Uncovering Sadie's Secrets

by Libby Sternberg

  Not even bothering to knock, I ran into the Daniels’ house, searching for Kerrie and Doug. I found them in the dining room, huddled near the kitchen door. When she saw me, Kerrie screeched as if seeing a ghost.

  “Bianca, I was so worried about you. Doug and I didn’t know what to do. I was going to tell my parents!” Kerrie said.

  I pulled Kerrie and Doug away from the crowds into the quiet dining room, and explained what I knew about Sadie.

  “Well, we should tell the police. Or my dad,” Kerrie said.

  “I don’t know.” I put my shoes on the floor and stepped into them again. Ouch. After flat-footing it for five blocks, my toes were a little cramped. “She’s done something that keeps her from going to the police. That’s my bet.”

  Doug stepped up next to me. “Like what?”

  “I don’t know.” I leaned on the table a little. I was beat. The adrenaline rush from my encounter with Doug and then with Sadie was beginning to wear off. I had to sit down. As if reading my mind, Doug pulled out a chair for me.

  “Whatever it is, it’s got to be something she does, or has done, for that man and woman,” I said. I slumped into the chair and held my head in my hands. Kerrie and Doug pulled out chairs too, with Doug sitting right next to me. It was crystal clear to me by now that Doug was beginning to think of us as a couple. I felt tingly all the way down to my pinched toes.

  “Just the facts. That’s what Connie says. Review the facts.” I was thinking out loud. “Sadie is being threatened by that man and woman. My guess is they’re threatening to frame her for her mother’s death. The reason they’re doing it is because they want something from her.”

  “Money?” Doug asked.

  “She’s given them money in the past,” I explained, telling him about the incident at the ATM machine. And then, since the moment was right, I added the part about how I’d missed our first date at the movies because I’d been trying to help Sadie. Okay, so I had been following her more than helping her. But I always meant to help her.

  Doug was appropriately impressed. “Gee, Bianca, you should have told me that’s why you stood me up. I would have understood.”

  We stared moon-eyed at each other for a few seconds until Kerrie broke in with a dose of reality. “Whatever they want, she’s obviously agreed to give it to them. If we want to help her, we better do it now. I don’t think we’ll see much of her after tonight, do you?”

  “No,” I said, “you’re right. We won’t.” I stood up. If we didn’t help Sadie tonight, we wouldn’t be able to help her at all. She’d be gone. I was certain of it.

  Doug stood, too. “I can drive. Where do you want to go?”

  Both Kerrie and I looked at him, our heads moving together in one smooth synchronous motion to face him.

  “You can drive?” I sputtered.

  “Just got my license today.” He reached into his pocket and proudly pulled out and displayed a laminated card with a mug shot that made him look like he’d been caught doing something wrong. “Didn’t want anyone to know I was taking the test,” he added sheepishly.

  I looked at Doug with new, admiring eyes. He’d passed his driver’s test. This was a man.

  “Okay. Let’s go.” I took charge. “Sadie’s house. She’ll take them back there and pick up her stuff.”

  Kerrie backed off. “I don’t like this at all. Bianca, I have to tell my Dad.” Her eyes glistened with tears.

  And she was right. This was serious business. But I wasn’t ready just yet to throw in the towel and call up the reserves. Maybe, just maybe, if I could get to Sadie and get her to finish telling me her story before any police were involved, things would be better for her.

  “All right,” I agreed. “But let me talk to Sadie first. That’s all I’m asking. Then we’ll talk to your father, okay?”

  Kerrie didn’t look happy, but finally she nodded her assent. “If I don’t hear from you in an hour, I’m telling my Dad.”

  “I don’t have a phone,” I said.

  “Wait a minute. I’ll lend you my cell phone. You can call me and let me know when you find her!” She ran upstairs and was down a few seconds later, the phone in one hand and a slip of torn paper in the other.

  “Here.” She handed me the phone, then the paper. “I think this is Sadie’s phone number. From that criss-cross directory.”

  Again, I felt like slapping my head with my hand. Kerrie had had Sadie’s number all along, ever since I’d told her Sadie’s address, the night Connie and I had found Sadie in the Barrington Arms. Kerrie must have looked it up in her father’s “backwards” directory—matching it to the condo’s address.

