Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price (26 page)

But right now he had to focus on a new game plan. If they had Mr. Lucky, he had to do everything he could to keep him in custody. And that would mean breaking the Code. The thing was, if they caught the robbers, the Code wasn’t really needed anymore.

Right?

He still had a squirrelly feeling about Hammer. He wanted to trust him, but he wasn’t sure he could. What if he was the guy in the Elvis mask? It would be a perfect cover. Who would suspect a police detective? Maybe Hammer masterminded a little side
business of robberies to add to his pension. What if Hammer met Lunk’s dad before? What if they were friends? “Business associates.” Maybe he’d done other jobs for Hammer in the past. They helped themselves, and helped each other.

Or maybe Lunk said something to his dad—even innocently. Maybe Lunk mentioned something about his new job and the safe and how he kept a lot of money inside. Lunk’s dad may have contacted Hammer, and they could have planned the job together.

The possibilities looped through his head. One thought rose to the surface. He was running out of time. If he didn’t do something, they were going to find him anyway. The police would win the little legal battle to do the interviews. Or they’d do a little DNA sampling and haul him in. If he waited for them to put it together, they’d pick him up on their own terms. And if Hammer was really part of the robbery, that meant trouble.

No, he couldn’t just wait to see how things turned out. Not anymore. He pulled a spiral notebook out of his backpack and started sorting things out on paper.

1. Lunk’s dad is Mr. Lucky. Need to avoid Lunk.

2. Hammer may be Elvis. Can’t go to police station alone.

3. If I don’t break the Code by tomorrow at 10:00, Lunk’s dad will walk.

4. If I don’t break the Code, they may find me soon anyway.

5. Need someone to go with me—someone I can trust.

Cooper put down his pen and reread the list. They had a suspect now. A
suspect.
That changed everything. “I’ll tell Dad and Mom tonight.”

He looked at Fudge as he spoke. Her ears perked up, but she didn’t even raise her head.

“I’ll get the security hard drive, and we can all go to the police station together. Dad. Mom. Hiro and Gordy too. It will be safer to go as a group.”

Working out a plan was sort of like trying on a new pair of shoes. You laced them up and walked around a bit, seeing how they
felt. He did the same with the plan. Spilling the beans tonight was an idea that took a little getting used to. Cooper needed to see if it was a good fit.

He ran outside to the shed and dug through the plastic barrel. He pulled out Frank’s set of keys to the diner. They jangled a bit, and his mind flashed back to Frank ‘n Stein’s kitchen. Cooper jammed them in his pocket and reached for the hard drive. Tucking it under one arm, he hurried back to his room with Fudge shadowing him the whole way.

He stashed the diner keys under his bed next to the phone from Walmart. But he dropped the security hard drive right on top of his pillow and stared at it. Part of him wanted to cover it up. The other part wanted to leave it in plain sight as a symbol of what he had to do.

His gut felt a little jazzed. Like he’d taken too many rides at a carnival on a full stomach. Only this was a carnival ride he couldn’t seem to get off. Staring at the fish tank, he let his mind drift like the fish inside. He thought about the horrible secret he’d been protecting, and the lengths he’d gone to keep it from being uncovered.

Cooper didn’t like what he’d done, but it had all been necessary. If he had to do it all over again, he’d do it the same way.

Or would he?

Of course, if he could change anything, he’d change
where
he was last Thursday night. If only he’d never gone to Frank ‘n Stein’s, he wouldn’t be in this mess. But then who would have gotten paramedics to help Frank? Frank might have laid there all night … and been dead in the morning.

Images of Frank crept into his mind. Frank getting beaten and crumpling to the floor. Pushing those pictures out of his mind, he flopped onto his bed.

He thought of Gordy. Did anybody question him at school? Did he stick to the Code? Cooper looked at his clock, wondering why Gordy hadn’t stopped by yet. School had been out for over thirty
minutes. He wanted to talk to Gordy, but then again, that would only bring him closer to confessing everything to his parents. Now that the police had Lunk’s dad, it would all be over soon. His stomach churned.

He heard a car door slam outside.
Cops.
He peeked out the window and saw Mom and Mattie come up the front walk.

