Force Out (16 page)

“That's just it. I had to say
some
thing. It was like she could read my mind. I always knew she was tough, but—I don't know—I guess it was the gun.”

“Zach, spit it out.”

“I told her Butch Barrett.”

“What?”

“Butch Barrett. Kid's a butthead anyway
and
he hates Kratz.”

“Everyone hates Kratz.” Joey thought of the 99.5 he got on the exam and the way Mr. Kratz had literally cheated him out of a perfect score.

“So, I told her Butch said something about egging his house. It's a red cod.”

Joey rolled his eyes. “You mean, a red
herring
?”

“A fish is a fish, bro. Let's get with the girls.”

“Did Butch say that?” Joey asked.

“Well, he talked about egging houses last Halloween, and I know he hates Kratz, so . . . I just connected the dots.”

“Oh, man.” Joey grabbed his own face. “You can't do that, Zach.”

“Well, it's done,” Zach said. “I felt like it was that or spill my guts, and I wasn't gonna do that. Butch Barrett will be fine. I'm sure he had an alibi that night. No way was I taking you and me down. So . . . I did my best. Forget about it. Let's have fun. School's
over
.”

“And you're not worried?” Joey asked.

“I was worried when your mom had me alone, shooting questions at me. It's all good now. Look at that water. Let's take a swim.” Zach pulled free and hollered for the girls to join him as he headed for the stone wall.

Leah hung back, following more slowly so she could walk with Joey.

“Hi. Did you ace it?”

“Ninety-nine point five.”

“Wow. That's incredible. Did you see my score?”

Joey looked at her and laughed. “I didn't. I'm sorry. I should have looked.”

“Grades aren't everything anyway,” she said. “Not that I do bad or anything, but I'm going to play division one lacrosse. You can get into like Harvard and Yale if they want you to play.”

“That's like Stanford,” Joey said.

“Did you know they have division one women's lacrosse, too?”

Joey glanced at her and saw those big dark eyes unblinking. His face felt hot and not because of the sun. He stripped off his shirt and tossed it down with his towel. “Let's swim.”

They dove in with the others, splashing each other and having contests as to who could do the craziest dive. Wherever he went in the water, Leah seemed to be close by. Finally, they lay out in the sun, Joey right next to Leah. She opened a small cooler and offered Joey a smile along with a cold can of iced tea before handing out the rest of her supply to the others. Joey took a long sip, enjoying the sweetness and the slight bite of lemon. He lay back and watched the sunspots coast across his vision with his eyes closed, the sun making his eyelids glow red. The sound of kids laughing and chattering all around, joyful over the end of school, was a tonic to his spirits.

Tonight, he'd go to practice. Tomorrow afternoon, he'd get some batting tips from one of the best in the business. All the while, his mom would be chasing a red herring: Butch Barrett, that nasty booger. Joey smiled.

“What's funny?”

He opened his eyes and saw Leah leaning over him. “Nothing. Do you want to walk to the falls?”

“I thought you'd never ask.”

By the time Joey got home, his mom was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and grilling hamburgers on the back deck. Joey changed out of his bathing suit and joined her. Martin sat playing with a handful of Hot Wheels on the wood floor. Joey joined him.

“Look.” Joey stacked up several cars, then rolled a single car, ramming it into the pile so they scattered with a crash.

Martin squealed. “Again. Again.”

Joey set up the cars. “Okay, you do it.”

Martin crashed them and giggled and thrashed his feet.

“That's so nice,” Joey's mom said, looking down from her station at the grill.

Joey smiled up at her. The burgers hissed and filled the air with a cloud of smoke so delicious his mouth watered. “So, you were talking to Zach?”

“Mmm-hmm.” His mom flipped a burger. Drops of fat crackled in the flames. “I'm surprised you didn't mention Butch Barrett to me.”

“I don't know, Mom.” Joey stacked up some more cars for Martin. “No one likes Mr. Kratz. Lots of kids say stuff about him. I don't think anyone's serious.”

“I thought you said no one ever talked about
doing
something to him.”

