The Creek (12 page)

“Who’s gonna call the cops?” Penny asked, worried.

“Count me out,” Mac said.

“Yeah, they’ll definitely recognize your voice,” Benji said snidely.

Mac narrowed his eyes.

“I’ll do it,” Zachary said eagerly.

“You will?” Penny asked.

“I’ll call from the pay phone and muffle my voice. Like they do on TV.”

“Like an anonymous call?” Penny said.

“Sure,” Zachary said.

“It just might work,” Mac said approvingly.

The next evening a police cruiser drove down the block, interrupting the kids’ Softball game in the cul-de-sac. The cruiser parked in front of the Devlins’ house, causing the watching parents to raise their eyebrows.

“Looks like trouble,” Mr. Schuyler said, with a low whistle.

Penny nodded silently, her eyes fixed on Officer Cox.

Officer Cox stepped out of the cruiser and hiked up his pants, looking around as if suddenly noticing how everyone was watching him.

Mrs. Bukvic, who had been gossiping with the other mothers, stood up and walked over to Officer Cox, her features set in a determined expression.

Penny couldn’t hear what Mrs. Bukvic was saying to Officer Cox, but she did catch “Buster” several times. Mrs. Bukvic’s voice went up a pitch whenever she said her missing pet’s name.

Finally Officer Cox shrugged off the angry Mrs. Bukvic, walked up to the Devlins’ front door, and knocked. Mr. Devlin answered on the second knock. The front door was out of earshot, but they could see Officer Cox speaking to Mr. Devlin, and after a moment Mr. Devlin nodded and stepped aside to let Officer Cox into the house.

Nearly an hour later, the game over, the kids went into a huddle at the curb, where Mr. Schuyler was sitting, drinking a beer. Most of the parents had drifted away.

“He’s been in there a long time,” Penny said in a worried voice.

Mac banged a metal bat against the curb. “I’m sure he hid it pretty well.”

Penny stared hard at the house. “I wonder which room is his?”
What did it look like?
she thought.
Did he bring girls up there?

“It’s gonna work,” Benji said. “I can feel it.”

“Anyone want a piece of gum?” Zachary asked, all nervous excitement.

The screen door suddenly opened, and Officer Cox stepped out onto the porch.

“Hey,” Mac said. “Where’s Caleb? Why isn’t he hauling out Caleb?”

“There he is!” Penny said urgently.

Caleb stepped out with his father. Mr. Devlin gave Officer Cox a short handshake, and then put his arm around Caleb’s shoulders.

“Sorry about that,” Officer Cox said loudly, walking toward his patrol car.

Mr. Devlin just nodded. “No problem.”

“You folks have a good evening, okay?” Officer Cox said.

“We’ll try,” Caleb said, shooting a hard, knowing look at the kids huddled at the curb. His eyes flicked over the group, settling on Penny’s shocked face.

And then he winked.

I
‘m telling you, he looked right at me. He
knows
we were the ones who called the cops!” Penny said, pacing back and forth.

It was the next morning, and Penny and the boys were in Teddy’s bedroom, rehashing their abysmal failure of the previous evening. Teddy, reclining on his bed like a pasha, his foot propped up on a pillow, was looking a little pale as they recounted the events.

“He doesn’t know,” Mac scoffed.

“What are you guys doing?” Penny’s mom called through the door in a suspicious voice. “It’s too quiet in there.”

“Nothing,” Penny said. “It’s secret. No moms allowed.”

“This mom is always allowed. Open up.”

Penny reluctantly opened the door.

Her mother stood there, a no-nonsense look on her face. “Listen, I’m taking the baby and running over to the dry cleaner’s and then meeting Mrs. Loew for lunch. If you need anything, go over to the Schuylers’ house. And under no circumstances are
any
of you kids to go into those woods, you got me? Caleb is a dangerous boy.” She looked hard at Penny in particular. “Got it?”

“Keep the doors locked, and Penny, use your own key. Leave the spare one under the rock where it’s supposed to be,” her mother added.

“Sure,” Penny said.

The door closed, and the kids looked at one another.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Oren said.

Penny heard the minivan back out and drive away. A few moments later, she heard screeching tires. Had her mom come back? She got up and walked over to the window, peering through the curtains her mother had sewn herself when they first moved in. Teddy’s room faced onto the street, with a clear view of the Bukvics’ driveway.

The very same driveway where a red Trans Am was now parked.

