William punched me in the arm, hard. He was pretending to fool around, but the strength with which he jabbed me was sharper than usual. He grabbed me around the neck, tore me from Betsy’s arm, and dragged me away, rubbing his knuckles hard against my scalp. “If he grows his hair out, it’ll be harder to give him noogies!” He brayed a harsh laugh.
“Oh, leave him alone, William!” She tried to pry his arm off me.
He hung on, tightening his grip. My vision began to blur.
Laughing, he said, “There’s a price to pay for his release, Mademoiselle. One kiss, and I’ll let him go. But you have to promise that you’ll go through with it.”
She hesitated, watching me with concern.
He tightened his grip and I moaned.
“Okay, okay! I’ll pay your price.” She’d suddenly lost the alluring tone she was using before.
He released me abruptly.
I fell back, rubbing my neck and staring up at him. He’d never been so rough with me before.
The smile playing around his lips was almost vindictive. It hinted of malice.
I took a surprised step backwards and knocked against the washing machine.
“Okay, Mademoiselle, time to pay up.” William leaned against the wall seductively, ogling her.
She straightened her shoulders, pushed out her chest, and strutted toward him with a vampy expression.
His eyes closed and he lowered his face to hers.
At the last moment, she spun and turned to me. Tilting my face up, she kissed me lightly on the lips, and then glared victoriously at William. “There. I’ve paid my fee. You didn’t say who I had to kiss, now, did you?” She turned on her heels and pushed out of the door, trotting back to her cabin.
I slumped against the wall and stared at him.
He looked at me, back to the door, and then began to roar with laughter. “I’m sorry, little buddy. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He slapped his thighs and tears of laughter ran down his face. “She really showed me, didn’t she?” he chortled.
I still felt angry and hurt, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t resist. His laughter was contagious. My mouth twitched and I felt myself being drawn into the joke. I began to laugh, forgiving him for his rather strange behavior.
Girls sure make boys act weird.
I wiped the tears from my face and rolled around on the floor, hiccupping and roaring with William.
When we finally quieted down, we got back to our feet and headed outside in the direction of Wee Castle.
I scuffed my feet along the sandy path. “You like her, don’t you, William?”
He looked down at me in surprise, then looked away. “What’s that?”
I knew he was stalling. “You like Betsy. You like her.”
He stopped, peeled some of the bark off a fence railing. Finally, he met my eyes. “Aw, geez, Gus. I like ‘em all. I like June, and Alice. I like Sue from back home. Then, there’s Linda, and Carol, too. But don’t worry, buddy. She’s seventeen. There’s no way she’d go for a guy two years younger than her. I was just kiddin’ around.”
I rubbed the smarting skin on the side of my neck, remembering how tightly he’d held me. It was unsettling. Even though we’d laughed together, the fact that he chose to hurt me to get Betsy’s attention stung deeply.
We started to approach Number Fifteen. I looked over toward the cabin and
spotted a face in the window. It was gone before I could lift my hand in greeting.
“Hey, I know,” William said brightly.
“What?” I asked, still upset with him.
“How about tonight?”
I looked at him blankly. “Tonight?”
He nodded vigorously. “Yeah! Tonight’s the night. We’ll sneak out to the blueberry farm and pick us some big ole’ blueberries.”
My stomach twisted with nerves. Stealing blueberries? Just thinking the words made me feel guilty. I looked uncertainly at him. “But what if we get caught?”
He started to grab me around the neck again, but stopped when I held up my hand and drew back. Instead, he punched me a few times in the arm. “Who’s up in the middle of the night? We’ll wait ‘til…say…two AM. Then we’ll do it. Whaddya say, buddy boy?”
I looked at my shoes for a minute, and then down toward my cabin. My parents were sitting on the glider side by side. I felt guilty just talking about it, but I knew William was trying to make a special effort to apologize. “What about the twins? Can they come?”
