As we left the cubicle, we found Ben and Nick standing on opposite sides of the hall, waiting for us. Ben was staring at Nick. Nick was staring at the floor. Ben started toward me.
“We’ll be waiting at the main door,” my dad said. He nodded to Nick, who refused to look at me. He followed my father down the hall.
As soon as they were out of sight, Ben said, “So that’s the guy you used to go out with?”
I nodded.
“He seems pretty tight with your dad.”
“He’s in trouble. My dad’s helping him out.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“It’s complicated.”
“How is your father helping him out?”
I hesitated. “Nick is staying at my dad’s place for a while.”
Ben looked at me for what seemed like an eternity.
“Aren’t you staying with your father while your mom is out of town?” he said.
“Yes, but—”
“So you and your ex-boyfriend are staying together at your dad’s place?”
“It’s not what you think—”
“How long has he been staying there?”
“My dad just bailed him out this afternoon.”
“Bailed him out? You mean he was arrested?” He frowned as if he was trying to make a difficult decision. “You said you had just finished walking Orion.”
“So?”
“There was a dog named Orion at that animal shelter where you volunteered last summer,” he said. “Nick trained him, didn’t he?”
I stared at him. “How do you know that?” I had avoided giving Ben any details about Nick. I didn’t think that they would ever meet, and besides, thinking about Nick always made me feel either angry or sad.
“Morgan told me,” he said.
“Why would Morgan tell you that?”
“Because I asked her.”
“You asked Morgan about Nick?”
His eyes shifted away from mine.
“Why did you do that?” I said.
His face was defiant when he looked at me again. “Because I wanted to know.”
“Know what?”
“Don’t look at me like that, Robyn. I didn’t commit a crime. I just wanted to know something about the guy who seemed so important to you.”
“If you wanted to know, you should have asked me.”
“If I had asked, would you have told me?”
It was my turn to feel uncomfortable. I looked away.
“I thought so,” Ben said.
“I’m sorry,” I said, though I was mostly sorry that we were having the conversation. “I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you, but—”
“—but you were walking Nick’s dog before you were attacked.”
“Orion isn’t Nick’s dog. Nick trained him, but he belongs to someone else.”
“Then why were you walking him?”
“I was just helping out a friend.”
“Nick?”
“No. I was doing a favor for the dog’s owner.” I was getting angry.
“Are you still in love with him, Robyn?”
Ben looked deep into my eyes. Maybe he thought if he looked hard enough, he would see what was in my heart.
“My arm hurts,” I said. “And my dad is waiting. I have to go.”
For a moment, Ben’s eyes were sharp and cold. Then his expression softened just a little. He slipped an arm around my waist.
“I’ll walk you out,” he said.
My dad and Nick were sitting on a bench in the hospital’s busy main lobby. They both got to their feet when they saw me. Ben walked me to where they were standing, then leaned over to kiss me. But it didn’t seem right, not in front of Nick. I pulled away from him. Ben looked hurt, but all he said was, “I’ll call you.” He nodded politely to my father and stepped into the revolving doors. He drove past us a few minutes later, while we were on our way to my dad’s car.
“Here we go,” my dad said, unlocking his own car. Nick slid into the back seat. No one said a word the whole way to my dad’s place.
My father’s loft is mostly open concept. Even if Nick slept in the office, I was going to have a hard time avoiding him.
“The couch doesn’t pull out,” my father said as he showed Nick where to put his things—a backpack and a small duffel bag. “You get settled and I’ll get started on dinner. It’s late. You two must be hungry. I know I am.”
“Do you need any help?” Nick and I said in unison. I had asked so that I’d have an excuse to get away from Nick. Nick had probably asked to get away from me.
“I think I can handle it,” my dad said. “You two relax. Watch some TV.” He disappeared into the kitchen.
Nick ducked into my father’s office and closed the door. I went to my room and sat down on the bed, cradling my broken arm. I wished Nick weren’t there—at least, that’s what I told myself. I wished my dad hadn’t decided to help him—at least, that’s what I told myself.
But if I were being honest with myself, neither was true.
What I really wished was that Nick hadn’t disappeared three months ago. I wished that he’d stayed in town and that we had stayed together. I had the feeling that if he hadn’t left, things would be different. Or would they? Nick would still have been walking Orion for Mr. Schuster. He would still have met Elliot Schuster, who probably would still have fired him. And the coins? They would probably still be missing. And maybe Nick would still have been arrested for stealing them. But I would have known about it sooner. I could have helped him.
I shook my head. What was the matter with me? We weren’t still together. I was with Ben—who was angry with me. Which reminded me . . .
I dug my phone out of my backpack and called Morgan’s number.
“You just had to tell him, didn’t you?” I said.
“What? Robyn, is that you?”
“You told Ben how I met Nick! It sounds like you gave him a full play-by-play.”
“Oh,” Morgan said. She sounded almost contrite.
