by Jody Kihara
small station.
“Oh, give it a rest,” I muttered, and then watched in
fury as Jasper ran to Dad, who threw his arms around him.
“I’m sorry!” were the words that Jasper seemed to
be sobbing into Dad’s T-shirt.
Revo was manhandled towards a doorway and
pushed through. “In there until you calm down!” one of the
officers holding him yelled. I guessed the jail cells were
back there.
“Now, Jasper,” Officer Herd said, turning to him.
“We’re going to need you to answer some questions.”
Good luck with that, I thought. If they could get any
sense out of Jasper at this point, they all deserved
promotions.
“Look,” Dad said, still holding him tightly, Jasper’s
face buried in his sweater, “It’s five in the morning.”
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Looking at my watch, I saw with amazement that he
was right.
“We’re all tired. The boys must be more worn out
than I am. I don’t think now is the best time for more
questioning — can’t we go home, get some sleep, and
come back tomorrow for all the rest?
Officers Davis and Herd glanced at the clock on the
wall. Officer Tully was back at her desk, the phone to her
ear.
“It is late,” Officer Davis said. “We can do that… but
you have to come back tomorrow. As soon as you’re up.”
Dad sighed. “Don’t worry. I have to make sure he―”
He jerked his head towards the back room. “―gets what’s
coming to him.”
“I’ll drive you back,” Officer Herd offered, picking up
his keys.
“Wait!” I said, and everyone looked at me. “What
about ‘Pa’ — I mean, Daewood? Did they catch him, too?”
Officer Tully was putting the phone down as I asked
the question. “They’ve got him,” she said. “In Still Creek.
He was headed in the other direction, but they picked him
up at about the same time. His kids are with him.”
“Will they bring him here?”
She shook her head. “No, they’ll keep him at Still
Creek and get his statement there, and then we’ll see what
happens.”
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I slumped, disappointed I wouldn’t get to see him
hauled in, and, more importantly, to see those kids again. I
wanted to see the looks on their faces — were they guilty,
ashamed, did they know they’d done something wrong? Or
was it all just a big joke for them, were the twins still
punching each other and laughing till snot flew out their
noses?
One of their conversations surfaced in my memory.
“His name’s Rusty — no, Jason!”
“His name’s Brendan. No, Brenda!”
“No it’s not!”
“Yes it is, remember?”
And a lightning-bolt of anger ripped through me. I
wondered what Coralie’s real name was. And what about
The Girl? She’d been the biggest perpetrator, apart from
Revo. Had she enjoyed the hoax, did she like making me
run around like an idiot? Or did they have to persuade her
to do it? Had she been scared when she was all alone on
that island ― or was she so fierce that nothing could scare
her?
If she was anything like Coralie, I couldn’t imagine
her being scared; yet she was the youngest, and had to do
the most.
I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake
her. Why did you do it? Did you know where it was all
going? Did you know I might nearly get killed?
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We walked out to the police car with Officer Herd.
Jasper was still clinging to Dad, who ushered him into the
back seat before climbing into the front passenger seat. I
was too slow to figure out what was going on and I ended
up having to sit in the back, beside Jasper. I’d rather have
ridden up front. Jasper and I sat as far apart as possible.
He looked down and continued to sniffle. I longed to
give him a good, hard punch and tell him to stop trying for
sympathy. Instead, I stared stonily forward, my whole body
tense. Jasper sniffled the whole way back, and every time I
heard him, I fought to stay rigid rather than launch myself
at him and beat him to a pulp.
Dad sat talking to Officer Herd, which I guess was
why he’d got in the front. They were discussing getting
someone out the later in the morning to replace the shot-
out tires of Dad’s truck. I’d forgotten all about that until
now.
The car turned off the main road and up the dirt one,
bumping along the way. It was daylight, now, but not fully,
and I wished the sun would stay down; I wanted darkness.
My eyes burned with tiredness. Soon the cabin came into
sight. The second the car slid to a halt, Jasper ran straight
out, not even bothering to shut the car door behind him,
and bolted into the cabin like a scared rabbit.
Dad said goodnight to Officer Herd, but I didn’t say
anything; I was still sore over how the cops had treated
me. Revo, Pa, and pretty much everyone but me were the
criminals — even Jasper! ― yet they’d acted like I was the
liar and the cheat.
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When Dad and I finally trudged inside, the main floor
of the cabin was vacant, which meant Jasper had already
run up to the bedroom. “Great,” I muttered. “Now I have to
sleep on the couch. He should be the one sleeping on it.”
