The Case of the Bad Twin

by Shannon Greenland

  I slip my fingers under Clover’s little belly and something over to the left catches my attention—a quick flash of a person disappearing around the corner of the strip mall. I don’t think too much about it, though, and write it off as someone hurrying home.

  Tucking Clover in close, I push into The Pit. The smell is the first thing that hits me—a mixture of bleach and sweat. Clover smells it, too, and sneezes.

  I stand for a few seconds, my eyes adjusting to the dim interior, and as they do, I start making things out. Over to the right is a man with boulder-sized muscles and a weighted bar braced across his shoulders. Squatting down, he lets out an impressive grunt, and I grimace. That doesn’t look fun.

  Just beyond him, a high school kid skips around a bag, punching it. Now that’s something I might get into.

  Over to the left, a woman stands in front of a mirror curling dumbbells that look heavier than me.

  In the center, a man with a bushy beard is doing upside-down sit-ups with his feet locked into ankle braces. I change my mind. That’s the one that doesn’t look fun. My stomach aches just watching it.

  Other than that, the place sits empty. I’ve been in here a few times, waiting on Josie, and I begin crossing the gym toward the back corner where the office sits with a closed door.

  I wiggle my messenger bag around to sit better on my hip, feeling pretty confident now that I’m here and about to confront Josie. Plus, all the supplies Diamond gave me sit inside my bag, and just knowing they are there makes me feel tough.

  I take a wide arc around upside-down-sit-up man, the lady with the dumbbells gives me the side-eye, and I smile a little as I come to a stop at the closed office door. Squaring my shoulders, I lift my knuckles and I knock.

  From within I hear shuffling, and then the door swings open and I’m confronted with not Josie, not her dad, but a hulking mountain of sixteen-year-old MMA muscle. It’s one of the twins, but Vail or Wayne, I’m not sure.

  Please be the good twin.

  When I hang out with Josie, her brothers are rarely around. They’re always off with friends. Even though I’m pretty sure he knows who I am, I decide to remind him anyway. I point to my chest. “Penny-Ann. I’m looking for Josie.”

  His lips curve upward, but the welcoming gesture somehow doesn’t match the calculating look in his eyes. He points to his chest, mimicking me. “Vail.”

  I rack my brain to remember if Vail is the bad twin or the good one.

  He slides his hand over my shoulder, gently pulling me in, and I stumble forward with the movement. “You can wait in here.”

  He closes the door behind us, and the walls seem to shrink in on me as I slide stiffly onto a padded metal chair. My gaze bounces around the office from the metal file cabinets to the metal desk. From the desktop computer to the multitude of pictures hanging on the walls, each depicting famous fighters. From the coffee pot to the exit door that leads outside to the alley that runs behind the strip mall.

  Vail slinks into the leather chair behind the desk, and it creaks with his weight. With a swallow, I stare into his close-set eyes. Even though his lips still sit in an upward tilt, there’s something there in his black eyes that spooks me. Is this how he looks at his opponents before a fight? If so, it works.

  Still, I’m not sure if he’s the good twin or the bad one. In my arms, Clover shivers, and I pull her in tight. Maybe this is the bad twin and she’s picking up on his evilness.

  He tilts back, his chair squeaking with the effort, and folds his hands over his muscled stomach. “Penny-Ann Piper, you say you’re looking for my little sister, huh?”

  I can’t seem to find my voice, so I decide on the card tactic as I did with Mama Garcia. Reaching into my messenger bag, I pull one out and with an unsteady hand, slide it across the desk to him. My gaze moves just beyond him to the back corner where I see a blue and black backpack. That’s the same pack Rocco had.

  With his smile still fixed in place, Vail doesn’t move, he just lifts his chin to see the card. “Piper Investigations, huh? What, you’re playing detective this summer?”

  I don’t like he’s making fun.

  “What do you want with Josie?” he asks.

  “I, um.” I clear my throat. “I’m not sure if you heard, but someone stole the time capsule from campus.” I look at the backpack again.

  “Is that so?”

