Boys Against Girls (9 page)

“You didn't see Caroline Malloy at all?”

“If they saw her, I saw her,” Peter said.

Mother let out her breath. “There are times I think I have the strangest children in West Virginia,” she told them, and then, into the receiver, “They seem to think they
might
have seen Caroline on Main Street near Oldakers'.”

Just then there came the sound of Police Chief Decker's squad car, the siren getting louder and higher, then falling, then louder and higher again.

Tom Hatford, in addition to being one of Buck-man's postmen, was also one of the sheriff's deputies. He got up from the table so fast that his chair tipped over backward, and ran outside to his car.

Fourteen
Escape

      A
s soon as Caroline heard the boys’ voices on the floor above, she knew what had happened. Wally had made up that story of abaguchie bones being found in the cellar of Oldakers’ bookstore because he knew she would go right down there to see. And she had trotted down Main Street, flashlight in hand, and now felt quite sure that the boys must have been watching for her from somewhere, laughing their heads off.

She stopped trying to push open the trapdoor. They must all be standing on it together. She listened.

“I'm going to close, now, in about five minutes,” came Mike Oldaker's voice.

Ha¡
What would the boys do then? As soon as Mr. Oldaker sent them out the door, she would push open the trapdoor and …

She imagined the look on Mr. Oldaker's face as she rose up out of the floor. What would she
tell
him?

Caroline thought hard. She could say that—say that the boys had kidnapped her and thrown her in the cellar. That's it¡ She would crawl up through the trapdoor sort of … well, clawing at the air, as though she could hardly breathe. Then she would collapse on the floor right in front of Mike Oldaker, and—

The idea came to a sudden halt when she realized she would be caught with a screwdriver and flashlight in hand. She could always leave them behind, of course, but then how would she get them again?

Also, if she told a flat-out lie about the boys, Mr. Oldaker would probably call Mr. and Mrs. Hatford, and then
she'd
be in trouble.

She wasn't sure how long it was after the boys left that she heard Mike Oldaker emptying the cash register. Then there was the sound of the front door opening, closing again, and the key turning in the lock. Silence.
Now¡

Then a new thought occurred to her. What if she was locked in? What if she couldn't even open the door from the inside? Maybe she
should
have climbed out while Mr. Oldaker was still there.

“Help!” she cried suddenly, pushing her full weight against the trapdoor above her.

The door opened into darkness. There wasn't even a light on by the cash register. Caroline did not want to use her flashlight if she could help it for fear someone outside the store would see the light and think a robber was there. She carefully closed the trap again once she was out so she wouldn't fall into it in the darkness, and groped her way to the front door.

Locked. Oh, no¡ She tried again. Dead-bolt locked. Double-triple locked. Her heart began to pound. She really would catch it if Dad found out she'd hidden in the store past closing time. Already her parents were probably wondering where she was.

She made her way over to the counter and managed to knock a stapler to the floor before she found the telephone. Caroline dialed home, wishing with all her heart that one of her sisters would answer.

She was in luck.

“Hello?” said Beth.

“Beth, listen,” Caroline said. “I've done something really stupid. I climbed down that trapdoor at Oldakers'.”

“What?” Beth gasped. “Where are you?”

“The bookstore. Everyone's gone home.”

“What was it like? What was down there?” Beth wanted a full description, Caroline realized, and all
she
wanted was to go home.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The boys must have
been watching, and waited till I went down, and then stood on the trapdoor so I couldn't crawl back out. I heard their voices. I waited till they left and Mr. Oldaker locked up, but now I can't get the front door open. What am I going to do?”

“Have you tried the back door? Almost every store has a back door,” Beth suggested.

“Okay, I'll try, but listen. Make some excuse for me, and if I'm not there in fifteen minutes, you'll have to call Mr. Oldaker to come and let me out. Are you having dinner?”

“It's almost ready. Wait a minute, Caroline. Here's Eddie.”

Caroline had to go through the story still again.

“Caroline, that was dumb!” said Eddie. “The boys probably haven't had such a good laugh in years¡ Why didn't you wait till Beth and I could come too?”

“I just wanted so much to see what was down there.”

“Josh and Jake are probably—” Eddie stopped suddenly. “Listen, I've got an idea¡ I'm going to call the Hatfords and ask to talk to their parents. I'm going to say that you're missing, and we wondered if Wally has seen you since school let out.”

