Vanishing Acts (4 page)
T
he next day Madison had her dad drop her at school extra early. Walking into the gym, she could already see a crowd of girls gathered around Coach Davis's door, as well as a crowd of boys around Coach Chin's door. Some of the girls were smiling, but others looked sad and a couple were even crying. Before Madison had a chance to read the list, Ashley, an eighth grader who had been on last year's team, walked by her and said, “Nice job!”
Madison's heart rate went way up as she studied the list of sixteen players: eleven starters and five alternates. Marci's name was first on the list, and all but three of the names were eighth graders. None of the eleven starters were from the seventh grade, but Madison was number twelve, first alternate. Madison couldn't help grinning. She was the top seventh-grade girl in the school and had the whole season to prove that she should really be a starter. Then Madison sobered. This was the first time she had seen a roster with her name on it and without Ann's.
Before going to class, Madison took a quick look at the boys' roster. Jake was not among the boys looking at this list, but his name was third among the starters. Wow, thought Madison, the third best player in the school was a seventh grader. She was impressed.
Madison was still excited about making the soccer team when lunch rolled around. She saw Becca, Jessi, and Lacey in the same seats on the lawn as the day before, but she didn't join them. They'd always been more Ann's friends than hers, and Madison usually found herself feeling shy and being quiet as the other girls chatted away about boys and clothes. She would want to join in, but she had no idea what to say. Where was Ann? Madison needed her to pave the way with her bubbly attitude, as she'd done since they were five. Just one more reason Madison was missing Ann so desperately.
Taking a seat alone at the far edge of the lawn, Madison pulled out the latest Max Stone novel and read as she ate her lunch. As she was finishing, Jake walked over. Sitting down, he pulled out the sketch pad he always carried with him. He tore off a piece of paper and handed it to Madison. It was a picture of Madison holding a soccer ball and watching the rest of her team play.
“Congrats on making the team!” he said with a smile as she looked at the picture. “First on the sub list is great.”
Madison blushed, embarrassed by the compliment. “Thanks! I saw you were third on the boys' list. I'm sure a drawing of you would show you playing!”
“Yeah, well, I moved from Atlanta and I played on some pretty good teams back in Georgia. You must be less nervous today now that tryouts are over.”
“I'm still worried about my friend Ann.”
Becca, Lacey, and Jessi had been watching Madison talk to this new guy and had walked over. Madison wasn't always comfortable around boys, but there was something about Jake that made her resent the intrusion.
Hearing Madison mention Ann, Becca took the opportunity to jump into the conversation.
“Ann hasn't been kidnapped, Maddy.”
Becca turned to Jake and smiled. Madison found herself feeling worried.
“Maddy always thinks the worst has happened. Say, Maddy, why don't you introduce us to your friend?”
“Sorry,” Madison mumbled, annoyed but not knowing what to do. “This is Jake. Jake, this is Becca, and my other friends are Lacey and Jessi.”
The girls smiled and waved.
“And I'm certain Ann is in danger,” Madison went on.
“What Maddy is trying to say,” Lacey interjected, “is that Ann hasn't shown up since school started. But we're sure she's okay. She's been in Europe all summer, and she's probably taking a few extra days before she comes back to the States.”
Madison turned to Jake. “We met at soccer when we were five and made a pact to stay together through high school and win a state championship. There's no way she would miss tryouts.”
“Missing tryouts
is
a very big deal,” Jake said, giving Madison a sympathetic look. Madison felt her insides glow.
“And Maddy has a very active imagination,” Becca said.
“That's because her father is a criminal lawyer who defends murderers and bank robbers, so she always thinks the worst,” Lacey added.
“Your dad is a criminal defense attorney?” Jake asked, looking interested. “That's awesome.” Madison looked up, a bit relieved.
Just then the bell rang.
“Oops. Got to go,” Jake said apologetically. “I'll see you in science class. Nice to meet you guys.” He ran off.
“You didn't tell us you had a boyfriend,” Becca said.
Heat rose in Madison's cheeks. “He isn't my boyfriend. We just sit next to each other in science.”
“He's cute,” Jessi said as they gathered up their backpacks and headed inside.
Walking into science class, Madison was secretly happy to see that Jake had saved her a seat.
“Hi,” she said as she sat down.
“Hey,” Jake responded, looking serious for once. “I've been thinking. I want to help you find your friend. I've been playing soccer since I was six, and there is no way I would miss a tryout. Something bad must have happened to her.”
Madison was surprised. No one else had believed her.
“That's what I'm worried about,” Madison said as the science teacher started to talk.
“Let's meet after soccer practice to figure out a plan,” Jake whispered, so the teacher wouldn't hear them.
“Perfect,” Madison mouthed with a smile as she opened up her textbook. Jessi's right, she thought as she tried to pay attention to the teacher. He
is
cute
.