  I wait for him to say more, but he doesn’t, so I decide to offer up more information. “Josie was there, actually, and I’m trying to figure out what she did and didn’t see. If anyone else was there. Etcetera.” I pause. “You haven’t heard about this?”

  The thumbs of his folded hands tap his rib cage. “Nope.”

  I find this odd. It’s a tiny town. Principal Berger emailed everyone. Josie is Vail’s sister. There’s no way he hasn’t heard of this. He’s lying.

  “What’s in it that’s so important to you?” he asks.

  “There’s a photo of my grandmother in there and also a tiny mermaid my grandfather carved.” I nod down to Grandpa Jack’s hand-painted messenger bag. “Mermaids were his thing.”

  “Mm.”

  “Anyway, I worked all year on that capsule. Josie helped me. It’s something the residents have wanted to do for a long time. The whole island is excited about the burial ceremony. You don’t have any idea what I’m talking about?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t really keep up with my sister’s life or what goes on around this place.”

  For no reason other than instinct, my attention shifts to the exit door and the whitewashed window. Something shadowy moves, like a person ducking out of sight, and I’m reminded of the person I saw doing the same thing earlier.

  “What do you got in that bag of yours?” Vail asks. “Must be important with the way you’re clutching it.”

  I didn’t realize I was clutching it so hard, but I am. Clover, too. I ease my grip a little bit, and I swear Clover sighs. “Lunch,” I simply answer, looking over my shoulder at the closed door that leads back out into the gym. Something tells me Josie isn’t coming.

  Never mind. I don’t care if there are people out there working out and just one closed door away, I don’t want to be in here anymore. Tucking Clover back in, I stand, and I look at the backpack again. “Is that Rocco’s?”

  Without even looking, Vail shrugs.

  I sigh. “Listen, if Josie is pulling a prank on me with this thing, it’s not funny. You tell her I said that.”

  Vail stands, too, shifting out from behind the desk, putting him closer to the door that opens back out into the gym. The upward tilt of his lips turns tight. “You accusing my sister of breaking into the school?”

  Sudden panic curls through my stomach and I tell myself to scream. Scream loud and someone will come running. This is the bad twin. This is the bad twin. I take a step back, and for the first time in my life real fear licks through me. I want to do something, but I can’t move. I’m frozen in place.

  “I said, are you accusing my sister?” He takes one tiny step toward me, and my body reacts all on its own. My right hand snatches the paperweight off the desk, and I hurl it at his head.

  He yells in pain, and I spin and push through the exit door.

  The bright sun slaps me in the eyes, blinding me, and I stumble over my flip flops, almost face-planting on the concrete. I suck in a lung full of air, and I run.

  I’m in the back of the strip mall and my bike is around the front. A crack of metal vibrates behind me and I think Vail probably hit the door or a nearby dumpster, probably with his big meaty fist. I don’t hear footsteps pounding behind me, but I don’t care, I keep running.

  My legs don’t seem attached to my body as I rotate them forward, eating up the pavement. I miss a step and almost fall with my panicked flee. Against my hip, my messenger bag flops, and I drag it around the front and up against my stomach.

  Poor Clover. Her nails dig into my chest as I hang on to her and stagger through a beam of sunlight that blinds me. I’m almost
to the end. Almost there. I gulp in a breath, turn the corner, and then I yelp when a hand clamps down on my arm and yanks me up against the side of the Dollar Store.

  “Are you insane?” Rocco asks, right in my face.

  I have no clue if Vail is charging after me, but we have to get out of here. Now! My chest burns for oxygen. Sweat and probably snot cover my face, and I hear my own self sniveling with the fear.

  I keep going. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

  “You need to breathe.” Rocco drags me back.

  I push at his hands. “B-b-but—”

  He holds his hands up and I focus on his hard eyes. Hard? Why is he angry? I’m the one who almost got attacked!

  Rocco’s voice comes out tight. “Vail didn’t follow you. You’re fine.” For a second he doesn’t speak, just beams those furious light eyes at me. “What were you thinking?”

