“Think that somebody’s still inside the cabin?” Gordy whispered.
Cooper had no idea. He stepped over to the toolbox, grabbed his dad’s dive knife, and pulled it from the sheath. His mind went spinning back to that night in May when he’d strapped it to his leg after Gordy was abducted. It had been a big help to him at the time. He hoped it would prove as useful now.
“Coop?” Hiro stared at him.
Cooper held the cabin door open with the knife blade and hesitated, letting his eyes adjust to the shadows. The way looked clear. “Stay outside, Hiro.”
Cooper entered with the knife extended. If anyone charged him, the guy would end up like a hot dog on a roasting stick. The moment Coop stepped inside the kitchen, Lunk was standing beside him.
The blinds were open in the sleeping area. He knew they’d been closed tight. He hadn’t wanted to look at the mess they’d have to clean up before his dad arrived. But if somebody had come looking for something, he would have needed more light to see.
Hiro gasped from behind him. “Somebody totally ransacked the place!”
“Actually,” Cooper said, “this is pretty much how I remember us leaving it.”
Hiro picked a T-shirt from the floor and tossed it onto the berth. “Disgusting.”
“I thought you were going to wait outside,” Lunk said.
Coop finished checking the entire cabin before he sheathed the knife. He opened drawers, inspecting every storage spot. Nothing appeared to be missing. If it weren’t for the cabin door and blinds being open, he wouldn’t have known someone had been there.
Gordy put the knife back in the toolbox. “Do we call the police?”
“And tell them what?” Hiro said. “Nothing is missing. They already think we’ve got too much imagination.”
Lunk cleared his throat. “We’ve got too much imagination? You’ve got enough for all of us.”
“Sorry, Mr. Lunquist,” Hiro said. “I meant me. You’d do well to feed your malnourished imagination a bit more.”
Cooper couldn’t clear his mind. Somebody had been on the boat. “Why would someone be in here? Looking for money?” Deep down he knew that wasn’t the answer — and he didn’t like what his heart was telling him.
Hiro shook her head. “Not money. Something else.” She walked around the cabin as if hoping to find a clue. “So who would do this — and what was he looking for?” She looked at the others as though she were their teacher, and they were her students.
“Something tells me that the one with all the imagination thinks she has all the answers too,” Lunk said.
Ignoring his comment, Hiro turned to Gordy. “What might someone come here to steal?”
Gordy’s eyes opened wide. “Oh no.”
Hiro nodded. “Oh yes.”
Gordy lunged for the food chest and lifted the cover. He rummaged through it frantically, then turned and smiled. “It’s all here. You had me worried for a second.”
Hiro looked up at the ceiling in exasperation and closed her eyes. “You are absolutely ridiculous sometimes, Gordy.” She turned to Cooper. “You know, don’t you, Coop?”
Cooper nodded. “But I hope I’m wrong.”
Her eyes lit up. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Apparently she didn’t want to share her theory just yet, which made sense. Every time she brought up something, the rest of them seemed to discount it. She wanted Cooper to say it first.
“Okay,” Cooper said. “Sometimes you have to look at the obvious. We know Krypto and his girlfriend are looking for that camera.”
Hiro nodded and smiled.
“They saw us nosing around on the beach, so they were checking to see if we found it and kept it for ourselves.”
“Bingo,” Hiro said.
The others were quiet for a moment.
“Just because they’re looking for the camera,” Lunk said, “doesn’t mean Lynn wasn’t the girl on the boat. She said it was a waterproof camera. It was probably expensive. They don’t want to lose it, that’s all.”
“Right,” Gordy said. “It doesn’t prove there was a murder.”
Hiro shrugged. “No, it doesn’t. But it also fits my theory.”
She was getting excited. “If there was a murder, that camera could contain the proof. They would do anything to get it.”
Lunk’s face clouded over. “That means things could get dangerous.”
Gordy moaned. “No! We’re on vacation. Va-ca-shun.”
