“What’s her other major?” Colin asked.
“Drama,” Dr. Comfrey said. “I know that sounds like an odd combination. She told me once that her father wanted her to be a doctor and she wanted to be an actress. A double major was their compromise. I don’t know what she’ll do when it’s time to graduate,” she laughed.
I placed a hand on the counter. “She’s an actress.”
Dr. Comfrey nodded. “Yes, she had the lead in the school play last year. She’s probably at the theater right now, rehearsing.”
I was right. Gregory had put her up to pretending to see a ghost. It was the only explanation.
Colin and I thanked the chemistry professor and headed to the theater.
I had never been in the Creative and Dramatic Arts building, but luckily Colin had been there for the play last year and knew just where to go.
He pushed open the heavy door to the theater. Three students stood on the stage reading lines. One of them was Paige.
“Let’s take five,” an older woman at the foot of the stage called. “Troy, you have to enunciate better. I want to understand what you’re saying.”
Paige and her friends broke up. Paige sat on the edge of the stage and swung her feet while she read over her lines.
“Now’s our chance,” I whispered to Colin.
He nodded, and we walked down the center aisle to where Paige sat.
“Can we talk to you?” I asked.
She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Hey, you kids were at the park this weekend. What are you doing here?”
“We want to talk to you,” Colin said.
“To me? Why?”
“Because we know you didn’t really see a ghost on Saturday. You just pretended that you did.”
She laughed. “Of course I didn’t see a ghost. I was acting.”
My mouth fell open. I hadn’t expected her just to come right out and admit it. I glanced at Colin and he had the same expression that I did. “So you lied.”
She arched one eyebrow. “It was a joke.”
“A joke?” I asked.
She laughed. “Did you kids think I actually saw a ghost? Spooner dared me to do it just to be funny. I’m glad I was so convincing.” She laughed harder.
“You didn’t see a ghost,” Colin said.
“No, there’s no such thing as ghosts.” Paige jumped off the edge of the stage and walked down the aisle toward the exit. Colin and I followed her. She placed her hand on the doorknob. “Now, you kids have to leave. I need to get back to rehearsal.”
After she left, Colin dropped his hands to his sides. “That’s not what I expected to hear.”
“It still doesn’t clear Gregory. I’m not taking him off my suspect list just yet.”
“Good,” Colin agreed. “Neither am I.”
“Let’s go find Amelie.”
My aunt was in her tiny office buried behind a stack of papers and manila folders. “Andi and Colin, thank goodness you’re here. This grading is going to be the death of me. I have forty-five papers to grade by Monday.” She blew one of her curls out of her face. “And I thought grad school was hard.” She jumped out of her seat and grabbed the top stack of papers. “Let’s get going. I might as well grade at home where I’m more comfortable.”
A half hour later, Amelie turned her car into the driveway. From the front passenger seat, I saw Colin’s dad standing on the edge of the driveway with his arms folded across his chest. I winced. “Your dad is home.”
“Yeah,” Colin said glumly from the backseat.
Dr. Carter pursed his lips when we climbed out of the car. “Colin, get in the house.”
“Dad, we were just — ”
“I don’t care what you were ‘just’. Get in the house. Now.” A muscle twitched in the doctor’s jaw as he spoke.
Colin ran across the yard, and his father refolded his arms. “Amelie, I thought we agreed that Andi and Colin needed some time apart, so that they stay out of trouble.”
“I was giving Colin a ride home.”
“After he spent the afternoon with Andi,” the angry doctor glared at me. “Please don’t interfere with how I raise my son.”
Amelie looked as if she wanted to say something in return, but she held her tongue as the doctor walked away.
The next morning, I woke up feeling dizzy. I had felt the same way in the days after my parents died. Of course, I still thought of my parents first when I woke up, I always did, but then I remembered how angry Colin’s dad was the day before.
I reached the first floor just as I heard Romero honk the horn of his truck. Bethany flew out of the kitchen, through the living room, and out the front door. Amelie stood in the archway leading into the kitchen and shook her head. “I know I gave her permission to ride in his pickup, but I’m still terrified something will happen to her.”
As soon as my aunt mentioned Romero’s pickup, I remembered the duffel bag I saw in the bed of his truck. I ran to the window and watched them drive away. I had to see what was in that bag.
“You’re nervous for her too, aren’t you?” Amelie said.
Not exactly. I was worried about my sister. I was always worried about my sister. She was the last connection to the life I used to have with my parents. But I wasn’t thinking about Bethany’s safety at that moment. I was thinking about the duffel bag.
I saw Colin at lunch, but he muttered back one-word answers to my questions. His dad must have been really mad last night. Eventually, I gave up trying to talk to him and ate my lunch in silence.
The last period of the day, Life Science, was an oddly normal class. There was no special guest speaker, and Mr. McCone spent the entire time talking about bird bones.