  My bottom lip wobbles. “I was looking for Josie.” I’m stupid. I’m a stupid, stupid girl. Tears pour out of my eyes to plop on Clover who still has her nails dug into my chest. “I was trying to find out more about the stolen capsule.” More wobbly lip. More tears. “Oh my God, that was horrible what just happened back there.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe you learned a lesson.”

  My eyes pop wide. “That’s an awful thing to say!”

  He sighs. “I’ve been here for the past hour hoping to find her, too.”

  Rocco had to be the person I saw earlier ducking around the side of the building. The same one who was probably watching me through the exit door. “What do you mean?”

  Clover squirms a bit, and now that we’re out of imminent danger, I let her down to tinkle.

  “She hasn’t been here all morning, and she’s not answering her phone,” he tells me.

  “Are you in this together?” I ask. “What, now you’re going to split the fifty-dollar reward for something you both stole?”

  His lips tighten.

  I fold my arms. “She said she went to campus to meet you and saw you running off with something under your arm.”

  Rocco honestly looks shocked to hear this. “She did not say that.”

  “She did, or rather she texted me that.”

  “She wanted to meet me, but when I showed up, she wasn’t even there.”

  “’He said, she said’,” I repeat Diamond’s words.

  He pulls out his phone and dials Josie’s number. It rolls to voice mail. Rocco presses the speaker. “Hi, this is Josie. Leave a message, or not.”

  Rocco says, “I’m here with Penny-Ann. Why did you tell her you saw me running off campus with something under my arm? By the way, where are you? We’re both here at The Pit looking for you.” He punches the END button and slides the phone into the pocket of his light blue board shorts.

  Okay, that makes me feel a little better. I might just believe Rocco isn’t so guilty after all. Still, that doesn’t explain why he was on campus, or why his bracelet was in the tree in Principal Berger’s office, or why his backpack is in the office at The Pit. “Why did you go to campus to meet Josie that night?”

  Instead of answering me, he holds up his wrist and the bracelet I found. “My grandmother texted me that you stopped by her store. She said you found this at ‘the scene of the crime’?”

  That’s right, I didn’t tell Rocco that before. “In the tree that Berger has in his office. It’s right where I left the time capsule the night before.”

  “I have no clue how it got in the tree. Someone must have put it there. I haven’t been in Principal Berger’s office since six months ago when he gave me detention for putting that whoopie cushion in Mrs. Dine’s chair.”

  I smile, remembering. That was pretty funny when she sat down and the fake fart echoed through the class. I refocus. “Okay, so you’re saying someone is framing you?”

  Rocco doesn’t answer that, but he gets this contemplative look on his face like he thinks that might be a possibility.

  “When was the last time you saw the bracelet?” I ask.

  “It’s been gone about a week. I figured I lost it surfing.”

  So, someone broke in, stole the capsule, and left Rocco’s bracelet behind to frame him. “Is anybody mad at you? Why is your backpack in the office at The Pit?”

  “It is?” Again, he looks honestly perplexed. “Are you sure?”

  “Well, I’m pretty darn sure.” I guess it could be a different blue and black backpack.

  Rocco looks away from me, thinking through things, and I get the feeling he might have some ideas on this. I might have an idea, too. I’ve got a Josie, and Rocco’s got an Ean. Sure, they’re best friends, but I’ve seen them fight a time or two. If someone is mad at Rocco, it’s probably Ean.

  Clover saunters over then, licking Rocco’s ankle, and he leans down to pick her up. They love each other for a few seconds and I hate that my heart goes all soft over it. “You’re not going to tell me whatever it is you’re thinking, are you?” I ask.

  “Not yet,” he says. “I need to talk to someone first.”

  Hm, probably Ean.

  “I heard you have a business card?” Rocco teases, changing the subject.

  “How’d you hear that?”

  “My grandmother texted me a photo of it.”

  Great. I’m sure she thinks it’s so funny I have a card. I take Clover back, bracing myself for the rest. “Yeah, so?” I hope Mama Garcia didn’t tell Rocco what she really thinks about me.

  “So, you and your card better steer clear of Vail. He’s not a nice guy.”

  “For the record, I would’ve been fine running from Vail. I had it all under control.”

  Rocco snorts. “Right.”

