The Whole, Entire, Complete Truth

by Caroline Rennie Pattison

  Gorely smiled. Not a pretty sight. “Leave the bag there and walk out to the truck,” he said to Mr. Stedman, who moved to obey with a glance back at Mr. Braemarie, Mindi, and Roy.

  “No!” cried Mindi. She grabbed the bars in front of her. “Let him come in here with us! He did what you wanted him to do, so leave him alone!”

  “I’ll be okay, Mindi. Don’t worry about me,” Mr. Stedman said.

  Mindi’s chin trembled while she watched Mr. Stedman being nudged out of the barn by Gorely’s gun.

  I was stunned. What was he planning to do to Mr. Stedman? Where were the police? I looked at Mindi, who was still gazing at the empty space where Mr. Stedman had been standing. I had to do something! Gorely might be hurting him. He needed help! I left my peephole and dashed towards the front of the barn, not sure exactly what I’d be able to do but wanting to be there anyway. I heard the barn door slam shut and peeked cautiously around the corner towards the driveway.

  Mr. Stedman was still being prodded forward by Gorely’s gun. My legs felt weak. What could I do if Gorely planned to shoot him? Where was my dad? What was taking him so long?

  “Get that gun off me!” said Mr. Stedman, suddenly turning and swiping the gun from Gorely’s grasp. It rattled to the ground. My heart stopped; I couldn’t believe my eyes. Mr. Stedman was going to fight back. Maybe he was a superhero! I held my breath and watched. Then Gorely laughed. Not his usual evil laugh but a real one. Like he was having fun. My eyebrows shot up to the sky. What was going on?

  “Glad you’re having a good time,” complained Stedman, wiping his forehead. He jogged over to the back of the transport truck and yelled inside. “What’s taking you guys so long? You’ve got to get started tranquilizing those bears. Do you think we have all night to get this done? Let’s get on with it and get out of here!”

  I felt like I’d been hit on the head with a club. I couldn’t believe my ears. Mr. Stedman was talking to the thugs like he was one of them!

  Morchan, Cheng, and Tipper jumped down from the truck. Morchan was scowling. “Look, Stedman, we’re going as fast as we can. Relax.”

  “Relax?” Stedman laughed without humour. “You want me to relax?” He shoved Morchan up against the truck. “My daughter’s friend is locked up in a cage along with some other kid. Braemarie saw my face, and you want me to relax? This is not the way this was supposed to go.”

  Gorely stepped up beside him and put a ring-studded hand on his shoulder. “Yes, we want you to relax. Don’t blow this deal by getting all uptight. Don’t worry about Braemarie, he has no idea you’re working with us. I had a gun on you the whole time we were in the barn. As for the kids, you’re the one who brought them here.”

  “I didn’t know what else to do,” Stedman sputtered, letting go of Morchan’s shirt. “Mindi knows my car and she saw me on my way here. I couldn’t just drive by her, I had to stop. And it’s a good thing I did, Mindi and that boy were going to get the police.”

  Morchan shook his head and paced around Gorely and Stedman. “Sloppy. That’s why I don’t like working with amateurs.”

  Gorely scowled. “Why were those kids even around? You told me you took care of that.”

  “I did. Mindi was supposed to be at my house tonight, at a sleepover with my daughter, not here,” protested Stedman. “And as soon as I got the copy of the Crime Stoppers tip, I let you know ...”

  Gorely nodded impatiently, “Yeah, so we’re here today instead of tomorrow. I know that. What I don’t know is why we’re stuck with two kids locked up in a cage. I don’t like these extra complications, and I don’t like you getting all uptight about it now when I need you to be calm and get the job done.”

  Stedman took a breath. “Okay, you’re right. Let’s get this done.”

  “That’s better,” said Gorely. “We don’t want to blow this ’cause you can’t keep your head on.”

  “I know, I know,” muttered Stedman, running a hand through his hair. “Look, why don’t you just tie me up or something? That way, when someone finally finds Braemarie and the kids, they’ll never connect me to you.”

  Gorely glared at him and shook his head. “You’re part of this whether you like it or not.”

