He brakes to a stop, cuts the engine, and climbs out, and just the sight of him makes my body break out in hives. He walks straight across the yard to the boat where Ean is and climbs the ladder up into it.
Okay. Why would Vail and Ean be meeting? Did Josie send Vail because she’s gone with her parents? Or maybe someone else is going to show up to buy the G. I. Joe.
I want to sneak over and listen, but I’m also scared. What if they see me? Instead, I get the binoculars from my mermaid bag and zero in on the boat. I don’t really know anything about boats, but this one doesn’t look seaworthy. Not that that matters, I guess.
I speed-dial Rocco, but again his voice mail picks up. “Oh my God,” I snap. “You are so annoying. Where are you? I followed Ean to the boatyard his mom owns. Now Vail is here. Get. Here. Now.” I jab my finger down on END.
“I am here,” a voice behind me whispers and I yelp.
Chapter 32
Dropping his bike, Rocco crouches behind me.
“Where have you been?” I demand.
“My scooter ran out of juice, so I had to grab my bike. Then I was following you, following Ean.” Rocco holds up his phone. “Sorry, battery died.”
Ugh. “You’re a pain. Now is not the time for you to forget to charge up.”
He nods to the boat. “What do we know?”
“Well, first of all, I found out that plastic figurine dressed as the shark mascot is really a vintage G. I. Joe worth a thousand bucks.”
Rocco whistles.
“I know. Also, Ean is in there with Vail, and you ready for this? You know that hat Ean always wears? He’s the mystery mohawk kid, or at least I’m pretty darn sure.”
Rocco’s entire face gets hard, and I get it, Ean is supposed to be his best friend.
Grabbing my phone, I shoot Diamond a quick text, telling her where we are.
“What are you doing?” Rocco asks.
“Texting Diamond. She was looking to see if the G. I. Joe has been posted online for sale. But we need her here because I have a feeling this whole thing’s about to get real.”
Rocco doesn’t say anything, just stands up and starts marching toward the boat.
“Where are you going?” I whisper.
“To find out what’s going on.”
“I’m coming with you!”
Across the boatyard we go, me feeling exposed and Rocco just charging forward. We weave in and around boats and their parts until we come upon our destination. I fully expect Rocco to climb the ladder, but instead, he ducks up under the hull.
Rocco looks at my canvas bag. “You better share whatever you have in there.”
I pull it toward me. “You haven’t been trained.”
“It’s not like I haven’t used a slingshot before.”
“How do you know what’s in my bag?”
He rolls his light eyes. “Please. I looked.”
I begin to hear voices, and I slap my hand over Rocco’s mouth. He sticks his tongue out, sliming my palm, and I yank it back. Ick.
I listen hard, but the voices filter through the hull in muted mumbles.
“Is it just the two of them?” Rocco whispers.
“I think so,” I whisper back. “I didn’t see anyone else go in.” I glance beyond Rocco’s shoulder and across the yard at Vail’s truck parked in the shade of the work area. “Maybe we should take this opportunity to look inside Vail’s truck.” Because I’m certainly not climbing up into the boat and confronting Vail.
Rocco emerges from under the hull, and together we creep across the boatyard to Vail’s truck. With a quick and nervous glance over my shoulder, I see we’re not hidden from the sail boat’s view. We need to work fast.
I peer inside the tinted windows. “It’s unlocked.” I try the handle and it pops open. Then I stop. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” I whisper. “Maybe we should call the cops.” But as soon as I say it, I realize that means Officer Crawl, and he is the last person I want to call.
Rocco cuts me a look. “Great idea. Then Officer Crawl can bust us both for breaking and entering.”
He would, too, if only to prove his point that I am my mother’s daughter.
Still, a tiny bit of rationalization filters through. “Or maybe we should call Principal Berger, or Aunt Grace, or Mama Garcia.”
Rocco either doesn’t hear me, or he’s ignoring me because he doesn’t respond to that as he elbows me aside and inches open the driver’s door. Instead of leaning over his shoulder, I scramble around to the passenger side.