He leaned over to pick a piece of grass from a sandy clump of dirt growing beside the fence post. Placing it between his teeth, he chewed on it for a few seconds, and then glanced down at the Marggranders’ cabin. “I guess. If you think they can keep their mouths shut about it. Can we trust ‘em?”
I nodded vigorously. “Sure we can.”
“Okay, then. I’ll come down and tap on your window at two. Be dressed and ready to go. Don’t bring Shadow, though. He’ll give us away if he catches a scent. If the twins wanna come, tell them to be waiting beside their cabin and we’ll pick ‘em up, okay? Wear dark clothes, Gus. A dark sweatshirt with a hood would be best.”
A thrill chased down my spine.
My father looked up from his current mystery, waved to me, and turned back to his book. My mother’s eyes were closed and she leaned her head on his shoulder. They slowly pushed the glider back and forth.
“See you at two, then,” William whispered. He turned on his heels and walked back up the hill.
Chapter 23
I shone the flashlight on my Mickey Mouse watch for the tenth time. Ten ‘til two.
Shadow snored softly at the bottom of the bed.
I lay fully clothed under the blankets. The rubber tips of my sneakers stuck to the bed sheets, making it hard to slide them around. They stood like twin peaks in the moonlight, poking toward the ceiling.
There was a stiff breeze on the lake, evidenced by the water dashing against the rocks beneath my floorboards. I sighed as nerves trilled up and down my spine. Steadily, my heart slammed against my ribs, increasing in frequency as each minute passed.
What if my parents hear me? What if Shadow barks?
I’d probably be grounded for at least a week, maybe for the whole summer. Shuddering at the thought, I decided to slip outside before William could startle Shadow.
Very slowly, I sat up and slid my feet sideways under the covers, lowering them noiselessly to the floor.
Shadow raised his head from his dreams and looked up at me in surprise. He yawned and rested his head on his forelegs.
I leaned down and stroked his ears, calming him until he fell back to sleep.
Pulling the blankets back up to the top of the bed, I stuffed my pillows underneath, arranging them to look like a body. They didn’t look quite right, so I knelt down on the floor and pulled out my baseball glove, fashioning it until it looked vaguely like a head. After zipping up my sweatshirt, I stuffed my flashlight in the pocket.
Shadow didn’t wake.
I tasted the lake on the cool breeze blowing in the window. My pulse rose. I crept toward the window, hoping to avoid squeaks in the floorboards. When I reached it, I stopped for a second to listen, but heard nothing except the water lapping on the rocks below. With heart pounding, I pinched the fasteners on the bottom of the screen. They made a soft screech. I froze, imagining the sound to be louder than it was.
Carefully, I raised the screen inch by inch, stopping every few seconds to listen. When I raised it high enough to squeeze through, I slid one leg over the sill. It was still quiet, so I ducked my head through and was shocked to find myself face-to-face with William.
I almost shouted out in surprise, but William pressed a finger against his lips, suppressing a laugh. “Shh!”
“You almost gave me a heart attack!” I said.
“Sorry,” he whisper-laughed. “Come on out.”
Pulling my other leg through the window, I pushed down the screen until it nearly latched, leaving an inc
h or two for my fingers to raise it when I returned.
William wore a dark blue watch cap and a black sweatshirt and pants. He held one hand up, listened for a moment, and then led me over to the lake side of the porch. We crept down between the crisscrossed railings and landed lightly on the ground below. He leaned over and whispered, “It’s best not to take the steps. They creak.”
I nodded, surprised at his talent in the art of skulking. I wouldn’t have considered sneaking out this way. It was brilliant.
We crept around the back and dropped down behind a boulder, away from the view of my parents’ bedroom window. A light flashed twice across the path. Elsbeth waved. I dug out my light and flashed twice in response.
William sprinted lightly toward them, motioning for me to follow. Heart pounding, I ran as fast as I could, bending low to avoid detection.
Siegfried and Elsbeth were both dressed in dark clothes. Stifling a giggle, Elsbeth took my hand and pressed it in excitement.
William used hand signs to lead us up the hill. I felt like a soldier at war, sneaking up on the enemy.