I
t had rained earlier that afternoon, and the field was muddy when Madison jogged out of the gym for the first day of soccer practice. Soccer was her outlet, her guilty pleasure amid all her academic hard work, and she was usually upbeat when a season started, but today her stomach was in a knot. She had never been bullied before and she felt anxious. She hoped that Marci and her gang would treat her differently now that they were teammates.
But over the course of practice it became clear that nothing had changed. Every time Marci or her friends had a chance, they would throw an elbow or try to trip her.
Her chance for payback came unexpectedly toward the end of practice. Coach Davis had broken up the squad for a scrimmage, and Marci and Madison were on opposite sides. Minutes before practice was set to end, Madison's teammate passed the ball to her. Marci grinned and charged. From the look on Marci's face, Madison could tell that she was aiming to end this encounter with Madison sprawled in the mud as she ran away with the ball she had captured.
Unfortunately for Marci, Madison had other plans. She saw her tormentor zeroing in on her and faked right, then changed direction at the last second. Marci tried to adjust to the fake, but she lost her balance on the slippery grass. Racing around Marci, Madison kicked the ball just beyond the outstretched fingertips of the goalie! The ball shot into a corner of the net, and Madison's teammates shrieked and pounded her on the back. Madison grinned. Then she looked over her shoulder and saw Marci struggling to her knees. Half of her face was covered with dirt, and her shorts were smeared with mud and grass. Madison was tempted to gloat, but she decided that scoring a goal while Marci was eating mud would send a message that Madison was not going to be bullied. If Marci wanted to keep her position on the team, the only way she could do it was by outplaying Madison.
D D D
Walking out of the locker room, Madison saw Jake standing with a bunch of guys from the boys' team. Her black eye was pale yellow and purple by now, but she was sporting a fresh cut on her cheek courtesy of an intentionally thrown elbow, and there were more bruises on her arms and legs. Jake said good-bye to his friends and walked over.
“Are you on the soccer team or the boxing team?” Jake asked with his usual wide grin.
“I have a group of eighth graders determined to break my neck before we play our first game,” she answered angrily.
“No way. If you broke your neck, then I'd have to find your missing friend by myself, and I don't even know what she looks like. So, have you called, emailed, and tried to get through on Facebook?”
Madison sighed. “Yeah, all of the above. Now I think it's time for me to try a low-tech approach.”
“Huh?” Jake said.
“You know, actually going to her house,” Madison said. “It's pretty close to school. Want to come? I mean, if you're not busy . . .”
“Sure,” Jake said.
Ann lived in Northwest Portland, a section of the city on the northern edge of downtown. Hip boutiques and cool restaurants clustered on 23rd and 21st streets, and the surrounding area was populated with a densely packed blend of fancy old houses and apartment buildings. After an easy twenty-minute walk, Madison and Jake approached Ann's street. The houses were a mix of Victorians, Dutch Colonials, and other styles popular in the early part of the twentieth century, and all of themâexcept for oneâhad one thing in common: their lawns were mowed, their flower gardens were well tended, and none of them looked like they were in need of repair.
Ann's lawn looked like it hadn't seen a mower in ages, the paint on the siding of the house was peeling, and the place looked deserted.
“Does Ann's house always look like this?” Jake asked.
“No,” Madison replied nervously, “it usually looks great. Ann's mom is always in the garden planting flowers and stuff, and her dad mows the lawn every weekend.” She looked at the unkempt grass again. “Well, at least he used to.”
“The house looks like it should be in a
Friday the Thirteenth
movie.”
“Ann and her dad have been in Europe all summer. I guess her mom didn't keep the place up.”
Jake studied the house. “It doesn't look like anyone's home.”
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Madison thought she saw a light in a second-floor window. But when she turned her head, it was gone.
“I thought I saw a light on upstairs,” Madison said, “but I can't see anything now.”
Jake followed her gaze. “In the daylight it's hard to tell.”
They walked up to the front door and Madison rang the bell. After a few moments with no answer, she tried knocking. Then she called out, “It's Madison, Ann. Are you home?” There was still no answer. Shrugging her shoulders, Madison walked back to the front yard. The second-floor windows all looked dark, and Madison couldn't see the light she thought she'd seen before.
“I guess no one's home,” Jake said.
“Yeah, it seems like it,” Madison said miserably.
“Do you want to grab some pizza and figure out what to do next?”
“Sure. Let me call my dad and tell him I'll be late.”
As Madison dialed her cell phone, she looked back at the house and thought she saw a window curtain move on the second floor. She was tempted to go back to the house and look around more, but Jake had already started walking away.
When they got to Amore Pizza, a popular hangout for Madison and her friends just a few blocks from Ann's house, Jake went to the counter while Madison found a booth. By the time Jake sat down with a small pepperoni pizza and two Cokes, Madison could feel her tightly wound nerves fraying.
“I think we need to go to the police,” she said as she ripped a napkin into tiny pieces.
Madison remembered
The Spy Vanishes.