We both spend a few seconds looking through the small cab—under the seats, in the glove compartment, and down inside the doors’ cubbies—but other than protein wrappers, MMA magazines, and a spit cup that makes bile climb my throat, we come up empty. I guess it was too much to ask that the missing capsule would be sitting here ready for the taking.
I go to close the door and I lift my eyes. Over to the left near the marsh side of the work area, I see something, and I suck in a breath when I realize what I’m looking at.
It’s a girl with a bandana tied around her long brown hair, cut off jean shorts, earbuds in, and relaxing in a hammock. All while flipping through a magazine.
Josie.
She’s laying with one foot hanging over the side, pointing in the opposite direction of Vail’s truck. She has no clue we’re in here.
“Crap,” Rocco says. “Let’s go—”
I hush him, jabbing my finger in Josie’s direction. His eyes narrow in when he sees her, and he charges off across the work area in her direction. I’m faster than I think, catching him, and dragging him down to hide behind the truck. “What is it with you and the charging off thing?”
“She’s not on vacation with her parents,” he says.
Yeah, no, duh.
“Apparently Ean and Josie have quite a few lies going on.” Rocco shifts, and his bare knee brushes mine, distracting me for a second. “Yeah, well, I’m beyond done with this.”
Me, too.
Josie starts singing to whatever is playing in her ears, and her voice echoes off the metal walls of the work area. “I can’t believe you make out with her,” I whisper.
“Jealous?”
“Ya know just yesterday I was thinking I was going to miss hanging out with you. Now I’ve changed my mind.”
With a grin, he motions for Grandpa Jack’s bag. “Let’s see what you got.”
“I thought you already looked.”
He waves me on, and I open the flap.
Footsteps scoot across the gravel, and his eyes widen as he puts his finger over his lips. Together, we glance around the side of the truck to see Ean and Vail coming toward us carrying the blue and black backpack.
Rocco starts to move, and I yank him back. Wait, I mouth.
“We should’ve taken care of this days ago,” Ean says. “I don’t know why we had to wait for Josie.”
“Josie!” Vail shouts and her body jerks so hard she falls with a thud from the hammock.
“What?” She screams, yanking the buds from her ears. “Jeez!”
Vail lumbers toward the truck. “Let’s go.”
I glance at Rocco, and he looks as confused as me. If we don’t do something now, they’re all going to leave. Heck, if we don’t do something now it won’t matter because as soon as anyone of them rounds the truck, they’re going to see us.
Reaching up, I tighten my ponytail and tell myself I’m not nervous. I tell myself I’ve got this. Still, fear skitters through me as I grab my slingshot and handcuffs, and I stand straight up.
“Oh no,” Rocco whispers, grabbling for the teeny tiny pepper spray and binoculars. I don’t know what he’s going to do with binoculars, knock someone out?
“No one’s going anywhere,” I say, proud my voice comes out strong. “In fact, freeze!”
Chapter 33
The three of them do exactly what I say. They freeze. Okay, I wasn’t expecting them to actually listen to me.
Rocco saves me from
deciding what to do next when he flies around the front of the truck and catapults himself right into Ean. They go down hard, rolling across the dirty floor, grappling and swearing.
I turn and look at a still frozen Josie and with a scream, I launch myself across the work bay and tackle her to the cement floor. We go down just as hard as the boys, thrashing and rolling around, and yelling.
Vail flails his arms. “Stop! Everyone stop!”
“You’re insane!” Josie yells.
Insane? She’s darn right I’m insane. I wrestle her over onto her stomach, plant my knee in her back just like I did to Danae’s dweeby brother, and I cuff her wrists together. “Yes!”
Leaping off of her, I whip around, and Vail actually drops the backpack and holds his hands up in the air. I grab my slingshot, load it with a marble, and sight him down the end. “Don’t you move,” I tell Vail, and he actually nods. Ha!