We avoided Number Fifteen and the cabin of so-called guardians. A red glow came from the cigarette of a man smoking on the porch. I’d come to understand that the elderly woman was someone of great importance, and that these men were hired to protect her.
We made a wide berth around the guard’s cabin and scuttled up the hill through the sheltering woods. When we reached the dirt road, we relaxed and began to whisper.
“Whoa…that was close. Did you see that guy smoking on the porch?” I said.
Siegfried nodded. “Ja! I thought he’d seen us for sure.”
William shushed us, pressing a finger to his lips. “Sounds carry far in the woods, especially over the water. We have to be quiet.”
The crickets and peepers didn’t heed his warning, chirping and singing in the cool night air.
Elsbeth linked arms with me and scurried along beside us. Her eyes shone with excitement in the moonlight. She’d tied back her wayward curls in a thick ponytail and wore a kerchief over her hair. Her dark eyes flashed. “We’re the Blueberry Bandits,” she giggled, reminding me once again of the loon’s tremolo.
Coming from Elsbeth, it was innocent, pure. Quite different from the rendition I’d heard when Betsy flirted with William in the icehouse.
I walked close to her, shaking my head and laughing at her silly joke.
“Wait. Something’s coming.” Siegfried stopped suddenly and we piled into him.
A wild turkey poked his head out of a clump of ferns and waddled across the road, picking at whatever gourmet bits he found along the way. His gobble sounded bizarre in the still of the night.
We exploded with laughter, clamping our hands across our mouths to minimize the ruckus. When the bird safely crossed the road, we resumed our march, moving briskly through the night. In minutes, we reached the entrance of the blueberry farm.
White boards crisscrossed the driveway entrance, resting on two heavy old milk cans.
We waited for a few minutes at the edge of the woods, listening to the rhythmic chorus of the peepers.
“Come on.” Satisfied, William waved us on and walked boldly up to the crossed boards, stepping over the middle section with ease.
We followed. A shiver of guilt ran down my spine when I read the warning sign. “Trespassers will be prosecuted.” I hurried to catch up to William and the twins trotted behind me.
I’m a trespasser. I’m going to jail.
I tried to ignore the thoughts and followed William to the back of the field.
“Wait here while I find us a good row.” He picked from a few bushes, then finally raised his hand to call us forward. “Come on.”
We scurried in after him, ducking down low in spite of the fact that it was nearly pitch black.
The berries hung in heavy clusters. I reached my hand along one branch and blindly scooped off a huge, damp handful. They plopped into my palm. I shoved them into my mouth, reveling in the incredible sweetness as they burst against my tongue. They were huge, nearly as big as the concord grapes that grew wild at home. I eagerly reached my hand into the bush again.
Elsbeth was close by my side. “Mein Gott. These are so good.”
Siegfried wandered down the row and William kept watch. After we’d gorged ourselves, we sat on the wet grass between the rows and listened to William tell scary stories. We’d been there for almost forty minutes when William held up a hand in warning. “Hold on.”
We’d all heard it: the crunching of tires along the dirt road. We sat quietly, waiting for the rumbling to pass. Rather than pass by, it stopped. A car door clanged.
Someone had stopped at the entrance of the field and was removing the barricade.
The car door closed again, as the headlights swept across the field. It bumped down the lane in our direction.
William flapped his hands frantically toward the woods. We ran like frightened deer, ducking below the bushes in the pitch black night. I brought up the rear, helping the twins make it safely down the track. The car continued up the lane, stopped at the end of the field, and turned in our direction.
They’re after us.
I pumped my legs harder.
William and the twins scrambled over a stone wall separating the woods from the field.
I’d nearly reached it when I tripped on an abandoned berry basket and went down. I fell face first onto the wet grass. One knee skidded along the ground. Winded, it took me a moment to recover. The headlights became brighter and the car rolled toward me. Moving like a snake, I slithered toward the stone wall and flattened myself against the base of the rocks in the tall weeds. The flashlight in my pocket dug into my side. I removed it and slid it into the other pocket, then forced myself to lie motionless on the ground with lungs heaving, my breath loud and raspy.
