Pleasantly surprised, Hax sat down near the milk and the Cheerios, pulling the bowl closer. Before he started eating, he juggled the three spoons again for a few seconds.
Cool! he thought.
Hax carried yet another case of drinks to the cooler near the front of the store. His dad was dealing with a couple of customers at the counter. As Hax put the drinks in the cooler, he thought once again how unfair it was that he got stuck with all the stocking. Roni always talked about how women got the short end of the stick in life, but she didn’t complain about how Ravinder always let her sit around doing data entry while Hax got stuck with all the grunt jobs like stocking. When Roni did have to do some stocking, it was always lightweight crap.
Hax picked up the empty case and started for the back to get another one. The customers were gone. His dad said, “Hax, how’s your face doing?”
“Fine,” Hax said, even though he felt like his face was still swollen and lumpy.
“Let me see,” Ravinder said, stepping to the end of the counter.
Hax rolled his eyes. He and his dad had been at the same table for dinner last night. His dad should know what his face looked like. But then his dad stepped close and peered up at his face. The astonishing thing was not that his dad was concerned but the realization that his father was looking up at him. Only a tiny bit, but still, up.
Hax realized he should have expected this, he no longer had to cuff either of his two pairs of pants and the black ones were starting to look a little short. Obviously he was still growing. From the widening of his father’s eyes, Hax saw that Ravinder had also just recognized how much Hax’s height had increased. Generally, they didn’t get much closer than the two ends of the table they ate dinner at, and then they were sitting down. It just hadn’t been obvious until now.
Ravinder said, “Your face is looking a lot better.” He leaned back and stated the obvious, “You’re still growing.”
Hax nodded.
“Are you getting to be taller than the other boys in your class yet?”
Hax nodded again. There were still a couple of guys who were taller than he was, but only a few.
“Now that you’re getting bigger, you should go out for a sport. It’ll gain you some respect.”
Hax certainly wanted respect, but it hurt to think that his father believed he needed it. Besides, his initial reaction was that he wouldn’t be able to compete. After all, he’d consciously avoided sports since learning he wasn’t any good at them when he was little. The other kids had years of practice and skill development. If he went out for a sport, he knew the other guys would laugh at him.
But, he did wonder whether his newfound coordination might let him compete. Maybe he’d even be better than some of them.
Not knowing what was going through Hax’s mind, Ravinder said, “It’s too late for football or basketball, but you could go out for baseball.”
Hax shrugged. He didn’t know much about baseball, but what he did know didn’t strike him as very exciting.
Ravinder clapped him on the shoulder, “Think about it.”
Which, Hax knew, in Ravinder’s mind meant, “Go out for it.” Ravinder was a real sports fan. He watched a lot of sports on TV and, Hax thought, lived vicariously through the athletes’ exploits.
Irritated, Hax decided he wasn’t going to go out for anything. It’d probably just be embarrassing. He said, “I’d rather stick with martial arts.” Ravinder looked irritated. Hax knew it was because he didn’t think of martial arts as a sport. Hax followed up, “Master Akita entered me in the winter martial arts challenge in January.”
Ravinder grimaced, shaking his head, “You know we can’t afford for you to continue classes after this semester.”
Hax said, “Master Akita says he’ll teach me even if I can’t pay.”
Ravinder shook his head, “We don’t accept charity. Not until we’re a lot worse off than we are now.”
“But…”
“No!” Ravinder said, “No charity. Find another sport. A school sport that our taxes already pay for.”
***
As the meeting broke up, Joe said, “Nick, what’s going on with the missing money?”
Everyone else was filing out, but a couple of them looked curiously at Nick. Nick himself looked… Joe wasn’t sure, maybe furtive? Worried at least. Joe felt his irritable nature creeping to the surface. He knew Nick’s answer wasn’t going to make him happy. Nick said, “We followed up on the video like you said. There weren’t any cameras where we actually got ripped off but…” he paused as if he didn’t know what to say.
“But what?!” Joe hated having to drag things out of people.