  Doug and I quickly made our way back to the street. Once there, he put his arm around my shoulder. This was great. This was neat. This was obviously something he’d given some thought to. He’d planned to use this party as the device to ratchet up our relationship.

  I was impressed. He drove. He planned. He wanted to help find Sadie. How much luckier could a girl get?

  Well, there was one thing. Once in his parents’ little Honda, it became painfully clear that Doug was still a novice at this driving thing.

  “I don’t drive in the city much,” he explained as we immediately headed in the wrong direction. Somehow, Doug managed to get us on St. Paul Street going south. We needed to go north. You would think that the harbor being in the way would have been a dead giveaway that we were not on the right track. When he starting humming cheerfully to himself as he headed around Federal Hill on the other side of the harbor, I pointed out his mistake.

  “Uh, Doug, I think you need to go up Charles Street. North. Towson’s north.” He took this friendly tip in stride, but by the time he had us turned around, we’d lost precious minutes. Or maybe it was precious hours at the rate he was going.

  Unlike a lot of guys who like to show off by getting up some velocity, Doug seemed quite content to mosey along at the speed limit, even a hair under it. Any other time, I might have found this endearing. But tonight I felt like reaching over with my foot and squashing his down on the accelerator pedal until the tires squealed.

  “We better hurry,” I said after clearing my throat. “She’s probably already there.”

  “Why don’t you call her?” he asked as he slowed down for a green light.

  “Call her?” Oh yes. The cell phone. I whipped it out and punched in her number from the paper Kerrie had given me. It rang and rang and rang. Darn it. Maybe she’d already left. Maybe she hadn’t even gone there. Maybe she hadn’t gotten there yet.

  I tried another number. Home. Voice mail picked up. Hey, who was on the phone? What about the half hour rule? (I was sure whoever was on the phone had already been on for twenty-five minutes. Or maybe even twenty-eight.)

  I clicked off and held the phone in my lap as we meandered up Charles Street. At this rate, I figured we’d be at Sadie’s condo in a day or two.

  “No luck, huh?” Doug asked. When he turned to look at me, he turned the steering wheel a bit too far and a guy in the lane next to us beeped the horn. And said a few things. Loudly. And unpleasantly. Doug concentrated on the road.

  “No luck.” I picked up the phone and hit the redial button. Voice mail again. Now I was steaming. Nobody has to obey the half hour rule but me? Was there some sort of hidden message encoded in my mother’s instructions? Something like—everyone else can have free use of the phone except Bianca, who can only use it for a half hour at a time? I must have missed that part.

  I’d try Connie’s cell phone. Clicking off again, I quickly dialed her number. It rang and rang and rang and then kicked over to voice mail, too.

  After that frustrating experience, I figured all that was left to do was sit back and enjoy our leisurely ride. I’d try Sadie again in a few minutes.

  But in a few seconds, my phone starting ringing. Or rather, playing “The Toreador Song.” At first I thought it was a radio from a nearby car. Then Doug pointed to the phone in my lap (and veered a little to the right w
hile he did it). “You better get that,” he said while he ignored the shouts of the driver next to us.

  “Hello,” I said tentatively.

  “Hello,” a female voice said in reply. “Who is this?”

  “Who is this?” I asked haughtily. After all, this girl was calling me. I wasn’t calling her.

  “You just called my cell phone,” she said. “Who is this? Why’d you call me? Is this Trina?”

  The voice sounded familiar. “Connie?” I asked.

  “Bianca?”

  “How’d you get this number?” I asked.

  “Caller ID on my phone.”

  “Why didn’t you answer when I phoned? Where are you?”

  “Out.”

  “You’re on a date!” I nearly screamed. Connie was on a hot date and hadn’t wanted to be interrupted. Come to think of it, she sounded a little breathless. “With Kurt!”

  “What of it? Now, why’d you call me?”

  “I’m trying to find Sadie.” I explained everything. Well, not exactly everything. Not the parts about Sadie saying to leave her friends alone, or the part where Sadie might be on the wrong side of the law. “Where are you?” I asked.

  “Uh. Over in Randallstown.”