“What if Ann was hit on the head and is wandering around Europe with no memory?”
“Let's not panic. You said that Ann was in Europe all summer, right?”
“Yeah. Ann's dad is some sort of famous scientist. I think he was giving lectures over there.”
“Maybe his lectures were so good that he stayed.”
“Like they extended the trip or something?”
“Yeah.”
Madison thought for a minute. “But Ann has to go to school. And why wouldn't she call me? Or email or something?”
She took a bite of her pizza. Jake's usually joking expression had been replaced with a thoughtful one. After a few quiet moments he looked up. “You said your father is a criminal lawyer.”
Madison's mouth was full of cheese, so she nodded.
“Has he ever handled a kidnapping case? Maybe you should ask him about Ann.”
“I dunno . . . Dad is so busy right now. He just got a really hard new case.” She took a sip of Coke.
“Oh yeah? What's it about?”
She quickly swallowed. “This woman called the police and said that she heard her neighbor being murdered. When the police went into the house, they found a knife and blood. And the most awful part is the missing woman is my second-grade teacher.”
“Oh my God! I really liked Mrs. Haggard, my second-grade teacher,” he said mid-bite.
“I really liked Mrs. Shelby too, and I can't stand thinking that something bad has happened to her. I'm so worried.”
“Is there a chance she's alive?”
“No one knows for sure. They haven't found Mrs. Shelby's body, but they arrested her husband for murder anyway.”
“Wow! That's like
CSI,
” Jake said. “Have you ever seen a trial in person?”
“Oh, yeah,” Madison replied casually. “I go all the time.”
“Can anyone watch?”
“Sure!”
“I've never been in a courtroom. It would be pretty cool to go. . . .”
“There's a bail hearing for Mr. Shelby on Friday. That's a teacher-training day, so there's no school or soccer practice.”
Jake was reaching for his third slice of pizza. Madison couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth next.
“Do you want to come with me?” She ducked her head and filled her mouth with more pizza.
Jake flashed his wide gap-toothed smile. “That sounds great.”
Madison was about to say, “It's a date,” but she caught herself. Was asking Jake to watch a bail hearing the same thing as asking him out on a date? Dates were usually, like, going to movies or to the mall, so she wasn't sure. She decided that going to court would be educational, so it couldn't be a date.
“Is your mom a lawyer, too?” Jake asked.
It was the question she always dreaded. In a few seconds, her mood went from high to low.
Discussing her mom always made her sad. She guessed she'd never get used to not having one. One time many years ago, Madison and Peggy had had a serious talk about Madison's mother. Madison had been in a school play, and Hamilton couldn't come because he was in a big trial in California. Madison had been staying with Peggy, and Peggy had come to school in Hamilton's place. After the play, Madison saw all of her friends with a dad and a mom and she'd gotten teary-eyed. Until that day, Madison had accepted having a dad and no mom. She knew her mom was dead, but they had never really talked about it. On the ride home, she'd asked Peggy why other dads had wives and other kids had a mom and a dad.
“You had a mother, Madison. She was lovely, one of the sweetest women I've ever known.”
“Why can't I remember her better?” Madison had asked.
“You were too young when she passed away.”
“Some of the kids in my class have two moms,” Madison said. She knew this because she had playmates whose fathers had remarried after divorce or death. “I'd like to have a mother, even if it wasn't my first mom.”
Madison had seen tears form in Peggy's eyes before she turned her head back to the road.
“Your mother was so special that your dad hasn't found anyone to replace her,” Peggy said.
“Does Dad work so hard because he misses Mom?” Madison asked.
Peggy looked surprised. “I think that's it,” she said. “When your mother was alive, he didn't work nearly as hard. After she passed away, Hamilton buried himself in his work because he was very sad. I guess he never got out of the habit.”
“Hey, you okay?” said Jake, waving a hand in front of her face.
Madison snapped out of her memories and looked across the table at Jake. “My mom died when I was young,” she said, hearing her voice go quiet.
Jake stopped smiling. He put his pizza down. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean . . . ”
“It's okay. You didn't know. How about you?” Madison asked quickly, to change the subject. “What do your folks do?”
“They're doctors. They both work at OHSU,” he said, referring to Oregon Health Sciences University, the hospital that had been built on a high hill overlooking Portland's city center. “That's why we moved from Atlanta. They got jobs here.”
“What kind of doctors are they?”
“Mom's a cardiologist, a heart doctor, and dad is a neurosurgeon. He operates on brains.”
“Do you want to be a doctor like your folks?” Madison asked.
“No. Their work is really interesting, but you have to be good at science if you want to be a doctor, and I am definitely not good at science. I really want to be a cartoonist or write graphic novels. But right now I just want to play soccer and make it through junior high in one piece.”
Madison laughed. “I guess we don't have to make up our minds for a while,” she said, but she'd known for a long time what she would be when she grew up.