“Do you even want to do Explorer’s camp?” I asked.
Just because Mom was freaking out right now, Pips shouldn’t have to suffer with me.
“Actually, yes,” Pips said, surprising me. “The kids are really amazing, and I did want to have time to do a week or two of camp with them this summer.”
“What about Alice?” I asked.
“It’s just a few weeks,” Pips said. “It’s not like we’d have all done camps together all summer anyway. We’ll find something we can do as a group.”
I couldn’t ask the question I needed to ask Pips most, not with our moms here. What about Margo and their plan to stop her from winning the competition at design camp? Wouldn’t everyone think I’d taken Pips away from them when they needed her? Especially once they found out what I really thought of their secret club?
Mom’s face relaxed into a smile. “See, this is perfect. I’m sure you’ll love Explorer’s camp, Sadie.”
“Can I at least go to the mall and the movies with the girls Thursday?” I asked.
Mom exchanged another look with Alexis before saying, “Let’s talk to Dad about that.”
“Seriously?” I had thought she’d give me an automatic yes.
“I just want to be careful, Sadie, that’s all.”
Before I could protest, Pippa squeezed my arm. I took the hint. Maybe Dad would be more reasonable.
“Ghirardelli anyone?” Pips asked, deliberately changing the subject the way she sometimes did.
No one could resist hot fudge sundaes, so we cleared our plates and used the GPS on Mom’s phone to find the steps to Ghirardelli. The minute I saw the lighted arch, I asked for Mom’s cell phone. It wasn’t exactly a doorway, but close enough. I snapped a few pictures for reference. I could use white paint against a dark background to make the lights seem like they actually glowed.
Smells of cinnamon, vanilla, and chocolate tempted us as soon as we walked into the soda shop. We ordered two hot fudge sundaes to share—chocolate ice cream for Mom and I, vanilla for Pips and Alexis — a debate that had been going on for as long as I could remember, at least since Pips and I came to the city with our moms for the first time, when we were three. We argued about which was better all the way to our tables, and then sat down and dug in. Pips entertained us with sports blooper stories from the year, and as we laughed I almost was able to push thoughts of camp and Karl and Dad’s case from my mind.
We ate every last bit of ice cream, and then bought chocolate squares for Dad, and more to send to Vivian, Ruth and Frankie, the assorted variety so they could try all the flavors. Pips remembered to grab a few samples for Jack.
We hurried back to the meeting place he’d suggested. He stood in his seat on the cart and waved us over.
“How was the afternoon?” he asked as we climbed in.
“Mostly good,” Alexis said. “Full of food. I don’t think any of us can eat another bite.”
Jack laughed as he started pedaling. “No one goes home hungry from San Francisco. Where to, my friends?”
Mom gave Jack Dad’s office address, and he started back down the Embarcadero.
Pips laced her arm through mine and whispered, “It will be okay, Sades.”
I leaned back in my seat and tried to enjoy the ocean air, the sound of the seagulls, and the lingering taste of chocolate. Dad would understand that I couldn’t be locked up all summer. Wouldn’t he?
Chapter 6
Karl
Inside Dad’s lobby, quiet jazz played and the fountain that spanned one entire wall gurgled calmly. When we’d come back from Owl Creek, Dad’s old partners had invited him to come back to work with them, so he was back in this office building that I loved. On the main floor, past the front desk and bank of elevators, a small café served just about every flavor of juice you could imagine. And miniature cupcakes filled their glass cases, so small that Mom usually gave in and allowed me to have one.
“Please, Mom,” Pippa begged. “Can we just run down to Bare Essentials super, super fast? It’s right around the corner, and they have this new lip gloss — ”
“Alexis, why don’t you go,” Mom said. “Sadie and I will go check on Matthew. I’m sure he’ll take a few minutes to wrap up.”
We checked in with the front desk attendant and clipped on visitor badges, while Pips literally bounced out the front door with Alexis.
On the elevator ride up, I searched my mind for some good argument, something to make Mom change her mind about camp. Dad worked up here in The City, so maybe he could drop us off for camp each morning. But then we’d have to arrive super early, which my parents probably wouldn’t like. When we arrived on Dad’s floor, I still hadn’t come up with a workable plan.
