Maddie’s answer was equally trivial. “Very nice. You should take a look at it sometime.”
She glowed. I was sure the glow had nothing to do with art and antiques.
“What were you guys doing?” she asked.
Freddie said, “Nothing.”
I said, “We walked a little. It’s very steep.”
Maddie peered over the edge of the parking lot. “I’ll bet it is.”
“Only if you go that way,” Austen said. “There’s other ways.” He took the car keys out of his pocket. “Come on, folks, all aboard. I have to get this thing back before my grandpa misses it.”
That was a revelation. I’d assumed he took the car with permission.
Then I remembered what Freddie said about Aus and his grandparents not getting along. What a messed-up family. And I thought I had problems.
Aus was careful going down the mountain road. I hoped his brakes would hold. My own foot pressed hard on the floor, as if that would do any good.
Finally we were down. I could breathe again. Austen got on the highway that led to Southbridge.
“You can leave us at our school,” Maddie told him. “My car’s there.”
“Yeah, I saw it.”
Maddie closed her window to keep her hair from blowing. Now I could hear them better.
“That’s right,” she said. “That must be where you found C-c—my buddy back there, waiting for me.”
At least she remembered my name wasn’t Cree, even if she forgot what it was. I wished she would also remember that there’s no room for spontaneity when you’re undercover. You have to be on the alert every minute.
I hoped Austen hadn’t noticed her fumbling. Freddie did. He peered into my face. “Funny, you don’t look like an Indian.”
My breath caught. “I’m only part. On my mother’s side. My dad must have been more dominant.”
I was halfway facing Freddie when something out the back window caught my eye.
“Do you know there’s a police car out there? It looks as if it’s following us.”
Freddie turned to see it. “Hey, Aus! Cop car!”
Aus didn’t waste a second. He pushed on the gas pedal. The cop speeded up and put on his siren.
A cop chase. This, I thought, is where people get killed. Other cars on the road scooted out of our way.
Maddie looked back, maybe hoping it was Rick. Or more likely, hoping it wasn’t.
Of course it wasn’t. It was coming from Hudson Hills, not Southbridge.
I could see Austen’s jaw tighten as he raced as fast as he could. His was an old car and the cop gained on us.
“What happened?” I cried. “We didn’t do anything.”
“You and I didn’t,” Freddie assured me.
Maybe they were going to arrest Austen for the murder.
Maddie kept straining to see. “It’s state police.”
“Shit.” Austen spun the wheel. His tires shrieked. He sailed across two lanes of highway and dived onto a side road.
Almost at once he realized that was a bad move. He made another quick turn, and another, and aimed back toward the highway.
Maybe not so bad. It almost looked as if we might make it.
“How do you get to your place?” he demanded.
“I wouldn’t—” Maddie began. Austen jammed on his brakes. He couldn’t reach the highway. It was blocked by another state car. He couldn’t back either because the first one was coming up behind us.
“We’re screwed,” said Freddie.
Austen was the one screwed. He let out a few cuss words. I still thought it had to do with the murder, but how did that involve the state police?
Maddie looked back at me. Her eyes were enormous. Did she worry about Austen? Or worry about how we would get home? If it had to do with speeding, I figured they’d give Aus a ticket and send us on our way. Apparently she knew better.
Aus had his window closed. The trooper came around and gestured for him to open it. Aus complied.
“Let’s see your registration and driver’s license,” said the trooper.
Aus opened his wallet and handed over the license. Then he dug around in the glove compartment and produced a black vinyl folder. When I took driver’s ed last year they warned us not to keep our registration in the car. If somebody steals your car, why give them the registration, too?
“Yeah, I know,” he said as he passed it through the window. He sounded resigned, though his voice was as velvet as ever.
“You know this car was reported stolen?” asked the trooper.
“I figured as much when you came after me.” Aus had regained his charm. He never lost his composure. “I didn’t think of it as stealing.” He managed a smile. “It’s my grandfather’s car. He lets me use it whenever I want.”
“He reported it stolen,” said the cop.
Austen made a face. “Must have waked up cranky this morning.”
How could he stay so calm? I would be shaking all over.
I supposed it went with being a psychopath.
“Next time,” the cop advised, “you’d better clear it with him first.” He looked around at the rest of us. “I’m going to have to ask you all to get out.”
That took Aus by surprise. He said, “Huh?”
Maddie gasped, “And then what?”
“That’s up to you,” said the trooper. “This car was reported stolen. We’re taking it in.”
“But—but—” Maddie’s hand trembled as she unfastened her seatbelt. “My friend and I live all the way in Southbridge.” At least she didn’t call me Cree.
“You’ll have to get someone to pick you up.” The trooper wasn’t giving an inch. “Or try flagging down the bus. It should be along in a while.”
Maddie got her seatbelt undone and climbed out of the car. “Couldn’t we just—I mean, get somewhere?”
“Not in this car. It was stolen.” Even as he spoke, a tow truck came rattling down the highway from Hudson Hills. The officer looked inside ours to be sure the key was still there.
Austen watched him. “Why can’t you just drive it back?”
