Sleight (12 page)

ONE OF THE people I’d gotten to know during the kidnapping investigation was the lead detective, Aiden Danton. He and I weren’t what you could call friends. I had jerked him around the first time we’d met; he’d tried questioning me while I was in the hospital, cuffed to a bed. Standing in front of me, and clearly unhappy to see me, he waited for a response to his question.

I didn’t have one I wanted to share with him.

When I’d overheard Dell and Tank planning to mess with me and Breno I’d quickly put together a plan: I’d stake out my own apartment entrance and wait for the two thugs to show up. I’d planned to make sure they saw me and lead them to one of the SPD’s favorite late morning hangouts, where they would be caught harassing the same kid they’d grabbed a month ago. Then a trip to jail for the two of them.

I hadn’t figured on Danton being anywhere close by, and I hadn’t planned on the two thugs bailing at the last minute.

“So Houdini, happy coincidence, or are you trying to get your butt kidnapped again?” he cracked, jamming a cigarette into the corner of his mouth and lighting up.

The Houdini comment referred to my disappearing act in the hospital and some banter we’d traded. I figured trying to be cagey would be a mistake.

“I saw the two guys who took us hanging around my apartment building and let them tail me here. I was hoping the cops inside would see them and...” I trailed off. Saying it out loud made it sound dumber than when it had all been in my head. Looking up a coffee bar where cops hung out had seemed clever the night before. Today, not so much.

Taking a long drag and blowing smoke through his nose, he made a sour face. “Not smart. You’re really lucky I saw you and came out here. If they’re stalking you, you should have come to me. You shouldn’t be trying this kind of stupid crap.”

I rubbed my hands together trying to warm up. “I guess I didn’t think it through.”

He squinted and pointed a finger at me with the hand holding the cigarette. Smoke trailed from the tip. “Seriously? I find that hard to believe, especially coming from you. They’re going to be in trouble if it really was them. Especially that little one-eyed bastard, because this cute maneuver will void his bail. The other guy...is he the one you described that wasn’t found at the scene.”

“Yeah.” I wanted to be far away. I had no idea whether the two goons would call Sonja or whether she would show up at all, but I didn’t want to find out. My plan having fallen apart meant I needed to regroup.

Dropping the cigarette and crushing it under a shoe, he looked me up and down before replying. “Look, I know there’s something off about you, but I’ve never read you as a punk. Don’t pull anything like this again. You see something, call me. You might not be so crazy-ass lucky next time.”

Bobbing my head I was happy to agree and looking to take off. “Sure. No problem.”

He frowned. “I mean it. The next time I find you in the middle of something, I’m going to crawl through your life like no other.”

Of all the threats he could have made that one was the nuclear strike. I didn’t want him, or any other cop, poking around in my personal affairs. At the same time a prickly, guilty feeling was scratching around in my mind. He’d been assigned to the kidnap case and would definitely be interested in the fact that Justine had turned up. I knew she was back, and I was speaking to a detective who had been looking for her. I would be in deep trouble when she showed up and it got out that I’d known. But if I let him in on it and he spilled to Justine how he’d found out I’d have a problem with another purple-eyed-knack-sucker with an axe to grind. Not that she and I were doing all that great right now. Maybe if I gave her a heads up and walked her through why I’d needed to tell him, she’d cut me some slack. Even if I could get her to be okay with it, there was always her mother. She’d think nothing of having me thrown in jail.

“What? I can see the wheels turning in your head. What is it?” He cocked his head to one side and squinted at me.

“If I share something really important with you, that you definitely would want to know, will you leave me out of it? Like, not tell anyone where you heard it?” My pulse was racing and I shrugged my shoulders nervously.

“What is it?”

We had played this cat and mouse game before. “Come on Danton. I don’t want to tell you unless you agree to protect me.”

He blew out a frustrated breath in the cold air, his breath looking like smoke. He cursed softly, but I had no trouble hearing it. “Benny you are a grade A pain in my ass. You know that?” Shaking his head he glared at me. “I know I’m going to regret this, but fine, I’ll keep your name out of it. Unless...unless you’ve done something illegal that comes out later. Deal?”

I thought that over. Did I really have a choice? He could bend that offer several different ways but in the end I’d have to trust him. I’d be screwed later if Justine admitted I’d known about her return before anyone else. Anyone else except...

“Yeah, deal.”

“Okay, what is it?” he said.

“Justine Winters is hiding out at Kayla Greenberg’s.” Once I got it out I thought I’d feel better. Turns out I was wrong about that.

I felt like a sellout.