“So you did tell him.”
“Well, I guess I kind of—”
“Why?”
“Because he asked. I’m sorry, Robyn. But it was a while ago—before Nick came back. I didn’t think it mattered.” There was a brief pause. “I also didn’t think he’d tell you.”
“Well, he did.”
“Sorry,” she murmured again. I relented a little. Morgan was my friend. I knew she wouldn’t have said anything to Ben if she’d thought it would hurt me.
“It gets worse,” I said. “Ben was at the hospital with me when my dad got there—”
“You were at the hospital? What happened? Did Mr. Schuster get worse? Oh God, he didn’t die, did he?”
“I was at a different hospital. The thing is, my dad brought Nick with him.”
“He brought Nick to the hospital? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. Someone attacked me.”
“Attacked you? What do you mean?”
“I mean, dragged me down a dark alley and threatened me. My arm is broken.”
“Okay,” Morgan said. “Back up and tell me this story in chronological order, or I’m hanging up and coming over there.”
I took a deep breath and told her what had happened from the time I had dropped off Orion to the time I left the hospital.
“Someone attacked you and threatened you and you’re mad at me for answering a few of Ben’s questions two months ago?” Morgan said. “I don’t think you have your priorities straight.”
She was right. Just seeing Nick again had turned my whole world upside down.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But you should have seen the look on Ben’s face when he found out that Nick is staying here.”
“Whoa! Nick is staying at your dad’s? But you’re staying at your dad’s place.”
“You sound just like Ben.”
“I bet.”
“Let me get this straight, Robyn. Your current boyfriend is mad because you and
your ex-boyfriend are living in the same place—and this surprises you?” There was a pause. “It is still exboyfriend, isn’t it?”
“You were at his aunt’s house, Morgan. You saw what he was like.”
“Things can change, Robyn.”
“Well, they haven’t. He and my dad walked in while Ben was hugging me.”
There were a few more seconds of silence before Morgan said, “Does Ben have anything to worry about?”
Was there any chance I would get back together with Nick? No—not if Nick had anything to do with it. But what if things were different? What if Nick wanted me back? I was supposed to be with Ben, but I couldn’t get Nick out of my mind.
“Does he, Robyn?”
“I guess not.”
“So talk to Ben. He’ll forgive you.”
“Forgive me? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Except get involved in Nick’s problems without telling him. And see Nick without mentioning it to him. And . . .”
“I get it,” I said.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
M
y dad whipped up omelets and toast. He ate heartily. I picked at the food on my plate. So did Nick. He stared at the table the whole time. I told myself I didn’t care. My arm was throbbing.
“Well, this is fun,” my dad said.
I gave him a warning look. The rest of the meal passed in silence. My father frowned slightly as he ate, chewing over a problem.
As soon as we finished eating, Nick volunteered to clean up. My dad accepted his offer.
“Come on, Robbie,” he said. “We need to talk.”
I followed him into the living room and sank down on one of his comfy sofas. My dad brought along a small bottle of painkillers and handed me a tablet.
“You can take another one in six hours if you need to,” he said. He leaned forward to look at me. “Robbie, I need you to tell me again what happened.”
I repeated what I had already told him—and the police—at the hospital.
“Do you remember anything else about the man who attacked you? Anything at all?” he said.
I shook my head. I hadn’t seen anything except his gloves.
“So you were waiting for the bus, and this man came up behind you and grabbed you, is that right?”
“He put a hand over my mouth, told me not to scream, and dragged me down an alley beside a store. When I struggled, he twisted my arm. I thought he was going to dislocate my shoulder. Then he pushed me and I fell.”
My dad frowned, just as he had at the hospital. “Did he say anything first? Threaten you in any way?”
I don’t like to lie to my dad. I hardly ever do it. But I knew what he would do if I told him the truth: make me tell the police. I just needed a little more time. I needed to hear Nick’s side of the story. I owed him that.
“It doesn’t make sense,” my father said. “Why did he grab you? “Robbie, this man didn’t . . .he didn’t try to get you to go with him, did he?”
Police officers and ex-police officers—they all think alike.
“No, nothing like that. He just grabbed me, that’s all. Maybe he was crazy.”
My dad’s frown deepened. “It’s not like you were in a dangerous neighborhood.”
“You’re always telling me to be aware of my surroundings, that crime doesn’t just happen in poor areas.”
“True.” He looked at the cast on my arm. “Your mother’s going to have a fit when she hears what happened.”
I wasn’t looking forward to telling her, but there was no way to avoid it. My arm wouldn’t be healed by the time she and Ted returned from their vacation.
“You sure there isn’t anything else you can tell me about what happened, Robbie?”
“I’m sure. I’m going to try to get some sleep, Dad.”
He nodded. “That’s probably a good idea.”
I passed the kitchen on the way to my room, where Nick was wiping off the counter. I wondered if he’d overheard our conversation.
