Snatched (16 page)

“There was something I noticed in the boat—” he said, but she kept walking. “Don’t you want to know what I figured out?” he asked.

“No. Just shut up for a while.” Roni was sick of listening to his juvenile jokes. She kept walking.

He fell into step beside her and they walked the five blocks to Maurice’s with only the sound of Brian’s wet shoes grunting.

A little voice in Alicia’s head kept asking questions. Questions like water pounding against the hull of a boat. Pounding and pounding. She felt as if she were drowning all over again, only this time in her own lies.

Would anyone ever believe her again?

It’s all going to come out, Alicia thought. Every crummy little detail. And then everything will fall apart. It’ll be the end.

She could hear her mom on the phone, her voice carrying all the way up the curving marble staircase and under the door of Alicia’s bedroom. It was a huge house, but not huge enough for them to get away from each other.

Alicia knew exactly what her mother was wearing—the new Anne Klein teal blue sweater with the too-tight Ralph Lauren jeans and Cole Haan heels. She could almost always guess which look she’d go with on any given day. It made it easier for Alicia to pick out her own outfit. Her mother liked them to look like twin sisters. Alicia knew it was weird, but she usually went along with it anyway. It was her mom’s idea of being close.

Alicia would have preferred a hug. But hugs for kids were in short supply at Bloodwater House. Even when Alicia made it home after that awful night on the boat, her mom hadn’t really hugged her. They were like floating islands on an icy ocean, swirling around each other, colliding occasionally but never gently touching.

Her mother would be leaving soon to pick up Arnold at the hospital. Alicia wished her mom had never met Arnold Thorn, had never moved here to Bloodwater House. They could still be living in their little two-bedroom house in Mankato with her real dad, the only home she’d known for her first fifteen years. Maybe her dad wasn’t rich, but he had loved her. He had kept her safe. Back then her brother Ted had been a cute little hellion, always dirty and full of wild grins and mischief. Now he was turning into a mini Arnold.

Her mom had wanted money and prestige. A big house. Nice clothes. But now that she had all that, she still wasn’t happy.

Alicia stared out her window across the pool and tennis court into the woods. Already the maples were sporting a bright gold and orange fringe. Summer was long gone. In a month or two everything would be white and frozen.

It doesn’t matter anymore, she told herself. By the time they get back from the hospital I’ll be long gone.

“Let me do the talking,” Roni said.

“Whatever,” said Brian. The ride in the pickup had almost dried him off, but his jeans remained uncomfortably wet in the crotch, and his shoes were still making weird noises.

Maurice was in his driveway cleaning the wheels of his Ford Explorer. He looked up as Roni and Brian approached.

“You come to blackmail me some more?” he said.

“Just a few questions,” said Roni.

Maurice glared at her, shook his head, and went back to cleaning a glob of tar off one of the wheel covers.

Roni said, “You told me you were in class Monday afternoon when Alicia was abducted.”

“So?” Maurice dipped his rag in a jar of cleaning compound and rubbed furiously at the tar.

Roni said, “But you were late for basketball practice. Why was that?”

Maurice stopped scrubbing and looked up at them. “What do you want from me?”

“The truth,” said Roni.

Maurice shook his head, stood up, and threw down the rag.

“Look, I didn’t do anything wrong, okay?”

“Where were you Monday afternoon?”

“I went to see Alicia, okay? I went over to her house to try to talk to her. Nobody was home.”

“What time was that?”

“About one-thirty. So I went for a drive and lost track of time and got to practice late. End of story.”

“When was the last time you gave Alicia roses?” Roni asked.

Maurice looked startled. “Last Thursday. Why?”

“Where were you?”

Maurice shook his head slowly, as if reluctant to revisit the memory. “Look, Alicia’s home, okay? It’s over. Why are you being such a pain?”

“It’s what I do,” said Roni.

“If you want to know what happened to Alicia, ask Alicia. Now go away.” Maurice returned his attention to polishing his wheels.

Brian, who had not spoken the entire time, said, “How about giving us a lift over to Bloodwater House?”