Joey turned his attention to Martin and the cars. His mom poked at the burgers until they sizzled. Joey's dad appeared in a suit.

“Wow, am I hungry.” His dad breathed in the smoke and loosened his tie.

“Change your clothes and I'll have this on the table. Joey has practice. I thought I'd take him so you can play with Martin before bed.”

Martin made car noises, spraying Joey with spit. Joey's dad kissed him and Martin on the tops of their heads and disappeared to change. Joey played with his little brother right up until dinner was served, partly because he was having fun, but also because he knew it was the best way to build up points with his mom.

After a blessing, Joey dressed up a hamburger and took a monster bite. His parents were talking about some local judge who was running for reelection. Joey waited until there was a lull in the conversation before he made his move.

“Mom? That whole thing with Butch Barrett? Can't you just drop it?”

“Drop it?” His mom raised her eyebrows. “Why would I drop it? I thought you didn't even like Butch Barrett.”

“I don't, not really, but after this whole thing with the all-star team and him making it in front of me with his dad being the coach, I don't know . . . it looks bad, like you're out to get him.”

His mom spooned some potato salad onto her plate. “Last time I checked, my job wasn't to worry about how things looked. I'm not out to get anyone who doesn't deserve it. My job is to protect and serve and that's what I'm doing here. Mr. Kratz is a citizen and a taxpayer.”

“What's Butch Barrett got to do with Mr. Kratz?” Joey's dad asked.

His mom filled him in on the details of what she'd learned from Zach.

Joey's dad cleared his throat and used a napkin to wipe some burger juice from his lips. “I think Joey's right, Marsha. No one got hurt. Maybe you should let it go.”

Joey's heart glowed. Why couldn't his mom be more like his dad? If his mom let it go, Joey's life would be nearly perfect. He could go into the weekend tournament with a clear mind, get chosen for select tryouts, and then he and Zach could travel the world.

He looked at his mom.

She flashed him a look, and then studied his dad and started to laugh.

“You are so cute when you play the defense lawyer,” Joey's mom said, wiping her mouth and reaching across the table to touch Joey's father's cheek. “I swear, that must be part of why I wanted to marry you, but we had an agreement, right?”

“And I'm working at the firm now.” Joey's father frowned.

His mom wagged her finger. “But you can't help playing defense lawyer at home? Heh, heh, heh.”

She laughed again. “I guess it's all right. I can't expect a leopard to totally change its spots. Lord knows, I can't change mine. I'm a cop, so you're not going to scare me off because the truth and justice might be uncomfortable. Life's tough sometimes.”

“I'm glad you're having fun with this.” Joey's father bit into his burger again, filling his mouth so that he had to speak around his food. “What's the next step—put Don Barrett in handcuffs and take him into the station?”

Even though Joey wasn't crazy about Coach Barrett, the thought—and the smirk on his mom's face—horrified him.

Thankfully, she shook her head. “No. I'll have a talk with him
and
Butch, but not at the station. I'm just curious about his relationship with Mr. Kratz and where he might have been the night before the championship game.”

“Well,” Joey's dad said, raising his glass of iced tea, “maybe you could hold off at least until after the tournament this weekend so Joey doesn't have to feel uncomfortable?”

“You know, I'm wondering why this whole thing makes Joey so uncomfortable in the first place.” She looked at Joey sideways.

He tried to keep eating but choked on his milk when it went down wrong. “Me? I'm fine. I just don't want people to think there's bad blood between us and the Barretts because of the all-star team.”

“Anyone who knows me knows I'm not like that at all,” his mom said. “Everyone else? People always like rumors and gossip, but that's all it is, and anyone with a set of brains doesn't judge people like that.”

His mom turned her attention to Martin and that was the end of the conversation. Joey wasn't going to go there again if he could help it. He'd taken his shot, and it hadn't worked out. He wasn't going to keep pressing it. Maybe she'd wait, after all. Sometimes she did things like that—made you think she wasn't going to do what you wanted, but then really did it to surprise everyone and make you happy.