He dropped the fresh cigarette he’d pulled out of his shirt pocket. Mouth hanging open, maintaining eye contact with me, he bent down to pick it up. He swore some more; more colorful this time, and kind of angry. “You kidding me? ‘Cause if you are, I’ll—”

“No, it’s legit. She’s been calling me from a blocked number.” The bargain we’d made not one minute ago seemed a tad shaky all of a sudden.

Rubbing his hand over his face he frowned at me. “Unbelievable. And exactly how long have you been carrying around this dandy little piece of information?” He was getting himself pretty worked up.

“Um, couple days. She’s only been at Kayla’s for like four or five days.”

“Four—,” he paused, face getting red. “—days? She’s been back for
days
? What the hell has she been doing for the last
month
? Has this all been some asinine teenager runaway thing?”

Regretting having told him I had no choice but to fill him in now. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. She wouldn’t tell me. She just wanted to see me.”

Sticking the cigarette in his mouth he dug around in his pocket for his lighter, pulled it out and lit it. He scowled at me. “And have you?”

“Have I what?”

“
Seen
her!”

Another choice. I decided to go halfway. “Yeah, through the peephole in my door. I didn’t open it. I was freaked out because she just showed up and she looked...”

He blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth. “What? She looked what? Get it all on the table.”

“She looked strange. Different. Her hair, her clothes, pretty much everything. I mean, she’s the same girl but I almost didn’t recognize her. And she was acting weird too.”

“Acting weird how?” he took another long drag on his smoke, glaring at me.

Good question I thought. Hard to describe. Sharp? Cranky? Demanding? “Kind of bitchy.”

He snorted. “Really? That seems weird to you? How the hell old
are
you anyway?”

“You don’t understand, she was the sweetest girl in school. Miss All-American. She never had a bad word for anyone. But she has all this...attitude now.”

“Drugs.” He said shaking his head. “That’ll go over great with her hoity-toity parents. This Greenberg girl, she a druggie?”

“No. And I don’t think Justine’s on drugs either. You grownups always chalk up attitude to drugs. I don’t want her parents knowing that I’m the one that told you she’s back. They’ll try to drag me into the whole thing and make it sound like I had something to do with her being missing.”

“Relax. Doesn’t matter. I’ve got the address for the Greenberg’s. I’m going to swing by there. Tell ‘em I got a tip that Winters was seen in the neighborhood. The Greenberg kid has more to answer for than you. She’s been harboring her. How exactly are her folks feeling about that?”

“They’re out of town,” I shrugged.

“Of
course
they are,” he groused. “Okay, anything else? You got a tip on the Kennedy assassination?”

“Hey, I told you right? That’s more than Kayla Greenberg’s done.”

“Okay, we’re done here.” He looked at his car and then back at me, trying not to look at my bum leg. “You need a ride?”

‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’
as mom used to say.

“Yeah. That would be great.”

I decided that letting him know I was going to be seeing Justine later wasn’t in my best interest. Now I needed to get in touch with her so that she wasn’t blind-sided.

BY THE TIME I got back to my apartment building it was almost five o’clock. I hadn’t picked up my mail in a few days and was waiting on something important. When I’d texted Justine I’d told her to leave Kayla’s right away and to come to Goodturn’s as quickly as possible. She’d told me that she had already left and I breathed easier. I’d be able to confess to telling Danton about her in person instead of over the phone. Hustling in to the lobby I went to my mailbox, and threw away all of the junk addressed to my mom which left me with a letter from Roosevelt. Not what I’d been hoping for. Stuffing the envelope in my back pocket I headed back out and over to Goodturn’s.

When I got back to my bedroom in Mr. G’s apartment Kenwoode and Breno were out so I opened the letter from Roosevelt High. It was brief and to the point: my extended fall vacation was nearing an end.

They were requiring an update from my mother as to when I was going to return to school. Problem there: my non-existent mother was going to be existentially challenged with providing a response. I’d been hoping I could stretch it out through the end of the month but it didn’t look like that was going to happen. Groaning I plugged in an alarm for Monday morning since it looked like I was headed back to class.

Tossing the letter on the nightstand I decided to check on Mr. Goodturn before I headed downstairs to wait for Justine. Goodturn’s was more public than my apartment but there
were
long stretches of time where no one walked in,
and
it was closed. With Kenwoode out, I would be alone with her, no witnesses, and she might be seriously bent about my spilling to Danton.

Feeling conflicted about it I filled my pocket with a dozen marbles, my favorite makeshift ammunition, as I left my room. I walked down the hall to Mr. Goodturn’s room, opening the door quietly and poked my head in. He looked peaceful. His breathing was smooth and regular.