Fudge tore down the stairs to greet them. Cooper shuffled along behind her. He didn’t feel a bit sick, but didn’t want to get Mom suspicious about his miraculous recovery either.

Mattie burst through the door just as he got to the bottom stair. She waved, smiled, and hurried toward the kitchen, humming some nameless tune. Totally carefree. Just like his life before the Code.

Mom closed the door and walked over to him. She gave him a hug and felt his forehead. “No fever. How do you feel?”

“Good enough to go to school tomorrow.” Originally he’d planned to stretch this sick routine out for another day if he could. But now that the police had a suspect and Cooper was going to tell his parents about what really happened, it didn’t really matter anymore.

“But I think I’ll take it easy and stay in my room for awhile,” Cooper said.

“Okay,” Mom said. “I’ll bring you some soup and crackers in a bit.”

“Sure, thanks, Mom. That’d be great.”

Cooper trudged back upstairs with Fudge right behind him. Cooper plopped on the bed, and Fudge sat on the floor and leaned in close. Cooper stroked her head. “And what’s the story with Hiro, Fudge?” He pictured Hiro in his mind the last time he’d seen her. Something about her eyes when he accused her of lying to her mom. The pain. Like he’d physically hit her. “I hate the way she looked at me.”

Hiro didn’t understand, or maybe
wouldn’t
understand was a better way to put it. Following the Code was a matter of life and
death. At least for Cooper up until now. She seemed to get that at first, but somewhere along the way she got confused.

Or was it him?

Cooper swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat there. What about the things she said about him? Her face drifted into his mind. But it wasn’t the smiling, loyal Hiro he saw. It was the face that showed the hurt and pain she felt. And the loss of respect for him.

If he broke the Code of Silence, maybe things would get back to normal with Hiro. Maybe. Their friendship had taken a real hit. He knew it. But was the damage permanent?

The doorbell tore Cooper from his thoughts. Fudge bounded out of the room and down the hall barking and howling as she went.

“It’s Gordy,” Mattie called.

Cooper hustled down the front hall and stepped outside. Gordy stood waiting on the front porch. He started in as soon as the door closed behind Cooper

“I can’t believe you ditched me today. I mean, I was totally on my own.”

Cooper motioned for him to lower his voice. “I was sick.”

Gordy glared at him. “Now you’re lying to me, too, huh?”

“Lying?”

“Oh, come on. This is Gordy you’re talking to. You can’t tell me you really had the flu.”

“I threw up last night. If you don’t believe that, ask Mattie. She was there.”

Gordy put his hands on his hips. “That was last night. But I bet you felt
fine
this morning.”

Cooper looked down at the decking of the front porch.

He leaned in close. “You
ditched
me.
Me.
”

C
ooper looked up. He expected his cousin’s face to look angry. Instead he saw hurt.

“Sorry, Gordy.”

“Before Hiro, it was always the two of us. We stuck together no matter what. Right?”

“We still do.”

Gordy waved him off. “Then Hiro was like one of us, until she couldn’t stand it anymore.”

“Couldn’t stand
what
?”

“How you’ve changed.”

“What?”

“But in my heart I defended you. I stuck up for you because we always stick together. We cover each other’s backs. Until this morning. And now even I can’t defend you anymore.”

“C’mon, Gordy.” Cooper put his hand on Gordy’s shoulder. “Calm down.”

Gordy brushed Cooper’s hand away. “What if Miss Ferrand questioned me today?”

“Did she?”

“No. But she
could
have. And you didn’t care.”

Cooper could feel his cheeks getting warm. He fought to keep
his own voice down even though he felt like shouting. “Of course I care. You
know
I care.”

Gordy looked at him. His eyes narrowed. “You expect me to believe that?”

“It’s the truth.”

“Truth?” Gordy shook his head. “Do you even know what the truth is anymore?”

“Huh?”

“That’s what I figured.” Gordy turned and trudged to the porch steps and sat down.

Cooper stood watching, his mind replaying what had just happened. Gordy didn’t trust him anymore.
Gordy.

“Maybe Hiro is right,” Gordy said.

“About what?”

“Forget it.”

Cooper sat on the step next to him. “No, tell me. What did Hiro say?”

“Can’t.” Gordy pretended to lock his lips with an invisible key. “I promised I wouldn’t.”