Hiro put her hands on his shoulders. “You’re right, Gordy. We need to have some fun too. Let’s forget the mysteries for a while.”
Gordy felt her forehead.
“I’m feeling fine,” she said. “And I’m up for a bit of exploring — just not inside a creepy tunnel. You want to join me?”
Gordy gave her a suspicious look. “Maybe.”
“It would be fun to explore the shoreline in the inflatable boat. Around the docks. Around the rocks. Stuff like that. But I’m not sure I can paddle that far.”
Gordy’s face brightened. “You really want to do this?”
She nodded.
“If you’re serious about exploring, we could even scoot under the docks,” Gordy said. “We’ll lie on our backs and use our hands to grab the posts and push ourselves along.”
“We won’t get stuck?”
Gordy laughed. “I’ll get the inflatable and meet you on the swim platform in thirty seconds.” Gordy ducked out of the cabin.
Lunk wagged his finger at her. “You’re a sly one, Hiro. I know what you’re doing.”
“Me?” Hiro plastered a naive look on her face. “I’m making sure Gordy enjoys his vacation.”
“While you look for the camera,” Lunk said.
“The camera?” Hiro looked innocent. “That thing is probably long gone. Or else they’d have found it by now.”
“If they had,” Cooper said, “they wouldn’t have come here looking for it.”
Hiro broke into a mischievous smile and put her finger to her lips. “What Gordy doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” She laid her phone on the counter.
If Hiro’s theory was right and Kryptoski was a murderer, then they knew too much already. Enough to get them all hurt.
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly for Cooper. The fact that somebody had been on the boat unnerved him. And the intruder had been sloppy too. Leaving the door open? The blinds up? It was almost as if they wanted Cooper to know. He kept an eye on Gordy and Hiro with the binoculars every once in a while. After an hour, they came back. Gordy was stoked. Hiro, not so much.
They rode their bikes into town and met their moms at the public beach to swim and hang out for a while.
After two hours, Cooper and Hiro pedaled back to The Getaway to grab her phone while Gordy and Lunk stayed behind.
Hiro biked alongside him on the lakeshore path. “You didn’t tell your mom that somebody was on the boat.”
“No need to worry her,” Cooper said. “Nothing was taken.” What if she got spooked and didn’t let them stay overnight on The Getaway anymore? “Maybe it was kids messing around.” They didn’t really know anything for sure. That was the truth. Still, he felt funny about not mentioning the incident to her.
Hiro glanced over at him. “You honestly think some kids got on The Getaway?” It almost seemed like she was testing him.
Cooper thought for a minute. “I wish it were true. But no.”
“Then who?”
Hiro had her own ideas, Cooper was sure of that.
“Lynn knew you were looking for the camera. She could have done it.”
“Maybe,” Hiro said.
“You think it was Krypto?”
“He’s got the nerve to do it.”
“And don’t forget that he’s a sociopath.” Cooper looked her way and smiled.
“Tease me all you want, Cooper MacKinnon. You’ll see I’m right.”
That’s what he was afraid of. If she was right — if a murder had taken place — then
all of them were witnesses. Sort of. They slid into single-file formation to scoot through a hedge.
“But there could have been a third person on the boat.”
Cooper looked over his shoulder. “Fat Elvis?”
She nodded. “You can’t rule out any possibility.”
“Why do you think — ” Cooper hesitated.
“Think what?”
Did he really want to go there? He’d be encouraging her to keep investigating.
“Coop?”
“Whoever was there didn’t bother to hide it. Why?” Deep down, he knew the answer.
“What do you think?”
“I think we need to be careful,” Cooper said. “This was another shot over the bow,” Cooper said.
Hiro nodded. “Another warning: Back off. Or else.”
Or else what? Cooper honestly didn’t want anything to do with the whole investigation. They weren’t involved anyway. Not really. He had no problem backing off. Hiro would be another story.
The sun smacked Cooper in the eyes until the path curved south just after Maytag Point. They passed the Lake Geneva Youth Camp docks and cruised on the gravel shoulder along Big Foot Beach.