  “Look, I’m the only one with connections here in Muskoka,” insisted Stedman. “If I get caught, I’ll never be able to set you up with a shooter or middleman again. Besides, I supplied the tranquilizer and prepared the darts, all that’s left to do is point and shoot. Those bears will get nice and dopey in no time. Then all you’ll have to do is lead them right into the cages in the truck. Simple. You don’t need me anymore.”

  I shook my head, still unable to believe what I was hearing. Mr. Stedman, the man I went to for information, who said there were no poaching problems here in Muskoka, was working with the bad guys the whole time! He even tried to get Mindi and I out of the way by getting Cori to invite us over for a sleepover at his house! To make matters worse, the reason the poachers were here tonight instead of tomorrow morning was because of the Crime Stoppers call we made. I felt sick to my stomach. Why didn’t we just tell Dad everything like we planned in the first place?

  “He’s right, Gorely,” said Morchan. “We don’t need him anymore. We just needed him to tell us how to deal with moving the live bears. He’s done. He’s just falling apart here. I say, tie him up.” He spat at Stedman’s feet and stalked away, heading back into the barn, followed by Cheng and Tipper, who also looked thoroughly disgusted by Stedman. Stedman looked hopefully at Gorely, totally oblivious to the wad of spit glistening on his hiking boot. Gorely shook his head again, frowning.

  “Fine then,” he said. “I’ll tie you up. Don’t worry, we’ll take all the risk from here on in. You’ll come off smelling like roses.” Mr. Stedman’s face lit up with relief. Gorely leaned in close to him, raising a finger to his face. “But if you ever breathe one word of who we are to anyone in authority, you’ll be dead.”

  “I’d never say a thing,” promised Mr. Stedman.

  “Okay, so listen,” said Gorely. “You’re going to lay low for a couple of months after we’re all done here, just like we planned. Do you remember the date and location of the drop-off for your payment?”

  “Yes, I wrote it down. It’s in my glovebox.”

  Gorely threw his hands up in the air. “You wrote it down?” He took a deep breath as if trying to regain control over himself. “For future reference, try to memorize little details like the pickup times and locations for payments. When you write something down, other people might end up reading it. Think.” He tapped the side of Stedman’s head to emphasize his point. He started to walk towards the barn, then turned back. “If you weren’t so important, I’d pop you right now and get you out of the way for good.” He pointed a finger at him and pretended to shoot, then resumed walking to the barn. Stedman paled.

  I was seething now and hoped Stedman was good and scared. Serves him right for getting mixed up with these bear killers.

  Gorely leaned into the open barn door and yelled, “Tipper! Get out here and tie up Stedman!”

  Tipper stepped out of the barn. “Gladly,” he said.

  “I’ve got work to do inside,” said Gorely. Then he headed back into the barn.

  My heart lurched. They were going to start hurting the bears! Where on earth was my dad? I scurried back to my little doorway, anxious to see what was going on in the barn now. I felt numb. I couldn’t believe that Stedman was part of this poaching ring the whole time. I fell down in front of the doorway and stuck my head back inside. I was shivering, my body was soaked right through. When were the police going to get here? What was taking so long? These thugs were going to have those bears drugged and loaded into the truck in no time. I couldn’t just sit here and watch them do that.

  I’d have to do something myself! But what?

  INSIDE THE BARN

  DATE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5

  (CONTINUED)

  LOCATION: THE FARMHOUSE

  I squirmed my body throu
gh the little doorway and pulled my feet inside, twisting around to pull the boards up behind me. It looked like saving those bears was going to be up to me after all. So much for getting my dad’s help. I wasn’t sure yet what I could do, but I knew I had to do something.

  I looked over at the cage where Roy, Mindi, and Mr. Braemarie were locked up. Mr. Braemarie was staring right at me! Startled, I jerked back, hitting my head on the rough barn board behind me. I stared back at him. Then he frowned and ever so slightly shook his head. I got his meaning. He was saying, Stay out of this, go away.

  Fat chance.

  Morchan stood in front of the cage beside Mr. Braemarie. He was pushing a dart into his rifle. Cheng stood in front of the cage across from Morchan, loading his own tranquilizer gun. Gorely stood by the door leading to the front room, his gun tucked into his belt, and looked at his watch.

  “How long is this going to take?” he asked.