Penny watched as the driver’s door of the Trans
Am opened and a bare arm holding a cigarette tapped ash on the driveway. Caleb unfolded his long lean figure and got out of the car. Then he slammed the car door shut and walked up to the Bukvics’ front door, opening it casually and walking right in, as if he’d done it a hundred times.

Penny blinked. She couldn’t believe what she’d just seen! Maybe it was a mirage or a hallucination or something.

Except the Trans Am was still parked right there in the driveway.

And then the front door opened and Caleb stepped out, Amy Bukvic draped on his arm.

“You guys,” Penny said in a shaky voice.

Teddy looked up, alarmed by the tone of his sister’s voice. “What?”

“Just come here,” she said to the others.

She pointed out the window. The boys gathered around, looking out.

Amy Bukvic, wearing a skimpy tank top and tight jeans, had slid her hand into Caleb’s back pocket in a proprietary way. Her hair was plastered with about a pound of hairspray, so that when it hit the humidity, it barely drooped.

Benji yelped, “Caleb and Amy?”

Amy’s tank top bounced suggestively with each step she took.

“Unbelievable,” Oren said, shaking his head, his mouth open in disbelief.

Mac stared at Amy’s chest through slit eyes.

Caleb shut the door of Amy’s house and surveyed the quiet block. Penny held her breath as he stared at the Carsons’, his piercing dark eyes searching it, and for a brief moment Penny thought maybe he’d seen them.

“Get down,” she whispered, panicked.

They flattened themselves on the carpet. A few seconds later they heard the Trans Am roar up the street.

“No way he could see us,” Zachary whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” Mac said.

“Whose car is it?” Benji asked. “It’s never parked in the Devlins’ driveway.”

“I know whose it is,” Mac said. “That kid who’s always dealing under the bridge. Doug Coles.”

Penny didn’t say anything. She just sat there, reeling from the revelation, trying to imagine what it was like to be Amy.

The one who kissed the devil.

The kids were ready with their bikes the next morning when the red Trans Am appeared outside the Bukvics’ house. Amy got in, and the Trans Am roared out of the driveway in a flurry of screeching tires. The kids set off after it on their bikes, pedaling furiously to keep up with the car. They followed from a safe distance, but it was hard work, and when the car screeched to a stop at the small shopping area less than a mile away, they were relieved. They stood there for a moment, trying to catch their breath, gasping in the late-morning sun, the blacktop hot beneath their feet and the scent of tar starting to stick in their noses.

Caleb stepped out of the car, all long hard legs. They saw Amy beckon him toward her open window, reach up to wind her arms around his neck, and say in a high false voice, “Don’t keep me waiting long.”

The kids recoiled.

“I’m gonna barf,” Oren said, clutching his stomach.” ‘Don’t keep me waiting,’” he mimicked.

“Where’s he going?” Penny asked.

“Probably the liquor store,” Mac predicted.

Benji darted off behind Caleb. “I’m gonna see.”

They watched as Caleb strode with long lanky steps, not to the liquor store, but to the hardware store. Benji slipped into the store behind him.

Penny turned to Mac. “The hardware store?”

“Maybe he’s buying a gun,” Oren suggested.

“You can’t buy a gun at a hardware store,” Mac said in a disparaging tone.

“You can buy shells,” Oren said.

Mac scoffed. “You can buy shot, not shells,” he said, ever the expert.

Penny, who thought they were both talking out their ears, said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Penny, don’t!” Zachary cautioned her, but she was already gone, moving fast toward the red Trans Am, sneaking up behind it.

Amy was sitting in the front seat, the passengerside vanity mirror flipped down, elaborately applying brown mascara. Penny watched, fascinated. Where had she learned how to do this? Amy expertly applied a thick coat to her top eyelashes, and then looked up, dabbing the mascara on the lower eyelashes.

“Penny!” Zachary called in a loud whisper, and Penny whirled around to see the boys gesturing furiously at her. She took a last glance at Amy and then took off toward the boys. Benji was standing in their midst, talking excitedly about Caleb.

“He bought a shovel, and some rope, and a huge ax. Look!” Benji pointed.

Sure enough, Caleb was walking out of the hardware store with a coil of rope looped around his shoulder, a long shovel swung over it, and an ax with a shiny new blade in his other hand.

“What’s the ax for?” Penny asked.

“To chop us up,” Oren said.