“The munchkin speaks,” said Maurice, not looking up. “Why should I do you any favors?”

“Because we know where your boat is,” Brian said.

 

Maurice stared at Brian with his mouth hanging open. “Where?” he asked, standing up.

“Not where you left it,” Brian said.

“I know that. It blew away in the storm. Where is it?” He stepped toward Brian, towering over him.

“Give us a ride to Alicia’s and I’ll tell you.”

“You’ll tell me now, you little twerp.”

Roni looked from one to the other. Maurice’s boat? How was the
Cap’n Arnold
Maurice’s boat? Maurice was getting red in the face, never a good sign.

“I’ll tell you after we talk to Alicia,” Brian said.

Maurice’s hands closed into fists and his mouth got very small and tight.

“I paid five hundred dollars for that boat.”

“You bought it from Arnold Thorn?” Roni asked.

Maurice nodded. “He gave me a deal on it. After it got vandalized.”

“Vandalized by who?” Roni asked, thinking of the way Maurice had keyed Tyrone’s car.

Maurice shrugged, looking away.

Roni thought: Aha! Maurice vandalizes the Thorns’ boat, then buys it for cheap, then he beats up his girlfriend, then he locks her away in his boat. Case closed?

Something wasn’t right. Why would Alicia keep it a secret? Why would she accuse Driftwood Doug? Why had Arnold Thorn tried to grab her notebook away from her, and what was he afraid of?

Brian said, “How about that ride, Maurice?”

 

Before he would let them in his car, Maurice went inside to get something to cover the seats. “No offense, but you two look kinda soggy,” he said.

As soon as he was out of hearing, Roni turned to Brian. “How did you know it was his boat?”

“It was just a wild guess. Ted told us that his stepdad had sold the boat, so I thought maybe Maurice had bought it.”

Maurice came out of the house with an armload of newspapers and spread them over the seats in his SUV.

“Okay, soggy bottoms, hop in.”

The papers crinkled as they sat on them, Roni in the front seat and Brian in back. No one said much during the drive to Bloodwater House. They couldn’t. Maurice had cranked the tunes up super loud to show off the subwoofers he had installed under the seats. It was like getting a butt massage. Roni looked back at Brian. He was waving his arms around like a singer in a hip-hop video. She winked at him. He stared back at her. Maybe he couldn’t wink.

 

 

Maurice drove the same way he ran around the basketball court: fast, with lots of sharp turns. Brian was trying to be cool in the backseat, working his arm routine to the music, when he noticed Roni’s eye twitching. Maybe she was trying to wink, but it looked too spasmodic for that. She looked a mess. It must be hard for a girl to be wet and grubby. Girls just couldn’t pull off the mud-stained look as good as a guy.

Maurice said something.

“What?” Brian yelled.

“I said, ‘You guys smell like dead fish!’ ”

Brian looked at Roni. Her eyes had narrowed to tiny slits. He hoped she wouldn’t do anything to Maurice while the SUV was moving.

They made it to Bloodwater House without incident.

Maurice pulled over to the curb opposite the front gate, across the street from an old pickup truck. He cut the music.

Roni and Brian both stared at the pickup, faded red with KATO SIGN CO. painted on the side.

“Roni said, “Hey . . . isn’t that the truck . . .”

“It sure is,” said Brian.

“What are you talking about?” Maurice asked.

The front gate swung open and a man with tousled reddish hair came out carrying a bag in one hand, pulling Alicia toward the pickup truck with the other.

Maurice jumped out of the Explorer. “Alicia!” he shouted.

The red-haired man threw the bag in back, opened the door of the pickup, and pushed Alicia into the passenger seat.

Roni was already out the door and running toward them. She had almost reached the truck when it suddenly lurched forward. Roni yelled, but the driver kept going, accelerating quickly.

Alicia looked back at them, wide-eyed, through the rear window.

Brian, still sitting in the backseat, was confused. He thought he’d figured everything out, but now Alicia was being carried off by the pickup truck guy. What was going on?

Roni ran back toward the Explorer. Maurice stood uncertainly on the sidewalk, watching the pickup racing away.