Hiro fell behind, and after a quick check over his shoulder, Cooper knew why. She was scanning the waterline for the camera.
“You go ahead,” Hiro said. “I’ll catch up.”
“Good luck.” Cooper zoomed ahead, but kept one eye on the beach. Finding the camera would answer a lot of questions. He looked ahead to The Getaway moored in the bay and saw the police boat tied alongside it.
Cooper stood on the pedals and pumped hard. “Hiro!” he shouted over his shoulder. “The Getaway!”
He had no idea if she’d heard him, but he couldn’t wait to find out. He swung onto the pavement for better speed. Did this have something to do with Kryptoski and what they’d heard last night? Or had somebody reported that a person had been snooping around on their boat?
He skidded to a stop by the inflatable and dumped his bike. Hiro was twenty yards behind him, closing fast. By the time she locked up her bike, he had the boat in the water.
Hiro jumped into the inflatable, and Cooper leaned backward over the front, backstroking toward The Getaway.
“What do you think they want?” Hiro’s face was flushed, and she was breathing hard.
“I’m afraid to guess.”
They passed Krypto Night. The boat was empty, which suited Cooper just fine. He wished he’d never seen the boat in the first place. And he never wanted to see it again.
Cooper’s T-shirt was soaked, but he tried hard not to splash Hiro. She sat in the back, one hand holding the side of the raft, the other one rubbing her Chicago Police star necklace. Her lips were moving but no words came out. Praying again. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea.
“It’s Officer Tarpy,” she said.
Cooper turned to look. He coasted a few feet with the forward momentum, then paddled the rest of the way. He steadied the inflatable as Hiro climbed out. He followed right behind her.
“Permission to board?” Tarpy held on to the side of The Getaway. He was smiling, like he wanted to set them at ease. But this was no social call.
Cooper nodded, and Officer Tarpy climbed over the side rail. “I’d like to talk to you a little more about your theory.”
Her theory. The one Coop, Lunk, and Gordy had ripped apart.
Cooper expected Hiro to look honored or something. She didn’t. She folded her arms across her chest. “Really? You weren’t that interested this afternoon.”
“I never said that,” Tarpy said.
Hiro barely concealed a smile. “You didn’t take any notes.”
Tarpy whistled softly and looked at Cooper. “She’s good.”
Cooper nodded. “Oh yeah. And FYI, she’s got a double dose of woman’s intuition.”
“Well, what do you say you run everything by me one more time?” Tarpy said. “This time I’ll take notes.”
“Something’s changed,” Hiro said. “Something big. Am I right?”
Tarpy cleared his throat. “I’m not really — ”
“At liberty to say,” Hiro finished for him. “I know.”
Tarpy shook his head. “But yes, something has changed. I’d like you to come with me.”
“Where?” Cooper said.
“The police station.”
Hiro stood next to Officer Tarpy as the police boat roared toward town. The lake had calmed, and the boat gobbled up the water and spit out foam-crested wakes. If the boat hadn’t been moving, he’d definitely see her trembling. Fear? Maybe. Excitement? Definitely. This wasn’t just about hearing her story. Something big was happening — and somehow Hiro had a part in it.
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what this is all about,” Hiro said loudly.
Officer Tarpy kept his eyes on the water. “At the station.”
Coop sat in the back with his eyes closed and his face turned toward the wind. His hair was whipping every which way. Sort of like what Coop himself had been doing since last night. One minute he seemed to be tracking right with Hiro. The next minute, he was back siding with Gordy and Lunk and acting like she had a hyperactive imagination. He opened his eyes and they met hers.
He said something to her. Not verbally, of course, but with his eyes. He did that sometimes — just to test her, to see if she could figure out what he’d said. And right now she had no idea.
Coop just smiled and shrugged. “You’re losing your touch!” he shouted above the roar of the engine.
She stuck out her tongue and faced forward again.
