This time, Theo glanced at Tess, who looked at Jaime, who raised his palms—I don’t know what she’s going on about either. Mima was not the cryptic sort; she always said what she meant and meant what she said, no matter what language she was using. But Jaime had no idea where she was going with this.
“And there are also some strange creatures down there. I’m not talking about giraffes or even things like sharks. I’m talking about teredos, four-foot-long worms with nasty teeth. And Limnoria tripunctata—gribbles—tiny, tiny little bugs. The teredos eat wood and the gribbles eat wood and concrete both—amazing if you think about it, except they’re eating away at the pilings that hold up the city. Worms and bugs taking one tiny bite at a time until the whole place slides into the water. Another thing that makes me very sad.”
Theo reached up to scratch his neck, but his hand never made it, hung in the air, frozen. Jaime wasn’t frozen; he shifted from one foot to the other as if he couldn’t quite reach equilibrium. Nine walked over to Mima and put her head on Mima’s lap.
Tess said, “That’s not going to happen, Mrs. Cruz.”
“No?” Mima said, idly petting the cat.
“No,” Jaime said. “Someone will figure out a way to stop the bugs. Or protect the pilings. Or both.”
“Well, maybe you’re right. But sometimes it feels like we’re about to sink into oblivion.” Mima finally looked at Jaime, eyes so tired, so very tired, that Jaime felt his own lids going heavy. “Your father’s company told him that they would help us with a new apartment. A better apartment. Three bedrooms. A view.”
Jaime swallowed hard. “Well, that’s not so bad, is it?”
“In New Jersey.”
Tess and Theo said, “Oh.”
Mima murmured to herself in Spanish, something about her parents not wanting her to come to this city, they already had to leave Cuba, why would anyone leave Miami, too, they were so angry, but one visit to New York City and she realized she’d found her place. At least, that was what Jaime thought she was saying. He opened his mouth to tell Mima about their possible discovery of a new line of clues, but then, they hadn’t discovered anything yet, not really. What if he told her and it didn’t pan out? What kinds of bugs would they be talking about then?
“We still have weeks, Mima,” he said.
“True,” she said.
“Anything could happen in a few weeks,” Tess said.
“Things I probably can’t even imagine,” said Mima, smiling just a little. “I am not the one with the imagination in our family.”
“You could win the lottery,” said Tess.
“I’ll have to start playing, then,” Mima said.
“We could dig up the silver bars at the bottom of the river,” said Theo.
“You have a submersible lying around?”
“Darnell Slant could be abducted by aliens,” said Tess.
Mima nodded. “I would very much like to see that.”
“A new superhero could capture him and lock him in a jail in outer space,” said Jaime.
“As long as it’s very, very outer.”
“Or Slant could join a cult and give all his worldly possessions to the teredos and the gribbles,” said Theo.
Mima was silent for a moment and Nine started to purr, a low rumble. Then Mima said, “I’d rather he left them to someone who knew what to do with them.”
Jaime looked from their own green roof garden to the top of the building next door. Someone had impaled a disco ball on the top of it. On the side of it, someone else, or maybe the same someone, had spray-painted the words: YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG, TOOTS.
Well, Jaime thought, I hope not.
He sat on the deck next to the lounge chair. Theo and Tess did the same. Mima put her hand on the back of Jaime’s neck, and they all watched the water together, imagining giraffes loping gracefully beneath the surface, making their way home.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Tess
As they sat up on the roof with Jaime’s grandmother, all Tess could think about was what she didn’t want to think about: Do not think about teredos or gribbles eating the city. Do not think about teredos or gribbles eating the city, TEREDOS AND GRIBBLES ARE TOTALLY NOT EATING THE CITY RIGHT NOW.
“I should have named my hamster-hogs Teredo and Gribble,” said Jaime.
“Ugh,” said Tess.
“Are you guys getting hungry?” Jaime said.
“Ugh,” said Tess.
“I’m hungry,” said Theo.
“UGH,” said Tess, holding her stomach.
“I’m making arroz con pollo for dinner,” said Mrs. Cruz.
Tess let go of her stomach. “You are?”
“You guys want some?” said Jaime. “Mima always cooks enough for an army.”
Tess said, “We should go see our dad. My mom’s probably working late again, and Dad gets all mopey when he’s by himself.”
Mima stood and dusted herself off. “I’ll bring the food to your place, then. It’s bigger than ours. We can all mope together.”
Tess was right; their mom was out catching burglars, so Jaime carried his grandmother’s giant red pot already filled with chicken and vegetables into the Biedermanns’ kitchen. On the stovetop, Jaime’s grandmother added rice and a little beer, letting it cook for a few minutes before putting the whole thing in the oven. As soon as she smelled the food, Tess’s appetite killed any remaining images of teredos and gribbles. She ate three helpings of chicken and rice as Mr. Biedermann practiced his chewy, New York–accented Spanish with Mrs. Cruz, and Mrs. Cruz practiced her wincing. Mrs. Cruz tried to teach him German instead. Which went just as well. Instead of speaking, Mr. Biedermann sounded as if he were sucking things out of his teeth.
Tess thought about the clue left by Ava Oneal. Home for Ava Oneal was this building, but which part of this building? Where were her rooms? She had owned the entire structure but had lived here alone. No personal items or papers had ever been found, no evidence that she spent more time on any floor or in any particular area.
“You are very quiet, Tess,” said Mrs. Cruz, spooning some rice onto Tess’s plate.
“Yeah,” said Mr. Biedermann. “Usually she’s asking all sorts of questions. What if right was left and left was right?”
Theo said, “What if a person could grow an extra arm?”
“Or an extra head?” said Mrs. Cruz.
Mr. Biedermann said, “What if cats could talk?”
Nine mrrowed for her share of rice.
“Cats can talk,” said Tess. “It’s not their fault some of us don’t speak their language.”
Jaime said, “What if cars could talk?”
Theo said, “Cars already talk.”
“What if they understood?” said Jaime. “What if the walls could talk?”
Even though Tess’s mouth was full of chicken, the words popped out: “Then maybe we’d know how to solve the Cipher.”
No one said anything for a full minute.
Then Mr. Biedermann said, “This chicken is muy bien.” Moo-ee bee-in.
Mrs. Cruz winced.
There was a knock on the door. Everyone stared at it.
“Those men again,” Mrs. Cruz spit.
“I’ll get it,” said Mr. Biedermann. He started talking as soon as he stood up. “We are not legally required to leave for weeks, so I suggest you stop this harassment.” He threw open the door.
“Edgar! Omar!” said Mr. Biedermann. “Come in!”
Edgar Wellington held out a box. “We were working upstairs and decided to take a dinner break. We brought back cupcakes.”