No way would I be able to sleep in the same room as him,
listening to his sniffles — I’d definitely snap this time, and
likely spring out my bed, yelling, pummeling, until Jasper
stopped whining and took some responsibility for what he’d
done.
Dad sighed. “Look Paul, this is an awful situation,
but go easy on Jasper. He’s had a rough time.”
“He’s had a rough time? Dad, he almost got us
killed! He might be a loser, but he’s not completely stupid.
He knew what he was doing was wrong! And dangerous,” I
added.
“We’ll figure it all out tomorrow. Today, I mean.
Now, come on,” he put his arm on my shoulder. “You can
sleep in my room.”
I shrugged my arm away. Underneath all the
adrenalin and anger, an immense, heavy tiredness waited
for me, but right now I was too keyed-up to sleep. I wanted
answers.
“What’s going to happen?” I demanded. “Will Revo
go back to jail? Will Jasper end up in juvenile detention?”
The thought of Jasper being there was almost cartoon-like:
no way would he last five minutes in juvey. He’d probably
pass out before he made it through the doors.
“We’ll find out more tomorrow,” Dad said. “Right
now, I don’t know. I don’t know if we even have enough
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evidence to charge Revo. I guess a lot will
depend on
Jasper’s side of the story.”
“Jasper!” I snapped. “He was in on it! They should
both be punished.”
Dad sighed again. “I know he did something wrong,
Paul, but I’m sure Revo was guilt-tripping him into it. Don’t
forget, Jasper hasn’t had a good upbringing like you did. So
don’t be too hard on judging him.”
Good upbringing! I wanted to shout in his face:
What, like divorcing mom, like replacing us both? Like
never spending time with me alone because Jasper throws
a hissy-fit every time he doesn’t get his way? How is that
being a good parent? Maybe from Jasper’s point of view it
was, but what about me?
“So, what, if Jasper lies and tells the police it was all
a big joke just so he can save his own butt, then Revo will
get off too?” My voice rose. “Why should they listen to
Jasper? He’s been lying to us since before we got here! He’s
the liar! I was the only one telling the truth! And you didn’t
even want to believe me at first!”
Dad reached his arm out again. “Paul―”
I flinched my arm away. Now that I’d opened the
floodgates, it was all coming rushing out. “You’re always
letting Jasper get his own way, you’re always spoiling him
so he doesn’t have his little-baby crying fits, and look what
it’s done! Look what you’ve made him ― not Revo! Jasper
thinks he can get away with whatever he wants, because all
he has to do is cry and people will forgive him. Dad, he
knew what he did was wrong, Revo didn’t take him away
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and brainwash him! You’re the one who made him think he
can get out of anything just by acting like a three-year-
old.”
“I was hoping you’d be more understanding.”
Wow, nice try with the guilt-trip, I thought. But wait,
let’s review: didn’t you just say it was wrong for a parent to
guilt-trip their kid?
By now, I was shouting. “No, Dad, I’m not terribly
understanding when my stepbrother tries to kill me! And
then my dad — my Dad, not his — expects me to feel sorry
for him. I come from a divorced family where my Dad
doesn’t have time for me, remember?― and yet somehow,
somehow, I don’t go around killing people!”
“Paul,” he said again, and I thought I saw tears in
his eyes. Oh, lord not tears! This was too much.
“I’m going up to bed!” I yelled. “I’ll sleep in your
room and you can sleep with the brat!”
I ran up the stairs and banged Dad’s door behind
me. Sunlight was already shining through the window, so I
yanked the faded brown curtains shut, wishing they were
thicker. Then I kicked my runners off, got undressed, and
flopped onto the bed.
I was so mad, I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep at
all, but as soon as I was lying down, the thick tiredness
that had been waiting behind everything pulled at me, and
I realized my whole body was aching.
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Alone now, I regretted storming off; I’d rather have
slept in the same room as Dad just so Jasper was forced to
be on his own. I hoped Jasper had been lying awake,
feeling alone, or better yet, hearing my words. But knowing
Jasper, he was probably sleeping like a baby.
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Chapter 17
Sometime later that day, I awoke to semi-darkness
and heat. You know when the room’s darkened, but you
can still tell it’s daytime? I came awake slowly,
remembering the previous day’s events. They seemed too
unreal to be anything but a bizarre dream, yet here I was
in Dad’s bed.
