Stealth Moves

by Sanna Hines

  Holly found it when she arrowed toward a corner where tiers of stairs in a semi-circle descended toward a brick wall. She didn’t see Liv—but she saw Cameron. When he moved to the side, there was Liv, charging the wall, planting a foot to launch her body upward, arms extended. Her hands caught the top of the wall, where she hung a moment before dropping off.

  “Oh. My. God,” Holly groaned. About to hand the phone to Mike for proof she hadn’t lost her mind, Holly spotted another familiar face among the spectators. “Knit Cap! Look there.” She tapped a fingernail on the screen. “That’s Knit…uh, I mean, Brent Tinsley.”

  Mike pulled the phone from her hand. “Are you shitting me? The tall guy is Brent? He was a scrawny, little kid at Sidley.” Squinting in disbelief at the phone, Mike said, “And that’s Liv. What the hell is she doing there?”

  “I don’t know, but Catherine wants to see me right now.”

  She said a quick goodbye to Mike before running toward the house with Teddy, who slowed her progress by deciding his business was more pressing than hers. While waiting on him and cleaning up, Holly felt precious minutes tick by. She was afraid to be late, a fear that worsened when she found Catherine and Liv in the ground floor family room. The TV was running a video of the Parkour demo at the Center. Liv sat in silence; Cameron was nowhere in sight. Holly didn’t ask about him. She plunked Teddy in the playpen, and took a seat next to Liv on the couch.

  Catherine pressed the TV’s off button. She set down the controller and shook her head. “I’m deeply disappointed, outraged, in fact. What do you have to say for yourself, Olivia?”

  The girl lifted her chin. “I want to learn Parkour. There won’t be another demo like this again. I couldn’t miss it.”

  “Why didn’t you tell Holly you wanted to go to the Center?”

  “Because…because I didn’t want her there.” Defiance flashed in Liv’s eyes.

  “You wanted to be alone with this boy, this Cameron? He’s Holly’s brother?” Catherine’s glance shifted from Liv to Holly. “How old is he?”

  “Nineteen,” Holly and Liv said together.

  “And what would a nineteen-year-old want with a girl who’s not quite sixteen?”

  Holly bristled at Catherine’s insinuation. “I think it’s just what Liv said: They both like Parkour. He saw nothing wrong in going to an event with her.”

  “Nineteen,” Catherine decreed, “is too old.”

  “Grandfather was eleven years older than you,” Liv shot back.

  “We met after I finished college,” Catherine returned. “Very different situation.”

  “It’s always different when it’s you,” Liv accused. “I’m the one who has to be wrong. Well, this time, I’m not. We didn’t do anything to be ashamed of.”

  “Except lie. You lied to Holly; you lied to me. And even more importantly, you put yourself at risk by eluding your bodyguard. I can’t have this, Olivia. I simply cannot.”

  “Catherine,” Holly ventured, “my brother would protect Liv. Cam would never abandon a friend, especially a girl.”

  “I’ll accept your word his intentions were good; however, I didn’t hire your brother to take care of Olivia. I hired you.”

  The verbal slap hit its mark. Holly lowered her head.

  Catherine turned to Liv. “Your punishment is grounding. Except for school, you will not leave this house until the kidnapper is caught. This is the only sure way to keep you safe.”

  “But I can’t be stuck here!” Liv cried. “I have to go to the concert. I have to—”

  “Be there. I know,” Catherine said. “That’s the one exception. You will attend the concert with me, never leaving my side. We’ll have seats in the bandstand among the VIPs. After the concert, we’ll come home, and your grounding will continue.”

  “You can’t treat me like…like a two-year-old! You can’t—”

  “I can and will.” Catherine thumped an angry fist on the table. “There’s more. Your birthday party is cancelled.”

  “No! I’ve invited people, and they agreed to come. How can I say there’s no party?”

  “Tell them the truth: You’re being punished.”

  “You’re awful. Mean and horrible. You don’t understand anything. You don’t know how things are today. You’re old.”

  “I am,” Catherine said, “and still I make mistakes. I thought I could trust you to keep your word. My children, for all their faults, knew giving their word meant something. This new way…this lack of any sense of honor…I don’t understand. And that’s why—” She turned to Holly. “I need someone experienced with rebellious teenagers. I’m afraid that isn’t you. Holly, I’m giving you your notice.”

