“Oh, well. A couple more days and it’ll be March break. I can’t wait. I miss you.”
“Miss you too,” I said. I thought when I said it that I meant it, but for some reason, the words didn’t ring true in my ears.
“You’re ditching class?” Morgan said the next morning when I told her why I couldn’t meet for lunch.
“Technically, no,” I said. “I have a free period after lunch, and I’ll be back in time for my next class.” I filled her in on what I had overheard on Mr. Schuster’s phone. “I have to find out what’s going on, Morgan.”
It had eaten at me all night. Nick had seemed so disappointed at the thought that I didn’t believe him. He’d said that he didn’t want my help, that he was going to take care of things himself. What if he did something foolish? What if he ended up in more trouble?
Morgan looked doubtful. “It’s a big mall, Robyn.”
“I know exactly where he’s going to be.”
She checked her watch. “Well, we’d better get going if we’re going to make it on time.”
“We? You’re going to ditch class?”
“I just remembered that I have a dentist appointment. And my dentist’s office is at the mall.”
“You need a note for that.”
“No problem,” she said, grinning. “I’m sure I can come up with one.”
We made it to the mall with ten minutes to spare. The Gap was on the second floor. We were hurrying toward the escalator when Morgan pointed up: “There he is!”
I scanned the knots of shoppers on the second floor. Nick was walking quickly toward the Gap, which was to the left of the escalator. Elliot was nowhere in sight, but a moment later, I saw Isobel and her grandfather. They were near the top of the escalator. Mr. Schuster was clutching his walker. Isobel was holding his arm to support him. At first I was afraid that Isobel was going to try to take Schuster down the escalator, which wouldn’t be safe. Then I saw her point to something farther on. The glass-walled elevator just past the escalators? She seemed to be steering him in that direction.
Just as Isobel and Mr. Schuster were making their way past the top of the escalator, Nick ran up behind them. I couldn’t tell if they had seen him or not—there were a lot of people pressing to get on the escalator, and I lost them for a moment. When I caught sight of Isobel again, she seemed to be struggling to maneuver her grandfather away from the top of the escalator. A look on her face told me that something was wrong. Mr. Schuster was having trouble with his walker.
Nick had moved directly behind the two of them. I thought he was going to say something to Mr. Schuster, but instead he turned his head. While I watched, he thrust his hands out in front of him. Then—oh my God!—Mr. Schuster lurched forward and down the escalator. Isobel screamed and scrambled to grab him, but she wasn’t fast enough. Mr. Schuster slammed into the man in front of him. The other man jerking aside, turning to see what had happened. The look of annoyance on the man’s face quickly turned to alarm. The man tried to get hold of Mr. Schuster, but with no one in front of him anymore to break his fall, Mr. Schuster continued to pitch forward. I watched in horror as he fell all the way down the escalator. His walker clattered down in front of him.
Some quick-thinking person at the bottom hit the emergency Stop button. The escalator ground to a halt, forcing the people behind Mr. Schuster to clutch the handrail to keep themselves from careening forward. More people crowded around the spot where Schuster lay crumpled on the ground.
“Did you see that?” Morgan said, her eyes wide with astonishment. “Did you see what I saw?”
I nodded grimly. I didn’t want to believe it, but I had seen it.
“Nick pushed that man,” Morgan said. “He pushed him right down the escalator.”
“That man is Mr. Schuster,” I said.
“What?” Morgan looked stunned. “Are you sure? Why would Nick push Mr. Schuster down the escalator?”
How could I possibly answer that question? I could barely believe it had happened.
People in the crowd were talking and pointing at Nick, who stood frozen at the top of the stalled escalator. He didn’t resist when a man grabbed him and held him. A security guard appeared at the bottom of the escalator. He knelt down to check on Mr. Schuster and then spoke into a walkie-talkie.
The man who had grabbed Nick hauled him down the escalator and dragged him over to the security guard. I saw Nick shake his head. Isobel stared up at him, disbelief in her eyes. The security guard stood up and took Nick by the arm. Then Elliot appeared. He bounded down the escalator and knelt down beside his father. He said something to Isobel, who was crying. She shook her head. I have no idea what she said, but Elliot sprang to his feet and flew at Nick. A second security guard appeared. The two guards pulled Elliot off Nick. Then one of them twisted Nick’s arms behind his back and handcuffed him.
“Can mall cops make arrests?” Morgan said.
“In the mall they can,” I said, still in a daze. I watched the first guard speak into his walkie-talkie again. Elliot crouched down beside Mr. Schuster. He put his arm around Isobel. Their backs were to us. A moment later, yet another security guard arrived. Two of the guards started talking to people. They were probably trying to piece together who had seen what. The third one kept a firm grip on Nick.
One of the guards came over to where Morgan and I were standing.
“Excuse me, ladies,” he said. Morgan winced at the word ladies. “Did you see what happened on the escalator?”
Morgan glanced at me. Her face twisted with indecision. I decided to put her out of her agony.
“Yes, we did,” I said.
“Then I’m going to ask you to stay here. The police are on their way, and they’re going to want to talk to everyone who witnessed the incident.”