I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. The painkiller my father had given me was kicking in. The throbbing in my arm started to ease. But my brain was racing. The man who had attacked me believed that Nick had the missing coins. He’d threatened me because he wanted me to deliver a message to Nick. The more I thought about it, the more questions I had.
My attacker knew that I knew Nick. But except for two short visits to his aunt’s house, I hadn’t been anywhere near Nick in three months. Had the guy been following me? Or had someone told him that I knew Nick?
And what made my attacker so sure Nick had the coins? I thought about what the man had said—tell him to hand them over. Over to whom? And the really big question: what could—or should—I do about it?
I waited until the loft was silent, then got up and crept into my dad’s office.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the room filled with light. Nick sat up, his hand on the switch of the lamp beside the couch. He was wearing a pair of old sweatpants and a T-shirt. His hair, still too long, was disheveled. His purple-blue eyes burned into mine.
“What are you doing in here?” he said.
“We have to talk.”
The look on his face was one of purposeful indifference—Nick telling me that he didn’t care about me or anything to do with me.
“Your boyfriend has a nice car,” he said. “Let me guess. He’s loaded, right?”
“His family is well off, if that’s what you mean.”
He looked down at my hand. “Nice ring too,” he said. “How much do you figure that set him back?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Of course not. That wouldn’t be polite, would it?” He switched off the light. I heard him settle back down on the couch.
“The man who attacked me,” I said quietly into the darkness, “he told me to give you a message.”
For a moment it was silent in the room. Then the room filled with light again. Nick peered at me.
“What message?”
“He grabbed me, Nick. He put a hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream. Then he wrenched my arm back and said, ‘Tell your boyfriend to hand over the coins.’ He said you knew what to do with them. He said if you didn’t . . .” I shuddered as I remembered his words.
“If I didn’t, what?”
“Someone would get hurt.”
“Why didn’t you tell your dad that?”
So he had been listening to us. “The police think you stole those coins. So does Mr. Schuster’s family. If I told the police what that man said, it would only make them more convinced that you did it. I wanted to talk to you first. I want to know what’s going on.”
“The guy your dad saw on the security video,” Nick said. “The one who slammed into me. I think he could be the same guy who hurt you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Right after I met up with Mr. Schuster and Isobel, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I started to turn around to see what the problem was. A man whispered in my ear. He said if I didn’t deliver the coins, someone was going to pay.”
“Deliver them?”
“He told me where to take them.”
“Where?”
“What difference does it make?”
Was he kidding? “We could leave them there—”
Nick’s eyes drilled into mine. “I don’t have the coins, Robyn.”
“Nick, if you took them for any reason, maybe to keep them safe from Elliot—”
“I didn’t. I’m really sorry about what happened to Mr. Schuster and to you, but I don’t know why that man thinks I have those coins. I never touched them.”
Now that we were face-to-face, now that I was looking into his eyes, I knew he was telling me the truth.
“I’m sorry. I thought—”
“I know what you thought.”
I was pretty sure he didn’t, but I didn’t think he would believe me if I told him.
“As long as he thinks you have them, maybe we can find out
who he is,” I said. “We could leave a package where he said. Then we could watch and see who picks it up, see if it’s the same person who attacked me and pushed you.”
“But you told your dad you didn’t see the guy.”
“I didn’t. But you did, on the escalator.”
He shook his head. “I started to turn around, but he told me not to. He told me to listen. I didn’t get a look at him. And I saw that security video from the mall. You can’t see the guy’s face or his hair or anything. You can’t even tell he was talking to me.”
“Still,” I said, “if we drop off the coins and someone picks them up, that has to prove something.”
“Right,” he said. “We drop a package that doesn’t contain the stolen coins in a garbage can—”
“A garbage can?”
“That’s what he said. It’s a garbage can in the park. And some guy picks it up and, if anyone asks him, claims he was just picking through the garbage or something and found a package that doesn’t even contain any coins. What will that prove?”
I hated to admit it, but he was right. We wouldn’t be any further ahead. And if we told the police why we were doing it, it could make things worse for Nick.
“Why did he push you, Nick?”
“He said he wanted me to understand that he was serious about what he was saying.”
“My attacker said the same thing. And you have no idea who he was?”
“None.”
“How would he have known you’d be at the mall? Were you followed? Have you noticed anyone hanging around your aunt’s house?”
He shook his head.
“Did you tell the police what he said?”
“What do you think, Robyn?”
I sat down on the couch next to him.
“Nick, I need you to be honest with me.”
He stiffened a little. “I’ve always been honest with you.”
“That’s not how I remember it.”
“Okay, maybe we got off to a bad start. But after what happened in Chinatown, I promised myself—no more lies. Not to you.”
I was sitting so close to him that I could feel his breath on my neck. I ached to touch him.
“Nick, how did some of the coins end up in your backpack?”
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