  Holly felt like she’d been slammed in the face by a brick. Stunned, she stammered, “P…Please reconsider. You told me to leave Liv alone with her friends. She won’t get away again. I’ll put cuffs on her if I have to.”

  Catherine’s face softened into a sad expression. “I know you’ve done your best. I believe your heart’s in the right place, but you haven’t the necessary experience. You’ve been here…” She counted days on her fingers. “Less than a week. I’ll pay you for a month. That should give you time to rearrange your affairs.”

  “We have a contract!” Holly protested.

  “Based on satisfactory performance,” Catherine countered. “Liv has gotten away from you twice: today, and the time she came home in the police car. She also went to the pet store without you yesterday. I’m not blaming you for that; Sunday was your day off.”

  Facing Liv now, Catherine went on. “Yes, I know about the pet store. The credit card company emailed me about the unusual charge.”

  “That was Maddy and Tay. They went to the store to buy things for Teddy.”

  “Stop lying! Your friends are brunettes. When I called the store, the owner remembered ‘a blonde with a cute, white puppy.’”

  “But nothing happened,” Liv said. “We were fine. You’re making a big deal out of nothing, acting paranoid. We needed stuff for Teddy. He didn’t have food or a bed or anything. And we even took a cab back. What’s so wrong with that?”

  Catherine sighed. “You put yourself in danger.”

  “No, I didn’t. I had Teddy to protect me. He’d fight for me. He bit a guy just because—”

  “Bit what guy? Who?” Catherine demanded.

  Liv squirmed in her chair. “Just a guy. His name’s Brandon. We sort of know him because he hangs at the café. Went to Sidley, too. Oh, and he was at the jam today. Guess he likes Parkour. Anyway, he tripped on Teddy’s leash and hurt his knee and Teddy kind of nipped his hand but he was wearing gloves so that was all right but we still called a cab to keep him from getting mad and then he suggested we share it and we did.” Liv finished her ramble with a confident smile. “So nothing happened. Nothing!”

  “You lied to me,” Catherine said.

  Holly lost interest in the struggle between Liv and her grandmother as she battled her own emotions. Her face felt hot; her heart was racing. Waves of rage, regret, and shame smashed against each other inside her. She wanted to fight; she wanted to flee.

  She stood abruptly to tell Catherine, “You don’t understand. Liv would know lying is bad if you ever told her the truth. Lies aren’t just ways to get out of trouble, they hurt people.”

  Facing Liv, Holly said, “This lie hurt me. I’ve lost my job.” Her voice broke on those words, but the waves kept pushing her. “I need this job. My mother can’t keep supporting her children forever.

  “As for your children, Catherine,” Holly went on, “one of them didn’t learn that lesson about honor. Is it Liv’s mother, who lied to get money, sold out her brother, muddied up his divorce? Or is it Mike—dutiful, hard-working Mike—who lies to conceal a monster inside? There’s nothing but lies in this house!”

  Catherine’s mouth opened, then her eyes closed. Her head slumped forward in sleep.

  Liv caught her grandmother’s shoulders before her forehead hit the coffee
table. “Now look what you’ve done,” she hissed. “She was feeling better. You should be sorry.”

  Holly glared at her. “I am. Sorry I trusted you, sorry I care about you—about your friends, your family. It’s a sorry mess. But I don’t go back on my word. I’ll guard you until I’m out of here. Saturday or Sunday my brothers can help me move.” She made it across the terrace and behind her closed door before the hot tears fell.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Day 11—Tuesday

  Holly dreamed she was in Portsmouth, walking home from middle school, shaggy grass beside the mill pond spattered with dead leaves. When she looked up the hill toward the police station, she saw a fort of brick, stone and wood, like the early ones dotting the bay. She wouldn’t get in there. Not ever.

  It was only blocks to home, but Holly lost her way. She stood facing the Pleasant Street Cemetery, where a new earthen tomb flanked the one by the pond. Stripes of sod swathed the raw mound, and a steel door gleamed with cold malice. Holly heard pounding from inside the tomb. Someone called her name. She rushed forward…

  …and sat up in bed, eyes open, awake. She was in her room at the Smallwood house, but she still heard the knocking and the voice—Jen’s voice. Exhaling relief, Holly went to the door.