No one was at the receptionist desk, but we knew the way back to Dad’s office. Through the window, we saw him behind his desk, on the phone. He waved us in, and we sat on the plush couch that overlooked the Bay Bridge.
“Thank you, Greg,” Dad said. “I agree. This will really help.”
As he hung up, he gave us a big smile. “So, how was the adventure?”
“We had clam chowder, and watched the seals, and even brought you some chocolate,” Mom said, handing the Ghirardelli bag over to Dad.
He riffled through and chose a Milk Chocolate Caramel, his favorite. “So, I was worried about nothing, I see.”
“Well, a guy jumped out of the bushes at us,” I said. “But it was just that crazy bush guy who thinks it’s funny to scare people.”
“And everything else is okay?” Dad asked, looking from Mom to me and back again.
He always knew when something was off.
“Matthew, don’t worry,” Mom said. “I’m feeling fine. Sadie’s just upset because I don’t want her to ride the train next week to The City for camp. I think it’s too much, with your case and everything.”
So much for coming up with the perfect argument before bringing this up with Dad. “We’d be all together, Dad. Pips, Alice, Bri, Juliet … Nothing could happen to us.”
Mom didn’t give Dad a chance to answer. “Alexis suggested that Pips and Sadie help out at the church camp for a few weeks until all of this blows over.”
“So, if I don’t go to design camp, Pips can’t go either. It’s so lame,” I said.
Mom and Dad exchanged a look, and I knew in their minds the topic was closed. I picked up the glass paperweight off Dad’s table and ran my fingers along the smooth edges. None of this was fair. I just wanted to breathe again. I wanted to wander around in the forest, or ride my bike up to Vivian’s house, or go hiking in the snow with Andrew and Ruth. Wasn’t hiking around hunters more dangerous than riding the train to the city?
“But you’ll let me go to the mall and a movie with the girls Thursday, right?” I asked.
Mom opened her mouth to answer, but Dad said, “Actually, Sadie, there’s something I want to talk to Mom about, which might solve this for all of us. Can you give us a minute or two to chat?”
I leapt on my opportunity. “If I can have a teeny-tiny cupcake?”
“After that hot-fudge sundae?” Mom shook her head. “How can you possibly be hungry?”
Dad passed me a ten-dollar bill. “Why don’t you buy four to go, and we’ll eat them for dessert later.”
“Four?” I asked.
Dad winked at me. “Yep, four.”
Well, something was going on. But I obviously wasn’t going to have to wait forever to find out, if the cupcakes had something to do with it. I left them and mentally reviewed cupcake flavors as I rode the elevator down. Chocolate with vanilla frosting for Mom. Chocolate with double-fudge frosting for Dad. Vanilla with peanut butter frosting for me. And … vanilla with buttercream frosting for the mystery person?
I bought my cupcakes and took the little pink box back to the elevator. Right before the doors sealed, the bell dinged, and they began to open again. Maybe it was Pips and Alexis. Guiltily, I stared down at the box. I hadn’t even thought of buying cupcakes for them. But when I looked
up, I gasped. The doors were closing, trapping me in with crazy Karl.
He pushed the button for the very top floor and then moved in front of the button panel so I couldn’t push Dad’s floor. Why did I always wait for the last minute to do that? I shrank away from him, but I couldn’t go far in the sleek, tiny elevator. Plus, the entire thing had mirrored walls, so wherever I looked, all I could see was his dark stare.
“Some things are just meant to be,” Karl said. “It must be fate. Maybe you’re the answer.”
I couldn’t speak.
“Look, Sadie.” He stepped closer, reached out like he was going to grab my shoulder and then stopped, as though he’d thought better of it. “Sadie, you don’t have a sister or brother, but you have a best friend. Pippa? Isn’t that her name?”
Everything he said made my heart beat faster. How did he know Pips was my best friend? And what did he mean, I was the answer?