The trooper glanced at him and didn’t answer. I could see he meant business, so I rescued my book bag. Maddie did the same, along with her purse.
“This is stupid,” she sputtered.
Austen put his arm around her. “If it was your car, would you want it stolen? Let’s get out of here.”
“Where?” she snapped.
“Hey, come on. It’s not the end of the world. ”
It had been the end of Johnny Kinsser’s world. I supposed Austen couldn’t tell the difference.
“Uh uh.” The officer put a hand on Austen’s shoulder.
“Hey, come on,” Aus protested. “It’s only my grandfather.”
His voice wasn’t quite so velvet. It was the only time I saw him lose his cool. But he didn’t try to fight it and the trooper didn’t relent.
Aus nodded the rest of us toward the highway and said to Freddie, “Get Sam.”
Freddie knew what to do. We positioned ourselves by the roadside, which consisted of a ditch and a lot of weeds. We were in the one spot on that busy road where there were no businesses, no houses, no nothing.
Maddie took out her cell phone. Freddie made her put it away and got out his own. The tow truck backed into where we had been stopped. I heard chains clanking. I didn’t want to watch.
“It does seem stupid,” I said to Maddie, “when they could just drive it.”
“They have their rules.” She sounded tired, or bored, or both. Freddie walked away a few feet, turned his back, and soon was talking on the phone.
“I wonder what will happen to him,” I said.
“Who?” asked Maddie.
“Who do you think? Is he under arrest?”
“How would I know?”
I tried not to worry about him. If he was in trouble with the law, it was exactly what he’d done to Liam, who was innocent.
I fully believed Aus
had taken the car without permission. But was that the same as actual theft? I supposed, technically, it was. Still, his own grandfather. It seemed kind of harsh to get the police involved.
Freddie closed his phone and came back. “Good news, ladies. Sam is on the way. He’ll have to look for us. I couldn’t tell him where we are ’cause I don’t know.”
“I don’t see how he could miss us,” Maddie said.
“Sam has wheels?” I asked.
“Not personally, but he can get them,” Freddie said.
I hoped he wasn’t going to steal a car. He wouldn’t dare, after this. I wondered how much Freddie had told him.
“Anyway,” I said, “it was a nice afternoon. Thanks to both of you.”
“Yes, it was,” Maddie agreed. “Up to a point.”
I said, “I hope this isn’t going to screw up his graduation. Or getting into a seminary. He said he wanted to be a priest. Don’t you have to go to a seminary for that?”
Freddie said, “Yeah, I guess,” and turned away with a faint smile.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
He sobered. “What’s what?”
“The smile.”
“Oh, that’s just me. You know I’m a happy guy.”
He tapped Maddie on the arm. “Where do you live? Sam’ll take you home.”
“If he could just take me to the school, my car is there. It’s all I want.” She sounded pissed. I couldn’t blame her, but why take it out on Freddie?
Then I thought of Austen. All he’d wanted was to give us a good time. How could he have known his grandpa was going to get bitchy?
If he couldn’t get along with them, maybe it was their fault. Maybe they were both a couple of grouches. What chance did a kid have, abandoned by his mom and left to be raised by strict, demanding, evil-tempered toads?
Freddie paced back and forth, kicking pebbles. After a while he asked me, “You got a phone?”
“I’m getting one,” I said. “Any minute, as soon as they do a credit check.”
“How long does that take?”
“Too long. It should be just about finished.”
“When you get it, gimme your number.”
“I can give it to you now.” I fished around in my book bag for the paper they’d given me. Found it and rattled off the number. In exchange, he gave me his. I hadn’t thought to ask, not realizing he had a phone until just now. As an undercover agent, I sucked.
Minutes later, a car came barreling down the highway. Cars had been passing us all along but at this one, Freddie waved.
It came to a stop, with Sam at the wheel. He looked us over, his face as unreadable as always. Freddie pushed up the front seat to let Maddie and me in the back, then he got in front with Sam.
“If you would just take us to the high school,” Maddie said for the billionth time, “I can pick up my car.”
Sam turned around. “What about Peggy?”
I spoke quickly before there could be any goof-up with my name. “Maddie will get me home. She always does.”
Next question. “Where’s the high school?”
Maddie guided him, first to Southbridge and then to the school. Her little red Chevy looked lonely in the nearly empty parking lot. I thanked Freddie again and was glad he didn’t try to make any moves on me. We both thanked Sam for rescuing us.
“Give Austen our best,” I added. “I hope this thing blows over real fast.”
We waved them off and got into Maddie’s car.
“You do realize,” she said, “that Austen got himself into that mess.”
“I can sort of understand, if he thought it was okay to take the car. If he’s used it before,” I said.
“Maybe those other times were just like this and Grandpa got fed up with him taking it.”
“Maddie, I thought you were this big defender of Austen.”
She backed out of her parking spot and turned the car around. “When did I defend Austen?”
“Every time I said anything about the murder, you said it was Liam’s word against his and maybe Liam was the guilty one. And maybe he was and still is. How do I know?”
