Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price (22 page)

Coop looked down the block. “I just don’t get it. Everything was going great.”

Gordy looked for Hiro too. He couldn’t help it. Like he’d expected her to come back. Gordy wondered if she ever would.

Coop turned back to face the cop. “I just wish I could figure girls out.”

Stryker laughed. “That, my man, is a question you’ll struggle with all your life. Women are mysterious creatures.”

“Crazy, if you ask me,” Gordy said.

The cop laughed again. “But try to live without them. You can’t.”

Gordy wasn’t so sure about that. But Coop nodded like he agreed. He really seemed busted up about things with Hiro. If it was an act, he was good at it—and he ought to consider trying out for the school play.

The cop stepped onto the curb. “Women are wired different. They’re like computers. Complex. Unpredictable. Temperamental. Sometimes they drive you nuts.”

“And sometimes they crash,” Gordy said. “Like our friend Hiro.”

Stryker gave Coop a pat on the shoulder. “Give her a little time before you talk to her. She’ll be back around.”

Coop didn’t look convinced. And honestly? Gordy had to go with him on that one. Which made him feel kind of sick inside. It was always the three of them. They stuck together—and he’d do just about anything to keep it that way. To get it back. Stryker walked around the front of his police car. Suddenly he turned. “Do either of you have a cell phone?”

There it was. The cop made it sound like a casual request. He dropped the big question when their guard was down. Smooth.

Gordy stuffed his hands in his pockets and pulled them out empty.

“I’ve got mine,” Coop said.

“I just needed to make a call,” Stryker said. “I was hoping maybe I could just borrow one for a minute.”

Right. Just long enough to look at the number and slap the cuffs on him. Gordy could kiss the rock they’d hidden the Walmart phone under.

Coop pulled out his
real
cell. “You can use mine.”

Stryker took the phone, punched in a number, and put it to his ear. He wasn’t on for more than a minute, and he handed it back with a smile, apparently satisfied neither of them were the mystery witness. For now.

Coop waited until the police car turned a corner and drove out of sight before he said anything. “Well,
that
got my heart pumping.”

“Good. Maybe you can get mine going again.” Gordy held his hands out in front of him. “Look at my hands. They’re all jittery.”

They mounted their bikes and began a slow pedal home.

Gordy should have been happy, but the way things ended up with Hiro put a big shadow over things. He hoped the cop was right about letting her cool off. That everything would be okay tomorrow. But somehow he didn’t see how it could. Not unless Coop turned in the hard drive and broke the Code. Which wasn’t going to happen.

“How upset would you say Hiro is?” Coop broke the silence.

Gordy shot him a quick glance. “On a scale of one to ten, I put her at least a seven.” At
least.

“Great.”

Gordy replayed the way her face looked before she rode off. “Maybe eight.”

“Or nine,” Coop said.

Gordy shook his head. “Not nine. She’d have tried to deck you at nine.”

The little joke didn’t do anything to lighten Coop up.

“But still,” Coop looked down the block, like he was hoping he’d see Hiro pedaling toward them. “Eight is pretty bad.”

“Your crack about her lying to her mom really got her.” Lying. That’s what it all came down to. The lies were ripping the three of them apart. He saw Coop’s side of it. Hey, if they could just hang together until the police picked up the goons, they could put all this behind them. But he understood Hiro’s side of it, too. And Hiro was coming unglued. Like the lies were toxic, and it was killing her. Killing all of them.

Coop coasted for a moment. “Think she’ll spill?”

“No way. Not Hiro.” Gordy hoped it was true. “The three of us stick together. Right?” But even that didn’t seem to be true. Not anymore.

Cooper didn’t answer. Like he sensed something had changed. Gordy
had
to think of a way to patch things up.

They rode to Coop’s drive in silence. Gordy hoped she’d be there. Waiting for them. Wanting to end the tension between. He scanned the front porch. The gate in the cedar fence to the backyard was closed. No bike. No Hiro.

Maybe Coop had the same hopes. He definitely looked disappointed. Gordy tried distracting him. “So what’s next?”

