Chapter Eight

~ A Desperate Situation ~

 

What happened next was only hard to believe if you didn’t know me very well. Addie and I went home and had supper at our own houses, acting normal. I even talked to my mom a little about the places she was sending job applications. We had planned how we would watch some TV with our moms then yawn and say we were going up to bed.

I snuck out the back door a while later and met Addie just as it was getting too dark to see well. I thought about how last week all I had to think about was chasing fireflies and letting them go again. I felt a lot older. I was going to do something that was against the law, and kept telling myself I had to take care of Dotty and Miss Julie. I was responsible for Dotty now and couldn’t let her be taken back to Oily Jake. I was sure she would die if that happened.

We crept down the streets, cutting through people’s yards, hiding behind trees. It felt like a game of hide and seek, only serious. We saw houses all lit up inside, with people moving around. The air was beginning to cool off, with the moon coming up, huge and full. I had to be tough, though, and think about what I was doing. When we reached the town square, we checked for cars on the street then crept to the side of the hardware store. I could see Jake’s old beat-up aqua and white trailer parked in the vacant lot. The street light was a block away, so the trailer was in the dark and didn’t look like any place you’d want to visit. There was no sign of movement. It was still early, and I didn’t think Ugly Jake would be in bed yet. He was probably out finding another pony to abuse.

“Let’s go,” I said, and we ran through the lot to the trailer. I opened the unlocked door and stuck my head in.

“Go, go!” Addie’s whisper sounded frantic, so we slid through the door and shut it as quietly as possible. We stood in the tiny living room, an old beat-up couch taking up most of the space. Stale ashtray stink floated in the air, and we couldn’t see much but old pizza boxes.

“Check the kitchen,” Addie said, as we moved together the three steps it took to get into the kitchen. Bags of horse feed were piled there beside a table and chairs. On the table was a map that I recognized of Lake Serendipity, which was south of town, and a drawing of a funny-looking house. The house was all kind of squinched in on the second floor. Addie peeked at it, then whispered, “Why would Jake keep the feed bags in the kitchen?”

I didn’t have time to wonder because we heard a terrible buzzing snore coming from the back of the trailer.

“He’s here! Creepy Jake is here!” I whispered, as my heart thumped. “Let’s get out!” As long as the snores continued, we were safe. I almost fell over Addie as we tried to get out the door without making any noise. We ran back across the vacant lot and stopped at the side of the hardware store, shivering and panting.

“That was close,” said Addie. “I can’t believe he was in there.”

“Me, neither,” I said, waiting for my breathing to slow down. This was why I didn’t like the rides at carnivals. I didn’t like being scared. I had a red place on my arm tonight from twisting my horsehair bracelet.

I was certain that something I had just seen didn’t make sense and was important. I would have to think about it later. Right now we had one more thing to do.

“Are you ready for Sam’s?”

“I’m ready if you are,” Addie said. She didn’t quit on me even when I knew she wanted to. I thought, that’s what brave means.

We snuck from building to building, working our way around the square to Sam Applegate’s office. I checked again for cars or people, then ran into the alley behind the office. We only waited a minute before creeping up the steps to his back door.

I had seen on TV once that a crook used a credit card to open a locked door, so I had my library card with me. My hand shook and my mouth was dry as I slid the card down the crack in the door, wiggled it and ta da! the door opened. I could hear Addie whoosh with relief behind me as we eased the door open and went inside. It was very dark, but Addie had her old Girl Scout flashlight out and shone it around. We were in a storage room that opened into an office. Addie went first and found a tall filing cabinet beside a large wooden desk.

“Where do you think we should start?” said Addie.

“Let’s check the desk first, then the files,” I answered, licking my lips and breathing fast.

“What about the computer? Maybe there’s something in that”

I was a little afraid to start searching through computer files, since I didn’t really know how. This didn’t feel good at all. I was beginning to think we should have done this a little differently.

We had just opened the top drawer of the desk and my hand was pulling out some papers when the lights went on. Addie screamed. I jumped and dropped the papers.

“May I help you?” a deep voice asked. There was a man leaning in the doorway with his arms folded, a handsome, dark-haired man with familiar-looking, angry blue eyes.

I just stood there with my mouth open, and so did Addie. My heart was beating way too fast and I was cold all over. I wondered if fifteen-year-old girls ever had heart attacks.

“You don’t look old enough to be criminals, but then you never know,” he said. “Do you realize you are breaking and entering? Are you looking for some money? I don’t keep any cash around this office.”

This was Miss Julie’s son, Sam. No wonder the eyes looked familiar. They were the same as hers.

“Um, we...” I could only stammer. Addie started crying at the same time the sheriff’s car pulled up outside, its lights flashing through the front window of the office. She looked at me and I thought of scared rabbits as I twisted my bracelet like crazy.

Sam Applegate opened the office door, and Sheriff Harvey Martin clomped in, holding a cigar in his teeth. He frowned at me.

“Good Lord, girl,” he said. “You just keep on looking for trouble. The first time in two years we’ve gotten a prowler call and it turns out to be you and your partner in crime here. Sam, this here’s the Jones girl. What’s your name again? Patsy? And your friend is Annie?”

“No, sir, it’s Piper and Addie.” I squeezed the words out of my throat.

“You two gals had better come with me. Your folks are gonna be plenty upset with you! I’ll take care of it, Sam, and thanks for calling. You might want to check and see if anything’s missin’ or broken.”

As I was pulled through the door, I turned and looked at Sam, the liar, the cheat, the scum! “Don’t think you can get away with it,” I said. “Miss Julie is onto you!”

The sheriff put us in his patrol car and took us to his office, the same one we stood in yesterday, trying to uphold the law and prevent animal abuse. Only now we were the criminals.

He sat us down in big wooden chairs while he called our parents. Addie and I could only look at each other. What would happen to us? Grounded for a year, probably.

The door opened and Sam Applegate strolled in.

“Somethin’ else you need, Sam?” asked the Sheriff.

“Yeah, I just wanted to ask Patsy what she meant about my mom being on to me and me getting away with something.”

“My name is Piper,” I stated with as much dignity as I could, “Piper Jones. You should know me. You used to give me rides on Dotty. And you know what I meant. Dotty is alive, even though she was almost murdered by Creepy Jake. She could have died from cruelty and neglect! You lied and told Miss Julie she died, so it’s all your fault.”

“Piper Jones, yeah, I remember you. Your parents got divorced last year.”

I rolled my eyes, but Sam looked puzzled.

“Dotty is alive? Are you sure?”

“Miss Julie saw Dotty today and knew it was her horse right away. We rescued her.”

“But, I sold her to a man in Louisville for his little girl. He told me later that Dotty died. I had no reason to think he was lying.”

Sam seemed worried all of a sudden. Maybe he wasn’t a liar and a cheat. But I was still mad at somebody.

“You should go get Nasty Jake and make him tell you where he got her. I bet he stole her.” Then it clicked. The something I had seen earlier that didn’t make sense. “You should ask Ugly Jake why he has bags of horse feed in his kitchen, too, when all the rest of the feed is outside by the fence.”

Sheriff Martin and Sam Applegate looked at each other.

“What do you think, Harvey?”

“I don’t know, Sam, but after I get these little ladies sent home, maybe I’d better have a talk with Jake. He was nasty about losing that pony, but if he can’t prove that he owns it, then could be Miss Julie is the legal owner.”

“I’d like to talk to him, too. I’ll follow your patrol car,” said Sam.