Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price (9 page)

“Hold on,” Gordy said. “What are we supposed to do if we
do
get a clear view of them?”

Cooper took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Maybe we could burn a DVD, just that portion of it, and mail it to the police.”

“And if the police see any one of their faces,” Hiro said, “maybe they’ll call off the whole interview thing Monday and concentrate on finding the real guys.”

Gordy looked hopeful. “Yeah. That could work. Then we’d be in the clear. Right?”

“And,” Hiro said, “we’d actually be
helping
with the investigation.”

Cooper stood and the three of them walked toward Cooper’s house. “It beats waiting for them to find
us.
”

“When do we start?” Hiro said.

“Tomorrow. We’ll use my dad’s laptop. We can bring it out to the shed.”

Hiro looked up at him and smiled. She hadn’t done that since agreeing to the Code.

“Hey, Coop.” Gordy pointed. “Check out your fence. It looks like somebody drove through it into your backyard.”

Cooper stopped dead and stared. Two sections of cedar fencing stood propped against the garage door, along with a single post. A trail of plywood and boards lined the ground all the way from the driveway through the opening in the fence It looked like a path laid out as if to protect the grass from getting deep ruts.

“The surprise,” Cooper said. He’d totally forgotten about it. “Mom said Dad was bringing something home today. Mattie is totally convinced she’s getting a pony.”

“Every girl’s dream,” Hiro said. “Whatever it is, it must be heavy.”

Gordy trotted toward the driveway. “Like a horse trailer?”

Cooper jogged alongside him. “No—it can’t be.”

“Oh yeah,” Gordy snickered. “Mattie got her pony.”

Almost on cue, the silver nose of the pickup poked through
the opening of the fence. Cooper’s dad pulled the F150 onto the drive. He wasn’t pulling a trailer. The driver’s window was down, and Dad waved.

“Wait,” he called. “Don’t go back there yet.” He parked the truck and jumped out—a blur of faded blue jeans and a denim shirt. “Hey, Gordy, Hiro. Glad you’re here too.”

Fudge loped out from the backyard and slammed against Cooper. He bent over and tussled her ears. She nuzzled his hand and wriggled against Hiro’s legs like she couldn’t decide who she wanted to be with. Hiro knelt down and said something to her. Fudge leaned into Hiro, like she was eating every word.

Hustling over, Dad put a hand on each of Cooper’s shoulders. “I got it.” He had Christmas in his eyes.

Cooper looked up at his dad, a feeling of doubt nagging at him, but he didn’t want to disappoint him. “Got
what
?”

Dad threw an arm around Cooper’s shoulder and started walking towards the gap in the fence. “I’m going to show you—and you’re going to love it.”

A school bus lumbered down Fremont, lights flashing as it coasted to a stop at the end of their driveway.

Dad stopped. “Let’s wait for Mattie to get off the bus.”

When the doors swept open, Mattie hopped to the pavement, her ponytail bobbing happily. “Daddy!”

She ran to him and threw her arms around his waist. “I missed you.”

Dad bent down and kissed the top of her head. “I missed you too, Squirt. And I have a really great surprise in the backyard.”

Mattie squealed. “Can I ride it?”

Gordy snorted and laughed.

Dad started for the backyard again. “We’ll all go for rides, lots of them—when it’s fixed.”

Cooper could see his dad watching him as they approached the corner of the house. Dad obviously wanted to see his expression the moment he saw it.

Cooper stopped and stared. A boat. A very big and worn-out looking boat.

“Hokey smokies!” Gordy shouted. “That thing is huge.”

More than huge. It looked like Noah’s Ark had been discovered and now rested in their fenced-in backyard.

Dad gripped Cooper’s shoulder and gave him a shake. “Can you believe it? Look at this baby.”

“I’m looking,” Cooper said. “But I don’t believe it.”
Big, beat, but beautiful.
“Whose is it?”

Mom stood with her arms folded across her chest in the shadow of the trailored cabin cruiser, her five foot two inch height barely a head above the dull blue waterline stripe. She looked like she’d rather have a pony.

Cooper’s dad put an arm around his shoulder, pulled him close and grinned. “Ours.”

“No way!” Gordy slapped Cooper on the back.

“Ours … to keep?’

“Uh-huh.” Dad rushed ahead. “It was my uncle’s.” He gave mom a hug, then stood next to the boat and grinned. “I spent the best parts of my summers on this boat as a kid. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I loved that place.”

