No, you’ve done nothing wrong. Her words settle in with a guilty twist. I think I would be grounded if she knew the full story. B and E. Taking Rocco’s bike. The pepper spray I didn’t show her. My lying. Yeah, I would definitely be grounded.
I suspect she’s seconds away from telling me to go home and stay home, so I offer, “I’ll text you every hour.”
“Good.” She nods outside. “Now go enjoy being a kid.”
I give her a hug, and she kisses the top of my head, but I can tell she’s not okay. I hate that I’ve worried her. But I’ll be better once the capsule is found. I’ll be the best niece ever. This is what I promise myself.
As I peddle away, I find myself heading back home. I don’t want to leave Clover by herself.
Vail admitted to everything but the gutted stuffed animal. He’s either lying to protect himself from getting in even worse trouble, or someone else did it. It was a typed message and the other was handwritten. Two people, maybe. Or one trying to make it look like two.
Chapter 26
When I get home, I park Lolli on the carport and my stomach lurches when I glance over to the garbage can where I put the gutted Clover look alike. Come after me and it’s one thing, come after my dog? Oh, heck no. I’ll go down fighting over Clover.
I let myself in the front door, drop my messenger bag in the corner, and turn to head into the living room. I can’t wait to snuggle my little girl.
“Hey,” a voice speaks, and I scream.
In Aunt Grace’s recliner sits Rocco with Clover curled up on his lap.
“Oh my God!” I shout at him. “What are you doing?”
He holds up an empty bowl. “Eating granola.”
“How did you get in here?” I screech.
“The back door. I picked the lock.” He tips the bowl up and Clover licks the remnants of almond milk from the bottom.
I don’t move. I don’t speak. I’m too stunned. Rocco is in my house, sitting in my living room, sharing almond milk with Clover. I want to be outraged he picked our lock, but I’m one to talk. Though I am kind of bummed he knows how to do that. I like being the one who knows how to do things like pick locks and plant listening devices.
He motions for me to sit like he lives here and not me. “Heard Vail’s been bothering you,” Rocco says.
I go with it, sliding onto the couch and kicking my legs up on the coffee table. The truth is, I can use the company.
He puts the bowl on the side table. “What’s he been doing?”
I don’t bother asking him how he knows Vail has been bothering me. It’s a small island. Word gets around. “I should have never gone to The Pit. All I did was create an enemy, and that enemy is Vail. He’s horrible! He pranked called me, he even came here and left a creepy note, and then he,” my voice breaks a bit when I describe the gutted stuffed animal.
“Vail is a bully. Always has been.” Rocco gives me a gentle smile. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
With a sniff, I wipe my nose. I can’t believe I’m crying again. “Why are you here?”
He shrugs. “I got worried.”
“About me?”
“Yes, about you.”
“I’m never sure if you like me or not.”
“Ditto.”
We both smile.
“How about we call a truce and tell each other everything we know,” I suggest.
“So, no more stealing my bike—”
“I borrowed it.”
“No more stalking me—”
“I was following.”
“No more breaking into my apartment—”
“How did you know about that?”
He rolls his eyes. “Nanny cam and I want my bike chain back.”
“Fine.” I sit up on the couch. “Then no more locking me in sheds, which is where your chain is by the way, and we’ve got to tell each other everything we know.”
Rocco nods. “Deal, and we split the reward money.”
“That’ll be three ways because I’ve already agreed to split it with Diamond.” I don’t bother checking in with Diamond on this new deal. She’ll be okay with it.
He holds out his hand to shake.
I’d make him get up and come across the living room to me, but Clover looks comfortable in his lap, so I get up and go shake his. “Okay, what do you got?”
“Well, first, you should know that night, Josie really did call me to meet her on campus. But when I got there, she wasn’t there. So, I went home. I can prove it. I have her incoming number on my phone and the time it came in.”
“Okay.” That’s good proof. “But why did she call you? I didn’t realize you and Josie are that good of friends.”