“There was this dude behind us… dressed really funny, Nick said in a puzzled and uncertain tone. Brightening, “Can I show you the video?”
“I don’t want to see video of some guy that’s dressed funny! I see plenty of weirdos without going out of my way to see any more.” He leaned closer to his son, “What I want to see, is video of the son of a bitch who took my money. Or, I want to see the bastard’s face over in the grilling chamber.”
Nick had leaned back nervously, “I think the weirdo’s probably the one who took the money…”
Joe interrupted, “Well then, drag his ass in here so we can ask him some serious questions!”
“Um, he was wearing a disguise. We couldn’t see his face, so we… don’t know who he is.” Nick finished in a rush.
Joe opened his mouth to yell, but then paused. He narrowed his eyes, “Wearing a disguise?” For a second he felt intrigued, then realized just how ridiculous it was. “What the hell do you mean ‘wearing a disguise’? This guy’s just walking down the street in the middle of the day with some kind of mask on and nobody says nothin’?”
Nick shrugged, “Yeah. The videos show him just walking along behind us in a freakin’ ski mask. Nobody said shit to him.”
My son’s an idiot, Joe thought. “Show me the video,” he said disgustedly.
Joe sat back, musing. He’d watched the video twice and had gone through a couple parts of it four or five times. He found it hard to believe that some idiot could walk down the street wearing a balaclava and a poncho that looked like it’d been pinned together out of a bed sheet and not a soul had said anything or even pointed at him. All the people on the street couldn’t have been Castano hating accomplices, could they? The cameras didn’t have audio, so it’s possible someone had been saying something out of their field of view, but the people he could see hadn’t even seemed to notice the dude.
Of course, the fact that some creepy guy’d been walking along behind Nick and Mario, didn’t necessarily mean he’d stolen the money. The most likely explanation was always an inside job.
Joe didn’t think Nick would steal the take. As Joe’s heir he had too much to lose. If Nick were going to cheat, he’d probably overcharge some of the marks and skim that off the top.
Mario… Mario might want some extra cash, but Joe didn’t think he was bright enough to try to steal it from the Castanos.
Or dumb enough.
Joe looked at his son, “So, what have you done so far?”
“We’ve put the word out on the street, looking for a dude wearing a poncho, with or without a balaclava. I’ve blown up the video trying to figure out what kind of pants or shoes the guy was wearing, but there isn’t enough detail.” He frowned, “I’ve watched the video over and over again hoping I’ll be able to recognize the way he walks if I see him again, but there doesn’t seem to be anything very distinctive about it.” He shrugged, “I’m still hoping I’ll know the bastard’s walk if I see it, maybe through some kind of instinct or something.”
Joe was impressed despite himself. He thought about saying something like, “You’re not as dumb as you look,” but followed his usual policy of trying to keep everyone off-balance. He leaned in again and growled, “You’d better figure it out. Don’t forget that I’m gonna get my piece of it back out of your pay if you don’t.”<
br />
Nick had involuntarily leaned back. Now he swallowed, “Yes sir.”
As Nick walked away, Joe reflected that he’d expected to make some suggestions on how to catch the guy who’d taken the money, but he hadn’t had any good ideas. Joe didn’t really think it was Nick or Mario.
It really galled him to think someone out there might be laughing about how he’d stuck it to the Castanos.
***
Walking down the hall, Hax suddenly realized Hallie was just in front of him. She looked like she’d lost weight. “Hallie?” She turned. It was her. She had lost weight and it didn’t look good. Her cheekbones looked sharp, her eyes hollow and her hair frazzled, “Are you okay?” Hax asked, even though it was obvious she wasn’t.
She gave him a wan smile, “Your face looks better.”
Hax waved that off, “Screw my face, what’s happening to you?! Is Vito doing something…?” Hax trailed off, not really knowing what to ask, but suddenly caring very much.
Hallie shrugged, “He hasn’t been doing anything too terrible. He just won’t let me talk to anyone else.” She hadn’t said who “he” was, but there wasn’t any doubt. She sighed, “He’s almost always around. It’s like I’m in my own little mobile prison. Kinda puts me off my feed.” She looked like she was trying to grin about it like it wasn’t a big deal, but she didn’t really pull it off.
