by Jody Kihara
“Um…” He wiped his nose with his sleeve, his glance
darting away, but just before, I saw a look of panic flicker
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in his eyes. “No,” he said quickly. But I’d spotted the lie:
the look of panic had stated ‘yes’.
To say Dad looked grim was an understatement. “He
must have found out somehow. Maybe Vanessa let it slip.”
Jasper’s gaze darted around, giving the lie away
again. He’d told him, all right. He probably hadn’t meant to,
though, or hadn’t seen the harm in it... I mean, no one had
instructed him that it was a big secret or anything. At least,
not that I knew of.
“But how would he have got any of it, anyway?” I
asked Dad. I frowned and shook my head again; it still
didn’t make sense. “Blackmail?” Was Revo trying to drive
me crazy, and was somehow going to blackmail Dad with
that? Or blackmail me? Except that I couldn’t touch the
money till I was twenty-one... but Revo wouldn’t have
known that if I’d only just found out about it.
Dad’s expression was black. “The motorboat,” he
said to Jasper. “Was that your dad?”
Jasper burst into tears again. “He said no one would
get hurt! He said it was all harmless!”
Shocked, I stared at Dad, suddenly getting what he
was implying.
“Revo…” I said out loud. “Was he trying to kill us?”
Dad met my shocked look, his mouth a straight line.
“But… but…” I stammered. “The boat turned! He
could have run us down, but he didn’t, he turned as soon
as he saw us…”
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“I don’t know,” Dad said. “Maybe the whole point
was to keep hoping a convenient ‘accident’ would happen.
The storm, the signal from the island just when it was at its
worse… he would have known I wouldn’t let you go alone…”
“He knew!” I shouted, turning to Jasper. “Revo knew
I’d told Dad about the girl! Dad wouldn’t have agreed to go
out to the island if I hadn’t already told him about it. How
did he find out?”
Jasper looked down, more tears falling.
“How did he know?” I demanded again, and then my
brain kicked into gear. “You’ve been in contact with him,
haven’t you? The whole time! Your walks in the woods…
staying home at the cabin… where’s Revo been staying?”
Jasper put his elbows on his knees and his face in his
hands. He could only sob in reply.
“Is he living with the neighbors? Is that where he’s
been hiding out?”
Jasper jumped up from the chair, knocking it over,
and ran up the stairs. I heard the bedroom door slam shut.
Dad and I sat staring at each other for a minute before Dad
got up and said, “We have to call the police.”
“What do we tell them?” I asked, getting up to follow
him as he headed up the stairs and into his bedroom. He
grabbed his cell phone off the dresser, then stopped for a
second, giving thought to what I’d just said.
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“I don’t know, exactly… it’s either another of his
badly thought-out plans gone wrong, or…” Dad’s expression
darkened again. “…attempted murder.”
I stood there, my mouth open.
Dad began dialing, and I wondered again about the
motorboat: had he been aiming at us, or had he really not
seen us because it was dark and my flashlight was pointed
away from him? Then again, why didn’t he have his light
on? Maybe Revo was too stupid to know how to work it…
Attempted murder, I thought, and my insides chilled. Revo
wouldn’t go that far, would he?
“Dammit!” Dad snapped.
I jumped. “What?”
“No reception!” He used a few more words I’d never
heard from him, before hurling the cell phone onto the bed.
“We can drive into town,” I said. “Go to the police
station.”
“It’s probably shut. No wait, at least my phone will
work in town.” He ran his hand through his hair, a few
more curses escaping him, and then sighed.
“What?” I asked. “Let’s go! We have to, right?”
“Yeah, I just… I don’t even know what we’re
charging him with. And then… there’s Jasper to think of.”
“What…? You’re not serious, are you? Dad, you can’t
not report Revo because of Jasper!” My anger was bubbling
up again. “Jasper was in on the whole thing, Dad, he
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almost let us get killed!” I suddenly wanted to run into the
bedroom and beat the snot out of Jasper. I knew he was
weak and stupid and easily swayed, but I never would have
thought he was capable if this level of deceit, not to
mention serious harm. “If we don’t go now, Revo might get
away! Dad, he’s probably heading out of town right now!”
“You’re right,” Dad said. Although I could see he was
tempted, for a second, to let Revo run.
And just then, from outside the cabin, we heard four
loud gunshots.
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Chapter 13
We remained frozen for a second, staring at each
other, before springing into action. I ran out onto the
landing, Dad right behind me. The other bedroom door was
open, which was strange, because it had been shut when
we’d come up the stairs. “Jasper?” I asked, storming in. He
wasn’t there. “Dad, Jasper’s not here!”