Coop coasted to a stop and swung his leg over the bike. “I have another letter to write. And deliver. You want to meet after dinner?”

Gordy nodded. “I’m in.”

Coop smiled, but his eyes weren’t smiling a bit. “You’re always in.” He clapped him on the back. “Thanks.”

Gordy knew what Coop meant. Gordy also knew that Cooper’s smile would have looked a lot better if Hiro were with them right now.

“Lucky we hid that phone,” Coop said. “You think he really believed us?”

“Totally. Don’t you?”

“I guess so.”

“
Guess
so?”

Coop kicked a stone off the drive. “It’s just that if he didn’t totally believe us he might try to check out our story.”

Gordy shrugged. “He let us go without even frisking us. What’s left to check?”

Coop didn’t answer for a long moment. “What if he goes snooping by the creek and finds the phone?”

I
’ve got some good news, and some bad news,” Dad said. He took a last bite of mashed potatoes and leaned back.

Cooper held his breath. He had a feeling part of the news had to do with the police interviews. Maybe they got past the hurdles.

“What’s the bad news, Carson?” Mom’s eyebrows went up with a pleading look that lined her forehead.

“Don’t worry, Babe. It’s not
that
bad.”

Which set Cooper’s stomach a bit more at ease, but it still felt like a knotted dish towel.

“I have three tickets to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. The greatest show on earth.”

“Yes!” Mattie jumped up from her seat and ran around the kitchen table. “We’re going to the circus!”

“A satisfied client offered me the tickets. They didn’t cost me a thing.”

“When?” Mom picked up the calendar.

“This Thursday night.”

“That’s Halloween.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We’re going to the circus in two days!” Mattie circled the table again with her arms out like wings.

“The problem is,” Dad looked at Mom. “With only three tickets one of us will have to stay back.” He pointed at himself and shrugged.

Cooper imagined being at the Allstate Arena with hours of acrobatics and amazing stunts. It would be a good place to get his mind off things.

“Will there be ponies?” Mattie stopped running and grabbed Dad’s arm.

“Absolutely.”

Mattie jumped up and down. “And clowns?”

“All over the place.”

Clowns.
Cooper could see it now. Three rings with guys in clown getup. “Hold on, Dad,” Cooper said. “I’ll stay back.”

“What? And miss all the fun?”

“The way I see it,” Cooper said, “you bringing home
The Getaway
was like bringing me tickets to the circus, the Super Bowl, and maybe even Disneyworld all wrapped up together.”

Dad smiled. He beamed, in fact. Cooper scored some points with that one.

“Mattie can see some ponies and have some one-on-one time with you and Mom.”

It was settled pretty quickly. Dad and Mom would take Mattie. Cooper would stay home. He wouldn’t have to look at clowns for three hours.

After dinner he made an excuse to do homework on the computer in the family room, but he worked on the letter instead. Cooper had it pretty much written in his mind, so he was able to type it fast and print two copies without anyone coming near. One copy he folded and sealed in an envelope right away. The copy for
The Herald.

After deleting the letter on the screen, he took a sheet of plain paper and pressed his hand flat on it, making sure every finger made full contact. He held it there for a full thirty seconds, wanting to be sure the oils from his hand left clear prints. Taking a pen, he traced his hand on the paper so the police would know exactly
where to dust for fingerprints. He folded the second copy of his letter, along with the handprint sheet, and then slipped it into a different envelope. But he didn’t seal it.

Cooper met Gordy in
The Getaway
at eight p.m. The battery-powered camping lantern Cooper kept in his bedroom sat on the middle of the cabin table, casting strange shadows behind Gordy.

“Think Hiro will show?” Cooper laid the two envelopes on the table.

“Not unless she has a brain transplant.”

“How do you know?”

Gordy squirmed a bit. “I talked to her just before I came over.”

“What?”

“Yeah, well, I knew you were pretty upset with how she left us and stuff, so I thought I’d talk to her and, you know, smooth things over.”

“So what did you say?”

“Well, that you were pretty steamed at her for ditching us, but I thought you’d forgive her if she came back tonight.”

“You told her that?” Cooper leaned back and raked his hands through his hair. “She’s going to think I’m an idiot.”