Karl looked over his shoulder to check the floor numbers. We were nearing the top, and he cursed under his breath. “Sadie, imagine Pippa got really sick, so sick you were sure she was going to die. And then, somehow, she survived. And years passed, and you started to forget all about the sickness. You started to feel like nothing could ever go wrong. Imagine then — ”
The doors started to open, and he jabbed his finger against the “Close Doors” button. He could only hold the elevator here like this for a few seconds, maybe thirty, before the alarm started going off. And then what would he do?
He turned back to me with even more intensity, and I couldn’t breathe. My heart pounded so loudly that I could barely hear his voice over the echo in my ears.
“Imagine then that Pippa died. No warning. And you had to live with it for the rest of your life. Wouldn’t you want to keep other people from ever feeling that same pain?”
The elevator alarm started wailing.
“My sister —” Karl pressed his fist to his mouth, as though holding back a scream. He breathed for a moment and then leaned so close I could smell his cinnamon gum. “My sister died like that. That’s why Tyler can’t make this device all about testing kids. Once they’re born, it’s too late.”
I couldn’t press myself any further up against the mirrors. Karl couldn’t stay here much longer before a security guard showed up. What would he do — grab me and drag me out with him? I’d started to crumple the edges of the cupcake box, my grip was so tight.
“Talk to your dad,” Karl said. “Maybe he’ll listen to you. Tell him the device has to test adults. It just has to. You understand, don’t you?”
He let go of the button and grabbed my arm, his fingers hot on my skin. As the alarm stopped, the elevator doors opened. I nodded wildly. Anything to make him back off. Karl’s entire body slackened, and he let go of my arm.
“Thank you.” He pushed the button for Dad’s floor before he left the elevator and stepped out onto the empty top floor. “Thank you, Sadie.”
The doors slid closed, blocking him from my view. I sunk to the floor, my breath shaky and a little hysterical as I rode the elevator down.
Obviously, I had to tell Dad what had happened. But when I did, he would freak out more and make more rules, and possibly never let me be by myself, ever. I didn’t want to see Karl again, but maybe now that he’d told me about his sister, now that I’d promised to talk to Dad, Karl would leave me alone.
When the elevator stopped on Dad’s floor, I stood on wobbly legs and peeked out of the elevator. No crazy Karl waiting. Right. Well, if the worst had already happened, there was no point in making my life more miserable by telling Dad. Not yet, anyway. I’d wait a bit. No harm in waiting, right? I could tell him eventually, after I heard about his solution, maybe. Maybe it would be a non-issue. He’d sounded positive on the phone when we came in. Maybe the case was almost over, and the fourth cupcake was for Tyler, to celebrate.
I smoothed the sides of the cupcake box the best I could on the way to Dad’s office.
“There you are, Sadie,” Dad said, coming over and giving me a sideways-squeeze. “I was beginning to think we’d lost you.”
I smiled weakly.
“Pips and Alexis are waiting downstairs in the lobby,” Mom said.
Dad shut off the lights and locked the doors, and I focused on breathing. In. Out. Everything would be okay. I watched the elevator lights scroll number by number through the floors. Please don’t let Karl suddenly appear.
I probably shouldn’t be praying for help when I was keeping a secret, a really, really big one, from Dad. The elevator pinged, and I gripped the cupcake box tighter. Empty. The elevator was empty.
“Sadie,” Mom’s voice was filled with concern. “Are you all right?”
I swallowed hard and willed my voice not to shake. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
“You’re not worried about Dad and my conversation are you?” she asked.
Good. Let her think all the new rules were the problem. I shrugged non-commitally.
“You’ll have a wonderful summer.” Mom pulled me close, and tears sprang to my eyes. “I promise. I know things haven’t exactly been what you expected, but we’ll work this out soon.”
“And don’t forget, I’m taking you girls waterskiing soon,” Dad said. “That’s something to look forward to.”
In the lobby, Pips showed me her new lip-gloss, called “Cupcake,” which made me feel better about my pink box.
“I need to tell you something later,” I mouthed to her when Mom wasn’t looking.
“Okay,” she mouthed back.