  “Randallstown? What are you doing there?” I asked. Randallstown was on the west side of the city. We didn’t know anyone who lived in Randallstown. Hmm. . . Kurt! Maybe that’s where he lived. But Randallstown was farther from Towson than we were.

  No matter. The way Doug was driving, we’d be lucky to arrive at Sadie’s in time for her twenty-first birthday party. Or maybe the birth of her first child.

  “Can you head to Sadie’s?” I asked. “You’ll probably get there before us.”

  “Why? Where are you?” She sounded a little annoyed. Her date must have been going well.

  “Stuck in traffic,” I said.

  “Hey, it’s not too bad,” Doug protested, letting the car drift to the left as he gestured in that direction. Luckily, no one was in that lane.

  “Are you even sure that’s where she is?” said Connie, sounding exasperated. I heard Kurt’s voice in the background saying something that sounded like “what a mess.” At least that’s what I think he said. Otherwise, it could have been “I’ll get dressed.”

  “I’ll check. I’m going to call her. Give me a minute. I’ll call you back.” We hung up and I immediately redialed Sadie’s number. To my shock, she actually picked up the phone on the sixth ring, just as I was about to give up. Her voice was low and tired. As soon as she said “hello,” I plunged in talking.

  “Sadie, it’s me, Bianca. Doug and I are on our way over to your place. Don’t say anything. Don’t tell us not to come. Don’t go away. We want to help you. We want to get you out of this mess. Uh, Kerrie’s dad is a lawyer and he’s agreed to help. You haven’t done anything wrong. You can cut a deal.”

  Man, I was good. I was making stuff up right and left. We had-n’t talked to Kerrie’s dad. And I had no idea exactly what kind of trouble Sadie was in. But my guess is that if she was nice enough to go off with Lemming Lady and Ice Man in order to protect her friends, she was worth helping.

  She didn’t say anything right away, which told me I’d hit a nerve. She was considering it. Then I heard Lemming Lady’s voice in the background urging her to hurry and asking who it was.

  “Nobody, Angelica. Just a telephone solicitor. Don’t rush me. I’m beat. Plus I need to pack up my computer.” Then she clicked off.

  “Well?” Doug asked. He was getting better. This time when he looked at me he didn’t bring the car with him. We were now near the outskirts of town and traffic was lighter.

  “I think Sadie’s going to wait for us. The woman who’s after her is named Angelica. Let me tell Connie.” I dialed my sister’s cell phone and gave her the info. Then I asked her about Angelica and who she thought she was.

  “Angelica what?” she asked. “What’s her last name?” From the sound of it, I could tell that Connie and Kurt were getting in the car and heading off to Sadie’s.

  “I don’t know. That’s all she said—Angelica.”

  I heard Kurt’s voice in the background. Then Connie spoke to him, not to me. She came back on the phone. “Look, Kurt says you shouldn’t do anything once you get there. Just hang out in the parking lot until we show up. Keep an eye on the doors. Kurt used to be a bounty hunter, Bianca. He knows this stuff.”

  Wow! Connie was dating a former bounty hunter. And all I had was Doug the Diligent Driver. Hey, I wasn’t complaining. Doug was all right by me.

  We were now on the edge of Towson, just heading into the south side of the shopping and business district. Doug easily navigated this area. It was his home turf. I told him to go to the Barrington Arms and he was swiftly maneuvering through little side streets and onto main drags, clearly comfortable with where he was. His driving was better, too—more confident and less quirky. I explained to Connie that we were almost there.

  We were in the parking lot by now and I saw the black vehicle that Angelica and her friend used.

  “Their car is here. Angelica’s and the guy’s.”

  “Well, just stay out of sight. Give me a call if they leave.”

  Doug pulled into a spot down the row of cars from the black car, and cut the engine. He rolled his window down a crack and looked over at me with half closed eyes.

  “Since we have to wait, why don’t you scoot on over here?” he asked. “To keep warm?”

  To keep warm? Need I tell you that I already was a bit warm? My face felt as if I’d been standing in front of a raging fire. My hands were just as toasty. In fact, I was so warm from an inner glow that I was sure I was tanning from the inside out.