I nodded and glanced over to where Nick was standing. He was staring at me. He did not look happy to see me.
The police arrived five minutes later. So did the paramedics. The police spoke to Elliot while the paramedics attended to Mr. Schuster. When they lifted Mr. Schuster onto a gurney and started to wheel him away, Elliot and Isobel went with them. Police officers began to interview the people the security guards had asked to stay.
“It looked to me like Nick pushed the old man,” Morgan said when a uniformed officer finally got to us. Her cheeks flushed as soon as she realized what she had said.
“You know the accused?” the officer said.
“Sort of,” Morgan said. “I’ve seen him around.”
The police officer looked at me. “What about you? Did you see what happened?”
I nodded. “He—Nick—was on the escalator behind Mr. Schuster—”
The police officer’s eyes narrowed. “You know the victim?”
“I walk his dog for him,” I said.
He nodded, but I bet he was thinking it was quite a coincidence that Morgan and I had witnessed the incident. “Go on,” he said.
“Well . . .” I hesitated. My father once told me that police officers are naturally suspicious. A good officer questions everything. This one was looking at me as if I were an unreliable witness, as if it had crossed his mind that I might be biased in some way. “It did look like Nick pushed Mr. Schuster. But I could be wrong.”
“Why do you say that?”
I wanted to say, “Because Nick likes Mr. Schuster and would never hurt him.” But I couldn’t tell the police officer that without admitting how well I knew Nick. What if Elliot found out? Instead, I said, “It all happened so fast.”
“Can you describe exactly what you saw?” he said.
I said that Nick had been at the top of the escalator behind Mr. Schuster and Isobel; that I had seen him raise both hands in front of him; that it looked like he had made contact with Mr. Schuster; and that right after that, Mr. Schuster had fallen.
“So you’re saying that the accused pushed the victim?” the police officer said.
“It sort of looked like it,” I said.
“Sort
of? You either saw him push that man or you didn’t.”
“I guess I saw him,” I admitted.
After double-checking our names, addresses, and phone numbers, he said we could go.
“I know I saw it,” Morgan said as we headed for the mall exit. “But I still don’t believe it.”
That was the thing—neither did I.
CHAPTER TEN
W
e got back to school nearly an hour after lunch period had ended. Mr. Dormer, one of the vice principals, stopped me and Morgan and asked us to account for our absence. Morgan didn’t have to use her dentist appointment excuse. Instead, she told the truth: we had gone to the mall, had witnessed an assault, and were detained because the police wanted us to make a statement. She even gave him the badge number of the police officer we had been talking to.
I had history and French that afternoon. I must even have listened because I scribbled a couple of pages of notes. But I don’t remember my teachers saying what I wrote down. My mind kept playing back what I had seen at the mall. Had I been wrong about Nick going to meet Elliot? Had he really gone there to see Mr. Schuster? But why would he risk detention by breaking bail? More importantly, why would he push Mr. Schuster down the escalator? Nick had been in fights before. I knew that. But he would never attack a helpless old man. He just wouldn’t. I felt sure of that—even though I had witnessed the whole incident. There had to be some other explanation.
As soon as school was over, I hurried to Mr. Schuster’s house. No one answered when I rang the bell. Poor Orion. He would have to stay shut up in the basement this afternoon. I was turning to go when Connor slouched up the front walk, shivering in a light canvas jacket, his gloveless hands jammed into the pockets.
“My parents are at the hospital with my grandpa,” he said. “That guy Nick—he pushed Grandpa down an escalator.”
“Is your grandfather okay?” I said.
“I don’t know,” he said. “My parents were waiting to talk to the doctor. My dad sent me back to let you in so you could walk the dog.” His hands shook as he unlocked the front door.
“You must be cold,” I said, trying to be pleasant.
“My mom got one of the neighbors to drive us to the hospital,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to have to come home on the bus.” He pushed the door open and I followed him inside. Orion’s barking filled the house. “I hope Grandpa doesn’t have to stay there for long,” he said. “Before he came home last time, that dog never shut up. He barked all night. I couldn’t sleep.”
“I’m sure Orion will be better after he’s had a walk,” I said. I headed for the basement door. Connor immediately retreated to the living room, closing the French doors behind him. When I came back up with Orion, Connor was at the farthest end of the couch, watching the dog’s every move. I felt sorry for him, but I felt sorrier for Orion. After Nick and Mr. Schuster had trained Orion at the animal shelter last summer, he had gotten used to a new, happy life with Mr. Schuster. For him to be locked in a dark basement all day must have been as bad as being in prison.
I took Orion for a long walk and ran willingly after him as he chased squirrel after squirrel. I noted with satisfaction that he walked much slower beside me on the way home than he had on the way to the park. He would sleep well.
I’d been hoping that the Schusters would be home when I got back to the house so that I could find out how Mr. Schuster was doing. But there was just Connor, still parked in front of the TV, watching cartoons. He watched as I led a reluctant Orion back down to the basement. Before I left, I asked him which hospital Mr. Schuster was in.
My father wasn’t home when I got there, but he called shortly after I arrived to tell me he wouldn’t be home for supper.
