves it, you stay out of sight and just listen, see if you hear anything.”
“What if Mom asks about me?”
“I’ll cover for you. Should be easy since we’ve got the alpacas. I’ll just say you’re working on something.”
“What if the people at the repair shop find me?”
She shrugged. “I’ll speak at your funeral.”
We both laughed. Then she scooted closer. “Look, this will either confirm your suspicion or let you move on to some other theory.”
Chapter 47
There’s a feeling you get on the last day of school that’s like no other. Especially the last day of seventh grade. You know you have all of eighth grade ahead of you, all of the rest of middle school behind you, and all of being called pixie and newbie out of the way. When you’re an eighth grader, you’re only one step away from high school, and that commands respect.
Bryce and I fed the animals. They all seemed okay, though Whitney looked skittish when we approached. We gave her some food and tried to stay out of her way.
We flew through the field and made it to school in record time, though riding through some tall grass really got our legs wet. It felt good to wear shorts on the last day since our classes were basically over, and all that was left was to hand in our books, clean out our lockers, and say good-bye.
At lunch there was a lot of free food—the cooks were cleaning out their kitchen—and Mr. Forster had a pie-throwing competition. For a dollar you could throw a whipped-cream pie at the gym teachers wearing plastic ponchos, and all the money went back to the school.
We had a band get-together at lunch and said good-bye to the eighth grade band members. Liz and Denise stayed to themselves, but at one point, Liz walked over to me. “Don’t think this is over, Timberline,” she said.
It was all I needed to decide to quit the band. I didn’t want to spend the summer worrying about next year. I knew it was a shame just to throw my flute away, but I’d had enough.
Chapter 48
The most fun part of the day was when Mr. Forster went onto the football field and we all lined up for a chance to knock him in the dunk tank. There must have been 20 people who failed, with Mr. Forster taunting them, before Duncan sailed a fastball into the center of the target and everybody whooped. Mr. Forster went into the tank like a rock and came up sputtering and laughing.
I dunke
d Mr. Scarberry, our band director. He stayed under the water and raised his baton above the surface. It was pretty funny.
The cooks came outside and cheered the kids on. Several even bought chances to sink teachers and administrators. Mrs. Garcia, the Lunch Lady, missed the target by a mile but ran up and smacked the lever with her hand, sending the assistant principal into the drink.
By the time the last bell rang, girls were crying and hugging teachers they couldn’t stand the rest of the year. Others sniffled as they signed yearbooks. I couldn’t understand it. We were going to see all of these people in a couple of months, except for the eighth graders, and to be honest, I was glad they were leaving.
The one person noticeably absent was Boo Heckler.
I sidled up to Duncan and put an arm around him, and he smiled. I figured by the time of our first sleepover the whole stolen-items caper would be over and I could tell him why I hadn’t chosen him as my buddy at Happy Canyons. Then everything would be back to normal.
“So, where do you suppose Boo is?” I said.
Duncan stepped back quickly. “You haven’t heard? He got sent to juvenile hall for doing something to mailboxes. And he has to repeat eighth grade next fall. I hear he’s pretty ticked and looking for whoever ratted him out.”
No one but the police knew it was Ashley and me.
“I can’t imagine next year with Boo in our classes,” Duncan said.
Unfortunately, I could.
Chapter 49
I couldn’t breathe when Bryce told me about Boo Heckler. I felt sorry for his teachers.
Everything looked okay with the alpacas. I collected the Morrises’ paper and mail and put them in the house, then joined Bryce in the garage. We filled Buck’s food bowl.
When we went back outside smoke was coming from Denise’s yard. A couple of cars were parked outside, and people were setting up a volleyball net.
“Looks like a party,” Bryce said. “You should go see what’s for dinner.”
“I should send Buck,” I said.
As we mounted up to head home, I said, “You sure you’re going to be all right in that truck tomorrow? It could get hot.”
“Already figured that out. I have water bottles in the freezer. Gonna move them to the truck before morning.”
“How are you going to get up in time?”
“I’m going to sleep in the truck under a blanket. Sam will never even see me.”
Chapter 50
I waited until everyone had been in bed a couple of hours before I grabbed my favorite blanket, my empty backpack, and my cell phone and crept downstairs to the refrigerator. Every second I was sure I was being too loud and that Sam or Mom would come investigate.
I filled the bottom of the backpack with the frozen water bottles, then put in some apples, a couple of sandwiches, two candy bars, and some small bags of chips from the pantry. It wasn’t until I was outside that I could breathe again.
Sam had left the truck windows down, and it was chilly. I stowed my stuff under his seat and stretched out on the backseat. I could have turned the key halfway and closed the windows, but he kept the keys on the dresser in the master bedroom, and I wasn’t about to risk sneaking in there. It was so cold that I wished I’d brought my sleeping bag. I set my phone on vibrate, then tossed and turned the whole night. I guess I slept some, but it didn’t feel like it.
The sun was almost up when I heard the front door. I scooted onto the floor behind the front seat and made sure I was covered. Sam got in, closed the door, and burped. I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
Sam drove toward town, keeping the windows down the whole way. He finally stopped and got out. I stayed still as a statue, then peeked over the back of the seat. We were in front of one of the garage doors at Carhardt’s. Sam was inside talking with the owner. When he headed back out, I ducked again and heard a familiar honk behind me. It had to be Mom picking him up.