“Jasper!” Dad shouted, running downstairs.
I followed, and as we pounded down the stairs, we
both saw the front door was open.
“Jasper!” Dad called again, his voice rising in panic.
He was about to run outside, but I barreled past
him, slammed the door shut, and pulled him down. “Are
you nuts? We just heard gunshots, you can’t go out there!”
I reached up and locked the door. “Stay down!” I ordered,
feeling proud of myself for learning so much from TV. “We
don’t know who’s out there, and we don’t have a gun!”
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Dad pushed me off him and got up. “Paul, Jasper’s
out there. I have to go!”
“Maybe he’s somewhere in the cabin,” I said, pretty
sure he wasn’t. Keeping hunched down, I ran through the
kitchen and into the living room, calling out for him —but
he wasn’t there.
“I have to go find him,” Dad said. I knew he was
right, but outside there might be a potential killer, and as
long as we didn’t have a weapon, we were sitting ducks.
“We don’t have a flashlight!” was my final protest as
Dad unlocked the door and headed out. I stopped to think
for a second before turning off the hall light and closing the
door behind me as I followed him. With no flashlight and no
backlighting, we’d be less of a target.
; “Jasper!” Dad called again, running across the yard.
I wished he’d stop shouting; it made me think: target!
Again.
He got as far as the truck and halted. I ran up
behind him, taking in the scene that was lit up by the
headlights of another truck — a big GMC. Standing in front
of it was Jasper, and behind him a man, his hands resting
on Jasper’s shoulders. When Dad yelled, “Damn you!” and
lunged for him, I realized it must be Revo. I’d never met
him before, and wished I could get a better look at him, but
with the glaring headlights behind him, I couldn’t make out
his face.
“Stop right there!” bellowed another voice, and ‘Pa’
stepped into the scene, shotgun raised to his shoulder.
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Jasper screamed, “No!” at the same time that I
yelled “Dad! ” My dad stopped in his tracks, his head
moving to glance from ‘Pa’ to Revo and back again. “Let
Jasper go!” he shouted.
Revo gave a nasty laugh. “Nope. I’m taking my son,
seeing as you’ve taken everything else of mine. Just
thought we’d make sure you can’t follow us. Pretty handy
that your phone doesn’t work out here.” He gave another
chuckle.
I turned to look at our truck and realized the tires
were completely flat. So they’d shot them out — and of
course, we only had one spare.
Dad stood there, tall and strong, and I marveled at
how unafraid he seemed. “At least you’re above killing us in
cold blood,” he said. “But did you know that even if you had
managed to arrange an ‘accident’, none of my father’s
money would go to Jasper? My share of the will goes
entirely to Paul in the event of my death, and if Paul were
to die―” Dad’s voice got really low at the mention of this―
“then it goes to Paul’s mom. Not Jasper, not Vanessa.
They’d get a portion of my own savings, but you can be
damn sure I’ve got that tied up so that you can’t get at it.”
I couldn’t make out the expression on Revo’s face
because of the light behind him, but I assumed it was
murderous. He spat at dad, hard, like a redneck out of a
movie. “Damn you, VanDerMere! You rich SOBs are all the
same — all you care about is keeping your money to
yourselves.”
“I care about my family,” Dad answered coolly.
“Which is more than you can say, Revo. You’ve never come
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to see Vanessa and Jasper except for a cash handout.
When did you ever come for the sake of seeing your son?”
“Plenty of times!” Revo spat out.
Dad, don’t make him madder, I silently willed. Not
while there’s a gun pointed at you.
“Not true, Revo. You’ve only ever come to blackmail,
swindle, or beg. And here you are trying it again. And just
like all your other failed cons, this plan’s a complete
shambles.”
“You forced me into it! Ever since you made Vanessa
stop giving me alimony. It was never your place to
interfere, you tight-fisted bastard!”
Dad almost laughed. “Alimony? You owe her child
support, not the other way around. Years’ worth!”
Stop getting him angry, I prayed again . Think, Dad!
“Look, you screwed this one up badly,” Dad
continued. “But if you let Jasper go, I won’t charge you.
You can just disappear from our lives. But you’d better stay
gone this time, Revo, I mean it. If you make another
appearance, I’ll put out a restraining order on you.”
“No!” It was Jasper’s voice that cut through the
strange, misty scene. “I’m sorry.” he sobbed. “I’m really,
really sorry. But now that I’ve messed everything up I think
I should go.”