  “I made you a good breakfast,” Jen said. “Figured you needed something hearty. Come get it while it’s hot.” Jen’s eyes lowered. “Heard what happened. Sorry things didn’t work out.” Shaking her head, Jen moved toward the kitchen.

  Plucking yesterday’s outfit from the pile on the floor, Holly reflected on her need for clean clothes, but she wasn’t staying in Boston. Five days from now, she’d be back in Portsmouth with a bag of dirty laundry in hand—and her tail between her legs.

  “That’s what bothers me most,” she told Jen across the kitchen counter. “I won’t be here to finish the job, to watch over Liv until the kidnapper’s caught. There’s no closure.” Holly set down her spoon, the bowl of oatmeal with pumpkin puree, yogurt, fruit and nuts finished. “Do you think I should plead with Catherine for another chance?”

  “Worth a try, but she’s napping now. Saw her when I came in this morning. She hadn’t slept all night. With workmen around, she won’t get any sleep later.”

  “Workmen?”

  “I told you guys were coming to fix the fence, put in a dog toilet, and install a security system. It all starts today.”

  Holly checked the clock. “Has Liv eaten? We need to leave for school.”

  “Just nabbed a breakfast bar.” Jen twisted her lips. “Kids today live on garbage. Glad you like a good meal. But still, aren’t you mad at her? How can you guard her after you’ve been fired?”

  Holly sighed. “It’s complicated. Yesterday, I was crazy mad, but I’ve cooled off. She’s the kid sister you want to strangle because she’s doing dangerous things. I just wish she’d learn to trust people who want to help her, even if it can’t be me.”

  Liv came down, let Teddy out, and said she was ready to go. Like yesterday, the weather was warm and bright, but unlike the cheerful chatter they’d shared on the walk to Chase’s house, today, neither spoke. When they stood waiting for traffic to clear on a side street next to Beacon, Liv broke the silence. “I thought about it last night, and I’m sorry you lost your job.”

  “Are you?” Holly kept the edge in her voice.

  “Yeah. I’m so mad at Grandmother! She’s so stubborn. She—”

  “You’re blaming her? She did what she thought was right. Did you?”

  “Yes! No…” Liv started across the street. “I don’t need a bodyguard. Nobody else has one. This whole thing is stupid. I didn’t see the kidnapper when Ari was taken, and it’s been ten days. He’s forgotten about me. I can take care of myself just like I did in L.A.”

  “So,” Holly said, drawing out the word, “you never walk along with earbuds and phone out, blind and deaf to what’s around you?”

  “I don’t.” Liv lifted her chin. “You get your purse snatched. And don’t ask if I talk to strangers. I don’t do that, either.”

  “Even ones who want your help finding a lost dog, a lost child? What about people who seem harmless and friendly?”

  Liv made a face. “Old, creepy guys offering candy? No way.”

  “Maybe they’re not old or creepy; maybe they’re young and handsome. Are those people okay?”

  “Um…it depends.” Liv paused on the opposite side of the street.

  “And you’d know how to get away if someone in a car jumped out and grabbed you? You’d ditch your backpack if you had to run. Or along here—” Holly waved down the street. “Some of these houses front right on the sidewalk. Wouldn’t be hard to step out the door and pull a victim inside.”

  “Oh, now you’re being totally paranoid,” Liv scoffed. “People who live on Beacon aren’t criminals. I mean they’re important and rich, like Chase’s parents. They don’t need money.”

  “You think the kidnapper’s after money?”

  “Well, sure. There’s the ransom for—” Liv stopped.

  Holly scrutinized her. Did she mean Kyle? Impossible. Liv couldn’t know that secret.

  “For…for instance,” Liv finished. “Kidnappers always want ransom.”

  “I haven’t heard anything about ransom demands for Natalie Porcini.”

  “Maybe her parents couldn’t pay and didn’t want people to know. Or maybe something went wrong—the cops got involved and screwed the deal.” Liv looked up at Holly. “We need to keep moving. We’re meeting Maddy and Tay at the corner of Charles.”