Joey helped clean up, then got his things together for practice. His mom changed her mind for the moment, anyway, saying nothing about the Barretts, only that she wanted to give Martin a bath. Joey's dad drove him to practice and stayed to watch.

Joey lit up the diamond. He sparkled on defense and pounded the ball at the plate. He felt the way he did when he was riding his bike down a hill, going faster and faster with the thrill of knowing nothing could slow him down.

After practice, Zach put an arm around his shoulders. “Bro, I don't know if you even
need
Brian Van Duyn.”

Joey beamed at him. “You're looking good, too.”

“But not like
you
. Smack. Bang. Outta the park.”

“I'm pumped up about Coach Van Duyn,” Joey said.

“He's staying at my house.” Zach straightened his back and patted his chest. “My dad and him are pretty tight. He gets in late or I'd say come over and meet him. We'll get going first thing in the morning, though. He's flying back tomorrow afternoon.”

“That quick?”

“Hey, all he has to do is watch you swing at a couple of pitches, and he can tell you exactly what you need to do. This guy is the best, bro, and you and me have him for a private session.”

“Nice.” Joey bumped fists with his friend, then joined his dad and headed for home. On the drive, he told his dad about Brian Van Duyn.

“Never heard of him,” Joey's dad said, “but if he was with the Mariners, he must be amazing. Is there a cost I should be helping with?”

“Cost?”

“Usually to get someone like that to work with you isn't free, Joey. The man is a professional batting coach.”

“I don't know, Dad. They're friends.”

“Well, it's very nice. I'll give Zach's dad a call and thank him anyway.” Joey's dad shook his head and laughed. “How about your mother? First she thinks it's Zach's dad who put the clamp on that science teacher's gas line, now it's the Barretts. How funny is that? I swear, I love her with all my heart, but the crazy things she comes up with. Don't ever marry a cop, Joey. Date a schoolteacher or a doctor.”

Joey blushed because the word “dating” made him think of Leah. He looked out the window, barely seeing the houses and trees they passed by. He wished the whole thing with Mr. Kratz would just go away. It was like gum on the bottom of his shoe: he just couldn't seem to get rid of it.

“Speaking of the science teacher's case.” Joey's dad looked over at him for a moment before setting his eyes back on the road. “There's something I meant to ask you about that.”

Joey couldn't help letting go with a sigh.

That didn't slow his father down. “Remember that ‘thing' you asked me about? The ‘thing' where no one got hurt?”

Joey clenched his teeth and hung on again.

“Yeah, Dad. I remember.”

“Right, so, you know that I know, right?”

Joey felt like a trapdoor had just opened under his feet. “What do you know?”

His father frowned at the road. “I
know
who that person on your all-star team is, and I
know
what he did.”

“Come on, did you think I wouldn't find out?” Joey's dad asked.

“I—I don't know.”

“I'm just surprised no one has talked about it.” Joey's father turned into their driveway, shut off the Jeep's engine, and lowered his voice. “Don't worry, I'm not going to tell your mother. I told you I don't think anyone needs to be punished. No one got hurt and I'd hate to see Butch Barrett kicked off the team right before the tournament.”

“Butch?”

Joey's father looked at him with a crafty smile. “A ‘guy on the team'? I should have known when you didn't say a ‘friend.' I'm proud that you tried to help get advice for a teammate, even though he's not a friend.”

His father shook his head. “Pretty gutsy for that kid to sneak out, drug the guy's dog, and clamp the fuel line, all so he could bring home a hunk of metal.”

Joey knew his dad was talking about the league's championship trophy.

“And it turned out you guys didn't win it anyway.” His father chuckled. “I'd almost admire the kid for being so ingenious about the whole thing if it wasn't for the dog. That thing could bite your face off. Nope, doing something like that for a baseball trophy is nuts.”

Joey wondered if his dad would think doing all that to try to help your best friend make sure he could make the all-star team would be just as nuts, but of course he kept his mouth shut.

“I get it, you can't talk. You made a promise.” Joey's dad ruffled his hair. “Come on, Son. You're a good kid.”