The Case of the Bad Twin

by Shannon Greenland

  As if on cue, it stops raining and the sun comes out. Unfortunately, so does the humidity times a million. Ugh. This is when I wish I didn’t live in Florida. I tuck an already panting Clover into her basket and hit the coastal highway.

  The usual ocean breeze comes still and flat, and I’m only a half-mile into my ride when my two braids begin sticking to my neck. Another half mile and my blue sundress suctions to my sweaty body. Another half mile and I pull over to drink some coconut water only to find my container empty. I grab my backup of regular water and gulp it down. Sheesh, it’s hot.

  I give some to Clover and she falls nose first into her travel bowl. Now if I had a scooter like Rocco, we’d be merrily buzzing along, creating our own breeze and exerting no energy.

  Maybe I should “borrow” his scooter the next time I see it.

  I begin peddling again, doing my best to stay in the shady parts. I cruise past the marina and hang a right off the coastal highway. I zig-zag through a few side streets, hop the sidewalk, and continue down to take another right. I enter a neighborhood with small yards, a central playground, and tiny stucco houses that match each other.

  Coming to the one at the very end, I roll to a stop on the sidewalk and survey the one-story, pastel green house where Danae lives. It looks different than when I was here for her birthday party.

  Sheets cover the front windows in lieu of curtains, and it gives me the major creeps. I consider turning around and just going home when Danae steps from the pastel blue house on the left. With her red hair in a messy bun and a cast on her leg, she gives me a wave.

  I wave back as I roll my bike over. “Hey, Danae. What happened to you?” Last time I saw her was a week ago at the end of the year school party and she looked fine.

  She hobbles down the porch. “Gymnastics.”

  I cringe.

  “What are you doing here?” She asks.

  I nod back to her house. “Came to talk to your dad about that tiny mascot he donated to the capsule.”

  “Oh. Well, he and Mom are gone until next week on a route.”

  Danae’s parents are truckers, so I assume that’s what she means.

  “I’m staying with our neighbor,” she tells me.

  I look back at her house. “What’s with the sheets in the windows?”

  She sighs. “My brother’s over there. He thinks the sheets in the windows make the house look dangerous.” She rolls her green eyes. “He’s such an idiot.” She straightens up. “Wait a minute, maybe you can help me.”

  “How so?”

  “He’s got my laptop, and he won’t give it back. He such a pain in the butt. I’d go over there myself, but with this cast, I can’t do a whole lot.”

  “Why don’t you just tell your neighbor?”

  Danae laughs. “She’s eighty years old. There’s not a whole lot she can do, either.”

  I glance back to Danae’s house, already thinking of a plan. Danae’s brother, Zeke, is fifteen, and she’s right, he’s a total pain in the butt. He’s also a spineless twerp.

  “I can pay you,” Danae says, probably taking my silence to mean I don’t want to do it.

  But that’s the second person who’s offered to pay me to do stuff for them. First Turner, the kid at the lighthouse, and now Danae. I can probably make some real money this summer if I put my mind to it. Given the fact I still have my expensive flip-flops to replace, maybe I should consider taking Danae’s money.

  I turn back to her. “Okay, how much?”

  “Twenty?”

  “Deal.” Picking Clover up out of the basket, I put her down in the neighbor’s yard, and she trots straight up to the porch to lay down in the shade. Smart dog. “Anybody else over there?”

  “No, just him.”

  I slide Grandpa Jack’s bag around to the front, feeling pretty sure that I can take a spineless twerp. “Okay, I’m going in.”

  Leaving my bike and Clover with Danae, I cross over into their yard and climb the wood steps. I give the door a nice, confident knock, but I’m met with silence. I knock again, louder, and have a sudden idea. “Delivery!” I call out, feeling pretty smart with that one.

  From inside I hear footsteps, and I hide my smirk.

  The door opens and there stands Zeke in all his skinny, pimply glory. The laptop snitcher. He gives me a bored look. Behind him, air conditioning barrels out and I almost groan with how good it feels.

  “I just saw you talking to my sister. I know you don’t have a delivery. I’m not dumb.”