He smirks. “We make out.”
For a second I don’t respond, and then my face heats with embarrassment and a bit of jealousy. Josie never told me this, obviously. Reverse things, and I probably wouldn’t have told her either.
I refocus. “Why would Josie tell everyone she saw you running away with something under your arm?”
“She’s trying to blame me, but I have no clue why.”
I give him a good long study, thinking through things. “Did you make her mad?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure this out just like you.”
“This morning I talked to Mr. Roeger who said he saw two kids that night. A girl with long hair, obviously Josie, and a kid with a mohawk. Can you think of anyone who has that haircut?”
“No.”
“Oh, and the backpack. You said you gave Ean your backpack. That blue and black one. I saw it in the office at The Pit. Mr. Roeger saw the mohawk kid running off campus with a backpack, too, though it was dark and who’s to say it’s the same pack. But that doesn’t explain why you had it that first day when I came to your aunt’s house.”
Rocco thinks on all of that a second. “I got a new backpack, so I gave Ean my old one. That was the last day of school. He stayed at my place for several days and had it with him. I was at my aunt’s house the day you knocked on the door. I was heading out to meet Ean. He called me to tell me he left the backpack in my bedroom and could I bring it to him. My cousin was on the island that day. I asked him to get it and bring it to me. Then I took it to Ean. I don’t know how it ended up in the office at The Pit unless Ean was working out and accidentally left it.”
“Your cousin drives that old clackety car?”
“Yeah.”
Okay, that all makes sense. The blue and black backpack may not be the lead I thought it was. “Did Ean stay with you the night the capsule was stolen?”
“Yes, he has a key, so he comes and goes from my place all the time. Ean isn’t involved in this.”
“But he ran from me at the skate park.” Or at least I think he did.
“Yeah because he said you were all up in his face with questions.”
“I wasn’t ‘all up in his face’.” Though I guess I was. “Okay Ean aside, I’m thinking Vail is somehow involved.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because this is the first time Vail has ever reacted to a fight going on between me and Josie. In the three years I’ve known him he’s rarely said a word to me. I find it odd that my searching for the time capsule is causing him to react this way. That’s why I think he’s involved.”
“Don’t you think the fact you hit him with a paperweight might have caused his retaliation?”
“There is that,” I agree, straightening my neck scarf. “Is that why I’ve seen you twice now scoping out The Pit? Do you think Vail is involved, too?”
“The first time you saw me, I was looking for Josie. That was before I knew she was gone. The second time, yeah, I was looking for Vail. Of the two brothers, Josie’s closest to Vail. A few years ago, before you came to live here, the two of them got into trouble for vandalizing some stuff.”
“I never knew.”
“She told me during one of our make-out sessions.”
I roll my eyes.
; “Anyway, Josie was definitely there that night, so I was thinking maybe Vail was with her. But going with what you found out about the mohawk kid, that doesn’t click. Vail certainly doesn’t have that haircut.”
“I also started thinking this was perhaps more about what’s inside the capsule.”
“I thought it was just a bunch of junk.”
“Hey, I worked hard on that!”
Rocco grins and both dimples sink in. “I’m kidding. You think whoever took it wants to sell what’s inside?”
“Yeah, but it can’t be worth more than twenty bucks.” If that.
“I happen to know Vail needs money.”
“How do you know that?”
“Mama Garcia is friends with the man who owns the Pawn Shop. He told me Vail’s pawned a number of things over the past few months.”
“We should ask Pawn Shop Man if anyone’s brought in the stuff from the time capsule.”
“I can do that,” Rocco says.
I tighten my ponytail. “Okay, going with that, Josie and the mohawk kid steal the capsule, give it to Vail, and then he hawks the contents? But he would’ve made more money returning the capsule and getting the fifty bucks then pawning the items.”
“Unless he thinks he’s going to do both. Get twenty for the contents, return an empty capsule, and then get fifty for that. He’s kind of dumb that way.”
