Stolen Secrets (8 page)

Chapter 26

Cammy was thin with long blonde hair,
and her skin was the color of the inside of pancakes. Tracy’s hair was almost black with red streaks around the sides of her face. She wore dark jeans and had several earrings. Both wore lots of makeup—red lips, dark eyelids, that kind of thing. Makeup is okay, I guess, but some people wind up looking less beautiful and more like Ding-Dong, if you know what I mean.

The police officer let the girls sit on stools. The dog obeyed every command, and I figured the leash was to protect it from the kids rather than the other way around. I was glad Ding-Dong’s pigs were gone, because the dog looked hungry.

Cammy took the microphone, looked at Tracy, and stifled a laugh. I figured she was nervous because a lot of people do that when they’re in front of a crowd. Tracy nudged her, and Cammy went limp-wristed with the microphone, letting it drift away from her mouth. The police officer stepped forward and pushed it closer.

“Okay, so I’m supposed to tell you what happened to us the other day,” Cammy began. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about it. We had stayed a little later after school to get some help with homework.” She giggled. “We need all the help we can get. Anyway”—(snort)— “we were coming home from school, just passing the café, when this guy jumps out and grabs us around our necks. He dragged us behind the café to a little shed. We were both really scared.”

Tracy took the microphone. “He had duct tape back there—you know, the big gray rolls you see at the hardware store. And before we knew it, he taped over our mouths and tied our wrists together. We tried to scream, but it all happened so fast that I guess nobody heard us.”

The kids stared, and parents stood at the back shaking their heads. Everybody got as quiet as they had for Mom’s story. Several mothers had hands over their mouths as the girls continued.

“Please, you guys have to be careful,” Cammy said in a high-pitched voice. “If we’d have been aware of what was going on around us and not talking to each other, we would have seen trouble coming. We could have crossed the street and avoided that guy or yelled for help.”

“Fortunately, we were able to get away before the guy came back or he might have really hurt us,” Tracy said. “So we hope you’ll all learn from our mistake and stay safe. Red Rock is not that big of a place. But it only takes one bad guy to mess everything up.”

Chapter 27

I watched Cammy and Tracy
as they moved away from the microphone.

The kids all applauded and several raised their hands.

“Did you call the police right away?”

“Did you get to ride in a squad car?”

“Have they caught the guy?”

“Did you pick him out of a lineup like on TV?”

The girls went back to the microphone and answered questions until Mrs. Genloe returned. She thanked the two, then introduced the officer, a dark-skinned man with a mustache. While he talked he kept his radio on, so we heard all the chatter.

Tracy and Cammy moved to the back of the auditorium where several parents hugged them and the girls smiled. Something bothered me about their story, but I couldn’t put a finger on what it was.

I knelt to ask Wally what he thought of the policeman and his dog. Wally’s balloon made by Ding-Dong lay on the floor, but Wally was gone.

Chapter 28

Just when the policeman
was getting to the part about how to spot people who might hurt you, Ashley darted down a hallway and disappeared.

I ran to catch up and finally found her in one of the classrooms. Her eyes were red and her hands shook.

“Wally’s gone,” she said. “He was right in front of me, but now he’s gone.”

“He’s gotta be around somewhere.”

“Bryce, they gave me one thing to do the entire night and I blew it. What if he’s outside? What if that guy gets him? What if he gets hit by a car? It’s all my fault!”

“Calm down. We’ll get everybody to help us—”

“No, we can’t let them know I lost him.”

I found the nearest bathroom and checked all the stalls. I skirted the auditorium and checked another bathroom on the other side. Nothing.

I found Ashley again and shook my head. “I’ll go to the playground. You look in here.”

She nodded. “Be careful.”

Chapter 29

I went to the auditorium
to make sure Wally hadn’t tried to get closer to the dog. I moved behind the adults, looking between shoulders, scanning the stage and seats.

How could I have been so stupid!
I thought.
He could have slipped away anytime in the last half hour. He could be in Colorado Springs by now!

Mrs. Ogilvie had told me that it’s important to think about what you say to yourself. Sounds kind of funny, and at first I thought only crazy people talked to themselves, but now I know better. If you keep calling yourself stupid, it wears you down.

“Okay, I’m not stupid,” I whispered, frantically looking in the girls’ bathroom. “I didn’t mean to lose him. It was just a mistake. All I have to do is stay calm and—”

Something moved in the corner.

“Wally?”

The stall opened. It was Cammy. “Who are you talking to?”

My heart sank. “I was just looking for someone.”

“You’re the Timberline girl, right?” Cammy said. “The twin.”

“Yeah.”

“Who are you looking for?”

I told her, my voice shaking. “He must have took off when you and Tracy were speaking.”

I hoped she would help, but she scowled. “Kid’s probably scared to death, wandering around this dungeon.” She walked past me. “Glad I’m not you.”

Wally could be dead by now, and it was my fault.

Chapter 30

I let the outside door close
and heard the clunk of the latch behind me. That sent my stomach (full of sub sandwich) to my ankles. All the school doors were locked. Unless Ashley came for me, I was stuck.

The parking lot looked like an SUV convention. Ski racks. Bike racks. It’s part of living in Colorado. The temperature had reached 70 that day, but the wind had picked up and the evening temperature dropped. The night air felt cool compared to inside. When we go to Rockies games, we always take blankets. Sometimes it even snows at the stadium.

The stars shone bright, and the quarter moon looked like God had hung it there.

My first thought was to call out for Wally, but I held back. If the little guy was hiding for some reason, he’d never answer.

Something moved at the edge of the playground. The overhead lights cast an eerie shadow on the swings and basketball hoops. A dark animal padded past the monkey bars and four-square boxes. A fox. They ran through our town like squirrels.

I stepped forward as the fox ran down a hill and across the soccer field. In the distance I saw the moonlit cap of Pikes Peak, white as a snow cone. The Front Range blocked most of the 14,000-foot mountain, but you could see the top from just about anywhere.

I scanned the playground again and heard what I imagined was Wally banging against something metal. I raced around front to find an American flag flapping in the breeze, the rope and metal clips knocking against the flagpole.

“Wally?” I said, loud enough to echo off the building.

Something rustled the bushes by the front door.

I froze, trying not to breathe. What if the guy who attacked the girls wanted to shut them up and had followed them here?

My voice shook. “Wally, is that you?”