Police station, I remembered. We had to get down
there to continue with the questioning. I wanted to tell my
story before anyone else, even though I’d already told it.
More importantly, I had to be there to refute any lies or
excuses Jasper might come up with. I knew that if I was
right there in the room with him, able to stare him down
whenever his voice wobbled with the beginning of a lie, he
wouldn’t be able to continue — all he’d do is cry. And then
they’d see who was telling the truth.
Important as that was, however, my body still
craved sleep. No sounds came from downstairs, so with any
luck, Dad and Jasper were still sleeping. Then I
remembered that someone would have to replace the truck
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tires before we could go anywhere. Knowing the sound of a
truck would wake me, I let myself go back to sleep for a
little while.
I jerked awake a second time, the cabin still silent,
but this time I somehow knew I was the only one in the
cabin. I don’t know if it was a different quality of silence, or
the empty feeling, or what, but I could sense that Dad and
Jasper weren’t here. I stumbled out of bed and parted the
curtains, my hand immediately going up to shade my eyes.
It was sunny outside and looked like it might be mid-
afternoon. As my gaze travelled around I realized… the car
was gone.
“Dad?” I called out anxiously, throwing yesterday’s
clothes on. When I opened the bedroom door, I saw that
the door to my and Jasper’s room was wide open, and the
room was empty. I ran down the stairs, knowing before I
reached the kitchen that they weren’t there. Had they gone
outside? And where was the car, had someone taken it
away to fix? I knew Dad wouldn’t have left without me.
There were dirty dishes covering the stove, counter
and table. It looked like a big breakfast had been eaten.
With growing anxiety, I dashed over to stove. Sure enough,
a thick film of bacon grease covered the bottom of the
frying pan. And was the bowl on the counter caked with…
pancake batter? I looked around, getting angry now —
there was no covered plate of food waiting for me. They’d
cooked a huge bacon and pancake breakfast, and hadn’t
left any for me!
My gaze came to rest on the only thing they had left
me: a torn scrap of notepaper. I snatched it up from the
table and read Dad’s handwriting:
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Paul,
You were asleep, so didn’t want to wake you. Truck
tires fixed so have headed in to police station. Hope to be
back mid-afternoon. Love, Dad
Adrenaline shot thought my body ― they’d gone to
the police station without me! Now Jasper would be there,
telling his lies and twisting the story to make it sound like
he’d been the victim, or that it had all been a joke… and if
Revo was with him, corroborating it, then the cops would
never hear the truth.
“I hate you!” I shouted to no one in particular. I was
burning with anger, and wasn’t sure who I hated more right
now: Jasp
er, Revo, or my Dad, for taking off without me.
How could he? He knew I had to be there!
I paced the kitchen, fuming. Already, I figured, Dad
was letting Jasper wheedle his way out of it. I looked down
at my fist and saw I’d crumpled the note into a tight ball
without realizing it.
A quick glance at the clock told me it was two
o’clock. Two! What time had they left here? Unfortunately, I
hadn’t checked the time when I’d first woken up. I quickly
debated running into town to get to the station; maybe
they’d only just got there. But it was a long run ― this I
knew from the last time ― and they might already be
leaving the station. Plus, if I arrived there this mad, I’d
probably strangle Jasper on the spot. Well, at least it would
save the cops the effort of hunting me down for murder.
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“Dammit!” I yelled, anger continuing to build inside
me like a slow-rising volcano. And the volcano was going to
explode if I didn’t do something soon.
The sound of truck tires on the dirt road made me
dart to the door. It was Jasper and Dad, back already! My
body twitched, I wanted so badly to run out there and slam
my fist into Jasper before he’d even climbed out the car.
But I held myself motionless, fists still clenched, my anger
building as they got out the car and walked towards the
cabin.
Halfway towards the cabin, Jasper looked up, saw
me, and froze. He turned and darted into the woods like a
rabbit.
“Jasper!” Dad called out, turning to look after him.
“Where are you going?”
His gaze travelled back, looking for an explanation,
and came to rest me. His expression changed to one of
resigned guilt.
There were a million things I wanted to say, but
right now, I was too furious to speak.
“What do you mean, there’s nothing to charge him
with?” I demanded. “Revo tried to kill us!”
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We were in the living room, Dad sitting on the sofa,
me standing in front of him, refusing to sit down.
“We don’t know that he did, Paul,” he explained.
“Yes, he almost hit us with the motorboat, but we have no
