Praying it was something innocent like porn, she tugged it free. Then she frowned. She stared at it for a long time, her heart sinking as she realized what it must mean.
In her shaking hands lay a Batman comic from the ’70s, encased in a protective sleeve. This wasn’t something a friend would give him. Kids exchanged comic books that were beat up and creased and reread a hundred times. This comic looked pristine and valuable. Exactly the kind of item people kept in storage.
She slipped her hands under the mattress again, and this time when she touched something, she growled and wrenched the mattress up, tossing it onto the floor so she could see the second comic hidden on the bed slats. And next to it, a clear plastic case that contained four coins. Two silver, two gold. There was also a video game disk inside its packaging, and she knew she hadn’t bought it for him.
The last item was a thin notebook of brown leather that gleamed with the quality of something expensive. A journal more than a notepad. The kind of expensive gift business people or writers bought.
Her knees giving way, she slumped down over the bare slats of his childhood bed and wept. Because her son was a thief. He’d lied right to her face, promising he never took anything, but he had. He was only twelve, and he’d already started stealing other people’s belongings, just like his father.
Oh God. Oh no.
No, no, no.
She’d get Everett into counseling right now. That would help. It had to. Maybe he was just trying it out to see what it was like, see if he felt closer to dear old Dad.
Feeling like a weeping toddler, she rubbed her eyes hard, as if she could grind the sight of the evidence from her vision. Because maybe this was all her fault. She’d tried so hard to keep him from Jones that she’d forced Everett toward his father instead of away.
Her tears finally subsided. She breathed, sniffed, waited for the anxious buzz in her ears to stop.
She could fix this. He was still a good boy, and she could fix this.
Lily got up, gathered the stolen prizes her son had stashed away like a raven, then fixed his bed. She shut his closet and his door, carrying the five small items to the office. It wasn’t so much, really. Her reaction was totally overblown. She could see that, but only from a distance, as if she were a cool ghost floating over her own heated body.
Lily deleted the minutes from the two times she’d caught him at Alex’s locker, and then she sat down to review as many other cameras as she could. If Gretchen asked any questions about these missing times, she’d complain about the system glitching. She’d rather be fired for a suspicion than provide proof to them that her son was a delinquent.
One more hour and she’d find out.
CHAPTER 24
“What are you going to tell your mom when she asks about the big robotics competition in May?” Josephine teased as they left the fire station and strolled down Main Street.
He shrugged. “Next week I’ll tell her I caught the other kids vaping so I quit.”
Her laugh rang out so loudly it bounced off the awning of a shop and rained back down on them. “Couldn’t you just say you were going to the library again?”
“She could have said no to that and told me to go another day. But she can’t say no to a future in STEM.”
“You are devious, Ev.”
He looked down at the little blue circle of their location on her phone. After tracing the route, he handed it back to her. “We’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Okay, my dad is off at four, and he’ll pick us up at the library. We should get there early and pick out books so we look legit.”
“Got it.”
“So do you really think this Alex guy is lying?”
“I don’t know. He told Mom his uncle is in the nursing home in town, but he could have made all that up to protect his family. Somebody else was in that house, and it belongs to his uncle.”
“Yeah, but maybe he has a dog.”
“Dogs don’t open doors.”
“Fair.” She looped her arm through his and pulled him close. “Are you okay? I know you’re worried about your mom, but you’ve been funny lately.”
“I’m good.”
“Hm. Well, let’s make sure your mom’s not dating some freak, and then we can relax and hang out.”
He rolled his eyes and said, “They’re not dating,” but Josephine’s worry for him made his heart feel so warm and soft that he had a momentary, blinding thought that maybe he wasn’t gay. Maybe he liked boys and girls. Maybe he even wanted Josie to be his girlfriend?
But no. That wasn’t quite right. He didn’t feel nervous or shimmery around her like he did with boys he had a crush on. He didn’t stare at her mouth, wondering about his first kiss and what it might be like. With Josephine’s arm looped through his and her side pressed against his elbow, he just felt . . . safe. Like he had more family now.
He loved her, he thought. He loved Josephine like she was his sister or his best friend, and when he was with her, he didn’t miss Mikey and his stupid video games at all. Maybe he could even tell her about his dad someday. It would be such a relief. But not now. Not until everything was safe.
A few minutes later, he was definitely feeling nervous and shimmery, but that had nothing to do with attraction and everything to do with walking toward the nursing home. He’d come up with a cover story to find out if Alex Bennick was here, but he was still prepared for a stern nurse to glare at him and accuse him of lying.
Josephine let go of his arm, and he walked on shaky legs past the sign that promised SENIOR LIVING in green cursive letters. When the front door swung open automatically, he was looking straight at a receptionist seated behind a short, curved wall about ten feet away. She sat still as if she’d been waiting for them, her red hair heavy and straight and just brushing her shoulders. He thought he saw the tiny edge of a tattoo peeking up beneath the collar of her shirt.
Everett met her eyes and kept moving, wishing he were still holding Josephine’s arm.
“Hello there!” the woman chirped. “How can I help you?” At least she wasn’t a mean nurse in a white uniform.
“Hi,” Everett said, then stammered it out again. “H-hi. I’d like to drop off a card for one of your patients?”
“Oh, how nice! That’s so sweet of you. Who are you looking for?” Here was the moment of truth.
“Alex Bennick?” he ventured, waiting for her to frown and shake her head and prove that his hunch was correct.
But she didn’t frown. She smiled wide and gestured toward a row of windows. “You’re in luck! Mr. Bennick is out in the courtyard right now! I just talked to him, in fact. And that’s such a nice place to have a visit. You don’t have to just drop it off; you can go right on in and see him.” She slid a clipboard toward him. “Just sign the log.”
Alex Bennick was here. He was really in this home, and that other guy wasn’t lying to his mom. Relief made his guts shiver like he was getting sick.
He picked up the pen. Josephine poked him in the back. Hard. He couldn’t look at her. He was too busy trying to control the tremble in his hand as he put down the fake name he’d already come up with. John Olson.
“Just through those double doors on the other side of the lounge!” the red-haired woman said as if she were biting back an Aw! at their adorableness. It was a welcome response, and he’d take it. He and Josephine probably were pretty adorable.
After a few steps in that direction, Josephine threw her arm over his shoulders to slow him down. “What are you doing?” she whispered fiercely.
“I’m going to see him.”
“Everett, this isn’t okay. You promised no more dangerous ideas.”
“This isn’t dangerous. I’m just going to talk to him in a public place. He’s an old man.”
She growled and let go of him. He heard her muttering behind him as he pushed through the double doors and then turned right out the glass door to the interior courtyard. Josephine didn’t follow.