  “Not long, boss,” answered Morchan, raising his gun and pointing it towards the bear in front of him. “These darts have the maximum dosage in them.”

  Whomp!

  Mindi screamed. I just about did too. As it was, I jumped enough to hit my head against that stupid barn board again. Roy put an arm around Mindi and spoke to her softly. Mr. Braemarie clenched the cage bars, alarmed.

  “Got ya,” said Morchan, lowering the tranquilizer gun. The dart poked into the bear’s hide.

  “That’s too much!” yelled Mr. Braemarie, his knuckles white. “You’re going to overdose her!”

  Morchan turned to Mr. Braemarie. I could hear the evil grin in his voice. “Would you rather I killed it?”

  “Stop!” yelled Mindi. “Leave the bears alone!” Roy looked alarmed and tried to shush her.

  Morchan swung his gun towards her and pretended to shoot. “Bang, you’re dead,” he said. “So shut up.”

  “Don’t talk to her like that!” growled Mr. Braemarie through the bars he clutched.

  Quick as lightning, Morchan turned his weapon and slammed the butt against Mr. Braemarie’s fingers. Mindi screamed. Mr. Braemarie pulled his hands back and gingerly held his damaged fingers.

  “You shut up, too,” said Morchan quietly, loading a fresh dart into the gun.

  “Ignore them,” growled Gorely to Morchan. “Get on with the bears.” Cheng raised his tranquilizer gun and aimed at the bear in the opposite cage. I could see his face; he had a sparkle in his eye, like he was enjoying himself. I couldn’t sit and watch another bear get shot. I stood up and took a step. Mr. Braemarie shook his head furiously at me, but I had to do something.

  “Drop your weapons!” boomed a familiar voice. My dad and three other officers burst through the door, guns raised and aimed. Relief spread through me so intensely I thought I’d melt. I didn’t know what I’d been about to do, but I was glad I didn’t have to do it after all. I leaned heavily against the wall behind me.

  Gorely spun around and pulled his gun out from his belt.

  “I said drop your weapons,” my dad yelled. “We have the barn surrounded.”

  “I don’t believe this!” said Gorely, throwing his gun down in disgust. It hit the floor so hard that it sparked. Cheng dropped his tranquilizer gun. They both put their hands up. But not Morchan. He swung his gun around and aimed it directly at Roy, poking it through the bars of the supply cage.

  “You drop your guns!” he yelled. “Or the kid gets enough tranquilizer shot into him to dope up a three-or four-hundred-pound bear. I wonder what it’ll do to him.”

  My dad stared at Morchan, and his face darkened. Slowly, he lowered his gun.

  “The rest of you too ...” yelled Morchan. The other officers slowly lowered their guns.

  What were they doing? This wasn’t supposed to happen! I was stunned as I watched the police officers lay their guns at their feet while Gorely and Cheng quickly retrieved their own weapons, raising them to cover the officers.

  “Good work, Morchan,” said Gorely. “Keep going with the bears. I’ll take care of these guys.”

  “Not until I shoot this kid,” said Morchan. “We’ve got that extra dart, and I’d like to see what happens to a scrawny kid when he gets all doped up. Should be kinda funny.”

  “Now, wait a minute,” said Dad, alarmed. “You don’t want to do that.”

  “Don’t tell me what I don’t want to do, old man,” growled Morchan. “’Cause right now, I want to shoot this kid.” He turned back to Roy, took aim ...

  “Drop your weapon, Morchan!” It was me. I couldn’t take it anymore. He was going to shoot Roy, and while normally he bugs the heck out of me, I still didn’t want my only brother getting shot. Besides, I’d never be able to live with the attention he’d end up getting from my mom.

  Everyone jumped at my voice. Everyone but Mr. Braemarie. He took advantage of the distraction I’d caused and knocked the tranquilizer gun out of Morchan’s hands. It rattled to the floor inside the cage and he swooped it up and turned it on Morchan in one easy motion.

  My dad caught on quickly. He jumped Gorely and wrestled the gun out of his grasp. The officer beside him knocked over Cheng and his tranquilizer gun rattled to the floor. The remaining two officers retrieved their own weapons from the floor and held them up,shouting for everyone to freeze and yelling that they were all under arrest. It was unbelievable how quickly a bad situation could change to good. All thanks to my big mouth.