Gordy nodded. “That’s pretty much what she said.”

“Great. What about you
smoothing
things over?”

“But she
did
want to know what the policeman said.”

Cooper thought about that a moment. That meant she still cared what happened to them. It wasn’t much, but he’d take whatever he could get. “What did she think about how we handled his questions?”

“She didn’t really say.”

“Nothing?”

“Well, okay. She just said ‘more lies.’ And that was about it.”

That’s just about what Cooper would expect her to say. “You told her what time we were meeting?”

Gordy nodded. “She said not to count on her being here.”

Cooper stared at the lantern and let the words sink in. So that was that. It was just him and Gordy now. Like old times.

“Coop?” Gordy peered out the cabin window into the darkness. “You think we should give it up?”

“NO!” Cooper shouted, making Gordy jump.

“We can do this.” Cooper tried to slow himself down. “Just a little longer. Give the police a little more information so they find those guys. If we turn ourselves in now we’re in just as much danger as we ever were.”

Gordy shrugged and kept his eyes on the table. “It’s just that Hiro says—”

“Hiro says? I
know
what Hiro says. She didn’t like the Code from the beginning. Do you want to leave, too?”

“No,” Gordy held up his hands. “I’m with you, Coop. It’s just that Hiro had a couple of good points when she was talking to me, and—”

“She’s delirious,” Cooper said. “She thinks we can trust the cops. Well we
can’t.
And I’m not about to walk into a trap. If you want out, let me know right now and I’ll do this myself.”

Gordy looked confused. “I said I’m with you. What more do you want?”

Cooper felt a twinge of guilt. He leaned back against the booth and sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m on edge, I guess.” He checked his watch. “Wanna hear what I wrote?”

“Sure.”

Cooper unfolded the letter to the police and started reading.

“Rolling Meadows Police,

This is my last letter. Here is more proof that I was at Frank ‘n Stein’s at the time of the burglary. That I am your witness. My backpack was on the back table. Inside was a book titled Adventures in American Literature. There was no name in the backpack, or on my sweatshirt.

I checked Frank’s pockets for the keys while the burglars were upstairs in the office opening the safe. His left front pocket was empty except for a 4”x 6” photo of a Halloween party. His right front pocket had papers and change.

You should have found a big knife on the floor on the customer side of the front counter with my fingerprints on it. They will match the prints all over this letter. To make it easy, I tried to leave a good print on the next page.

The knife came from a rack near the back door. It isn’t the same knife as the burglars used with Frank. There should be a small cut under his chin where they stuck him to make him give the combination to the safe.

This information should prove I was there and not just looking in a window. I am telling the truth. The guy with the clown mask almost caught me. He got my house key. He said he would find me and my family if I went to the police. He used the stool from the video game to break out the front window when I got away because I locked the front door behind me. I still have the keys.

I’ll turn the phone on at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Don’t waste your time trying to get me to come in or bring the hard drive. I’ve given you all the proof you need. Just find those three men. The one with the Elvis mask was about the same height and weight as Detective Hammer.

Talk to the guy who almost hit me with his car. The burglar chased me. He told the people he was a cop. Ask them for a description. I didn’t see him.

The night of the burglary an SUV pulled out from behind Frank ‘n Stein’s. I saw it from Dunkin Donuts. It was dark, so I didn’t get a good look at it. One headlight was out. And they’re still in town. One of the robbers told me to leave the surveillance hard drive by the bell tower Sunday night. I left a note saying I wouldn’t give it to anyone—not even the police. They were waiting, and they chased me. Same SUV. Headlight still out. I got away, but they got my bike and turned it into a pretzel. They mean business. Don’t waste time looking for the witness who chooses to be silent. Find these men before they try to silence me for good.

Signed,

Silence is Golden”

Cooper looked up. “What do you think?”

“Maybe you should put something about Lunk.”

“
Lunk?
Hiro said that? I honestly don’t think he had anything to do with it. We have no proof.” But that was only part of it. He looked down at his hands. “If they question him, he might just happen to suggest they check out a guy named Cooper MacKinnon.”