  I smile and hold out my hand. “May I have Danae’s laptop back please?” I figure it doesn’t hurt to ask.

  He scoffs. “Yeah, right.”

  “Are you sure?” I pat my mermaid bag. “Because I have ways of making you give it back.” Sometimes a good solid threat is all it takes.

  Lightening quick, Zeke reaches out and snags the strap of my messenger bag. He yanks, and before I realize what’s happened, he has it off my body and is slamming the door in my face.

  “Hey!” I yell and bang on the door.

  “A slingshot?” he yells back, laughing.

  I narrow my eyes. “You stay out of my bag!”

  “Mm, thanks for the power bar. I was hungry.”

  I glare at the door, debating on whether or not I should start kicking it. I can’t believe I just stood here and let him take my bag!

  Turning on my heel, I stomp back down the porch steps, and I keep right on stomping and fuming back over to where Danae still stands in her yard. “Your brother is a weasel!”

  “I know.”

  I do a few up and down paces, my fists clenched. “Well, I’m not leaving.” I stop pacing and give Danae a good hard look. What I need is help, but she’s clearly not a good choice, being that she has a bum ankle and all.

  Taking my phone from my dress pocket, I dial Diamond.

  “What’s up?” she answers on the first ring.

  “I’ve got a little issue, and his name is Zeke.”

  “You’re not locked in a shed again, are you?”

  I straighten my neck scarf. “No.”

  “But?”

  “But he did take my messenger bag with all the supplies you loaned me.”

  Silence.

  “Diamond?”

  “You need my help?” She asks, and I hear the humor in her tone.

  “Yes,” I murmur, praying she doesn’t turn me down. I’m quickly becoming a very high maintenance friend.

  “Where are you?”

  I give her the address. “He took his sister’s laptop, but she’s got an ankle cast and can’t move so well. I tried to get the laptop back, and that’s when it happened. The brother is holed up in their house.”

  “Okay, be there in a few.”

  I hang up, feeling disappointed with myself. I managed to get all of my stuff taken, stuff Diamond loaned me, and now she’s swooping in to save me. I’ve never considered myself a dumb person, but I swear I’ve been making some pretty stupid decisions lately. Next time I’ll have every single thing out and ready. I’ll go in with slingshot and handcuffs blazing.

  I give Danae the skinny, and together we sit on her neighbor’s porch and wait. The whole time we do, I don’t take my eyes off their house. If Zeke tries to sneak out, I’ll tackle him. I swear I will.

  Ten minutes later, Diamond rolls up on her moped dressed in black shorts, a black tee, black running shoes, and black shades. She’s even got some sort of black vest on loaded down with supplies. Oh, I’m totally going to get one of those vests. Except I think I want it to be purple. Or pink.

  She kills the motor, throws down the kickstand, and takes her black helmet off. I cross the yard to meet her, pulling my sticky sundress off my stomach. Diamond, of course, looks refreshed and ready.

  Quickly, I introduce Danae and Diamond, and they give each other a little wave.

  I point to the house. “It’s that one.”

  “What’s with the sheets?” Diamond asks.

  I roll my eyes. �
�It’s supposed to make the place look dangerous.”

  “He in there alone?”

  “Yes. I’m thinking one of us should go in the front and the other one can be waiting in the back.”

  “Good idea.” From the back of her vest, Diamond pulls out a long black object and hands it to me. “It’s a billy club. Why don’t I go in the front and chase him out the back?”

  I test the weight of the billy club. “I’m not hitting him with this. Are you crazy?”

  “No, trip him with it as he’s coming out the back door.” She hands me several thick black cable ties next. “We’ll have fun zip-tying and trussing him up like we’re at a rodeo.”

  I smile. “I like this idea.” Plus, I’ve used cable ties before. I’m way more comfortable with them than the handcuffs Diamond gave me. I look over my shoulder at Danae and she’s grinning, looking a little too excited at what we’re about to do.

  I glance again at their house, turning my back to it and lowering my voice so only Diamond and Danae can hear. “He’s watching us right now. Danae, do you have a key?”