“Follow them!” Roni shouted at Maurice.

“Why?” Maurice asked. “If she wants to go off with some other guy, that’s her business.”

Roni didn’t bother to argue. She pushed past Maurice, jumped into the driver’s seat, and punched the accelerator to the floor, leaving Maurice standing in a cloud of burnt rubber.

“What are you doing?” Brian said.

“Going after them, what do you think?” said Roni. She was leaning over the steering wheel, her jaw clenched.

“I think you’re out of your mind.”

“You know who that is, don’t you?” They were gaining rapidly on the old pickup.

“Yeah, that same guy that picked us up hitchhiking—but what do we do if we catch him?”

Roni started honking the horn. The driver of the pickup looked back at them, then sped up. Roni stomped on the gas and stayed close on their tail—way too close, in Brian’s opinion. They were coming up on the intersection with Highway 61 when a silver SUV turned onto Riverview, cutting across both lanes. The pickup swerved to avoid a collision, hit the curb, and spun out of control, taking out a mailbox and ending up sideways on the street.

Roni slammed on the brakes. The wheels locked and the Explorer skidded toward the back end of the truck.

 

 

What Roni found most surprising about her first car accident was the way everything slowed down. She knew the moment she saw the pickup truck skid sideways that they were going to hit it. She opened her mouth to share that bit of information with Brian, but for some reason her vocal cords weren’t working. Then it occurred to her that she hadn’t fastened her seat belt. Too late now, she thought as, in slow motion, the nose of the Explorer smashed into the side of the pickup truck box and the air bag exploded in her face with a loud
bang.

 

 

Brian found himself facedown on the floor between the seats. It took him a few seconds to make sure he wasn’t broken. His arms and legs seemed to work fine. He climbed back onto the seat. The cab was hazy with white dust from the exploded air bag. Roni was sitting behind the wheel with a shocked look on her face.

“Are you okay?” Brian asked.

“I think so.” She was covered with white powder from the air bag.

“We’d better get out of here,” he said. “In case it blows up or something.”

“That only happens in the movies.”

“You sure about that?”

“No.”

Brian opened his door and hopped out of the Explorer.

 

 

Roni’s door was jammed shut. She had to climb over the seat and follow Brian out the back door. As she stepped out of the Explorer, she felt a hand grasp her by the elbow to steady her. For a moment she thought it was Brian, and was surprised by his thoughtfulness. Then she saw who the hand belonged to.

“Let me go!” she shouted, trying to yank her arm from his grasp.

The red-haired man held on tight. “Calm down,” he said. He grabbed her by both shoulders. “Are you all right? Do you want to sit down?”

“No!” Roni twisted out of the man’s grasp and backed away, looking around frantically. Brian stood helplessly a few feet away, just watching.

“Those air bags are like a punch in the face,” said the man. He gave her a lopsided smile. “But they’re a lot softer than the windshield.”

Roni looked past the man and saw Alicia standing right behind him, and suddenly she understood. “I know who you are,” she said.

The silver SUV that caused the accident had pulled over a half block up the street. A man and a woman got out. Brian glanced at them, then did a double take. The woman was running toward them. The man followed her, only more slowly. It was Mr. and Mrs. Thorn. Mr. Thorn’s forehead was covered with a large white bandage.

The redheaded man saw the Thorns coming and seemed to deflate.

“I’m sorry, honey,” he said to Alicia.

Alicia looked completely shattered. She backed up against the crumpled box of the pickup truck and hid her face behind her hands. The redheaded man wrapped his arms around her and looked defiantly at Mrs. Thorn as she ran up to them, her face red with anger.

“I should have known it was you, you pathetic worm!”

Brian edged over toward Roni. He heard a siren in the distance.

“Now, Alice,” said the man. “Let’s all calm down. You know how you get.”

“How I get? You kidnap my daughter and you want me to calm down?”

The sound got louder. A police cruiser turned off the highway, siren howling, wheels skittering on the asphalt, and stopped with a whoop of its siren. Two cops jumped out—Garth Spall, with his hand on his gun, and a woman in plain-clothes: Brian’s mom.