I turn the slingshot on Ean and Rocco as they roll across the dusty floor. Rocco gets a punch in, and Ean yells as he scrambles away. Perfect. I pull back on the rubber, narrow in on Ean’s backside, and let the marble fly.
It pings him in the right rear cheek, and with a yelp, he goes tripping to the ground. Rocco points the miniature pepper spray at him. “Don’t move,” he warns. “Or I swear to God, Ean, I will empty this out on you.”
To be honest, I’m not sure there’s any spray left. Between Diamond getting it in the face and me nailing Vail’s groin, the key chain canister might be out. But they don’t need to know that.
Also, can we just take a second to appreciate the fact I hit my target with the slingshot?
“Listen to Rocco,” Vail warns Ean. “That spray is horrible.”
I snort a laugh. “You should know.” Vail cuts me a look, and I ignore it as I load another marble and swivel back to Vail. “Step away from the backpack.”
Vail does, and no one speaks for a few seconds. I look at each one of them, having mixed feelings of outrage and relief. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m about to find out.
“I take it the capsule is in the backpack?” I ask, and they all nod.
“It was supposed to be a prank,” Ean whines. “We’re sorry. Just take the capsule and give it back to the school.”
Rocco and I exchange another confused look. This isn’t about the G. I. Joe?
“A prank?” Rocco asks.
“You and I are always trying to out prank each other,” Ean mumbles. “I thought this would one-up you.”
“Are you kidding me?” Rocco shouts.
Ean jabs his finger across the work bay to where Josie is lying cuffed on the dirty floor. “It was her idea.”
“Oh, whatever!” Josie yells.
Ean sits up. “You know it’s true.” He looks at me. “She wanted to get back at you, and I wanted to prank Rocco.”
“So, you break into the school, steal the capsule, and then proceed to blame first Rocco and then me?” I look down at Josie. “Did you email Principal Berger that mug shot?”
For an answer, she shrugs.
“God, Josie, what the heck? Do you hate me that much?”
Red flushes through her cheeks. “I was trying to teach you a lesson. You don’t have to always have your way. You don’t have to be in charge of everything. You get on my nerves.”
“Well, you get on my nerves, too, but I would never be so mean as to steal something and blame you for it.” I’m so irritated right now I could slingshot every one of them. “You need to get over yourself. It’s what we do. Ever heard of a nemesis?”
“Whatever,” she grumbles.
“I would never steal something you worked hard to organize, something you knew meant a lot to me personally. Then you hide it, and then you lie about it? That’s just cruel.” I catch a flash of guilt in Josie’s face and experience some satisfaction.
It hits me then, really hits me, how much she and I are different. How much we’ve changed from three years ago.
Rocco points the pepper spray at Vail. “How do you factor into this?”
“She’s my little sister. She told me her plan, and I thought it sounded like fun.”
“Fun?” I huff an unamused laugh. “You scared the living crap out of me, cornering me in The Pit’s office, coming to my house, prank calling me, gutting that stuffed animal, and then this morning’s poo? What are you, five?”
Vail gives me the middle finger, and I almost release the marble I still have aimed at him. “I didn’t do the stuffed animal, and I have no clue what you’re talking about this morning and poo.”
“Oh, whatever,” I snap.
“I thought you were with your parents,” Rocco says to Josie.
She squirms to sit up, but the cuffs keep her down. “I was, up until today. I just got back. That’s why we’re all here. To get the capsule and turn it in. Prank’s over.”
“To, what, split the reward money your own parents put up?” Rocco asks.
Josie gives a sheepish shrug. “None of us knew there’d be money involved. That was an innocent bonus.”
I look at Ean. “It was in your backpack the whole time, even that day I saw you at the skate park? Even that day in the office at The Pit?” Here I thought Vail was protecting Josie that day in the office. He saw me eyeballing the backpack and knew he had to do something. Ugh.
“Yeah,” Ean says. “Vail watched it for a while and then I carried it everywhere, but then you started snooping and we decided to hide it here at the boatyard.”