  “No, and there isn’t a hide-a-key either.”

  “You can pick the lock?” I ask Diamond.

  “Of course.”

  “Okay, I’ll go inside with Danae and Clover, then out the back and over into their back yard. Zeke will be too distracted with you at the front door to know what’s going on.” I look at Diamond’s vest. “I feel like we need coms or something like they wear on TV.”

  She laughs. “Maybe next time.”

  I love that she just said that. Being friends with Diamond is turning out to be very exciting. Though I’m not sure why she jumped so quickly at teaming up with me on all this time capsule and P. I. stuff. Maybe it’s because she’s new to Piper Island and doesn’t have a whole lot of friends yet. Or maybe it’s because I remind her of her sister. Whatever it is, let’s just hope she doesn’t meet someone cooler and decide I’m a big loser.

  Diamond heads toward their house, and I disappear inside the neighbor’s place with Danae and Clover. I walk straight through the house, giving the eighty-year-old neighbor sitting in front of the TV a little wave, and out the back and into a patchy yard that mirrors the front. I hang at the corner, eyeing Diamond on the front porch. She doesn’t even knock, just begins picking the lock. How cool.

  Everything after that moves fast. Diamond throws open the door, charging in. Zeke yells. There’s a crash. A shout. I race across the back yard and over to the rear steps of their place. The back door flies open, Zeke comes barreling down, and I thrust the billy club straight out. I yell, he yells. He goes flying, coming down hard on his knees and rolling. I body slam him. He grunts. We both knock around on the dirty grass, wet and muddy from the recent rain.

  I scramble to my feet, gripping the billy club and pointing it at him. “Don’t move.” He doesn’t listen to me. He moves. With a yelp, I smack his butt with the billy club.

  “Ow!” He screams, grabbing his rear with both hands.

  He starts to move again, and I leap forward, planting my knee in the middle of his back. I whip some ties around his wrists and ankles in a somewhat haphazard knot, going with the rodeo idea Diamond said. Then still holding the billy club, I step back and survey my work. Sweet.

  Diamond appears, stomping across the yard, and I watch her all the way over to the hose. “Stupid piece of—” She wrenches on the spicket and buries her face in the stream. “He got me with the pepper spray.”

  I look at her red blotchy face and my head goes light. With a cringe, I take a hesitant step toward her. “I’m so sorry. That was my pepper spray.”

  Behind me Zeke snickers, and I give him my meanest glare. It must work because he stops snickering.

  Diamond turns off the hose, and I wince at her red and blurry eyes. “You know what?” She says, jabbing her finger at Zeke. “Leave him right there.”

  “What?” Zeke yells. “You can’t do that. There’re fire ants down here.”

  “Good!” Diamond yells back, and it shocks me. Up to this point, she’s been the calm and cool one.

  As much as I love seeing Zeke laying in the patchy and muddy grass, I know we can’t leave him down there. “How about we pick him up and put him on the porch swing?”

  Diamond thinks about that a second or two. “Fine, but we’re leaving him tied up.”

  “Agreed.”

  I spy a wheelbarrow leaning against a shed and retrieve it. Together we load Zeke into it and roll him over to the neighbor’s house. We deposit him in the porch swing and tell Danae to cut him loose whenever she feels like it.

  We get her laptop and my stuff back, and Danae hands me the twenty bucks. I turn to Diamond and though she’s trying to act like she’s okay, I can tell her eyes and face hurt. She deserves this twenty way more than me. But I know she won’t take it, or at least not all of it. While she’s saying goodbye to Danae, I tuck it up inside her moped helmet. She’ll find it and know.

  With a bye to them both, I grab Clover and load her up, loving the fact I’m dirty from rolling around with Zeke during a takedown.

  But as I bike away, my whole body begins shaking with a combination of excitement and nerves. Diamond played the whole pepper spray thing tough. If it were me, I probably would have been screaming at the top of my lungs in pain. Truth is, I can’t believe I just did all of that!

  I now know the very real consequence of using pepper spray, yet I’m not scared of it. When and/or if I ever have to use it, it will definitely be for a person who deserves it.

