Stolen Secrets (2 page)

Chapter 2

“Box out!
Box out!” Coach Baldwin yelled. “Timberline, where are you?”

“Sorry, Coach,” I said.

Coach Baldwin tucked the basketball under his left arm and stared at us. Our seventh grade team had finished with six wins and four losses. Now we were playing in a regional league, trying to get ready for the next school season.

“Coronado is probably the best in the league,” Coach said. “Let’s focus.” He called a play and threw the ball to Duncan Swift, our point guard.

I slipped back to my defensive position, and Kael Barnes set a pick on me.

“What’s up with you, Bryce?” Kael said, pushing me back and turning. The ball shot past my outstretched arm, right into Kael’s hands. He stepped toward the basket and banked the ball in off the backboard.

“That’s it! That’s it!” Coach said. “Way to push the ball inside.” He looked at me. “Move your feet, Timberline.”

Later, in the locker room, Kael sat beside me. “You’ve been spacey all week, Bryce. Boo Heckler after you again?”

I smiled. “Haven’t heard from him since he tied my pants in knots.” Boo had threatened Ashley and me if we didn’t let him ride our ATVs. “Baldwin has him scrubbing toilets during gym class.”

“So what’s your problem?”

I shrugged. “Nothing, really.” No way I could tell him. Ashley and I hadn’t even been allowed to tell our friends we had foiled a robbery at Gold Town and had almost gotten killed in the process. I wasn’t about to let it slip that Sam said he had killed my real father.

Coach Baldwin said we’d need to wait inside for our parents to pick us up. “And, Timberline, your mom called. Said to leave the ATV and wait for a ride from her.”

“What? Why?”

“Your mom must have seen you at practice,” Duncan said.

Everybody laughed.

Riding the ATV is one of my favorite things. It’s mostly pasture between the practice gym and home. On the dirt road behind the gym I can open the thing up and go fast. I love the sound of the wind on my helmet. With everything going on with Sam, I need all the good things I can find, and the ATV is the best.

I grabbed my backpack and raced down the steps. Mom pulled up outside with Ashley in front. My sister looked like someone had stolen her tutu.

“Why can’t I ride the ATV—?”

“Bryce, please,” Mom said. “Get in.”

“What’s wrong?”

Ashley turned. “Two girls were attacked after school.”

“It’s all over the news,” Mom said. “The report said they were from Red Rock Middle School.”

Chapter 3

I flipped on the radio,
hoping Bryce could hear it for himself.

“Again, our top story,” the reporter said. “According to police, two middle schoolers in Red Rock were attacked this afternoon and held against their will. Details are sketchy and names have not been released, but the incident occurred shortly after school ended. The girls managed to escape, and police are looking for suspects.”

“There’s no way I’m letting you drive around with some madman loose,” Mom said.

“How am I going to get the ATV home?” Bryce said.

“Sam called. He’ll be back tonight. Said he’d pick it up with you.”

“What about tomorrow morning? Can we ride them to—?”

“The bus. You’re not riding the ATVs until they catch this guy.”

I kept an eye on the streets as we rode home, looking for some shadowy figure skulking in the pasture or hiding in culverts. It reminded me of the night in the cabin when we knew someone was watching us, and it turned out to be a gold robber.

As soon as we got home I called Hayley to see if she’d found out anything. She suggested I call Marion Quidley, who basically knows everything. I’m a good student, but Marion makes me look like Goofy with a dunce cap. Marion’s had perfect attendance since preschool—not a single sick day—but she can get kind of weird. She has wild theories about stuff like Bigfoot and crop circles. When we went through a drought last year and there were lots of fires, Marion thought aliens were draining reservoirs at night and shooting laser beams at the dry forests, which made me think a day or two out of school might do her some good.

“I haven’t heard who it happened to,” Marion said. It sounded like she was flipping through some pages. “But there are only so many people who actually walk home from school. I photocopied all the kids’ pictures from the yearbook and put an
X
over the ones who take the bus.”

“You can’t possibly know everyone, Marion.”

“No, but I also have the school directory that shows addresses, and I cross-referenced. I’ve copied the names I don’t know.”

She read me the list of possible people. I recognized about 10 names.

“I’ll call you back if I find out who it is,” Marion said.

Chapter 4

Sam got back from his trip
a little before nine that night. He hugged Mom and gave Ashley and me a pat on the shoulder. Dylan ran into his arms.

I wondered where he had been. I wanted to think the best about him, but I had my doubts. Who had called him before he left? Was Sam running from the police? Could he have been involved with the gold robbery? It seemed far-fetched, but Sam had taken us to see the gold display. Then he had acted mad at the store owner, who was involved with the heist.

Mom trusted him. But don’t they say love is blind? Maybe she didn’t want to face the truth.

“How was your trip?” I said on the way to pick up my ATV.

“Okay,” Sam said in his deep, gravelly voice.

“Where’d you go?”

“Had to fly to the East Coast.”

“You flew somebody else?”

“No. Just me.”

“Who’d you see?”

“People I used to work with.”

Sam wasn’t giving me anything. Finally, he stopped the truck by the gym and turned off the ignition. “Bryce, I want to tell you everything, but I can’t. Hopefully I’ll be able to soon. You’re gonna have to trust me.”

We got the ATV in the back of the truck and climbed in.

Something banged at the back of the gym. Sam turned on his brights, and I saw a man in a green coat running for the gulley behind the building.

“That’s the guy, Sam!” I said. “Call the police!”

Chapter 5

After Bryce and Sam left,
I helped Mom get Dylan to bed. He likes to wear layers and layers of clothes, Bryce’s and mine included. He thinks it makes him look like a football player, I guess. He still had on a lot of Band-Aids, and we couldn’t get one out of his hair, so he went to sleep wearing his little Band-Aid hat and Bryce’s baseball jersey from last year.

We moved to my room and Mom sat on my bed. Ever since I’ve had my seizures, I’ve loved it when she just sits with me. We can talk about almost anything—except what I wanted to talk about most: Sam.

“Mom, what did Sam mean when he said he killed Dad?”

She smoothed the bedspread. “All I know is that he’s a good man. And I’d rather let him talk to you when the time’s right.”

I rolled my eyes. “When will the time ever be right? It’ll take 20 years.”

“Sam wants us all to be safe. That’s all.”

I had no idea what she was talking about.

She picked up a book from my bedside table and scanned the back cover. Mom’s always looking at what other people write. “You ready for Friday night?”

The elementary school had recently gone through No TV Week, and as a prize to kids who turned off the tube, the organizers had planned a sleepover at the school. The principal, Mrs. Genloe, asked Mom to read a story to the kids and wondered if Bryce and I would help with the event.

“Think they’ll still have it if they haven’t caught the attacker?” I said.

“I hope so. I’ve been working on a short story.”

“About what?”

She winked. “Wait and see.”