“Yeah. Okay.” But now I’m not sure it matters anymore whether I know or not.
The next day, my third day in the hospital, Chief Walker comes by to tell me that any questions he has can wait until after I’m discharged and home. Especially since both Greg and Amy have confessed. “Someday, though,” he says, “you and I are going to have a talk about what you were doing. And why you shouldn’t have done it.”
“Yes, sir.” I figured this talk would be coming.
“You were lucky,” he says. “Remember that. But you’re also smart. You never know, with the proper training, when you’re older, of course—like after you’ve finished high school and college—maybe you could become a very good investigator.” With that, he gives me a smile. “Just not yet, okay?”
Still smiling, he leaves the room.
A little later Charlie shows up. I’m so happy to see her. Uncle Bill is in the room, and he excuses himself, saying he’ll get himself some coffee and maybe a bite to eat. He should probably go home and sleep, but I know I won’t be able to convince him to do that.
As Charlie sits in the chair he just vacated, my uncle looks back at me from the door and gives me a smile and a wink.
“How are you feeling?” Charlie asks.
“Better,” I say. “Your father was here earlier.”
“Yeah, I know,” she answers, smiling. “You’re not going to have to testify, it looks like. Greg couldn’t wait to confess. Amy lasted a day before she caved.”
“It’s hard to get my head around the thought of Amy Sloan killing someone.”
“I know. I liked her. I keep thinking about their parents. Their families. How hard it must be on them.”
I think back to Greg’s little sister; she clearly looked up to him. How was she handling it?
It had to be harder for Alycia Beaumont’s family, though. Did she have a sister or brother? Had her parents spent those days waiting for news on their daughter hoping and praying she would be okay? What were they feeling now, with those hopes dashed and their prayers unanswered?
So many lives altered, changed forever. It’s difficult to think about.
“What’s that?” I ask Charlie. She has a bag in her hand.
“I bought the entire series of Criminal Minds on DVD. We’ve been talking about bingeing it.”
“We can watch it on Netflix.”
“I figured you should own it. It’ll be good training for you when you get back to being an investigator.”
“It’s twelve seasons or more. New episodes are still on every week.”
“So it’ll take a while.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to watch much TV until my head is better.”
She shrugs and puts the bag on the table next to my bed. “Whenever you’re ready.”
I look at her. “Thank you.”
“I wondered when you were going to say that.” Charlie smiles. “You’re welcome, you big goof.”
“You’re bigger than I am,” I respond.
“Bigger and stronger. But not goofier.”
I smile back at her.
We sit in silence for a few seconds. “Do you know when they’re letting you out of here?” Charlie asks.
“Probably tomorrow. I’m still supposed to rest, though. Come back to see the doctors. I’m going to be out of school for two weeks. Then my classes will be limited after that.”
“By the time you’re back to a normal schedule, the school year will be over.”
“I may need to take a couple of refresher classes early in the summer, then take finals.”
“Ah, you’ll do fine. You’ve got great grades. You could probably pass finals right now, even with a concussion.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll be happy with taking things one day at a time for now.”
“Good plan.” She leans in. “Everybody’s talking about you at school, you know.”
“Good things?” I ask.
“You’re super detective Alden Ross.”
“More like Alden Ross, Cry-Wolf Boy.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about those first two calls. They’re ancient history, and understandable. My father knows when to keep certain things to himself.”
“Still, I think I should apologize to Gavin.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Again, Charlie leans in. “I don’t know if I should be telling you this, but I heard how they got Alycia Beaumont’s body to Powell Lake. Neither Alycia or Greg have their own cars, but with Amy’s parents out of town, she went home and got her mother’s car. This was after they threw Alycia’s body over the right-field fence into some bushes. Greg was hiding with the body outside of the field when the police showed up after you called them. Doesn’t say much for our police force, does it?”
“They figured it was a false alarm,” I offer.
“Yeah, well, my father made sure they knew he wasn’t happy about it. Anyway, when Amy was back with the car and something to wrap the body in and to weight it down, they drove to Powell Lake and dropped poor Alycia in the water. They’re lucky nobody saw them, though it’s pretty empty out there. They had one of Greg’s parents’ cars parked close by to do the same thing with you. Cold, huh?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Except Greg didn’t want to kill me. By not loading the gun, he saved my life.”
