Balancer (16 page)

Now Don’t Get All Happy

T
he shopping center,
playground and familiar blocks of her neighborhood zoomed by the bus window, and Nicole ignored them all. Although she had promised her mom that she would go straight home, Nicole hadn’t been able to fight her desperation to see Amy. So her legs had subconsciously carried her body off the bus at Amy’s stop.

She had walked the length of Amy’s street and was approaching the home of her best friend since kindergarten. Her feet pounded the asphalt as excitedly as her heart was pounding. She was ready to break the story about Ethan that would change their lives forever.

Nicole had gotten fed up with her friend-finder app drawing a blank on Amy’s whereabouts, and she had concluded that Amy had turned off the app, clearly not wanting to be traced. Well, today Nicole was going to find Amy herself.

The Madigans’ two-story house had that vacant feel about it that very lively homes sometimes have when their owners aren’t home. Other than Troy’s bike and football abandoned out front, there was very little sign that they’d even gotten up that morning.

For a home where someone was supposedly resting, it was very strange that there were no sounds from the TV or other signs of life. Amy wasn’t a big reader, either, and she’d surely by now exhausted all of the week’s celebrity gossip magazines that Nicole had sent her.

After no answer to the doorbell, Nicole tried an old trick. Throwing the stray football around the side of the house, she scored a direct hit on Amy’s window. The windowpane clashed, shaking in its frame. Nicole suddenly had the awful thought that she might have broken it. But, as usual, it had held, and she caught the ball as it bounced back down.

Before she could try again, Amy’s neighbor, Mrs. Jessica, caught her attention.

“Don’t you teens carry phones these days?”

Nicole turned to find a familiar and kind face.

“Hey, Mrs. Jessica.”

“You want some of these?” The old lady held out a handful of freshly picked peaches from her garden.

“Sure, thanks.” Eating peaches — such a simple thing — seemed a million miles away from Nicole’s world right now. Still, the fruit was good and a welcome boost from the morning’s drama. It occurred to Nicole that she hadn’t eaten yet, and her stomach felt suddenly empty.

“This year’s crop’s a bit sweeter. A good summer,” the graying lady added with a sweetness in her eyes.

She’d lived next door to the Madigans ever since Amy was born, and she insisted on being called by her first name. However, that had clashed with other parents being called “Mrs. This” and “Mr. That,” and so the moniker “Mrs. Jessica” had stuck. She was at times a force to be reckoned with, and at others all sweetness and light. Years of knowing her hadn’t given the girls any greater insight into when they could expect either mood swing. Nicole suspected she threw a pair of dice each morning to decide.

“You’re looking for Amy, I guess?”

Nicole nodded.

“Heard a few cars earlier on today and they all went off. That boy’s been hanging around some. The senator’s son. You might check there,” she added, unsubtly.

“OK.”

“Seems a pity if you ask me. Old friends fighting over a boy.”

Nicole was confused. “Is that what she said?”

The delighted look on Mrs. Jessica’s face made her immediately regret her response. Nicole should know better. Amy would neither think nor say such a thing.

The old lady shrugged, bit into a peach and headed back indoors.

Nicole was fuming.

Drake Jennings.

She decided to take the walk back to her house. The fresh air might do her some good.

Nicole regretted doubting Amy and especially giving the nosy Mrs. Jessica more fuel for her gossipy fire. Why hadn’t Amy said something? Maybe she’d gotten tired of making excuses to Nicole about how she couldn’t hang out as much as they used to. Maybe she figured being Drake’s girlfriend was the way to get noticed now that she was in Nicole’s shadow.

Well, Nicole had been in Amy’s shadow for the twelve years they’d known each other, and maybe it was about time the tables turned!

This combative train of thought took Nicole the full twenty-minute walk to her street, and it was only by a stray glance that she realized she was close to home.

Nicole turned a corner and looked up toward the hilly crest of the street to her house. Then she saw something that chilled her to the bone.

A police car was parked outside of her house.

Had the hospital figured it out? Did the paramedics spot something strange about how she had acted? If so, maybe she could turn around and walk away before being noticed. She would need to buy enough time to think so she could work out what to do next.

It was time for some fast calculations.

Could the hospital have gotten to her so fast?

She checked her smartphone.

Three missed calls from her mom.

Nicole felt panic creeping into her body as the possibilities all began to arrive in her mind at once.

There was no time to call her mom back now. Evidently she had been concerned enough to call, but there was no voicemail message. What did that mean?

Nicole craned her neck to get a better view of the cop car.

