“Can’t you wait to sell?” Stealth asked.
She shook her head. “Mom needs a controlled environment. She’s in real danger from her weight. And you…I think you need a change, too. If you weren’t taking care of her, you could go to college, study science, and make progress on your own life.” Her voice took on a psychologist’s measured tone. “Change is difficult, I know, but it’s healthy. I’ll be there to help you through it. I’ll…”
Brandon cut in, drowning out Karina’s words. Tell her about our money.
“If…with money, with your new place, could you wait to sell the house?” Stealth asked.
“I told you it’s not just about me,” Karina said, her voice edgy. “It’s about us all.”
“A little while?” Stealth pleaded.
Karina peered at him. “You need time, don’t you?”
“Time. Yes.”
“I haven’t had an offer on this condo yet. Still, I’d hate to lose the other place.”
“There’s money from inventions,” Stealth said. “You can have it.”
She smiled. “That’s sweet of you, Brent, but your war toys couldn’t possibly cover the down payment. How much do they sell for—$50, $100 each?”
“More,” Stealth said. The last government envelope held six figures. He remembered he hadn’t deposited the money yet. “Not toys, weapons. DOD pays well.”
“DOD?”
“Department of Defense. Working on two special weapons. Breakthroughs. Big payout.”
Stealth watched Karina’s face take on a sugary expression. “Sounds exciting. Be sure to tell me when that happens, okay?”
She’s humoring us, Brandon said. Try something else.
“Could you get money from the ex?”
“Mike? No.” Karina snorted. “When they made him a partner, we thought we were set.
Then
his law firm insisted he buy memberships in fancy clubs, expensive cars, and so on. He’s tapped out, the creep. And I wouldn’t ask. He’s…well, a pervert.”
Stealth raised an eyebrow, inviting more explanation.
“His sister said he molested his niece,” Karina said. “That’s why their father cut him out of his will. The poor kid’s at Sidley now. I wish I could counsel Olivia, but it’s unethical to treat family members, and technically, I’m still married to Mike.”
Olivia! Brandon cried. The girl at the café—the one I want to collect!
“Olivia Smallwood?” Stealth asked.
Karina looked shocked. “Yes. Do you know her?”
“Met her once.”
“She seems like a nice girl who’ll be very rich one day. Too bad she has to live with her pervy uncle in the meantime.”
The girl needs us. You said she wasn’t Stealthie material. You were wrong.
“There will be more money,” Stealth told Karina. “Real money. You’ll see.”
“I hope so.” She twisted her hands. “These problems make life so difficult.”
Karina, Brandon said, makes life difficult.
Stealth stood, preparing to leave.
She’s our sister.
Your sister, not mine.
Day 9—Sunday afternoon
Tay and Maddy walked fast. Liv scrambled to keep up, and though the air was crisp enough for parkas, she felt sweat working through her shirt. Near the bandstand in the Common, she begged, “Slow down! Let me catch my breath.”
Maddy turned a critical face to her. “You are seriously out of shape. Just sayin’.”
“I know, but I’m going to work out.”
So I can do Parkour
, Liv thought, though she wasn’t ready to tell the others about her plan to learn from Cameron.
“Cool. I use the gym down the block from you. We can go together.” Maddy frowned at her friend. “Tay’s too lazy.”
“I don’t gain weight.” Tay tapped her chest. “Fast oxidizer.”
“Whatev.” Maddy gave Tay another baleful look, then glanced at the puppy. “Guess he needs a break, too.”
Liv’s horrified eyes saw Teddy go into a squat. “Not yet!” She tugged on his leash and plunged onward. She’d already tried the plastic bag poop capture method. Even through the bag, she didn’t like the feel of warm logs in her hand, so off to the pet store on Newbury. First item on Liv’s list: a pooper scooper with a looong handle.
Back at the house, Maddy had asked, “When are you going to get the stuff Teddy needs?”
Liv hadn’t thought about food, bed, toys, or clothes. Dog clothes? Tay insisted they were high priority. “They have awesome outfits at Fin and Fur. Everything’s on sale this weekend. Can’t you just see him in a little tux with a velvet bow tie…or a yellow rain slicker…or a hoodie? Aw….” Tay cupped Teddy’s fluffy, white face between her hands. “He’s
such
a sweetie.”
“I don’t know.” Liv watched Teddy’s tail whip back and forth. “I think dog clothes are cray.”
“It’s getting colder each day,” Tay warned. “Besides, he needs a Halloween costume. You’re going to throw a party and leave him
naked
?”
