The Bloodwater Mysteries: Doppelganger (14 page)

“He wants to know when you and Brian can get started.”

“Started doing what?”

“He said you and Brian agreed to help him clean up his back lot.”

“Oh.” Roni’s shoulders sagged. “Did you tell him I’m grounded?”

Nick laughed. “I told him you’d be over later this morning.”

“But I’m
grounded
.”

“For this, I can make an exception,” said Nick.

After six hours of hard labor, Roni and Brian had barely made a dent in the chaos of Darwin Dipstick’s junkyard. As near as Roni could tell, whenever Darwin found himself with a possibly useful piece of automotive technology—a slightly bent wheel rim, for example—he would simply fling it out his back door and let the weeds grow up around it.

She bent over—for the thousandth time that day—and picked up something that looked like a transparent amber helmet.

“What’s
this
?” she asked Brian, who was dragging a rusty fender from one weedy heap to a pile against the south fence.

“Looks like a light bubble off a tow truck,” Brian said. “Throw it in the miscellaneous pile.” He pointed at one of the larger piles they had created.

“How much more do you think we have to do?”

“You’re the one who told Darwin we’d clean up his yard if he drove us up to St. Paul.”

“I guess I didn’t make such a good deal.” She sat down on a stack of tires and watched Brian work for a few minutes. When he gave her an accusing look, she said, “Hey,
you found your mom and brother. I didn’t get squat out of this deal.”

“You got an article published,” he said, “and the satisfaction of seeing justice done.”

“Justice schmustice! I’d rather have the hundred thousand dollars. But your stupid brother had to go and disappear on us.”

“At least the Kays finally know what happened to their daughter. And they were happy to hear that their grandson was alive and well.”

“Yeah, but there was no reward, because we couldn’t actually give them their grandson!”

“We couldn’t have turned him in anyway. It wouldn’t have been right.”

“I know.” Roni sighed.

“And now that the Kays know that Billy is with his biological mom, they’ve canceled the reward. Louella Doblemun probably won’t try to hunt him down again since Lance is in jail and there’s no money to be had.”

Roni picked up a rusty bolt and tossed it in the direction of the miscellaneous pile. “I still think she should have been arrested, too.”

“Problem is, she didn’t actually do anything illegal.”

“A mere technicality.”

“At least you’re getting your Vespa fixed,” Brian said.

“Yeah, but my mom says I can’t use it for a month.”

“I’m grounded, too. Except for doing this.” He gestured at the junkyard surrounding them.

“It’s like prison labor,” Roni said. “We solve a horrendous crime and we’re the ones doing hard labor. It’s not fair.”

“It never is,” Brian said.

Brian felt half dead by the time he got home and fell into the chair in front of his computer. He was stinky and sweaty and covered with scratches. He decided to check his e-mail before he took a shower.

A new message popped up with the subject line “Hey, bro.”

Brian reached out and touched his hand to the screen. One day he would see Billy and Kyung-Soon again.

He looked at the photos taped to the wall behind his computer. Brian Bain, winning the paper-airplane contest. Bryce Doblemun, the age-progressed image from the missing-kids website. And a photo of Billy Kim sailing down a ramp at some skateboard park, long hair flying, earring glinting in the sun—a photo Brian had found displayed on Kyung-Soon’s night table. He knew that she had left it behind for him.

In that moment, he felt incredibly lucky. Some kids had only one family. He had two families—even if one of them was on the run.

He heard the slam of a car door, then the sound of the doorbell. For a moment, he allowed himself to think it might be Kyung-Soon and Billy dropping by for a visit—even though he knew they were far, far away. He heard his dad’s voice and a woman’s voice. Then his dad called out to him.

“Brian! Could you come down here, son?”

Brian ran downstairs and out to the front door, where he was greeted by an excited yelp.

“You have a visitor,” his dad said as a small dog launched himself toward Brian’s chest. Sniffer! Brian caught the dog in his arms. Jack and Theresa Hanke, who were standing at the bottom of the steps, laughed as Sniffer tried to lick the skin off Brian’s face.

“After you two came to visit, ol’ Sniffer just wasn’t himself,” said Mr. Hanke.

“He whined all night long,” Mrs. Hanke added. “We were thinking he might be happier living with you, if you want him.”

“
Want
him?” Brian said. Then he looked at his dad and his voice dropped. “But you’re allergic.”

Mr. Bain shrugged and said, “I could take some allergy medicine. You know, respiratory allergies are merely the body’s attempts to deal with environmental irritants found in airborne particles such as—”

“Dad!” Brian said, stopping the flow of words. “Seriously! I can keep him?”

“Yes, son, Sniffer can come live with us.”

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