“There’s plenty of food in the fridge,” he said. “Or you can go downstairs and get Fred to feed you. I should be back around nine or ten.”
He didn’t tell me why he was going to be late, and I didn’t ask. Whenever my father doesn’t volunteer that information, it usually means he’s on a job. When he’s on a job, it’s always confidential.
Morgan called a few minutes later.
“So?” she said. “Did you find out anything?”
“Like what?” I said.
“Like what Nick was doing at the mall in the first place? Like why he pushed Mr. Schuster?”
“How am I supposed to find that out? They arrested Nick. If he isn’t still in detention, for sure his aunt has him under lock and key.” The day’s events flashed before my eyes again. “I still can’t believe . . .”
“But we saw it, Robyn. We both did.”
We had both seen Nick behind Mr. Schuster. We had both seen him thrust his hands out. We had both seen Mr. Schuster fall. But it didn’t make any sense—not to me, anyway.
Then something hit me—I hadn’t heard the phone at Mr. Schuster’s house ring that afternoon.
I should have worked on my project. As it was, it would be a miracle if it got finished before spring break. But I couldn’t concentrate. When my dad got home, he found me staring up at the moon through the skylight above the dining table. He sank down onto a chair opposite me. He looked exhausted.
“Tough day?” I said.
“And then some. How about you?”
“My day kind of sucked too,” I said. I told him what had happened at the mall.
“You keep saying it looked like Nick pushed Schuster,” he said when I had finished.
I had said the same thing to the cop who had interviewed Morgan and me.
“Are you hesitating because you’re not sure about what you saw or because you don’t want to believe it?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Morgan is sure she saw Nick push him. She doesn’t understand why he did it, but she’s positive that’s what happened.”
“But you’re not?”
He peered at me, waiting for an answer.
“I guess not,” I said. “I wish I could see it again. I wish I could see it in slow motion. What do you think is going to happen, Dad? Will they keep him locked up, or will they let him go back to his aunt’s place?”
“He broke bail, Robbie. And he’s facing another charge. It will take some convincing to get him released.”
“Is there any way I can see him?”
“Even if it were possible, I don’t think it would be a very good idea.”
“Why not?”
“The charges against him are serious. You were a witness to what happened today. You gave a statement to the police. That means you’re involved. If this ends up in court, you could be called as a witness.”
“I’m worried about him, Dad.”
My father sighed as he got to his feet. “It’s late, and it’s been a long day. I need to get some sleep.” He started for his room, then paused and turned back to me. “What exactly were you doing at the mall, Robbie?”
I hadn’t told the police that I’d overheard Nick make plans to meet someone there because I didn’t want to be the one who made it worse for him. I didn’t tell my dad for the same reason.
“Morgan had a dentist appointment,” I said. “I went with her.”
“It was just a coincidence that you happened to witness what you did?”
I nodded. I don’t know whether my dad believed me or not, but he didn’t ask any more questions.
I stayed up for longer than I should have. I thought about the phone that hadn’t rung. That had to mean that someone in Mr. Schuster’s house had called Nick and not the other way around. Had it been Elliot? If that were true, why had Nick run to catch up with Mr. Schuster and Isobel?
I knocked on the door to my father’s bedroom. He groaned but sat up and turned on the light.
“Having trouble sleeping?” he said, his eyes bleary, his hair sticking out all over his head.
“I need a favor.”
He listened in silence to my request. To my surprise, he didn’t argue with me. He didn’t quiz me. In fact, he didn’t give me any grief at all. Instea
d, he said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
School let out at noon the next day. It was the beginning of break. I decided to use the extra time that afternoon to go to the hospital and see Mr. Schuster. Morgan came with me.
“Robyn!” someone called just as we stepped off the elevator. “Robyn!”
It was Isobel. She was in a small waiting room across from the elevator. So were some of Mr. Schuster’s neighbors—Esther and Edith and another woman I recognized from my dog-walking expeditions. Isobel’s parents stood halfway down the hall talking to a man in a white lab coat. Isobel came out of the waiting room to greet me.
“How’s your grandfather?” I asked.
“My dad said nothing is broken, so I guess that’s good,” she said. “But he hurt his wrists and his back and one of his knees got banged up. It’s really swollen. The doctor says that in his condition, it could take a long time for him to recover. Depending on how much damage was done to his knee and his back, he might not be able to walk again for a long time.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “After all that progress he made . . .”
“It looks like he’s had a lot of visitors,” I said gently. “I bet he appreciates that.”
Isobel nodded. “All of those women in there are either neighbors or they know him from church. My dad says he had no idea Grandpa was such a ladies’ man.”
“Will he be able to go home soon?”
Isobel’s face clouded again.
“That’s what my parents are talking to Grandpa’s doctor about. The doctor is worried. He thinks Grandpa should consider going to a home, where he can be looked after. But Grandpa doesn’t want that. He got all upset when my dad mentioned it. My parents got into a big argument about it. My dad keeps saying that Grandpa isn’t well enough to make decisions for himself, but he doesn’t want to force him into a nursing home. My mom thinks my dad should take charge and that if the doctor thinks Grandpa needs to be in a nursing home, then that’s what he should do.”
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