My eyes drifted to the three monkeys clock and I wondered again why Kenwoode had brought it upstairs. It couldn’t be for the same sentimental reason that Breno had mentioned. The second sweep hand was moving steadily, and the glass eyes of monkeys one and two shone in the dimly lit room. It was frustrating that Mr. G had seemed to make huge progress, and then during the last two days there had been nothing more.

I reached out hoping for the best: 

Mr. Goodturn. How are you doing?

No response.

I closed the door quietly behind me and headed for the service elevator. Every time I left his apartment I felt a sense of loss, but I tried to boost my spirits with the knowledge that he was doing better. We had a lot to talk about when he came around.

I was having a hard time digesting what Kenwoode had told me. Mr. G was centuries, as in plural, old. How much knowledge does someone acquire over centuries? And how much money? Kenwoode had alluded to “astonishing” wealth. And what about the people that had been important to him that he had been forced to watch grow old and die while he remained young?

The rickety elevator bumped to a stop and jolted me back to the present. I walked through the narrow hall that led to the main area of the shop. The dust didn’t seem any thicker than the day before but it was still depressing.

I’d had been many great experiences in the shop. A lot of ‘firsts’. And more conversations with Mr. Goodturn than I could count. Maddy and I had spent dozens of rainy afternoons in the shop browsing, her looking at records, me looking through old paperback books, Mr. G tinkering with something.

I sighed. Thinking about the shop being alive with customers and friends was hard when I hadn’t opened it for the third day in a row. With the lights set on ‘closed’ mode there was only an overhead light over the counter and another in the small office. The lighting made the interior look colorless and the antiques seem even older and duller.

I’d agreed to meet Justine for a couple of reasons: to find out if she was aware of how different she was now, and to figure out where she’d been; because if she was under Sonja’s influence it would be better to know it sooner than later. If she wasn’t, she needed to know what her new eye color meant, and what came with her new ability.

Either way I figured that it wouldn’t matter if I shared some of my knacks with her. Not all of them and definitely not my biggest secret. There was something else motivating me to take a risk with her: Maddy’s disconnecting with me. It hurt even to think about it. L.A. was far away and there was a reason why there are so many stories about long distance relationships not working out. Especially when the two people are in their teens and aren’t really
in
a relationship. I’d looked at her online social pages. Recently posted photos of her with new friends, especially one guy who was featured in a lot of them, had left me feeling hollow. I was short on friends, and I couldn’t afford to throw one away.

My mind was on that emotional cliff when Justine appeared at the front door and tapped on the glass. It was drizzling outside and she bounced from one foot to the other waving to me. She was wearing jeans and a dark blue hooded overcoat. White tufts of hair peeked out from under the hood, framing her face. Her makeup and clothing were more subdued than the last time I’d seen her.

I flipped the deadbolt and held the door open for her. She pushed back the hood and shook out her short hair which barely moved. Unzipping her hoodie she looked up at me.

“Why thank you, Benny how sweet!” she practically sang. For a second it seemed like she was the girl I’d sat next to in homeroom.

“Hey,” I responded.

Slowly spinning on her heel she looked around and appraised the shop. “Hmm. Kind of cool, kind of meh.” She glanced at me. “How did you get in here? Do you know the owner?”

“Yeah, we’re friends.”

Nodding appreciatively she spun around again. “That’s impressive. And he trusts you to be in here alone? That’s pretty awesome.” She stopped and smiled at me, showing lots of teeth as she rocked back on her heels and swung her arms in an exaggerated arc. “Sooo, what are we gonna do in here all by ourselves with no adult supervision?”

Right back to the flirty Justine in a heartbeat. “I thought we could talk in Mr. Goodturn’s office.” I pointed to the doorway at the far end of the long glass counter.

“Sounds like a plan. Lead the way!” she laughed. Her spirit was completely different from the conflicted girl who had said goodbye to me two days ago. It made me wary.

We walked back to Mr. G’s office and I took a seat in his old wooden desk chair, leaving the even older metal folding chair next to the desk for Justine. She sat down and pulled her legs up under her, sitting cross-legged. Looking around she took in all of the gizmos and doodads cluttering the floor to ceiling shelves. She wrinkled her nose and gave me a lopsided grin.

I asked, “You seem pretty happy, what’s up?”

She rocked slightly, smiling at me. “
Wellll
, I’ve made a decision,” she said, her lavender eyes glowing.

My stomach started churning and a chill ran down my back. “A decision? Uh, must be pretty big.”

Leaning forward she placed her hand on my knee, eyes sparkling and grinning wide she whispered, “It is. I’ve decided that I’m going to embrace the new me.”