“So that first day after the theft when you left the backpack in my bedroom, it was in there then, too?” Rocco asks, and Ean nods.
My teeth grind together as I think through it all. I was this close to the backpack on several occasions, including that first day when Rocco buzzed away on his scooter. He didn’t even realize he was carrying the stolen item. To think Rocco gave Ean the backpack that was used in all of this.
Yeah, some friend Ean is.
My gaze travels between the three of them, passing over Rocco’s face. His teeth look even more clenched than mine.
Being a private investigator isn’t as easy as people think. What am I going to do with these three? They apparently know nothing about the expensive G. I. Joe. Maybe I was wrong about that.
I look down at the backpack and something in my gut says things are off. I can’t pinpoint what, and maybe I’m being paranoid, but something’s not right. This can’t be it.
The wind outside the work bay kicks up and with the area being open on both ends, the air whirls through like a tunnel, stirring up the dust on the floor. A little bit gets in my eyes and I squint with blind confusion at the backpack. As I do, my heart begins to thud heavy in my chest. A little voice whispers in my ear, telling me to get it out and look inside.
Behind me, Josie fumbles, moving, and I ignore her. Slowly, I lower the slingshot and I begin to move toward the backpack.
“What are you doing?” Rocco asks.
I point at Vail. “Watch him.”
Vail holds his hands up higher, stepping a few paces away, giving me room and Rocco a tight smile. “I’m not going to do anything.”
Kneeling down, I unzip the pack and slide the capsule out. I swivel open the top and it looks exactly like it did when I packed it several days ago.
On top sits my handwritten letter to whoever opens it in the future, and after that, it’s layered in decades with the most current year on top. I lay everything out: the national magazine, the hurricane photo album, the VCR tape, Grandpa Jack’s mermaid, the shark mascot, with the final item—the photo of Grandma Susan. I pick up the shark mascot, and a lump forms in my throat when I realize—
“What is it?” Rocco asks.
“It’s different,” I tell him. “It’s not the same doll. It’s bigger and a different color. It’s a little lighter than the other one.”
Ean stands up, holding his hands up, too. “I swear to God we didn’t open it. We stashed it on the boat and left it there.”
Carefully,
I put everything back in and snap the capsule back together. My gaze goes from Ean to Vail, and then down to Josie still sitting on the floor. Either one of them is lying or someone else is involved.
Angry adrenaline surges through my blood, and I don’t know what happens next, but my body takes on a life of its own. With a scream, I lunge at Vail, catching him off guard, and I nail him in the stomach with the time capsule.
“Where is it?” I holler. “Where’s the G. I. Joe?”
An air horn goes off, shattering the area, and I slam my hands over my ears as I scramble back, whirling off balance and tripping over my own feet. I land hard on my hip, wincing, and my vision blurs as I glance up to see Diamond step into the work bay. About time she showed up.
“Well, look what we have here.” Pointing an even larger slingshot than the one she gave me, she looks over at Rocco. “Don’t move,” she says.
Dropping the key chain can, he holds his hands up. “I thought we were on the same team.”
Me, too.
Diamond shakes her head, and I look at Rocco, suddenly doubting if he’s innocent. Does Diamond know something I don’t? What if he’s the other person and he duped me?
Looking down at a handcuffed Josie, Diamond asks me, “You do that?”
“Yes,” I proudly tell her.
“Good job.” Diamond takes another step into the bay, tossing me a pair of cuffs and nodding to Rocco.
I get to my feet. “You really think he’s involved in this?”
“Until we have it figured out. No one is leaving.” She nods to Rocco, and I get the cuffs, putting one on his wrist and one secured to a pipe coming out of the floor.
“Sorry,” I mumble, even though I was just thinking he might have duped me.
“It’s okay,” he says.
Diamond tosses a cable tie at Ean and one to Vail. “Secure yourselves to something or I will.” She pings the ground next to Vail with a slingshot marble to punctuate her point.
The Case of the Bad Twin Page 16