Gordy never kept secrets from him before. Never.

“When did you talk to her?”

“Last night after I left here. At lunch today. After school too. What difference does it make?”

A whole lot of difference in Cooper’s mind. Gordy was spending time with Hiro without him. Lots of time.

“Anyway, I need to deliver a message from her.” He paused like he was trying to be sure he worded it just right. “She talked to her brother right before school today.”

“She talked to Ken?” Cooper couldn’t believe it. But that explained the text message and where she got the inside scoop about a trap being laid for him. “Did she tell him?”

Gordy shook his head. “Just talked about the case.”

“Ken isn’t stupid,” Cooper said. “He’ll figure it out. What was she
thinking
?”

“Relax. She didn’t break the Code. You want to hear this or not?”

What he really wanted to hear was an explanation from Hiro. But he didn’t want Gordy to clam up either. “Yeah, sure. What did her brother say?”

“Some of the Arlington Heights cops are buddy-buddy with some of the boys in blue from Rolling Meadows. The word is they want the person who wrote the letters bad.”

No news there.

“The cops call you ‘Golden Boy’. Did you know that?”

Cooper thought about the way he signed the letters.
Silence is Golden.
“It makes sense, I guess.”

“And Ken said that Hammer was going to nail you when you called back or something. They weren’t going to let you slip away this time.”

Cooper smiled. “I figured they’d have police patrolling all over at 3:30. So I was one step ahead of them. I called them early before they had the net in place.”

Gordy looked relieved. “You got the phone without me?”

“Yep. And I made the call. Hammer seemed really surprised too. He tried to keep me on the phone, but I never saw one patrol car. I caught him totally off guard.” Cooper glanced back toward the front door. “And I’ve got some
really
good news for you.”

Gordy looked at him, his eyebrows raising slightly.

Cooper paused for a moment. “They got him.”

“Who?”

“Lunk’s dad.”

“You sure?”

“Somebody from Plum Grove called in and gave them a tip.”

Gordy smiled. “It was Hiro. Called Miss Ferrand’s number.”

Cooper stared at him. “You know that for a fact?”

“I gave her Ferrand’s number last night. And Ferrand hugged her before class.”

A little alarm went off in Cooper’s head. Hiro and Gordy weren’t just together a lot. They were meeting and making plans
without him. They were taking matters into their own hands and leaving him out of the loop. Hiro was gone, and she was taking Gordy with her.

“So they got him, huh?” Gordy looked like he was going to burst. “This is fantastic. Hiro called this one right.”

Hiro was taking charge. And she could have blown the whole thing. “What did she tell Ferrand?”

“How she overheard the conversation between Lunk and his dad. How he’s living in the shed. That they should check it out. Search the shed for masks or money.”

She didn’t really do anything wrong. It wasn’t like she breached the Code. Not exactly. But she’d certainly torn another hunk away from their friendship. “And neither of you thought of talking to me about that first?”

“Look,” Gordy said. “She kept telling you to tip the police off in the letter or the phone call. You wouldn’t do it … so she did.”

Cooper stared at the ground.
Let it go. Let it go. Don’t take it out on Gordy or you’ll drive him away. Admit it. You were wrong about Lunk—it’s as simple as that. But the Code kept us alive, didn’t it? That has to count for something. Hiro has to give me a little credit.

“Coop? It’s over, right? They got him. That’s what we’ve wanted.” The anger was gone from his voice now.

“Yeah,” Cooper said. “Maybe it is.” But it didn’t
feel
over. Not nearly.

Gordy walked back up the stairs and sat on the railing. “So how come you’re not doing cartwheels across the lawn or something?”

“They want me to bring in the hard drive and identify him on a lineup.”

Gordy looked deep in thought. “Actually go there—as in turn yourself in?”

Turn yourself in.
Cooper didn’t like the way that sounded. Maybe he got so used to keeping a lid on this that even the thought of going to the police didn’t seem like anything to celebrate. But it was time to break the Code for good. “If I don’t, he’ll walk.”

Gordy’s eyes widened. “But wait a second. What if—”

The front door opened and Cooper’s mom walked out on the porch. “Hi Gordy. Looks like your cousin will be in school tomorrow.”

Gordy eyed him. “For sure?”