My heart thudded. The chorus of crickets sang in the background as the headlights played in the grass just beyond me. Beads of sweat broke out on my brow. I prayed I’d be invisible to the occupants of the car.
Two men emerged. They turned off the engine, leaving the headlights on. Silhouetted in the light, they spoke. One pulled out a cigarette. The other lit it for him. They murmured in deep, gruff voices. I caught a word here and there, but froze when I heard them say, “Sharon.”
I looked closer, parting the grass so I could see them. Shocked, I realized that the man who held the cigarette was Sharon’s father. His face, dark and menacing, glowered in the harsh light of the headlamps. He ran a handkerchief over his face, as if he were sweating. The other man spoke sternly to him, chastising him for something. I heard the words “risky” and “liability.” Mr. Adamski seemed to break under the pressure and collapsed onto the hood. I wondered if the other man intended to harm him, and suddenly felt sorry for him.
Something crawled over my legs.
Dozens of little feet danced over my body. I nearly shrieked in terror, but held my tongue and forced myself to lie motionless on the ground. The family of raccoons climbed over me and onto the stone wall. I froze, petrified I’d give myself away.
Finally, the entourage of critters scuttled into the woods. My heart pounded in my ears, loud enough for the whole town to hear. I glanced back at the men; they’d moved around to the back of the car, completely unaware of our presence. They opened the trunk and peered inside.
I squirmed a few feet closer, gaining visibility. They leaned inside and hefted something long and awkward out of the trunk. It fell heavily onto the ground.
Chapter 24
I glanced toward the stone wall, wondering if my friends had seen what I was sure was a body. Not likely, as they were all well-hidden behind the wall. I peered back at the men and slithered a few feet closer.
Mr. Adamski reached inside and pulled out a flashlight, and then slammed the trunk closed.
A sound came from behind the stone wall and I realized with horror that Elsbeth had sneezed. It was a tiny, hand-smothered sound. I held my b
reath and flattened myself down into the wet grass.
Mr. Adamski turned on the flashlight and played it over the grass and trees beside me. “Did you hear that?” he growled.
“Hear what?” the other man grunted, leaning down to pick up one end of the long object on the ground.
He shone the light again, back and forth across the area in which we were hiding.
I prayed Elsbeth could control her allergies. With our luck, she was probably laying in a patch of ragweed.
“Nothin’, I guess,” he said after a long pause. “Guess it was an animal.”
His partner sounded irritated. “Come on. We’ve got to get this to the cabin.”
Each man took one end of the awkward bundle and carried it between them. They headed onto a path not far from us, and I risked raising my head a little to get a better look.
Adrenaline rushed through my veins. The object was wrapped in a blanket. It swayed between them much like a human body would do.
After they disappeared, I scrambled over the wall and nearly landed on top of Siegfried. He put his arm around my shoulder and whispered in my ear. “Mein Gott, we thought you were going to be caught.”
Elsbeth pressed my fingers in her little hand, and William ruffled my hair. I felt better being huddled together with them, out of sight of the men. I waited until I was sure they were out of earshot.
“Did you see what they were carrying?”
They whispered in unison. “No.”
William asked, “What was it?”
I looked back toward the trail they’d followed, watching for the bobbing light that would signal their return.
“It was Sharon’s father and some other guy. They mentioned a cabin and took this…bundle…out of the trunk and carried it away down that track. It looked like…” I hesitated, not wanting to unduly alarm my friends.
“Like what?” Elsbeth said.
I took a deep breath. “A body. It looked like they were carrying a body.”
A series of gasps whispered through the darkness. Elsbeth moved closer to me, trembling.
William spoke up. “Okay, here’s the plan. We hide until they leave. Then we’ll follow the trail to that cabin and see what they’ve done. Maybe they buried it. We’ll have to report it to the police.”
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