“He has to eat,” Maddy put in more practically. “What were you going to feed him?”
“Uh…human food?”
“Not good. Puppies need a balanced diet so they’ll grow up healthy,” Maddy declared.
That pretty much settled the matter. Liv didn’t want her dog stunted. Still… “I’m not supposed to go out by myself. It’s Holly’s day off, and she’s on a date.”
Tay stared. “
She
has a date?”
“Well, I suppose blind men need social lives, too,” Maddy observed with a shrug.
“Anyway, you’re not going by yourself,” Tay added. “You’re going with us.”
Liv considered the obstacles. “My grandmother’s visiting old friends. They watch movies; she won’t be home for hours. My uncle’s upstairs in his room. He’s working.”
“So no one will know you’re away,” Tay said.
“Maybe…if we hurry.” Liv promised her grandmother not to leave home, but this was a Teddy
emergency
. She had no choice.
From the Common, they cut through the Public Garden, their talk turning to the Hero campaign. Maddy organized poster distribution. When Liv marveled at the number of posters she’d seen, Maddy beamed. Tay got Liv’s praise for lining up the band for the concert.
“It was really my brother,” Tay said. “He’s friends with one of the guys in Tripl Thret, so no big deal.” Tay pursed her lips. “I’d be happier about the concert if Natalie Porcini weren’t dead. It just seems sort of wrong to rock out now.”
Like everyone else, Maddy and Tay thought Jim Glasscock found the body. Since he was a TV celebrity, he’d done interviews and stuck to the story he made the discovery alone. At first, Liv wanted to tell her friends the truth, but now? Talking about it was like picking a scab. It hurt, left a raw place, and then you had to scab over again. “We lost Natalie, but we can save the others. I’m so hoping the videos, the posters and the concert will convince the kidnapper to let them go.”
“Miracles can happen, Lil Sis,” Maddy said.
Liv gulped. Maddy used the nickname Ari pinned on her. She felt sad all the way to Newbury Street. Not even Teddy’s excited snuffling perked her up.
Newbury Street looked different. When things were normal, Newbury was the place to go for lunch. In the week since the ban, the restaurants, boutiques and salons had decorated for the holiday, though shopkeepers differed about which holiday it was. Columbus Day, Fall Color and Halloween themes competed for shoppers’ attention, but almost all the stores had big signs promising fabulous bargains. There were balloons, flags and entertainers—a juggler at one place, a costumed cookie man near another. It was impossible to feel gloomy with all that going on, so Liv cheered up during the four block walk to Fin and Fur.
The pet shop was up a flight of stairs from street level. A phone store occupied the ground floor below. Tay said, “Remind me to drop in there. I need a new charger. Mine’s dying.”
Once they were inside Fin and Fur, they got caught up in weighty decisions like pet bed fabric, which adorable dog sweater suited Teddy best, and how to pick the most organic puppy food. While Liv searched for a pooper scooper and wee-wee mat, customers cooed over Teddy, who smiled and rolled over for tummy tickles. It was fun.
It was expensive. The money she had in her purse wouldn’t cover the bill. Liv used the credit card Grandmother gave her for emergencies. She’d have to invent a story to explain the charge, but for now, leaving the shop with her arms full of packages, she felt good.
Teddy tested his new leash by pulling on her the second Liv started down the stairs. She stumbled, tilting a package. The red rubber ball rolled out. Teddy dashed for it just as a man coming up from the phone store caught his shin on the leash. The man tripped, falling hard to the pavement.
“Ohmygod!” Liv shoved her packages at Tay. She rushed toward the man, who was getting to his feet. When he stood, Liv saw bloody skin through the tear in the knee of his fatigues. “Ohmygod!” she said again. “Are you all right?”
He reached for his knee. As his hand neared the wound, Teddy bit him.
Liv’s heart dropped a thousand feet. For sure, he’d call the police, have her dog taken in, get him killed as a vicious animal. “I’m so sorry,” she burbled to the man, “so, sooo sorry. He’s just a puppy. He isn’t trained.” She scooped up Teddy, clamping a hand around his muzzle. “Bad dog! No biting people!” She tapped his nose to make her point.
The man peered down at her—he was way tall—and she realized he looked familiar. She’d seen that combination of pencil mustache, soul patch and goatee before, but not on a guy wearing an oxford shirt, fatigues and a knit cap. Liv visualized the long face, the brown eyes, the beard and business clothes. Now where…?