“See?” Revo said. “He wants to be with his dad. His
real dad.
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Even I knew Revo didn’t want Jasper; he was only
doing it to spite my father.
“Jasper!” Dad said firmly. “Of course you don’t have
to go. We can go back home and work this all out. Where
would you go, anyway? Revo’s got no home, no job,
nothing. You’ve got a home, you have school… and what
about your mom?”
Jasper was crying hard. “I’m sorry,” was all he could
say.
“We’re walking away all right,” Revo said, and from
the tone of his voice I could picture the sneer on his face.
“But I’m sure you’ll be sending some money now and then,
so that Vanessa can hear from her son.”
I could tell Dad wanted to launch himself at Revo,
but Pa’s shotgun was still leveled at his chest. Revo backed
away towards the driver’s side of the truck, pulling Jasper
with him. They got in, slammed the door, and the truck
gunned to life.
“Take a few steps back,” Pa ordered Dad, motioning
with the gun. “In fact, all the way to the cabin. Inside, and
shut the door.”
We were helpless. We had to follow his instructions.
Dad pulled the door almost shut, and stood watching
as the truck backed away fast, spraying dirt and gravel as it
barreled down the road.
Then he opened the door and ran back outside.
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Chapter 14
“Where are you going?” I yelled after him.
“I’ll have to follow them on foot! They’re probably
going to their cabin.”
“Wait, it’s dark, you can’t see where you’re going,
and you don’t know if they’re waiting for you somewhere
with that gun. Dad, please!” He turned in a full circle,
clearly desperate.
“I’ll get the cell phone working,” I said. “If they go to
their cabin, they’ll only stop a minute, and then they’re out
of there. Do you think they’re going to wait around till
morning?”
“I have to get Jasper back,” he argued, but he
sounded weary.
“Well, you won’t do it on foot. Help me onto the roof,
and I’ll get reception from there. And if that doesn’t work,
we have to at least have the phone with us when we run
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into town.” He saw the logic in this, and came back to the
cabin. “Or we could canoe down the lake and reach town
that way!” I said excitedly. But then I remembered: the
canoe was floating somewhere out in the middle of the
lake, upside-down or maybe even sunk to the bottom.
“Roof,” I said, feeling years older as I ran up the
stairs ahead of Dad. I guess he was so worked up, he
couldn’t think straight. But I knew I could get onto the roof
from his bedroom window, and the cell phone should get
reception from there; on a clear day, we’d got it just by
leaning out the window.
“Paul, it’s too wet out there, the roof will be
slippery,” he protested,
but I knew he wanted me to try.
“Safety me with a rope, then,” I said. “There’s one in
the hall cupboard.”
He ran off to get it.
I wedged the phone firmly in my inside jacket pocket
― the last thing I wanted was to have the phone tumble
from my pocket as I climbed.
The window opened vertically, giving me a gap of
about three feet. I pushed it until it wedged open, and
stuck my head out, drops of water falling from the eaves to
my neck. Twisting around so that I was half-seated on the
windowpane, I looked up at the roof, trying to figure out
how to do this. The climb looked way harder than I’d
imagined, and I wondered if I could make it, especially
given how dark and wet it was.
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“Wait!” Dad said, coming in with the rope. I sat
there facing him, the pane of glass between our heads, as
he tied the rope around my waist.
“Okay, hold my legs, I’m going to stand on the sill
and try and get reception from here first,” I said. Dad put
his arms so tightly around my legs that my whole body
tipped backward, and I almost fell. “Dad!” I squawked, my
hands grabbing for the top of the window frame. There
wasn’t much to hold on to, and the wood was wet.
“Sorry,” he said, loosening his grip. I pulled the
phone out, and the backlight came on as soon I opened it.
Now I could see the reception indicator… just one tiny bar
out of five, and even that one was flickering. But at least it
was there.
I dialed 911, hit ‘send’, and held the phone close to
my ear. Nothing. I pulled it away to look at the signal
indicator again ― the phone was still trying to connect.
Finally, a ringing sound. “Got it!” I told Dad.
A female voice answered. “This is 911, please state
your emergency.”
“There’s been a kidnapping!” I said. “And an
attempted murder. We’re out in one of the cabin on Mair’s
Lake, the second one, just up from Stanton, and this phone
might cut out any second. Please, can you send a police
car, our tires have been shot out.”
The lady first asked if anyone was hurt, then
confirmed where we were and said there was a car on its