Dad pulled the car around from the garage, and we all piled in. I ran my finger over the creases on my cupcake box. So, Karl’s sister had died, unexpectedly, and like he said, it wasn’t fair. It was never fair when kids died, or when anyone died, really. The only person I knew who had died was my great grandpa, and I’d only met him twice. I’d been three. So, I guess I didn’t really understand how it felt to lose someone I loved. But was it normal to punch doorframes and curse years later? Karl was still so angry. I couldn’t stop thinking about Karl’s eyes. His sad, haunted look made me want to understand, even to help him somehow. But that was ridiculous, because why would I want to help someone who’d scared me to death, twice?
“Sadie …” Pips said, and I realized she’d said my name about five times already. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry, Pips,” I said. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“So tell me about this door project,” Pips said.
I smiled at her, grateful for the distraction, and we brain-stormed places I might find interesting doors all the way down 101.
Chapter 7
In the Dark
During dinner, Mom and Dad discussed plans for a Hawaii trip later in the summer. I should have been excited, probably, but now that the fear and high-alert adrenaline from this afternoon had worn off, I felt drained.
Higgins put his paws on my lap and tried to slurp spaghetti off my plate. “Down, Hig.”
He could tell I was half-hearted about pushing him down, and he could also tell I wasn’t going to eat all my food. He was a mind reader like that.
“Hig!” Dad said, in his commanding voice.
Higgy dropped to the floor and laid his head on his paws, but jumped back onto his feet immediately when someone knocked on the door.
Dad broke into a smile. “Oh good, he’s here. Time for cupcakes. Now, Sadie, I want you to keep an open mind about this.”
“About what?” I’d already had enough trouble for one day.
Dad headed for the door. “My boss offered to pay for someone to hang out with you for the next few weeks. That’s what Mom and I talked about this afternoon.”
He’d waited until the absolute last minute to mention this?
“What, like a nanny?” I called after him. “Are you serious? I’m turning thirteen this summer. And didn’t you say he?”
I heard Dad open the door and then say, “Hi, Grant. Nice to meet you.”
“Thank you.” The man’s voice was d
eep. Really deep.
“Come on in,” Dad said.
The man who followed Dad into the kitchen was so tall his totally bald head almost touched the doorframe. He looked like he could lift a refrigerator over his head without breaking a sweat. A scar cut through the middle of his left eyebrow. He looked like the kind of person who might have a gun hidden somewhere on him, though he probably he wouldn’t need it. One punch and anyone in his way was likely to be flat on the floor.
“Grant, this is Sadie, and my wife, Cindy.”
Grant nodded at me. “Hi, Sadie. Cindy.”
Mom looked just as speechless as I was.
“Um, hi?” I finally said.
“Grant will walk Higgins for us, and hang out with you, Sadie, when you go out. You wanted to go to the movies tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah, but …” I said.
“So, Grant can go with you,” Dad said. “Do you know what time the girls are meeting?”
I blinked at Dad. “Four.”
Mom found her voice. “Tomorrow morning, Sadie and I are going to First Episcopal to talk about Sadie and Pippa helping with summer camp.”
“So sounds like we’ll need you all day,” Dad said. “Come around nine tomorrow?”
“Sure.” Grant didn’t crack a smile.
“Would you like a cupcake?” Dad asked, already on his way to the cupcake box.
Honestly? He was going to give the tiniest-ever cupcake to the hugest guy in the world?
Dad put cupcakes on plates and brought them to the table. Mom pulled out a chair. Grant sat and picked up his cupcake, angling it one way and another to try to take off the paper.
Mom laughed and offered to take it off for him. She seemed to have gotten over her shock. “These cupcakes are Sadie’s favorite. What flavor is this, Sades?”
“Vanilla with butter cream frosting.” My voice was little more than a croak.
Dad didn’t actually think swat-guy was a solution, did he? Because hanging out with my friends with this guy hovering around would be worse than not hanging out at all. How could anything be normal with him there?
“A few things you should know …” Dad said, after licking the extra frosting off his fingers. “The main trouble is with a man named Karl.”
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