I’m in!
Chapter 51
As soon as I woke up, I called Bryce’s cell phone. The phone picked up, but he didn’t say anything. A few seconds later he whispered, “That you, Ash?”
“Where are you?”
“Still in the truck. Sam just left with Mom. There’s a guy coming—hang on.”
My heart pounded. I imagined someone mistaking Bryce for a thief. A door closed. The truck started.
“Bryce, get out of there,” I said.
The phone crackled as Bryce moved. Then I heard a door close.
“Okay, he’s gone,” Bryce said. “He just backed into the parking lot. And he put the windows up.”
“It’s gonna get hot in there.”
He told me it would be a nice change from a cold night.
I clicked on the computer weather channel. “Supposed to hit 80 degrees today.”
“Ugh. Unless I can get some air, I might need to bail.”
“Call me at the farm if you need me,” I said.
Chapter 52
Sam’s truck had tinted windows, so that blocked some of the heat. Best of all, I could peer out at names on guys’ shirts without their seeing me.
When things started heating up I took a drink from one of my water bottles. I started feeling short of breath, so I climbed into the front seat and turned the key until it beeped. Then I rolled down the front windows a few inches. The wind made a nice breeze through the truck.
Twenty minutes later a sandy-haired guy whose name tag read Eddie jogged to the truck. I hunkered down as he jumped in and pulled into the garage.
Guys yelled to each other over the country music blaring on the radio. Somebody reached in and popped the hood. I listened to the clink and clank of hammers, the brrrrrffffftttt of some tire machine, and the clunk-clunk-clunk of the oil pump.
I peeked at my watch. Ashley would be at the farm by now, but I didn’t dare call her. Someone might hear me.
I tried to match voices with names. One guy talked about fishing and camping trips, another about an old car he was fixing. The owner came in every now and then to check on people’s work. They all seemed to know what they were doing.
Could any of these guys really be robbing people in Red Rock? Who would steal in the same town he worked in? He’d have to be awfully dumb or really bold.
My phone vibrated. The readout showed it was Ashley, but there was no way I could talk now.
Someone phoned Sam, told him what they’d found wrong with the truck, and said they’d have to keep it overnight.
Great. How am I going to get home?
Chapter 53
I called Bryce from inside the Morrises’ house and got his voice mail, so I figured he would call me when he could.
“We’ll be right back after these messages!” Lewis squawked, startling me.
Then I heard something weird, like someone was banging on a nail. I looked out the back window, wondering if someone was building a house.
Nothing.
When I opened the front door I realized it wasn’t pounding but Buck barking, sharp and loud. I raced to the barn but found it empty except for Whitney, who was pacing again, peering through the slats, and humming.
“Where’s the rest of the herd, Whitney?” I said, and I would have hardly been surprised if she had told me.
I could hear Buck down the driveway, so I ran out, only to find an ambulance parked outside the gate. A paramedic was talking to a girl in a robe.
I ran closer. “Denise!”
Chapter 54
The garage phone rang every few minutes, and the radio got on my nerves. The music made it hard to hear the conversations.
Someone called out, “Hey, lover boy!” Other guys laughed. “Eddie?” the man said in a singsong voice. “Phone call. It’s your sweetheart.”
I peeked over the seat and through the slit between the hood and the truck frame. The man handed a greasy cordless phone to Eddie, who hopped into Sam’s truck and closed the door. I had slid out of sight just in time.
“Yeah, h
ang on,” he said. “Let me close the windows.” The others hooted at him and clapped. “Okay, what happened?”
Eddie chuckled. “Perfect. Good girl. Way to go. Where are you now? . . . You’re kidding, that close? . . . What happened?”
He paused.
“Okay, stay there and make sure they take him away.”
Another pause.
“Well, the next step is to get the trailer . . . no, not till tomorrow, so it’ll be tomorrow night.”
I couldn’t make sense of what he was talking about, but it sure didn’t seem to have anything to do with Mrs. Watson’s stolen stuff.
“Okay, don’t let anybody see you,” Eddie said. “Call in sick, tell them what happened . . . no, don’t let them make you go to the doctor. . . . Do you know how much those are worth? We’ll be able to blow this town before anybody suspects. Our dreams come true Saturday night.”
Chapter 55
I flew down the gravel driveway so fast that I almost lost my footing. Denise was wearing a bathing suit under the terry cloth robe, and she’d been crying.
“What happened?” I said.
“It was awful,” Denise cried. “I saw the whole thing.”
“What? Tell me!”
The paramedic stepped toward me. “You own that dog?”
Buck’s pure white coat was streaked with blood.
“What happened to him?” I said.
“Ma’am, your dog attacked a jogger.”
“What? Buck’s not my dog, but he wouldn’t—”
“Is the owner here?”
“They’re on vacation. I’m watching the farm. Will somebody please—?”
A silver sheriff’s car roared up, lights whirling and leather creaking when an officer got out.
A sob welled up inside me as I moved toward Buck. He was on the other side of the fence with a few alpacas around him, as if they were the ones guarding him.
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