Wide-eyed with horror, Hax said, “We’ve got to do something!”
Hallie barked a tiny laugh, “There’s nothing anyone can do.” She winked at Hax, “Eventually he’ll get tired of me and move on.” She got a distant and regretful look in her eye, “That’ll be good for me… but really bad for the next girl.” For a moment she stared into the distance over Hax’s shoulder, “He’s getting worse with time.”
“But, but…”
Hallie shook her head, “It’s been nice talking to you, but I’ve got to get a move on. He expects me to meet him for lunch.” She turned and walked rapidly away.
Hax said, “Hallie!” but he didn’t say it very loud. As if he was afraid she’d hear him. Because, if she turned around, he didn’t know what else he’d say.
***
When he got home, Hax looked for Roni. He had to talk to someone about what was going on with Hallie, but he didn’t have any really good friends at school other than Frankie Wong and Hallie. Frank was timid and would stress over the problem but have no solution. And, Hallie wasn’t really a friend; he just wanted her to be. Besides, she was the problem. He chided himself, If she wasn’t so desperate to get away from Vito, she probably wouldn’t give me the time of day.
He knew he couldn’t talk to his dad, Ravinder was frightened enough of the Castanos without Hax adding to the burden. He could talk to his mother, but there wasn’t anything she could do. There wasn’t really anything Roni could do either, but Hax had to talk to someone. At least she wouldn’t tell him to do things he couldn’t do—like forget about it.
Roni wasn’t in the store or in the office, so Hax headed up to her room. As he climbed the stairs, he wondered whether there was something she could do about Vito because she could make herself invisible.
He pictured her sneaking up on Vito and invisibly kicking him in the balls. Vito wouldn’t know who’d done it, so he couldn’t come after Roni or Hax. Hax realized that though it’d be satisfying, it wouldn’t really solve Hallie’s problem in the long run. Maybe she could kick him in the balls every time he got near Hallie? Condition him to stay away from her like you train a dog not to do something with a shock collar.
Opening Roni’s door, Hax said, “You’re not gonna believe what that son of a bitch is doing now…” He stopped because Roni had turned suddenly away from him.
She’d done it as if she felt guilty.
Feeling bad, Hax realized he should have knocked. She could’ve been changing her clothes. But she wasn’t, and she’d turned away, not because she wasn’t dressed, but because she was hiding a huge wad of money. Stunned, Hax asked, “Where the hell did all that come from?!”
Over his shoulder, he heard his father’s voice ask curiously, “All what?”
Wondering how the hell his dad had come up behind him without Hax noticing, Hax said, “Um…”
Roni stood and turned toward them, but only enough to stand sideways to them. Hax noticed that she kept her left arm down at her side. “What?” she said too brightly, as if she hadn’t understood the question.
Not wanting to get his sister in trouble, Hax said, “Never mind. I was just wanting to talk to you about a problem at school.”
Ravinder wasn’t put off. The way Roni was holding her arm, Hax thought it wasn’t at all surprising that their dad knew something was up. He said, “What’ve you got in your hand there?”
Roni said, “Uh,” obviously playing for time as she desperately tried to figure out what to do.
Hax couldn’t think of anything he could do to help his sister. He wanted to back the hell out of there before he got sucked into whatever awful thing was going on with Roni. But when Ravinder stepped into the room and said suspiciously, “Let me see what you’ve got in your left hand,” Hax couldn’t tear himself away. He could tell that Ravinder was worried it might be drugs and wondered if their father would be relieved to see what Roni actually held.
Roni slowly lifted her hand and Hax stared once again at a wad of bills well over an inch thick. Could they be some kind of fake money? he wondered. Suddenly he was struck by the fact that Roni did a lot of the bookkeeping.
And she worked the till.