When school was finally over, Colin came over to my desk. “Bergita is picking me up to take me home. I bet she would give you a ride too.”
I shook my head. “Knowing our luck, your dad would be home again. I don’t mind walking.”
Colin and I walked to the front of the school. After spending twenty minutes convincing Bergita that I really did want to walk home, she finally accepted my answer. I waved to them as they drove away, but instead of heading to the sidewalk. I ran back inside and out of the back door of the building into the parking lot.
The middle school and high school shared the same parking lot, and I hoped that Romero’s truck was still there. I had to find that duffel bag.
Most of the cars were gone. The high school released fifteen minutes before the middle school did. This used to drive Bethany crazy because she would have to wait for me so we could walk home together. She didn’t have to wait anymore now that Romero was her transportation, but since it was Tuesday, I knew Bethany had Art Club. It was the only social group she’d joined at school.
Romero’s truck was still in the lot. I bet she got him to go to art club too. I looked around the lot to make sure no one was watching. When I didn’t see anyone, I sprinted for Romero’s red pickup. On my tippy toes, I peered into the bed of the truck. The blanket was there, and I remembered the duffel bag I so desperately wanted to see was under it.
I stepped on the bumper and swung my leg over the tailgate. I whipped the rough blanket aside. The bag was still there. I ripped open the zipper and pulled out the contents: a long silver wig and a white gauzy robe with glitter on it. I removed the piece of fabric I found in Shalley Park from my pocket. It matched. I pulled the robe all the way out and found a small tear in the sleeve. Although crumpled and worn from being inside my pocket, my piece fit into the tear perfectly.
I’d found the
ghost.
I heard a shuffling sound, and peeked over the side of the truck. The school security guard moseyed in my direction, snapping a large wad of pink bubblegum. I didn’t have time to climb out of the truck without being seen, so I threw the blanket over my head and hid.
I waited and listened. I was about to climb out of my hiding place, when I heard voices approaching the truck.
“Let me know how your mom is,” I heard Bethany say. My sister was right outside of Romero’s truck! Oh, this was bad. If she caught me, I was dead meat.
“I will,” Romero said. “Thanks.”
“And I’m sorry for my sister being so nosy,” Bethany said.
“That’s not your fault,” Romero replied.
“She’s a pain, but she’s still my sister.”
They were talking about me while standing right beside the truck bed where I was hiding.
Romero laughed. “Ava is nosy too. I think it’s a little sister requirement.”
Bethany sighed. “She’s all I have left of my mom and dad too. I wish we got along better.”
My heart started to beat faster, and I wondered if I should reveal myself. I didn’t because I wanted to hear what else my sister had to say.
“I had better get back to Art Club,” Bethany said.
Romero said good-bye, and a few moments later, the pickup door opened. And the engine started.
I peeked out from under the blanket. Above me, the tops of trees and the sky passed by. I knew we couldn’t be too far from the school yet, but I couldn’t tell where I was from just seeing the treetops and an occasional streetlight. If I knocked on the rear window of the pickup, I might scare Romero and cause an accident. I chewed on my lip. Aunt Amelie asked me to stay out of trouble. I don’t think this is what she had in mind.
CASE FILE NO. 17
The pickup made a sharp turn, sending me slamming into the side of the truck. Gravel crunched under its tires as the truck slowed down. I crouched under the blanket and placed my hands on the floor, so I would be ready to spring up and out of there.
Finally, the truck rocked to a stop. I prayed that Romero didn’t need anything from the back of his truck, but that prayer was short-lived because suddenly the blanket was ripped from my head.
“Ahhhh!” Romero screamed and jumped backward.
I scrambled to my feet, scooped up the duffel bag with the ghost costume, and hopped over the tailgate. I landed with a thud in the gravel. We were in the Shalley Park parking lot.
I turned to find Romero a few feet away. He had a hand to his chest as if he were trying to hold his heart in place. “What were you doing in there?”
“What are you doing at Shalley Park?” I said back.
He dropped his hand and glared at the duffel bag in my hand. “Give that to me.”
“No way,” I yelled. “I have this as proof that you are the ghost and robbing those graves.”
He lunged for the duffel bag, but I jumped out of his reach.
“You’ve been stealing from the graves!”
He held one hand with the other. “I need the money.”
“For what? To take my sister out on a date?” I slung the strap of the duffel bag diagonally over my body.
“No,” he snapped, stepping toward me. “Do you want to know why Ava misses so much school?”
I took two huge steps back. I was the closest to the path leading into the park. I didn’t think I could outrun Romero, but I was willing to try. “Yes.”
His jaw twitched. “It’s because our mom is sick, really sick. Ava has been going with her to the doctor’s appointments.” He dropped his glare for just a second. “I — I can’t. I can’t handle going with her, so my little sister has to do it.”
“What’s wrong with her?” I whispered. My hand fell from the duffel bag’s strap until I remembered I needed to keep it for evidence.