  As for Roy, as soon as he no longer had a gun aimed at him, he stumbled back against the old fridge, as if his legs had given out on him. Mindi rushed to his side. I wondered if he’d been scared enough to wet his pants and what Mindi would think of him then. Roy and Mindi huddled together and watched while handcuffs were slapped on all three men just before they were roughly escorted out of the barn.

  I leaned against the bars in front of me as the reality of what I had just done sank in. My impulsiveness again. I had no plan. I just had to do something! It was a miracle it all turned out. It could have gone very differently. Then what? I guess I would have been watching the bears getting hauled away from the inside of a cage with Roy and Mindi, or worse ...

  “Get out from behind there, Sarah,” my dad yelled, then he turned to Roy, Mindi, and Mr. Braemarie. “Are you all okay? Roy? Are you hurt?”

  “We’re all okay,” said Mr. Braemarie. Mindi and Roy both nodded, Roy looking ashen.

  I reluctantly made my way down the back of the cage to join them. I knew I was in trouble when I saw that Dad’s face was an unhealthy scarlet colour, like the top of a thermometer that was ready to explode. I thought about escaping out the secret doorway and running far away until he’d cooled off. He watched me steadily as I walked towards him.

  “I told you to stay home. Do you ever listen to me?” he said quietly. Too quietly, not a good sign.

  “I know, Dad, but —” I started.

  “You know? I told you to stay home,” he repeated, his teeth clenched. Literally.

  Oh boy.

  “I’m sorry, Dad, I just wanted to help,” I explained.

  “You just wanted to help?” This was it. He was going to explode. “You’d help by doing as you’re told!” He stared at me for a long moment, his mouth twitching. I think he was trying really hard not to blow, remembering that he had an audience and that he was on duty. Lucky for me. “We will be having a long talk about this at home,” he said, at last. “Right now, I have a job to do.”

  He turned to Roy. “I’m going to make sure these guys get rounded up and off to the station safely, then I’ll come back and get you out of there, okay?”

  Roy leaned close to the bars. “But Dad, what about him?” he asked, tilting his head towards Mr. Braemarie.

  “You’re safe in there with Colin,” said Dad. “I’ll be right back.” Then he left the barn, leaving them locked up in the stinky pig slop cage.

  “Whoa,” said Mindi. “I don’t believe what just happened. It’s a good thing you were here, Sarah.”

  “Don’t tell her father that,” s
aid Mr. Braemarie, dryly.

  “I’m glad you were here, too, Sarah. I don’t care what Dad says, I could’ve been a goner,” added Roy. He looked towards the doorway. “I wish I was out there watching those guys get taken away,” he said wistfully, leaning through the cage bars.

  “How do I get you out of there, Mr. Braemarie?” I asked, getting down to business.

  “There’s a little room back behind this cage ...” he began, turning and pointing towards the corner of the barn.

  I waved him off. “I know where you mean,” I interrupted, dashing off to the secret freezer room. Behind me, I heard him asking Mindi how I knew where I was going.

  Inside the freezer room, I reached for the string that turned on the bare bulb and pulled it. The tranquilizer gun was gone. So were the bottles of liquid. The thugs took just about everything. I opened up the freezer. Yup. Empty. I rooted around the remaining items on the shelf but didn’t see any keys. Finally, I spotted a ring of keys hanging on a hook behind the door. I grabbed them, ran back to the bigger room, and handed them to Mr. Braemarie. He took them gratefully. I knew how much those pig slop barrels stunk. Mr. Braemarie found the key he needed and worked it into the lock on the cage door, springing it open. Mindi burst out of the cage and threw her arms around me.

  “Thanks for coming back for us!” she said, squeezing me in a tight bear hug.

  Sorry about that bad pun, Dad, I couldn’t help myself.

  Now, you have to admit, it turned out to be a life-saving decision for me to go back into that barn after you told me to stay home. But even if I didn’t distract the bad guys for you so you could save Roy’s life, it was important for me to be there for my friend. It wasn’t like you said, that I did everything I could to deliberately disobey you. Sometimes, Dad, we have choices to make in life for other people.