“Hadn’t thought of that,” Charlie says.
“I never heard how you got there with the police when you did,” I ask.
“Your uncle called me to check that you were with me,” she says.
“I guess I’m glad he didn’t trust me.”
“When he said you had a big bag with you, I knew it was the evidence,” Charlie continues. “I didn’t know why you still had it, so I asked him more questions. When he said Amy had come by the day before, I got suspicious. That argument she and Greg had on the way to school for all to see, especially you, seemed fishy to me. Staged.”
“They fooled me,” I mutter. “Especially Amy. Played me for a sucker.”
“Ah, don’t be too hard on yourself. You just have a softer heart than I do. Anyway, I told my dad everything. It was my idea to check Miller’s Park. Criminals returning to the scene of the crime and all that.”
“I’m glad you did,” I tell her. “Told your dad, I mean.”
My head is starting to hurt again. It should be time for me to rest. I want to close my eyes, but I don’t want Charlie to leave.
She suddenly has a serious look on her face. “I’m sorry,” she says.
“For what?”
“For not being there for you. For abandoning you when you needed me the most. When you realized it was the girl from Carlson who’d been killed, you should have felt like you could call me. That was my fault for making you feel that way.”
“But I understand why,” I say. “I think I might have been a little out of control by then. And then I said some really awful stuff to you.”
“Still,” Charlie says. “Water under the bridge. We’re partners, aren’t we?”
“Sure,” I say without hesitation. “Not that we’ll be doing any investigating in the future. I messed up a lot. I think my investigating days are over.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Charlie grins. “You’re the one who figured out it was Amy who killed Alycia Beaumont, not Greg.”
Alycia Beaumont. It was strange how we didn’t know each other and never would, and yet our lives had become so intertwined. What if I hadn’t panicked and run the day Alycia died? I could have seen she was still alive. Maybe I could have saved her.
Truth is, I’ll never know. Just like I’ll never know if I would have saved my parents had I gone to Chief Walker right away, or to any of the police at the fair, and told them about the suspicious man I bumped into, instead of blowing it off and getting in line for a snow cone.
“What are you so lost in thought about?” Charlie asks.
I’d like to talk to my best friend about this—but at another time, when my head feels less scrambled.
Right on schedule, the nurse comes in with my next dose of pain medicine.
When the nurse leaves, I tell Charlie, “I should probably close my eyes now. Maybe nap a little.”
“I’ll go.” Charlie starts to get up.
“No,” I tell her. “Please stay. Do you mind?”
She looks at me. “Of course not.”
“I don’t think I’ll be asleep long.”
“Take all the time you need. I’ll be here.”
As I settle in, Charlie leans over and gives me a soft kiss, first on the cheek, then on the corner of my mouth. Then she takes hold of my hand.
I close my eyes.
A good investigator knows when it’s time to rest.
Knowing that Charlie will still be here when I wake up helps me drift into what feels like the deepest, most restful sleep I’ve had in a long time.
Acknowledgments
Publishing a novel is always a team effort, and I had a great team working with me at Sourcebooks Fire. A big thank-you to my editor, Annie Berger, for your guidance and insight. Thank you also to Sarah Kasman, Cassie Gutman, Nicole Hower (who designed the awesome cover), Lynne Hartzer, and Alex Yeadon. You guys are the best (and my sincere apologies to anyone I might have missed). In addition, thank you to my fellow authors of the KidLit Authors Club. Your support and friendship always means so much. As always, a heartfelt thank-you to my wonderful agent, Wendy Schmalz, to whom this book is dedicated. And finally, and most of all, to my wife, Janet, and my son, Will, whose love and support makes this all possible.
About the Author
Jeffry W. Johnston is the author of the Edgar Award–nominated Fragments and the In the Margins Book Award winner The Truth. Both were YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers selections. He also writes freelance articles on numerous subjects, including film and television. He writes music, plays guitar in a band, and loves movies, reading, baseball (he has always been and always will be a Phillies fan), and bingeing entire television series. He lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and, when he’s home from college, their son.
Also by Jeffry W. Johnston
Nothing but the truth will get him killed.
“A tough, fast, twisty little brawler of a book.”
—Booklist
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