I laugh.
“You know for sure the stuff inside isn’t worth much?” Rocco asks.
“Well, there is one item I haven’t completely crossed off the list. It’s the little figurine dressed as our mascot. Danae’s dad donated it.”
Rocco swivels the recliner to a sitting position. “That doesn’t sound like much of anything either. As far as I see, we’ve got two possible leads—Vail and this kid with a mohawk. I’d say Josie, but she’s not returning either one of our calls.”
I sit forward with a sudden thought. “I’ve spent the past several days asking everyone where the capsule is. Why don’t we spread the word that it’s been found? We can split up. You keep an eye on Vail, and I’ll spread the word the capsule’s been found. If he’s really the thief, he’ll make a move. Wherever he hid it, he’ll go see if it’s still there.”
“You don’t think he hid it at The Pit?”
“No, not with the stink I’ve been raising. He’d put it someplace else.”
Rocco places Clover on the tile floor and stands. “Flushing out Vail. I like this idea.” Grabbing his granola bowl, he heads into the kitchen.
I trail around the kitchen island and over to the refrigerator. Grabbing coconut water, I take a few big gulps. Rocco picks his new backpack off the floor and plunks it on top of the island.
Unzipping the pack, he takes out a yard light. “It’s an exterior nanny cam. We’ll stick it in your front yard. That way if Vail comes back, we’ll have actual evidence.”
“Good idea. How does it work?”
“Much like the listening device you put in my room.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He takes my coconut water and drinks down a few gulps before handing it back. I don’t usually like sharing my food and drink, germs and all, but I kind of like that he just did that.
“Right,” he says. “Why do you think you haven’t heard anything every time you’ve listened in?”
I shrug. “I figured you weren’t there.”
“I unstuck it from the lamp and re-stuck it to the inside of Mama Garcia’s lockbox.”
“Lockbox?”
“It’s where she keeps her important papers.” Rocco picks up the yard light and points to a black circle on the side. “That’s the camera and it works the same way. I’ll connect to it via an app, and we can check in on the live feed. We can also rewind and watch past time.”
“How many hours of footage does it hold?”
“Seven days and then it erases and starts over.”
“Cool.” I finish off the coconut water, not caring if we share germs, and toss the carton in the recycle bin. “Hey, what do you think of Wayne, Vail’s twin?”
Rocco shrugs. “Okay guy, I guess. Between the two of them, Vail is definitely the more talented MMA fighter.”
“Do you think it’s odd he wanted me to call him if Vail gave me any more problems?”
“From what I hear, Wayne is always cleaning up Vail’s messes.”
“That stinks for Wayne.” I wipe my hands on a dishtowel and turn to Rocco. “Back to flushing Vail out. I’ll loop Diamond in. She’ll love this plan. She and I can start spreading the word, and you keep an eye on The Pit and Vail. Let us know as soon as he makes a move.”
Rocco grabs an apple from our hanging basket of fruit and stuffs it down inside his backpack. “And if we’re wrong about him?”
I sigh. “Then we’ll focus on the kid with the mohawk.”
He motions to my black and white polka-dotted sundress. “New?”
“Yes.”
“Nice.”
With that, he’s gone.
Chapter 27
Diamond and I have a quick call, and I catch her up on everything.
“Your aunt is awesome. I love that she went down to The Pit and yelled at Vail,” Diamond says.
“Yeah, Aunt Grace is pretty great,” I agree. “Tell you what, while Rocco and I are flushing out Vail, why don’t you do some recon on this kid with a mohawk?”
“Sounds like a plan. We’re close, Penny-Ann, I can feel it.”
I end the call with Diamond, then I start on one end of the island and slowly make my way to the other. I stop at all the good spots: the skate park, the game room, the pier, the surf shop, the hot dog stand, the community pool, and pretty much anywhere else kids hang out during the summer.