There was a good chance the cop hadn’t seen her yet. Maybe she could just casually walk away in the other direction now. Deciding quickly, she turned around and headed the opposite way. She gasped in shock as she suddenly came face to face with a familiar figure. It was Officer G.

“Well, hello there. We meet again.”

Nicole was speechless for a few moments. The officer watched her expression, amusedly.

“Nice weather for a walk, eh?”

“Uh, yeah.”

‘Yeah’? Brilliant. That’ll convince him.

“Mind if I walk with you back to my car?”

Nicole nodded.

They began to walk. Nicole focused all of her energy on putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to let her rising anxiety get the better of her. It was crucial to seem as normal as possible to Officer G., but she realized this was a big thing to ask of herself right now. She didn’t do well under this kind of pressure.

Let this be over quickly.

“Pardon me for saying, but you look kind of … like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Oh, I … I remembered I forgot something.”

“Back at the hospital?”

Nicole’s insides froze.

“Your mom said you were there.”

“Yeah.”

Officer G. nodded.

They were closing in on his patrol car now. Nicole hoped this would turn out to be just a simple stroll back to his car, but she had seen enough cop shows to know that things probably weren’t going to be that straight forward.

Sure enough, when they reached his car, he leaned against the passenger door looking every bit like he was going nowhere fast. He also took out his notepad.

Nicole could feel the tension rising almost to a breaking point as she struggled to look calm.

“Lemme level with you, Nicole. I’ve been doing the rounds and talking to folks on this street.”

Street?

The flood of relief that took over Nicole then practically made her sink to her knees. This had nothing to do with Mr. Geller and the hospital.

“Oh?” she croaked unconvincingly. It wasn’t time for celebrations yet. If a police officer was investigating here, then she could guess what it was really about. “Oh, right …”

Officer G.’s face clouded over a little, somewhat disappointed at Nicole’s reaction. Something about his tone changed. He became more official, both in his voice and his stance.

“Lady who lives in that house had her front yard done over something terrible. You saw that?”

“Sure. Everybody saw it. It looked awful.” Nicole had to stop herself from saying any more — offering too much would mean she’d look suspicious.

“Did you see anything around that time? Anything suspicious or different? Anyone unusual moving around her yard at night?”

Nicole shook her head.

“I didn’t see anything, Officer G.”

This wasn’t an actual lie.

“Funny. I’ve been asking around, and no one else here saw a darned thing either. When we went through her property with a fine-toothed comb, it was the same story. No footprints, no DNA traces, no witnesses, no one heard a ruckus overnight. When did it happen? How could it happen? Yet just look at it … Man!” He rolled his eyes. “It would’ve taken a while to create that unholy mess. So many mysteries right here.”

He moved closer to Nicole.

“Lots of questions without answers. Apart from one — the why. Seems the why is pretty clear to just about everybody ’round here.”

Nicole suppressed a smile. Officer G.’s tone was warming up again.

“She seems to think you’ve got something to do with it.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah.” He nodded at Mrs. Truman’s window. True to form, the curtains twitched. The venomous lady was watching everything Officer G. was saying to Nicole.

“Yeah, well, she’s always on me for something.”

“Don’t take a cop with my experience to see that.”

Nicole looked at the ground.

“So, let me tell you where I’m at. I figure, how can the young lady who so selflessly saved a child and a dog from a fire be the same young lady who callously ruined her nasty neighbor’s front yard? Now, I saw those first two incidents. It just doesn’t add up.”

Nicole wasn’t sure whether he was hinting at anything. She tried to keep her expression neutral.

Then he leaned in closer. “I only hope the old lady can’t lip read. Now don’t get all happy on me. Just nod your head and look concerned, and go have yourself a nice weekend. Thanks for your time.”

With that, Officer G. offered a gruff smile and got back into his car and pulled away.

Phew.

That had been too close a call. Luckily Nicole’s reputation had preceded her, because her monosyllabic responses were seriously suspicious. Fact was, she wasn’t used to being the one getting into trouble. That was Amy’s job, and times like these highlighted the fact that things just weren’t the same without her. Besides, what fun was performing miracles without a best friend to tell her how awesome it was?

At the Gates

Nicole drummed her
fingers nervously on the steering wheel, wondering whether her plan would work. Well, her dad always said you never know unless you tried. So she drove up and pressed the intercom button.

“Hello … It’s Nicole Aaronson, a friend of Drake and Amy from school. I was just in the area and wanted to say hi.” Over the speaker she heard the muffled voices of the security staff debating her request to enter.