  Doing as Doug suggested, I unbuckled my seat belt and slid closer. In a second, he had his arm around me and was bending forward to give me that kiss that had been interrupted at Kerrie’s party.

  Sparks flew, fireworks went off, sirens wailed, the world spun. All that and more. This was dangerous stuff. Doug was entrancing me and, much as I liked being entranced, I also liked being in control. Just as I pondered this new state of affairs, I heard the familiar click-clack of Angelica’s two-inch platform heel boots on the hard asphalt.

  Chapter Nineteen

  DOUG HEARD it too. He straightened and pulled his arm away, looking out the back window of the car. Unfortunately, Doug had pulled the car into the spot rather than backing it in, so we had to twist and crane our heads to get a good look at what was happening. I don’t think Doug was too good at back-ups.

  “Let me call Connie,” I whispered. I got her on the phone in a flash, and she told me that she and Kurt, though just a few blocks away, were having a hard time getting over to the Barrington Arms through a maze of unfamiliar streets. So Doug had one up on the hulky Kurt. Doug knew Towson. My Doug. My hero.

  “They’re getting in the car!” Doug hissed at me. He unlocked his door and started to get out.

  “Doug!” I hissed back. “Don’t let them see you.”

  Either he didn’t hear me or he didn’t listen because Doug slammed the door, not hiding his presence from the diabolical duo and Sadie. Except the diabolical duo was the Diabolical Uno. Only Angelica was walking toward the black car, hauling a big box with Sadie behind her carrying another box. Her computer.

  “Bianca! Bianca! What’s happening?” Connie’s voice squawked at me from the cell phone.

  “Doug got out of the car. I have to go after him,” I whispered. I slid over to the door and unlocked it, then quietly left the car, being careful not to slam the door. Unlike Doug, I stayed down and out of sight. I had no idea what he was planning, but I wasn’t comfortable with overt actions.

  “Hey, you there! Hold it! What’s in those boxes?” Doug said forcefully.

  Doug was shouting at Sadie and Angelica in a strong voice. It was deeper than usual and sounded as if it came from someone in authority.

  Come to think of it, it was The Voice of Authority, or what such a voic
e sounded like. Peering from my hiding space behind the right back fender of Doug’s Honda, I could see that Doug had put on his sunglasses and was striding purposefully towards Sadie and Angelica. He was pretending to be an officer of the law, just what Angelica had thought he was when she’d seen him at the party! Doug had brains. Doug was cool. Doug was my guy.

  Sadie played along.

  “Angelica,” she said. “You better do as he says.” And then Sadie just dropped her box, smack in the middle of the parking lot. In fact, it sounded as if she threw it rather than dropped it.

  Angelica was undaunted. She just sped up her pace, threw her box in the back seat of the black car, and yelled at Sadie to “come on!”

  Uh-oh. I wasn’t sure Doug had a counter punch to Angelica’s disregard for the law. Or the law that he was pretending to be. I crept forward, expecting to see Doug back off and come back to the car. Boy was I surprised.

  Doug stopped in his tracks, spread his legs wide, and reached into his breast pocket, from whence he pulled out a—gun!

  Yikes! A gun? Was he nuts? Was he certifiable?

  “Halt! FBI!” he yelled at them. With both hands he aimed the shiny gun at Angelica. That stopped her. Open-mouthed, she stared at Doug, her hand resting on the edge of the car door. Sadie backed away from the car, equally surprised at the turn of events.

  “Back away from the car,” Doug said menacingly, a steely edge in his voice. He waved the gun ever so slightly to the left, indicating he wanted them to step out into the open part of the parking lot, away from the car. He was really getting into this. He was going for an Oscar with this performance.

  Only trouble was, what was the denouement? What was he planning on doing with Angelica and Sadie once he had them? He couldn’t possibly have handcuffs, too. And what would we do— make a citizen’s arrest for violating nice-person rules?

  As Doug moved towards them, I caught Angelica looking back at the condo. My gaze followed hers and zeroed in on what she saw. Ice Man! He was headed their way, silently coming up on Doug from behind. And he was reaching into his jacket, too. My heart went on a roller coaster ride. My ears rang. My mind screamed. I had to do something or Ice Man would do something that I didn’t even want to think about.