And… they were having a hard time making ends meet. Hax knew that was attributed to the Castanos sucking all the cream off their profits, but what if Roni…
Ravinder stepped into the room, staring at the stack of money. He said in a sick, angry tone, “Where did that come from?!”
Hax suspected that his father was concerned about the same things that’d just been going through his mind. He felt sick to even think that Roni could have done something like that.
But then, in a small voice, she said, “I stole it from Nick Castano…”
“You what?!” Ravinder said, aghast.
“I… I picked his pocket,” Roni said, as if she was embarrassed.
“Roni!” Their father said, looking frightened, then stopped as if he had no idea how to continue. Hax wondered whether he was more fearful of who she’d stolen from, or actually just appalled that she’d steal at all. Knowing how she could vanish, Hax assumed she’d made herself invisible then snuck up behind Castano. Until then he’d thought of her invisibility as a defensive strategy, not something she could use to strike at their enemies. He thought picking that pocket was a great idea and it didn’t seem all that dangerous if Nick couldn’t see her.
“Um…” Ravinder said, his eyes drawn back to the wad of cash. Then he looked his daughter in the face, “Are you crazy? The Castanos are homicidal maniacs!”
Roni shrugged, “He just walks around with a stack of envelopes in the pocket of his coat. It was easy to slip them out.”
Ravinder’s eyes widened, “Of course he’s not worried someone will pick his pocket. Anyone who did would have to be inconceivably reckless, or perhaps just suicidal.”
Roni gave an embarrassed little snort, “I guess you don’t think we should give it back?”
“To the Castanos? Tell them we took their money, but changed our minds? That’d be even crazier!” Ravinder’s eyes went back to the money, “How much is that?”
“About $22,000,” Roni said, her eyes going back down to the money which she now held out to her father. Looking embarrassed, she said, “I spent a little bit for…” She broke off as if she’d suddenly realized she didn’t want to say what she’d spent it on.
“Holy crap!” Ravinder said, glancing around the room as if wondering what she’d bought. His eyes went back to the money though he didn’t reach out to take it, “Holy crap…” he whispered.
Hax was torn between thinking Roni was amazingly fear
less and wondering whether she, and therefore the rest of the family, could get caught somehow. He too looked back at the money. Having it could make a huge difference for the family. Hax could have new pants, and maybe they could all have more meat and fruit.
Hax started to worry that his father would try to give it back.
Roni shook the money at her father and he took it, thumbing through the bills. Hax saw a lot of hundreds. Ravinder frowned, “You said you spent some of it?”
“Yeah, I needed…” she stopped again.
“Needed what?” Ravinder prompted irritatedly when she didn’t continue.
In a tiny voice, Roni said, “A disguise.”
“A what?” Ravinder asked, either not understanding, or not believing what he’d heard.
“A disguise,” Roni said, more firmly this time, as if she’d decided to be forthcoming. “Picking his pocket isn’t as dangerous as it might seem because I can make myself invisible.”
“What?!” Ravinder said. The look on his face said he thought his daughter had lost her mind.
There’d been a kid in their school who’d decided one day that he was the Messiah reborn, so Hax was familiar with the idea that people could sometimes lose touch with reality. He moved to his sister’s defense, “She really can, Dad. I’ve seen her do it.”
Ravinder turned to stare at Hax, looking dismayed to learn that both of his children had lost their wits at the same time.
While Ravinder’s eyes were on him, Hax realized that Roni’d disappeared. He pondered how she hadn’t vanished by graying out or suddenly narrowing to a point like in movies Hax’d seen. It felt more like the changes in camera angle that happened so often in the movies and on TV—except that in the new angle one of the actors had left the set. Hax thought how weird it was that her disappearance didn’t attract the eye like you’d expect it to. He had a feeling that if he hadn’t thought she might do it, and hadn’t just been involved in an intense conversation about her ability, he wouldn’t have even noticed she was gone. Ravinder had opened his mouth to say something, probably cynically suspicious, but Hax interrupted him by simply pointing to where Roni’d been standing.
The Girl They Couldn’t See (Blind Spot #1) (Blind Spot Series) Page 13