At last, the imposing wrought-iron gates opened to let Nicole onto the driveway of the Jennings’ family home. Putting her foot down on the accelerator, Nicole cruised toward the sizeable mansion in Great Falls.

On the drive over, she had rehearsed the upcoming conversation in her head about a dozen times. She half expected Amy to be lounging by the pool. A couple of her imagined interruptions began with crazed finger pointing and an “AHA!” that resulted in Amy toppling off of her lounge chair, spilling her drink and then falling into the pool.

Eventually, as she pulled up to the house, Nicole had decided that she would appeal genuinely to her best friend. She had bought tickets for the Jenna Kidd concert a while ago, and she remembered how excited they had both been at the prospect of one of their favorite singers coming to play at the Patriot Center nearby. In fact, Amy had jumped around on her bed screaming and waving her arms around when she’d heard Jenna was coming.

As Nicole turned off her car engine, she held the tickets in her hand and considered her next steps. However annoyed Amy felt about all of the attention Nicole had been getting, it couldn’t ruin their friendship? Could it?

She clambered out of the car, shut the door a little too hard, and approached the house.

Drake opened the front door before Nicole could knock. He was dressed smartly, ready to go someplace important.

“Hey.” He gave her a smile and a quick hug. “What brings you here? We were just on our way out.”

“Oh,” Nicole stammered. This wasn’t how it was meant to go. “I just want to talk to her for five minutes?”

“Who?”

“Amy.”

Drake looked at Nicole curiously. She felt his ice-blue eyes flicker over her, almost as if he were making sure she was genuine.

“Well, that’s kinda awkward …” he began. Impatience was reaching critical mass in Nicole, though, and she’d had enough of being brushed aside.

She pushed past Drake and into the foyer of the Jennings’ massive home.

“Amy? It’s Nicole. We need to talk!”

Her words reverberated around the hallways and up the sweeping staircase. No answer, so she repeated her cry. “Amy!”

No reply again.

Staring all around her, Nicole felt a creeping sense of horror pass over her as her words were met with further silence. There was no sign of Amy behind Drake, no call back downstairs.

Drake closed the door behind him.

“Come on in,” he remarked uncomfortably. He was no longer happy about Nicole’s interruption to his day.

“She’s not here?”

Drake gave a little laugh. “She hasn’t been here, period.”

Nicole couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“But I thought you’d been on dates? Last Saturday? The one before?”

Drake’s annoyance was now tinged with surprise. He shook his head. “We went on two dates after school started and then she didn’t want to meet with me after class or return my calls or emails. I figured she wanted to leave it at that, so I backed off.”

Nicole’s mind raced, recalling the number of times Amy had made the excuse that she was catching up with Drake. But here he was saying he hadn’t heard from her in a while.

“I guess you haven’t seen her either?”

“No,” Nicole shook her head, astounded.

This was way too weird. If Amy hadn’t been with Drake all this time, what had she been doing?

“That’s strange.”

“I know.”

Nicole and Drake exchanged concerned looks.

Just then, Drake’s formidable father, Senator Jennings, appeared, breaking the confused silence. He jogged down the staircase, as smartly dressed as Drake, and slapped his son on the shoulders.

“Five minutes, buddy. At least that’s what I’ve been told. Hey, there. I’m Campbell Jennings.”

He held out his hand for Nicole to shake.

“This is Nicole. The girl from the campgrounds,” Drake said.

The senator’s face lit up.

“Well, if it isn’t SuperNix in my home! It sure is an honor.” He re-shook Nicole’s hand in genuine respect and admiration. “I didn’t know you guys were friends.”

The senator looked between the pair of them, almost hopefully.

“I was just …” Nicole grasped for a response.

“We have a project together at school,” Drake covered smoothly.

“Oh. Well, Nicole, I’m sorry if you had plans, but you’ll have to forgive us. We have a family gathering to get to. Drake’s mother is still, shall we say, in prep, but …” — he turned his head toward the second floor and switched on his distinguished and loud senator voice — “in just FIVE MINUTES we have to be LEAVING!”

Drake and Nicole smirked. It was clear the Jennings were in a hurry, and Nicole took that as her obvious cue to exit.

“Well, we’ll just have to work on that project another time. Bye, Drake, Senator.”

Drake nodded. Nicole knew he wanted to know as much as she did about what was really happening with Amy, but this wasn’t the time or place to mention it.

As she beat a hasty retreat back to her car, Nicole made a mental note to text her mom about getting home late.

She was going to park in front of Amy’s house and wait all weekend if she had to. Something was up with Amy. Something very suspicious.