“Breast cancer. And all the pink ribbon support in the world isn’t going to help her. She’s going to die.”
“B-but what about surgery or chemo? I thought they can fix this.”
“Sure, they can try, but this is her second time around. Chances aren’t that good.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. I had lost my mother. It had been sudden and violent. She hadn’t been sick. The day before she died, I had spoken to her on the phone. She had been healthy. She was in the best shape of her life. She could climb mountains and hike ravines, and I still lost her and my father. But I didn’t watch her die. She was just gone. Was watching it worse? I didn’t know.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Yeah, well, now Ava is going to rip my head off because I told you. She doesn’t want anyone to know, especially anyone from school.” He scowled. “So don’t go telling anyone.”
“I won’t,” I promised.
“Good,” he grunted. “Now, turn over the duffel bag.”
“No way.” I grabbed the strap again.
“You have to. I — I can’t go to the doctor’s with my mom like Ava can. I’m not that strong, but I can earn money to help pay for everything.”
“By stealing?”
He glared at me, taking a few steps forward. “You’re Beth’s sister. I don’t want to fight with you so just hand it over.”
Before I could answer, a person came up behind Romero. “What is taking so long, Romero? This is the last night I can afford to spend on the site, and I want to get this over with,” Claudette’s familiar voice said harshly.
If the duffel bag hadn’t been strapped across my body, I would have dropped it in shock.
“Claudette?” I whispered. “What are you doing here? You said we all needed to stay away from Shalley Park.”
“Andi!” Her eyes snapped in my direction. “Yes, I told you to stay away from the park. It’s for your own safety.”
“Safety from you!” I shouted. “You used the story of Dominika’s ghost to scare us away from the cemetery, so you could dig the graves up with Romero’s help.” It all made sense. Hadn’t Mr. Finnigan said that greed was at the heart of this crime? Romero did it for money, money he can give his family. Claudette needed money too, but to finance her birding not to pay someone’s hospital bills. I should have suspected her before, but I had been blinded by the fact she was Colin’s aunt and Bergita’s sister.
Colin’s aunt waved her hands. “It’s not what you think.”
“It’s exactly what I think,” I said. “You stole coins from those graves for money to pay for your birding. You’re still stealing from them.” I looked from one to the other. “Isn’t that what you are still doing?”
She glared at me. “Andi, you need to listen to reason. Give up the duffel bag, and Romero will take you home.”
“No!” I cried and spun around. I ran at top speed for the trail leading into Shalley Park.
“Go after her,” Claudette yelled. “You have to get that costume back or we’ll both be ruined.”
Behind me, I heard Romero crash into the forest. He would overtake me soon. His legs were much longer than mine.
“Andi,” a voice called. “Over here!”
I paused for half a second to look around, and then out of nowhere, a hand yanked me into the bushes.
“Shh,” Colin whispered in my ear.
Seconds later, Romero barreled down the path.
We waited for a couple of minutes crouched in the bushes. Finally, we crept out onto the path.
I knocked a leaf from my shoulder. “What are you doing here?”
“When you d
idn’t come home after school, I had a feeling you came here. I arrived just as you were talking to Claudette and Romero.” He shook his head and his hair fell over the top of his glasses. “I can’t believe my aunt is in on this. We need to tell Bergita.”
I shoved Romero’s duffel bag back into the brush until it was so far in no one would see it from the path.
“What are you doing?”
“This is what they are after. I’m hiding it until we can find more evidence. This might not be enough to convince Officer Handly and the police.”
Colin stared nervously up the path. “I think we need to leave the park, Andi.”
“Not yet. We just need a little more proof that they’re behind the grave robbing.”
“So what should we do? Call the police?”
I shook my head. “No, call Bergita and ask her to come. If anyone can talk Claudette into doing the right thing it will be her sister.”
“What am I supposed to say? Hey, Bergita, hurry up and get over here because your sister is a grave robber?”
I rolled my eyes. “Tell her that we are at Shalley Park, and we need her to meet us at the cemetery ASAP.”
Colin sighed and called his grandmother. “Hi, Bergita. Yes, yes, I’m fine . . . I know I should have told you I was leaving . . . I’m at Shalley Park.” He glanced at me. “Yes, Andi’s here too. We need you to come here . . . It has to do with the ghost and the grave robbery.” He paused. “It’ll be easier to explain when you get here.”
I heard Bergita shout into the phone, and then Colin said good-bye. “She’s on her way.”
“Good. Now, we need to go to the cemetery and stop Romero and Claudette from taking anything else from the Shalley boys’ graves.”
From our many treks through Shalley Park the last few days, Colin and I knew exactly where the cemetery was. It was about a mile from the parking lot, deep in the woods. We walked there in silence, listening for any sound of Claudette or Romero on the trail.
Andi Unstoppable Page 11