“Oh,
do
it, Eddie!” Caroline began to feel better. That would really shake the boys up a little. Maybe it had been worth climbing down that trapdoor after
all. “See you soon,” she said, “but come and get me if I don't show up.”

She headed for the back of the store. Beth was right. There must be a back door someplace. She put her hands out in front of her and made her way along the aisle. Past the picture-book tent, and on into the stockroom that was black as coal. There was only a small square of half-light at the very back, and at last Caroline reached the door to the alley.

There was a long push-down bar on the door, and Caroline pushed. The door opened, but immediately the air was filled with a head-splitting sound.
Burglar alarm¡

Almost as soon as the door opened it began closing again, and Caroline barely escaped out into the alley. The door went shut on the hem of her jacket, and Caroline felt a soft tug as she jerked her jacket free and ran as fast as she could down the alley toward home.

On and on the alarm went, clanging like a four-alarm fire. An alarm she could hear all the way down the street.

Her sides hurt from running, but Caroline did not stop until she was on the road bridge leading to Island Avenue. Then she looked around. A police car was racing down Main Street, siren wailing. It began to slow as it neared Oldakers’ Bookstore, and finally came to a stop.

Caroline turned and ran on home. She walked in just as Mother was saying, “Where's Caroline?” and then her father's voice, “Well, something's going on downtown. Listen to that siren¡ Better not be any of the fellas on my team getting hurt before the big game.”

“Dinner ready?” Caroline said casually, leaving the screwdriver and flashlight in the closet along with her jacket, and walking into the dining room. She exchanged quick smiles with Beth and Eddie.

“Yes. Wash your hands and get the salad,” said Mother.

Fifteen
Abaguchie?

      W
ally felt sick. He left the dinner table and went upstairs to his room, lying across his bed on his stomach, listening to the wail of the siren in the distance.

GIRL FOUND DEAD IN CELLAR OF BOOKSTORE. He could See the headlines even now. GIRL TRAPPED IN CELLAR SUFFOCATES
.
The possibilities were unlimited, BOY CHARGED WITH MURDER
.
BOYS
’
PRANKS COST GIRL
'
S LIFE
.
HATFORD BOY GETS LIFE SENTENCE
.
Wally moaned.

The noise of the police siren stopped. Now they were discovering the body. Now they were loading it into an ambulance. Now they were unclenching the fingers of the dead girl, and there was a folded piece of paper with only three words:
Wally did it.

Jake and Josh came upstairs next and sat down silently on the edge of Wally's bed.

“You know what happened, I'll bet?” said Jake.
“Somebody saw her trying to get out of Oldakers’ and thought she was trying to rob it and shot her.”

“Shut up!” said Wally. “Just shut up.”

Peter appeared in the doorway. “Maybe the abaguchie got her’ he said, his face sober.

“Listen, that siren might not have anything to do with Caroline at all. She probably crawled out and left as soon as we went home’ said Josh.

“Then why did Eddie call here and wonder if I'd seen her?” Wally asked.

“Oh. Right’ said Josh.

“Maybe the abaguchie ate her up’ said Peter.

“Shut up!” Wally said again. “If you guys can't say anything helpful, don't say anything at all.”

Mother's voice sounded below in the hallway: “Are you boys all through eating? I swear, isn't anyone hungry tonight?”

“I'm all done, Mom,” Wally called.

“Me too,” said Josh and Jake together.

“I'm
having
dessert!”
Peter announced, and went on back downstairs.

“We could be in big, big trouble,” said Wally.

“Maybe we ought to walk over to the police station and turn ourselves in,” said Josh.

The boys looked at each other. Somehow it seemed the only sensible thing to do. Just explain exactly what had happened before the sheriff came looking.

They went downstairs. “We're going to walk into town and see what's happening, Mom’ said Jake.

“Now, don't you boys get to fooling around and waste the whole evening,” she said. “I want your homework done before nine o'clock.”

“Be right back’ Jake told her.

Wally said nothing. He was thinking how their last words to her would be “Be right back’ and twenty years later they'd get out of prison.

They put on their jackets and went outside, where the wind was even colder than they had remembered. As they walked toward the business district, they could see the light on the police cruiser going around and around.

Wally kept listening for the sound of an ambulance. The sound of an ambulance would mean that Caroline was still alive and they were rushing her to a hospital. No ambulance meant that she was dead when they found her, and they were just waiting for the coroner to get there.
Why
did the Malloys have to move to Buckman anyway? Life was so easy and simple before they came¡