Cooper shielded his eyes from the sun and looked up at its full height. On the trailer, it had to be twelve or fourteen feet high to the top of the searchlight mounted on the canopy over the bridge. “But this is
really
your uncle’s?”

“
Was
my uncle’s. Was.” He wrapped his arms around Mom and lifted her off the ground. “It’s ours now, right babe?”

Mom didn’t look too thrilled—but Cooper’s pulse definitely spiked as the truth set in. “So we
own
it now?”

“Completely.” Dad looked like the next door neighbor when they’d brought their newborn baby home from the hospital. “He gave it to us. GAVE it to us. A 1956 Chris Craft Futura cabin cruiser—FREE.”

Mom shook her head. “But it’s going to cost us now.”

“Only as we can afford it,” Dad said.

Cooper stepped close to the boat and ran his hand along the white painted planking. Chips of paint crumbled under his fingertips and spun to the ground.

Dad reached over him and pulled off a pancake-sized peel of the old paint and thumped the wood underneath with his knuckle. “See? It’s solid. This thing was built like a tank. All we have to do is sand and repaint it.”

Cooper traced his hand along the side all the way to the front. The bow looked like it could slice through any wave.

Dad followed right behind him. “What do you think?”

Cooper turned to face his dad. “It’s gorgeous. How could he just give this away?”

“His wife finally talked some sense into his head,” Mom said.

Dad laughed. “He’s been in a nursing home for some time now. The boat’s been in his backyard for years. All I had to do was pull it out of there.”

“Uncle Carson,” Gordy said. “Will this thing actually work?”

Dad squatted down and pointed underneath. “Take a look toward the back and tell me what you see.”

Cooper bent down next to Gordy and looked at the copper-bronze colored bottom of the boat. A darkened brass rudder hung down, flanked on either side by a big four-bladed propeller.

“Has this thing got two motors?” Gordy asked.

“Bingo,” Dad said. “Twin hemi V–8’s. They’ll need a little work, but we’ll have this thing on the water by next spring.” Standing, he put his hands on his hips. “You should see the wake it throws. It looks like it’s dragging the lake.”

Cooper could envision it. The roar of the engines, warm breeze in his face, and a white frothy wake churning away from the back of the boat. “Are we going to name it?”

Dad smiled and motioned toward the back end of the boat. “It already has a name. It’s painted on the transom. See what you
think.” Dad pulled back a faded green tarp that draped over the back of the boat.

The varnished mahogany planking served as a backdrop for large script letters in white and black paint angling upwards.
The Getaway.
Cooper smiled. The name fit.

Dad stood beside him. “And it always was a getaway for me as a kid.”

Cooper thought his dad looked like a kid right now. There was a part of him that wanted to lose himself in the boat. Explore every inch of it. Find out all its secrets. But that would be a lot easier if he didn’t have some secrets of his own he was hiding.

“The swim platform on the back was added somewhere along the way. But it sure makes it easy to get in the boat.” He hiked himself up onto the platform.

“What do you think, Mattie?”

Cooper looked at his little sister. Somehow she seemed to have the opposite reaction to the whole thing as he did. Hiro slung her arm around her, and it looked like Mattie was ready to cry at any moment.

“Are we keeping it here?” Mattie’s eyebrows were crumpled the way they always did when she was upset.

“Well, yeah, Squirt,” Dad said. “For now anyway.”

Mattie frowned. “Where are we going to keep my pony?”

“Pony?” Dad looked confused. “We’re not getting a pony—that would be way too much work.”

Mattie turned away and buried her face in Hiro’s shirt.

“C’mon, Squirt,” Cooper said. “This is way better than some
dumb
pony.”

Mattie whipped around. “Ponies are smart.” A tear found a path down her cheek.

Hiro smoothed it away. “How about sometime we’ll pretend the boat is our ship. And you can be the mermaid. How would you like that?”

Mattie sniffed.

Hiro leaned in close. “You’ll be the prettiest mermaid anybody ever saw.”

She smiled just a bit.

“But you’d better watch out for the octopus.” Cooper held out his arms and waved them around slowly. “They like to tickle mermaids,” Cooper said, darting his hands under her arms and tickling her. “And they have so many arms you can’t possibly stop them.”

Mattie dropped to the ground and rolled side to side on her back, laughing and kicking and swinging her hands. Fudge barked and tried to nuzzle in between them.