She coasted down the school road, paused, and merged onto Grand Street. “So now you’re doing a switcheroo?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I said. “I just think Austen should be given a chance.”
What was I saying? I’d heard him, when I was in that little office room.
Maddie shook her head. “I don’t believe this. You wouldn’t accept it when I thought Austen deserved a chance. Liam was this saint and he could do no wrong.”
“I never said he was a saint. It’s just that—”
Austen had behaved like such a nice person. And that velvet voice. It wasn’t the one I’d heard threatening Liam.
I said it aloud. “He seems like such a nice person.”
“Cree, he’s a psychopath. You know perfectly well that’s what psychopaths do. They make themselves seem like ‘such nice people.’” She took her hands off the steering wheel to make air quotes with her fingers. I wished she’d keep them on the wheel.
I dug myself in deeper. “Maybe he really is a nice person. Maybe it’s Liam who isn’t.”
“Your own brother!”
“I don’t even know my own brother. I never knew he existed. I don’t know anything about anything. All I found out from Freddie was that Austen’s grandparents raised him because his mother ran off to Hollywood and he never had a father. Two selfish parents. What can anybody expect? And Freddie said he doesn’t get along all that well with his grandparents.”
“Obviously not, if he stole their car.” She turned onto Maple Avenue. We were almost at my house, and fighting again.
“What changed your mind?” I asked.
“About what?”
“About Austen.”
“What changed yours?”
She pulled into my driveway. Grandma came out and stood on the doorstep, glowering.
“You wouldn’t steal her car, would you?” Maddie said.
“No, I get along with her. But look at her now. I didn’t even take the car and she’s already got an attitude, just because she didn’t know where I was. I hope Austen’s grandpa doesn’t press charges.” I grabbed my book bag and climbed out.
Maddie hadn’t finished. “It might teach Austen a lesson if he does.”
Maybe that was what he needed, a firm hand. A firm and loving hand. He should have had it all his life. Especially the loving part.
Maddie started backing out of the driveway, then stopped. She leaned toward the passenger window, which was open.
“But he’s gone beyond that,” she said. “Murder is a lot more serious than auto theft.”
She closed the window and went on backing before I could answer.
Chapter Nineteen
I had to tell Grandma something. She was impressed that I’d been to Katmandu. I kept silent about the aftermath.
“How was it?” she asked.
What had Maddie said? “Very nice. And very high up. You can’t even see much of Hudson Hills. There are trees in the way, and after that’s the river.”
“We’ll go there sometime. I already ate. There’s corn beef hash and an egg and salad.”
I heated up everything except the salad, and thought about Austen while I ate. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him and, wondered how it all went with the police. There was only one way to find out. It made me glad I’d gotten Freddie’s phone number.
To my amazement, he answered. I figured he’d be off somewhere doing whatever Freddies do in the evening.
“He-e-e-y!” he said when he heard my voice. “When am I going to see you?”
“You just did. I sort of remember we spent the afternoon together. How’s it going with Austen?”
“What do you mean?”
“Last time I saw him, he seemed to be in trouble.”
“Oh. He’s out. On his own recog, or something.”
“So he’s not
free and clear,” I guessed. “I didn’t know they let minors out on their own recognizance.” The truth was, I didn’t know anything about it at all.
“He’s eighteen,” Freddie told me.
“So that means he’s not a minor?”
“Still not old enough to drink, like that would stop him.” Freddie chuckled. “You chicks coming back any time soon?”
“Who knows? I play it by ear. I could take the bus.”
“Or I could.”
“You wouldn’t want to do that,” I told him. “I live way too far from where the bus goes.”
“I could get a car.” I heard a swagger in his voice.
“Don’t do that.” I didn’t like the way Austen had gotten a car. “I’ll just take the bus on—Friday?” Then I’d be back for Ben’s graduation. “Where can I meet you?”
He thought about it for a while. “Pizza? You know where that is. We could have a Coke if you’re not hungry. Or we could have pizza.”
“Either way.”
I didn’t ask Maddie if she wanted to go. She had turned away from Austen. Unless she wanted to hook up with Sam, but nobody suggested that.
The phone store said my Nokia was ready, so I stopped on Friday and picked it up. They told me it needed charging before I could use it. I wished we could have done it all sooner, but that’s life. For me, anyway.
All the way to Hudson Hills I tried to figure out a strategy for talking about the murder without making Freddie suspicious. That was my ultimate purpose and I wasn’t about to lose track of it.
Loomis Street. That was where Johnny lived, according to the newspaper. Was there any way I could work Loomis Street into the conversation? Maybe I could say my parents looked at a house there and I wanted to see it. But that wouldn’t get me the information I needed.
As soon as the bus reached HH’s main drag, I stopped my thoughts and watched carefully. You would think I’d have been used to this by now and well acquainted with Hudson Hills.
I started getting nervous. How did people ever go undercover without panicking? As I understood it, some people actually enjoy the danger. It thrills them. Not me. What if I couldn’t pull it off? What if they found me out?
There was the school. The pizza shop was just beyond it on the same side of the street. I got off the bus and tried to act as if I knew what I was doing.
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