“Oh! You’re the one from the café, the man who helped me hide from Holly. This is terrible, just
terrible
. I don’t know what got into Teddy. I—”
“Olivia Smallwood?” the man inquired.
Liv sucked in her breath. He remembered her name! If he didn’t call the cops, he’d sue her, sue the family. At the very least, he’d call her grandmother to complain. “Is it bad?” she whispered, nodding toward his hand.
He pulled off his glove. To Liv’s huge relief, there were no wounds on skin. The leather must have blocked Teddy’s teeth. “Not bad,” he said.
“But your leg…it’s bleeding.” The minute she spoke, Liv wanted to slap herself. Why make things worse?
When he looked at his bloody knee, his mouth hung open. He turned his head away, leaned against the stair railing, and blinked rapidly. Twisting his glove between both hands, he shut his eyes.
Liv gaped at him. Sometimes people got squicked by their own blood, but really, it was just a skinned knee. She turned to Maddy and Tay, who were peering over her shoulder.
“I think he’s going to pass out,” Maddy whispered.
“Should we call 911?” Tay wondered.
Before they did anything, he opened his eyes, pushed off the rail, and shook his head the way a dog dries off. “No worries. Just felt dizzy for a minute.” He took a step forward, then winced. “Ooo, ouch. Really whacked my kneecap. Gonna be a hard walk to Beacon.”
“Where on Beacon?” Liv asked.
“Corner of Beacon and Charles.”
“That’s not so far.”
“It is with a bum knee.”
Liv had an inspiration. “Look, Mister—”
“It’s Brandon.” He grinned. “Just Brandon.”
She saw he wasn’t old, not even as old as her uncle. His easy smile could have fit in at Sidley. “Okay, well, I’m calling a taxi. You can go home and rest up, and then we’ll be cool, right? No more problems?”
“A ride’s cool, but I wish your dog would stop growling.”
Liv tapped Teddy’s nose again, and then handed him to Tay. She pulled out her phone to find a taxi service.
“Nice phone.” Brandon held his out. “I just bought this. It does everything.” Touching his phone to Liv’s, he said, “There. I bumped your music list.”
Liv’s temper flared. Her music was hers! But then the newest song from Tripl Thret poured out of Brandon’s phone, and she thought it didn’t matter. All the songs were on the Internet.
“So, yeah, it’s a pretty good phone,” Brandon was saying, turning it over in his hand. “Do they let you use phones at Sidley now? They didn’t when I was there.”
“How do you know we’re Sidleys?” Tay asked.
He pointed to her parka. “School emblem. I wore my school clothes on weekends, too. My mother thought it was stupid to buy another jacket when I’d just outgrow it by next year.”
The girls nodded. Lots of parents felt that way.
Brandon’s taxi arrived. He limped toward it and reached for the door but then stopped and said over his shoulder, “Are you coming?”
Liv shook her head. “I meant for you to ride home. Oh, I should pay the driver.” As she walked toward the street, Brandon asked, “Why not share? You have a lot of packages.” He pointed at Maddy, who was hanging onto the sagging dog food bag with both hands. “Unless you’re going another way?”
“We’re not.” Liv turned to Tay and Maddy. “Should we share the taxi?”
Maddy shifted her heavy load to her right hand. “I’m in.” Closer to Liv, she whispered, “There are three of us, a dog, and a taxi driver. What could go wrong?”
Day 9—Sunday evening
Stealth opened his eyes and nearly jumped out of his chair. He was in his lab. How did he get here? Last thing he remembered was the phone store, falling, a filthy dog—it had to be the one Karina bought the Momster, the one he and Brandon abandoned in Portsmouth.
Chill, bro. I got us home. Cleaned up our knee, too.
Stealth looked at his leg. He was wearing different pants. “Brandon, you took over. Don’t do that again.”
Had to. You were ready to puke and make a fool of us in front of the girls. How great was it running into Olivia Smallwood? The others are Maddy and Tay. Remember when we followed them home from the café those times?
“This is…this is outrageous!” Stealth sputtered.
It was fun, Brandon said, unabashed, and I cloned Olivia’s phone.”
“
How?
”
Guess I’ve learned a few things from you. I’m not stupid, you know. After those clueless girls went on in the taxi, I celebrated at a bar. Love it! They don’t know how old I am. They bring whatever I want.
Stealth shuddered. “Filthy glasses, stinking crowds. You wore the gloves?”
Nope, forgot. Don’t sweat it. I washed our hands when we got home. Might have beer breath, though. I didn’t brush our teeth. I usually remember to brush.