  THANKS FOR THE 20, Diamond texts me as I’m rolling into my driveway. YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO GIVE ME THE WHOLE THING!

  I text back a smiley face.

  Chapter 23

  That night I wake with a jolt to my heart and a foggy head. It takes me a second to realize my phone is buzzing. I fumble for it, barely opening my eyes. “Hello?” I croak, but silence greets me.

  I clear my throat. “Hello?” I say again, but whoever is on the other end clicks off.

  Groaning, I tuck the phone under my pillow, sinking right back into sleep when it buzzes again. I drag it out from under my pillow and squint at the time. One something in the morning. I don’t recognize the number, and I’m not sure why, but I press the green talk button again.

  “Hello?” I say, this time clearer.

  The phone clicks off.

  I look at the number. It’s not even this area code.

  It buzzes again. “Hello?” I demand.

  A giggle comes through the phone, kind of deep and unbalanced, so much so that it makes my skin crawl. Whoever is there clicks off and I don’t wait around for my phone to buzz again. I block the number and power down.

  I lay in bed, wide awake now, trying to think of everyone who has my number. Pretty much anyone at school who has a student directory has my number. My prank caller could be anyone, but the one person I fixate on is Vail.

  That weird giggle.

  Wayne said his parents handled the problem with Vail, but what if Ean told Vail that I was at the skate park talking about Josie? Ean was at The Pit today. He could’ve mentioned it to Vail. The topic of Josie is what got a rise out of Vail that last time.

  Yet, I’ve known Josie for three years, and we’ve been in a lot of arguments. Not once has Vail given me a hard time. In fact, on the few occasions I’ve run into him and Wayne neither has said much to me. It’s not until these last few days and my search for the time capsule that I’ve had actual conversations with both brothers.

  Which leads me to think Vail might be more involved in this than I think. When I saw Rocco earlier, he said he was watching The Pit. I bet Rocco thinks so, too. He thinks Vail is involved with the missing time capsule.

  But to what end?

  Going with the prank idea, what does Vail get out of pulling a silly prank? I don’t get it. It’s Rocco and Ean who are known for pranks, not Vail.

  Going with the contents of the capsule, why would he want a bunch of sentim
ental stuff? Again, I don’t get it.

  Either way, Wayne told me to call him if Vail hassled me anymore. I can’t prove the call came from Vail, but I’m still going to let Wayne know.

  Chapter 24

  The next morning I’m up way before Aunt Grace, so early it’s still dark out. I want to get on the road over to the historian’s house to talk about the things he donated, but Aunt Grace will freak out if I’m gone before daylight.

  Instead, I head out to our back yard and use the time to hone my skills. I practice at several distances with my slingshot. I pick every lock on our house. I listen in on the bug I planted in Rocco’s room, still getting nothing. With the binoculars, I zero in on way too many neighbors’ homes. I lock the cuffs on various things. I even rehearse throwing the cuffs until I successfully get them to lock at a distance. Then I start in on punches and kicks and takedowns, like when I tackled Danae’s brother, Zeke.

  “What are you doing?”

  I’m in the middle of lunging and punching as I glance up to Aunt Grace, standing in her sleep shirt on our back deck. Straightening up, I shake my arms out like I’m a real athlete. “I’m practicing. Remember I told you Diamond’s dad is a P. I.? She’s teaching me some stuff that he’s taught her. He even said I could shadow him some time. With your permission of course,” I quickly add.

  I figure I might as well go ahead and give Aunt Grace that much. This is a small island and she’s bound to find out. Plus, she’ll eventually see my supplies. I decide to show them to her. Everything but the pepper spray. It may be the teeniest can ever but I’m not too sure she’ll be cool like Mr. De Luca about it.

  She eyes the slingshot, the binoculars, the handcuffs, and then she chuckles. “Is that what you’ve been doing the last couple of days, playing detective?”

  I don’t get offended at the “playing” statement. I’m just glad she’s okay with me having all this stuff. “Yep, Piper Investigations. Just like Grandpa Jack and Grandma Susan.”