  “What about their walking partners?”

  Liv shrugged. “I don’t know, but we’ll be together. Uh, Holly? Could you teach me some self-defense tricks?”

  “Before I go, you mean?” Holly gave her a wry smile. “Sure. You can learn others from your next bodyguard.” Liv’s frown surprised Holly, who enjoyed a moment of spite. “I’ll hope he won’t be too old.”

  “He? Old?” Liv repeated, looking horrified.

  “Sounds like an old guy is what your grandmother wants.” Holly walked on.

  The girls were waiting at the corner, just as Liv expected. All three spoke in low tones, heads close together, walking a pace ahead of Holly on the way to school.

  After she left them at Sidley, Holly reversed direction toward the Common. She wanted to see where the concert and rally would take place on Friday to anticipate any problems that could arise during her last day as a bodyguard. Last day! After the concert, Holly’s job would be done. She felt sad and frustrated while passing through the Public Garden, spotting a swan boat being lifted from the pond, its season in the sun over.

  The bandstand where concert VIPS would sit stood in the southeast section of the Common, so Holly entered the park from the corner of Charles and Boylston Streets, a route she hadn’t taken before. An old cemetery ran along Boylston. Holly peered through the iron fence, past the grassy bank and the ditch edging a long line of flat-roofed tombs joined together like a modern condo. She wondered who had built such a thing and why it was set below ground level. Then she realized ground level was lower centuries ago. Time built up the surrounding land, leaving the dead behind. Something about the grass on the tomb roofs seemed familiar…

  …and the emotions of her dream—terror, helplessness—swept over her. Her breath caught; her hands gripped the fence. Were the kidnapped kids in some dank, underground place, desperate for rescue, smothering in blackness? Were they—oh, God, no!—in actual graves with just an air hose and no room to move? Were they dead?

  Holly backed away from the crypts until her feet felt the smooth walking path. She headed toward the tennis court and the bandstand—toward life—sucking in air as though she’d just been freed from prison. She remembered Dan saying the ransom email had a picture of Kyle Blake holding the day’s paper. Maybe, just maybe, Kyle would be all right.

  Dan. He didn’t know she’d been fired, and Holly was in no hurry to tell him. At only age twenty-six, ther
e he was, already a big-city cop bucking for detective while she couldn’t even hang onto a job as bodyguard to a teenage girl. Some people have it; some don’t, Holly thought bitterly. Dan’s success made her failure feel worse.

  Shake it off. Her path connected with one of the brick walkways radiating from the Parkman Bandstand like spokes of a wheel. The structure was a lot more impressive than Holly imagined. It wasn’t one of the cutesy, white, wooden structures crowning New England’s village squares. Marble columns and a domed roof made Holly think of a temple.

  The thick stone base stood above her head, requiring curved stairs along one part of the circle for people to reach floor level. Twelve marble columns rose up twenty or more feet, and iron railings spanned the gaps between columns. Holly guessed at a diameter of thirty feet. With so much space inside, she wondered why spectators instead of performers would use the bandstand, but then she remembered Catherine’s prediction of rain on Friday. The open-sided bandstand wouldn’t shelter electrical equipment.

  So where would the performers be? Looking north, Holly saw the answer. A big semi was parked a hundred yards away just before a stand of trees. Graphics on the truck’s trailer showed a mobile stage with an overhead awning, side curtains and even aprons where performers could strut their stuff.

  While people watched Tripl Thret perform, there’d be a ransom drop. A crowd could provide cover for the kidnapper, but where would the drop be made? Not in the large, metal-mesh waste cans. Knocking one over to rummage inside would surely alert officers stationed nearby. So, where…?

  Holly eyed the broad, open lawns around her and pursed her lips. Outwitting the kidnapper wasn’t her problem. All she had to do was make sure Liv was safe.

  Approaching the Smallwood home, Holly felt uncomfortable because she didn’t belong there anymore. She couldn’t picture herself in the family room or kitchen, lounging as though she were a welcome guest. She’d have to hang out in her room all day with workmen pounding the deck overhead and others tearing up the flagstones outside.