I tell every kid I can find that the time capsule has been found, but no one seems too interested. If flushing Vail out is the ultimate goal here, then spreading rumors might get more of a reaction out of him. I decide to do just that.
Did you hear Josie is the one who broke into the school?
Did you hear Josie and Vail were caught vandalizing?
Did you hear Vail was seen hawking things at the local pawn shop?
Did you hear Josie wrongly accused Rocco?
Did you hear Vail left a creepy note at my house?
Did you hear he gutted a stuffed animal as a warning?
Did you hear he pranked called me?
Did you hear an eye witness saw a kid with a mohawk haircut?
On and on I go, fully aware I’m stirring up gossip and justifying it in the name of Piper Island and the time capsule. I’m bound and determined to make Vail move. We need to see where he goes.
ANYTHING YET? I text Rocco.
WHATEVER YOU’RE DOING IS WORKING BECAUSE VAIL HAS BEEN ON HIS PHONE NON-STOP.
A smirk creeps onto my lips. GOOD. WHERE ARE YOU?
AT THE PIT BUT VAIL HAS BEEN SITTING IN HIS TRUCK THE ENTIRE TIME TEXTING AND TALKING ON THE PHONE. SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY GOING ON.
OK, I text back. KEEP ME IN THE LOOP.
Tucking my phone away, I go to get back on Lolli. I only have about an hour and then I need to head home to meet curfew. Speaking of curfew, I shoot Aunt Grace a quick text as I told her I would. JUST CHECKING IN. ALL GOOD HERE.
She texts back smiley-faced sunshine.
I start to peddle away when I catch sight of Wayne approaching from the right side of the skate park. I don’t say hi and instead, pull up the picture of the gutted stuffed animal on my phone. “Your brother took it too far with this.”
Wayne gives my phone a cursory glance. “He already told your aunt he didn’t do that.”
“Right.” I snort.
Wayne takes his shades off and loops them in the neck of his collared shirt. The irritated look on his face doesn’t bother me in the least. “Listen, I’m the first to admit my brother can do some senseless things, but he isn’t involved with this stolen time capsule business. Neither is my sister.”
/> I snort again. “Whatever.”
“Honestly, Penny-Ann, it could be anyone. Heck, it might even be you. I mean, given who your mom is and all.”
I shoot to my feet, coming straight off of Lolli, and immediately thinking about the anonymous mug shot someone sent Principal Berger. “What did you just say?”
But Wayne doesn’t answer and instead folds his arms to look at me. “Josie’s right. You’re annoying.”
She’s said as much straight to my face, so it doesn’t surprise me she complained to her brothers, too. I mean, I’ve spent a good many hours complaining to Aunt Grace about her.
I don’t know why you consider her your best friend, Aunt Grace has said that many times now, and honestly, I don’t know either. I think it boils down to the fact Josie was the first friend I made when I moved to Piper Island. Before that, Mom was my friend.
“No, it’s your sister who is the annoying one.” I throw all my weight into peddling Lolli away, not giving him a chance to say anything else.
How dare he bring up my mom. For that matter, how does he even know about my mom? But as soon as I ask myself that question, I know the answer. Josie.
Last year, she and I were in one of our friendly zones and we were sharing secrets...
Josie brushes blue eye shadow over my lids. “Oh my God, I would only ever tell you this.”
“What?” I ask.
“Promise not to say anything?”
“Yes! What?”
“I was the one who pulled the fire alarm at school yesterday.”
“You did not!”
She laughs. “I did. Now it’s your turn. I need a deep dark secret.”
I think about that a second, wondering if I should tell her my secret of all secrets. “Okay, but you have to promise, too.”
She moves onto mascara. “Of course. Tell me!”
“My mom isn’t traveling with work. She’s in jail for conning people out of money.” I hold my breath, waiting to see how Josie will respond. When she doesn’t answer, I open my eyes and look at her.
“I think that’s pretty cool.”
She does? Why? I don’t think it is. “You promised,” I remind her.
The Case of the Bad Twin Page 13