They were coming up fast on the Riviera docks. “When we stop,” Officer Tarpy said, “give your mom a call. Maybe she can meet us at the station.”
“Coop comes too.”
He gave her a sideways glance and nodded.
Whatever was going on, it was enough to make him agree to her request. She rubbed the goose bumps down on her arms.
As they passed the no-wake buoys, the boat slowed. Coop was texting someone — probably telling Gordy what was happening.
Minutes later they followed Officer Tarpy down the pier and entered the pass-through beneath the Riviera ballroom. Gift shops lined both sides of the tunnel.
Coop caught up with Hiro and walked alongside her. “Is your mom coming?”
Hiro nodded.
“Did she sound worried?”
She nodded again. “Did you text Gordy?”
Coop smiled. “I did indeed.”
“Why are you smiling?”
“I told him the police were taking us to the station, and he texted back immediately — asked if I knew what it was all about.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him I was sure it had nothing to do with the dead fish prank. Pretty sure, anyway.”
Hiro giggled. “You’re mean.”
Even before they exited the tunnel, Hiro saw the police car parked at the curb. Their ride to the station, no doubt. They walked past the fountain without another word. She scanned the area for Gordy and Lunk, and it didn’t take long to find them. They were kitty-corner from the police car, standing outside Scoops. Each boy held a cup of ice cream in his hands. Vanilla and Yippee Skippee, no doubt.
Clearly they hadn’t seen her or Coop yet. Hiro put her hands behind her back. “Coop,” she said. “Make like you’re cuffed.”
Coop laughed and followed her lead. “You’re bad.”
“Just finishing what you started with that text.”
“Serious face,” he said. “They’re looking for us.”
Hiro saw Gordy’s expression change when he spotted her and Cooper. She hiked up one shoulder like she wanted to wave at him but couldn’t. Even from across the street she could see his eyes grow wide. He pointed and said something to Lunk.
Officer Tarpy looked over his shoulder, probably to make sure they were still following. He gave them a double take. “What’s with the charade?”
“Our friends a
re across the street,” Hiro said. “We thought we’d give them a scare.”
“I’ll do what I can to help.” He pointed to the police car, opened the back door, and motioned them inside. He played along with their little act, even to the point of putting his hand on her head to help her duck into the vehicle.
Gordy and Lunk were staring — and looking shell-shocked.
Officer Tarpy sat on the passenger side and pointed toward Scoops. “Is that them?”
“Yep,” Hiro said.
“Light ’em up,” Officer Tarpy said to the young cop behind the wheel.
The cop snickered and flipped on the lights and siren. Traffic stopped, and he tore out of there like they’d just collared Bonnie and Clyde. Hiro glimpsed Lunk as they passed. He was on his bike, frantically pedaling in pursuit.
“Well, that was fun,” Officer Tarpy said. But his smile faded and his expression grew serious. Obviously he was back in cop mode.
Hiro had a sickening feeling that the fun and games were over.
An hour later, Hiro felt more confused than ever. The police were being nice. Really nice. But if her mom hadn’t been there with her, she might have ended up in tears.
It was all the questions. The repetition of them.
“Tell me about the girl with the pizza box.”
“What did she look like?”
“What color was her hair?”
“What was she wearing?”
“Can you describe her T-shirt?”
“How long was her hair?”
“Was she wearing it pulled back or hanging down?”
“Did you notice any distinguishing marks on her?”
“Did she have any tattoos?”
“Did she have braces?”
“What color were her eyes?”
Over and over again. Officer Tarpy asked questions. Made notes. Asked more questions. The more he asked, the less Hiro felt she knew. She hadn’t seen any tattoos. She didn’t notice if the girl had braces. Pom-Pom was too far away for Hiro to notice her eye color.
“White T-shirt. Shoulder-length blonde hair parted in the middle. Jean shorts. Great figure.” Hiro sighed. “That much I know.”
Officer Tarpy looked up from his notes. “Are you describing the girl you call ‘Pom-Pom,’ or Lynn Tutek?”
Below the Surface Page 13
