Grave Shadows (8 page)

Chapter 27

When Hayley told her aunt about the Jeep,
the woman’s eyes grew wide. She was relieved, of course, that Gunnar wasn’t in the SUV. While we were there a reporter called for a newspaper story.

I dreaded going home. I knew I had to tell Mom what had happened at the lake. She had told me to keep a sharp eye on Dylan, and I had let her down. I kept giving Dylan more mashed potatoes and butter to keep him quiet during dinner. Afterward I helped Mom clear the table and start the dishes.

My plan was to not tell the story at all, but the longer I kept quiet, the harder that became. Mom had asked what I did all day, and when I didn’t answer she turned from the sink and squinted. “I heard something on the news about a vehicle pulled from the lake today. You weren’t part of that, were you?”

“Sort of,” I said. At first the story was stuck as deep as Dylan and I were in the mud. Then I pulled it free, and the whole thing slid out.

Mom glanced at Dylan in the living room watching Thomas the Tank Engine. I could tell she was upset. Then she hugged me, and I cried like a gushing fire hydrant.

“Do you have to tell Sam?” I said, sobbing.

She pulled away and wiped my tears. That’s about as close as any person can get to another. She was being more than my mom. She was also being my friend.

“I know how bad you feel,” she said, hesitating. I was expecting her to add, “I’m really disappointed” or “I guess I can’t trust you with Dylan anymore.” Instead, she wiped her own eyes and said, “I think all you need to know right now is how much I love you.”

Leigh came in and asked for her money. I thought Mom would stick up for me and try to get Leigh to lower her rate, since she was charging a fortune. But no.

Our dogs, Pippin and Frodo, followed Leigh and me to my room and kept sniffing at my legs. I had just enough money saved to buy a skirt I’d seen at the mall. I handed it over.

“Nice doing business with you,” Leigh said, smiling.

Chapter 28

I was playing a video game in the barn
when Jeff called. If the doctor said he couldn’t go on the bike trip that meant he might be getting better. If he could go, I knew it would mean there was no reason for him to stay home, because he was dying.

I thought back to when he was first told he had a bad disease.
Malignancy
, they called it. None of us knew anything was wrong. He just started running funny in gym, wobbling to one side. We all laughed at him and called him Weeble because of an old toy. The commercial said, “Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down.”

But Jeff did fall down, and I admit I laughed when Duncan Swift called him Spaz. Duncan and I regretted it later when we heard Jeff had cancer, but there’s no way to take it back. It’s almost like Jeff forgave us without saying anything.

“You won’t believe it, Bryce,” Jeff said, as excited as I’d ever heard him. “Not only did the doctor say I could go, but he’s also donating five dollars a mile!”

Chapter 29

The next day I was working on a jumble
—a word with its letters all mixed up—and was stuck on the final one. The letters were:
seluc
. I asked Bryce to help.

The phone rang and it was Taryn, Gunnar’s former girlfriend. “We talked the other day,” she said.

“I remember.”

“I saw the story in the paper about Gunnar’s Jeep,” she said. “I’m worried about him.”

Join the club.

I told her we had been there when they pulled the SUV out and what I knew from Gunnar’s mother, which wasn’t much.

“One of the things we fought about when we were dating was his always going off and not telling anyone,” she said. “He’d take a couple of days off work and just disappear, usually right after he got his paycheck. When he’d come back he’d complain about being broke. He never told me where the money went. I think that’s why he lived with his mother. He never had enough to do anything but make his car payments.”

I thanked her and told her I’d get the information to the right people.

Bryce smiled and grabbed my pencil. “Got it!” he said.

He scribbled
clues
in the jumble box.

Chapter 30

Jeff gave me a tour of the van
his parents had rented for the bike trip. It was longer than most and looked more like an RV. It had a sink, a bathroom, a long couch and table, DVD player, satellite TV—the works.

Jeff seemed in a bad mood. “I wanted to do this myself, you know,” he said. “Camp out, ride the trails. They’re going to follow us and treat us like kids. I know it’s because they care, but it ticks me off.”

I found Jeff’s parents inside. Normally I don’t like to bring stuff up to adults, whether they’re teachers or parents. But this seemed different.

I explained what Jeff had told me and asked if there was anything they could do.

They looked at each other. “The doctor said he could go because he doesn’t have much longer,” Mrs. Alexander said. “We need to be there.”

“But can you hang back?” I said. “Let us camp out and ride like the others?”

Jeff’s dad nodded. “I suppose. But if he needs to stop, we’ll be there.”

Chapter 31

A group of us waved good-bye to Jeff and his parents
as they drove away, headed for Vail and a special camp. Bryce would join them Saturday morning.

Bryce rode his bike with weights on his legs and arms, and I rode beside him. We stopped at Jeff’s house first and put small pieces of paper in the front and back doors, so if anyone went inside the paper would fall and we’d know it. We put another on the window to the trophy room and one on the garage door.

We hit the Santa Fe Trail, and by the time we passed the Air Force Academy, I could see how strong Bryce had grown. I huffed and puffed like a steam engine, while he was hardly sweating.

We stopped at a small covered booth to get out of the sun and have something to drink. Clouds drifted lazily over the valley. Over the mountain range was Pikes Peak, which Bryce would see a lot of in the next few days.

It was the first time we had talked about my fiasco in the mud. People say twins know everything about each other, that they can sense when the other is in danger or in pain. Sometimes Bryce doesn’t even know I’m in pain when I’m standing right next to him screaming.

“Must have been pretty scary,” he said.

I nodded. “Might be more scary for you the next few days with Jeff. I hope he makes it.”