“All right, Cooper,” Mom said, tussling his hair. “Leave the little mermaid alone.”

Cooper got up, and feigned another attack.

Mattie squealed and balled up on the ground.

Cooper glanced at Hiro and for a moment saw her look at him with the way she used to, before the Code. “Okay, I’ll let you go
this
time.” He reached out to Mattie, and she grabbed his hand and he pulled her to her feet.

“Mattie,” Mom said, “how about you and I go in and work on dinner while they keep exploring the boat? I could really use a taste-tester.”

Mattie nodded and followed her mom toward the back door. Fudge trotted behind them, tail swinging like she knew she’d get samples too.

“I’d better get home,” Hiro said.

“Don’t you want to see inside?” Dad called out.

Hiro glanced at Cooper’s mom with a pleading look.

“Why don’t you just show the boys for now,” Mom said. “Believe it or not, some people may not be quite as excited about
The Castaway
as you are.”

“The Getaway,” Dad said. “It’s
The Getaway.
”

Hiro giggled. “The boys can show me tomorrow—but I really have to go. Congratulations on your new boat. It’s a real prize.”

Dad smiled. “Blue ribbon stuff all the way.”

Cooper watched Hiro leave. She turned and waved just before going around the corner of the house.

“C’mon up here, guys,” Dad said. “Wait’ll you get on deck and see inside.”

Dad led the way, with the boys on his heels. Cooper and Gordy hoisted themselves onto the swim platform, then up to the top of the transom and over the stainless steel rail. The three of them stood on the weathered teak floorboards of the open deck area at the rear of the boat.

“I love it,” Gordy said.

Cooper knew the feeling. He still couldn’t believe it. This was really theirs now? He looked toward the bow and held his breath.

“This is the bridge—the place where you pilot the boat.” He pointed to two captain’s chairs standing side by side on tall pedestals behind a huge windshield. Unlike a car, the steering wheel was in front of the seat to the right. The dashboard had a cluster of gauges and controls.

Cooper climbed behind the controls and sank into the cushioned seat. Gordy climbed onto the captain’s chair next to him. The extra height gave a perfect view through the windshield and out over the bow. Side windows worked as a wind and spray shield, but the back stayed open. Perfect.

“I’ll be sitting here,” Cooper said grabbing the wheel. “And Gordy will be there … so where will you sit, Dad?”

Dad laughed. “Don’t worry. You’ll both get chances to drive. And wait ‘til you feel … and
hear
the rumble of those engines. There’s nothing like it.” He pointed to a pair of doors built into the deck floor. “They’re mounted below those doors. We’ll check them out in a bit.”

Cooper stood, imagining the pitch and roll he’d feel on deck when this was out in the water. “Dad, I can’t believe this.”

Dad smiled. “Welcome to
The Getaway.
” He walked to the side rail and ran his hand along its smooth surface. “This boat is magic, you know.”

“Magic?” Cooper and Gordy spoke at the same time.

“Uh-huh.” He slid onto one of the captain’s chairs and turned with one arm hanging over the back. “This boat can take you places without even leaving the yard.”

Digging in his pocket, he pulled out a ring of keys and nodded toward the locked mahogany hatch leading to the inside cabin. “Ready to do some serious exploring guys?”

At a quick glance, the keys looked almost exactly like the ones from Frank ‘n Stein’s. Cooper’s elation suddenly deflated as the memory of fishing for the keys in Frank’s pockets flashed in his mind. For a couple minutes, he’d forgotten the robbery. And the police. And Frank in a coma.

“Coming, Coop?” Dad already had the hatch off.

“Definitely.” Cooper stepped over the threshold and ducked inside the cabin behind his dad. Light streamed in from a series of oval shaped windows on either side of the room. The cabin looked compact and efficient. A small kitchen sink with cabinets above and below stood just to the left—a built-in table with booth-like benches on either side to his right.

Unlike the outside of the boat, the interior looked new. Richly varnished mahogany hardwood trimmed out the cabin. All it needed was a good cleaning.

“And up here in the bow,” Dad said, “sleeping quarters.”

“How great would it be to sleep in here, right Coop?” Gordy sat on the edge of one of the beds.

Cooper nodded. A great place to hide, too. Something about being inside the boat gave him a sense of safety. He could only imagine how much more safe he’d feel if it were anchored in a lake somewhere instead of parked in his backyard.