  “Okay, I’m out of here. I’ve got stuff to do.” I start walking away, and as I do, I become aware of how bad my big toe hurts and my torn and dragging flip-flop. Dang Vail making me run.

  “Where’s your bike?” Rocco asks.

  “Around front,” I mumble, hoping Vail doesn’t see me through the front windows when I retrieve it.

  “No, it’s not. Look to your right.”

  I do, seeing Lolli propped up under a huge live oak with low hanging moss. Rocco went and got it for me. That’s…sweet.

  But ignoring him and my limp, I head toward it. “Thanks.”

  “We could team up, find the capsule, split the reward money.”

  “I already have a partner.” Plus, I’m not so sure Mama Garcia would want Rocco hanging out with me anyway. Maybe after I find the capsule and prove Rocco is innocent, she’ll like me more.

  “Who’s your partner?” He asks.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” I throw his own words from yesterday back at him.

  He laughs. “Fine! I’m going to find the capsule before you, and I’m going to pocket that fifty bucks.”

  I hear the humor in his tone, and I hide my own smile as I put Clover in the basket and climb on. I look at him over my shoulder, giving my best challenging look. “You can eat dirt and gag on it. This reward is mine.”

  He grins. Grins.

  Tightening my ponytail, I throw my torn flip flop covered foot forward, and I peddle away.

  “See ya ‘round Penny-Ann Piper!”

  Chapter 8

  Bypassing the coastal highway, I cut through the historic downtown area, the six through twelve campus, and head straight home from there to get new flip-flops.

  In the kitchen, I grab a protein bar from the cabinet and my eyes drift over to the mail basket. The envelope from my mom’s lawyer is no longer there, which means Aunt Grace opened it.

  I check the junk drawer but don’t see it. I do a quick walkthrough of Aunt Grace’s bedroom, but don’t see it there either. I’ll just ask her. She’ll tell me. Or at least I think she will. She doesn’t normally keep things from me.

  In my room, I toss my torn flip flops into the closest, and me and Clover flop across my bed. With a sigh, I stare at the fan blades circling above me, thinking back through everything that happened with V
ail.

  I’ve never been that scared in my life.

  I consider telling Aunt Grace about it but immediately put that idea aside. Knowing her, she would storm The Pit, yelling at Vail or his parents. Then I’d probably be put on restriction for the rest of the summer.

  No, I fully intend on staying the heck away from The Pit and Vail. I learned my lesson.

  I check my phone and still nothing from Diamond. I wonder what she’s helping her dad with. Probably some ultra-cool private investigator stuff.

  Opening up the protein bar, I bite off a huge chunk of vanilla/cashew and while I chew, I continue thinking. Josie hasn’t returned my call or Rocco’s call. She wasn’t at The Pit, which means I’m going to have to go to her house. Josie’s mom likes me. She’ll tell me where Josie’s at.

  I also need to track down Ean because even though Rocco didn’t come right out and say it, I think he might suspect his best friend.

  It’s day two, which means I have four more days to find this thing. When I was cutting through campus just now, I should’ve stopped in to make sure Principal Berger hasn’t canceled anything yet—the ceremony, the food, the entertainment…

  I need to do that, too.

  Fifty bucks to whoever returns the capsule. Now that Rocco’s on the quest as well, I’m going to have to keep an eye on him. In fact, right now, he’s probably talking to Ean. Dang. If I hadn’t have torn my flip-flops, I could have beat him to it.

  Okay, let’s say Ean broke in, took the capsule, and framed Rocco by leaving his bracelet behind. Surely Ean doesn’t think that’s funny, framing his best friend. Ean and Rocco are known around school for their pranks, but if this is Ean supposedly pranking Rocco, it just doesn’t make sense. The time capsule means nothing to Rocco and everything to me. No, if Ean were pranking Rocco, it would involve something else, not the time capsule.

  Yeah, something is off, but I’m not sure what. Regardless, I do know I want to talk to Ean.

  Or maybe Rocco really is guilty and I’m a sucker for his innocent act. Then again, what would Rocco want with the time capsule? What would anybody want with it? The stuff in it is not valuable, it’s sentimental.