“And the shovel?”

“To bury our dead bodies!” Zachary said.

Not to mention Mr. Cat and Buster and all those other pets,
Penny thought darkly.

They watched as Caleb popped open the trunk and tossed the stuff in. Then he returned to the driver’s seat, revved up the motor, and spun the car out of the parking lot, leaving the kids in its dust.

“I wish we could just kill him first,” Mac said in a low fierce voice.

“Yeah,” Oren echoed.

They looked at one another, realization dawning on their faces, possibility in the air.

“Whoa,” Zachary exclaimed, holding his hands up as if to slow them all down. “You can’t just walk up and kill him. Look what happened to me! And, and—Teddy!”

“Yeah, not to mention that Jeffy kid,” Penny pointed out.

“Accidents happen all the time,” Oren said quietly, thoughtfully, the ghost of a smile on his face.

Mac snapped his fingers. “The Trans Am.”

“What about the Trans Am?” Benji asked.

“We cut the brakes on the Trans Am,” Mac said, like it was so simple, like it was something he did every day. “That’d be justice, same way he killed his own sister.”

“I don’t know,” Benji said.

Mac ignored him, his face starting to flush with excitement. “We cut the brakes when he’s parked across the street visiting Amy, and then he, well …”

“Crashes,” Oren finished in a cool voice.

“Yeah,” Mac said. “It’s cake.” He looked at each of them. “Well?”

Penny nodded. It wasn’t a bad plan. And best of all, it didn’t require any direct contact with Caleb. “Okay. But who’s gonna do it?”

“You guys are serious?” Zachary asked.

“Two people should go,” Mac said. “The other three will be lookouts.”

“Let’s do Rock, Paper, Scissors,” Benji said. “It’s the only fair way.”

Mac and Benji put their fists up.

“On three,” Oren said. “One, two, three!”

Mac’s hand was a rock, Benji’s a pair of scissors. Mac tapped Benji’s hand with his fist. “Rock smashes scissors.”

Benji gulped and then smiled bravely. “Looks like I ‘m in.”

“You and Penny next,” Mac said, staring at Zachary.

“But …,” Zachary began.

“You gonna wimp out?” Mac asked in a low voice. “Penny’s not scared.”

Zachary bit his lip worriedly and put his fist up. So did Penny.

“One, two, three!”

Zachary smiled, relief shining on his face. “Rock—”

“Smashes scissors,” Penny finished grimly. She hated Rock, Paper, Scissors. She always lost. “Okay, Oren, let’s do it.”

Oren had a hard look on his face, his fist clenched as if he was looking forward to a good fight and Caleb was just the guy.

“One, two, three!”

Penny and Oren flung their hands out in front of them.

Oren looked up at Penny, a frustrated expression
on his face. “Scissors cut paper.”

Penny looked down at her fingers, splayed flat like paper.

“Yeah,” she said, “I know.”

The next morning, the kids waited in the Carsons’ garage in nervous anticipation. Penny had rifled through her dad’s tools, looking for shears or clippers or anything thick enough to cut through hose. Her mother had taken the baby and gone to the grocery store.

Penny felt awful. She’d been so worried and full of dread that she’d barely eaten her dinner the night before and hadn’t touched her breakfast—she knew that if she put anything in her stomach, it was just going to come right back up. Penny looked longingly at her new bike sitting in the corner of the garage. The Fourth of July was tomorrow, and she still had to decorate the bike for the competition.

Teddy’s bike, done up in an astronaut theme, was almost finished, thanks to their dad, who had seemingly poured all his guilt and anxiety over Teddy’s accident into helping Teddy with the decorations. In fact, the accident had made Penny’s parents pretty hysterical lately. The kids were forbidden to
go anywhere without telling them. No more just stepping out of the house and playing.

“Do you think Caleb killed Buster? Like Mrs. Bukvic keeps saying?” Penny had asked her mother the previous night.

“Maybe,” her mother had said, her eyes worried.

Penny almost told her mother then and there about Mr. Cat, but some instinct had made her hold her tongue. What could she tell her, after all? What proof did she have? Mr. Cat took off all the time. Her mother would just chalk it up to anxiety, and not let her play outside at all.

“What’s taking him so long?” Mac asked in a frustrated voice. Penny thought that Mac wouldn’t be in such a hurry if he was the one who had to go across the street.

“Maybe he won’t come today,” Penny said, half to herself.