CHAPTER 10

I didn’t get much sleep that night. I kept rolling around in bed, thinking about the ruined sets. We’d worked so hard on the details, especially on the file cabinets in the third set. Who could have done such a rotten thing? I tried to figure it out by using deduction. Was it Eddie? Even he wouldn’t go that far, would he? Of course it could have been some stranger, or any of the kids in the school. Somehow, I couldn’t seem to shake the idea that maybe, just maybe, Jeremy did it. Lately he’d been acting real jealous of me. And he was actually happy when I told him that the sets had been destroyed. Not that that was proof of anything.

The next day in school everyone was talking about the ruined sets. Kids from all grades came over to Danny and me to say how sorry they were about what happened. I knew that the teachers were having a conference with our principal, Mr. Vogel, to decide what to do about the play. A few minutes before the end of recess, Danny and I were asked to go to the principal’s office. There were about six teachers sitting in a circle and Mr. Vogel. He was a jolly, round man who smoked a pipe. We must have looked scared because he grinned at us and said, “Relax, fellers. We were just talking about the sets and trying to decide what to do.” Then he stared at each of us very intently. “I suppose it all depends on what you two say.”

Danny and I looked at each other.

“What I mean is,” he went on, “and what it comes down to is—do you boys think that you could redo the sets by Wednesday if you had lots and lots of help?”

Danny scratched his head, thinking. “Well,” he finally said, “I saved the original drawings, so I suppose I could draw them again.”

Mr. Vogel rubbed his hands together. “Splendid, splendid. That’s a good beginning, I must say.”

“And I could draw one of the sets, if you wouldn’t mind,” Mrs. Casey offered.

“Sure,” Danny said, smiling for the first time that day.

“But who would paint everything?” I asked. It had taken us weeks to do that.

“What if we organized crews?” Mr. Vogel asked.

“But who?” I asked again.

“All of the sixth graders would be willing to help,” Mrs. Hammel said. “I’m sure most of them could paint for an hour or two during the weekend. Then we have all day Monday and Tuesday during school.”

It wouldn’t be easy, I thought, telling each kid what color to use. And we had run out of some colors. And with so many people around, they’d probably get in each other’s way. And…

Danny must have been reading my thoughts. He elbowed my arm. “It’s worth giving it a try,” he said softly.

If he was willing to give it his all, who was I to stop it? “Sure, why not?” I said.

Mr. Vogel smiled. “Why don’t you go home and get your sketches, Danny? We can start right now.”

Danny cleared his throat. “All right, but first I’d like to ask you if you know or have any idea who could have destroyed the sets.”

Mr. Vogel stared at him, then at me. His eyes seemed to bore into mine until I felt so uncomfortable that I had to turn away. Finally he spoke:

“We’re not sure at this point, although it’s safe to say we have a few leads. Of course the incident had to have occurred some time between three o’clock, when school ended, and seven-fifteen, when Joe discovered the mess. Although it couldn’t have happened after six, we don’t think, because Joe remembers locking all the doors at that time.”

He suddenly smiled. “Let’s not worry about who the culprit or culprits are right now. The important thing is to get started immediately on the new sets. You’ve plenty of work ahead of you.”

* * *

And so we began Operation Sets that afternoon. Danny and Mrs. Casey finished drawing all three sets around three-thirty, and then we organized groups of five kids to paint each set. It got so crowded in the art room that we moved one set into the auditorium. This set up new problems, like someone needing a color paint that was in the other room. Mrs. Casey was a big help, going to the store twice to get some paints we needed and helping Danny and me supervise the three crews.

At five-thirty we called it quits, and it wasn’t a minute too soon. My back was aching from bending over. Danny said he couldn’t bear to see another paintbrush or he’d scream. We told the kids to come back at ten the next morning, which was Saturday. Then we got Joe and watched him lock the art room and the auditorium. Nothing was going to happen to these new sets!

We were leaving the school building and about to go our separate ways, when Danny stopped and shook his head. “All day I’ve been wondering and trying to think of who could have destroyed the sets.”

“Me, too,” I admitted. But I couldn’t bring myself to say whom I’d been considering.

Just then Eddie sauntered by, grinning. “I hear you two have had a little trouble.”

Danny’s mouth tightened. “See you tomorrow, Adam,” he said as he walked away.

I started going toward my house. Eddie walked beside me. “Cat got your tongue, Adam?”

“Go away, Eddie,” I said, disgusted.

“I will,” he said, “but first, don’t you want me to tell you who spilled the paint all over your sets?”

A shudder ran through my body. “What could you possibly know about it?” I asked. “Why don’t you just mind your own business?”

“But I can’t mind my own business,” he answered snidely. “I know who ruined your sets.”

I walked faster, hoping he’d go away. I was scared to hear what he had to say. It was probably all lies. But suddenly it was the most important thing in the world that I find out what he wanted to tell me.

“Yeah?” I said, trying to sound casual. “So who was it? Santa Claus?”

“It was your brother.”

“Jeremy?” I shrieked, although I knew that was what he’d say. “You’re crazy. You’re just trying to start trouble as usual.”

He grinned slyly. “You don’t like hearing that, do you? Well, it’s true, anyway.”

“You’re a liar,” I shouted. “Get lost.”

“I saw him creeping around the school yesterday. When I went to get water for everyone during the game. Remember?”

I did remember Mr. Gordon sending Eddie into the school to refill the huge thermos he brought to every baseball game. “You saw him?” I asked.

“In the hall. Of course he wasn’t doing anything that very second. I guess he waited until I left.”

I thought a minute. “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he went into the school to get some water, too.”

“Could be, except that he looked guilty when he saw me. And I heard that they found something belonging to Jeremy in the auditorium. A ruler with his name on it.”

“How do you know?” I asked, suddenly feeling sick.

“A kid on my block told me. Didn’t you know about the ruler?”

He wasn’t lying now. I could tell. I felt nauseated with fear and humiliation. I hadn’t known about the ruler. And when I’d been in Mr. Vogel’s office, he’d never said a word about it. I could feel my ears turning red, just imagining what Mr. Vogel and all those teachers must have been thinking while I was there. But I refused to accept the idea that Jeremy was the one who did it.

“You’re just saying that because you’re mad at my brother,” I yelled at Eddie, ready to punch him. “Because he beat you up in school.”

“Come on, Adam,” he said, pushing aside my fist. “You know how jealous he is of you. Remember how angry he got about his garden? I mean, he tore up your entire collection of baseball cards, and all the ones I gave you, just ’cause you stepped on one of his plants.”

“Four plants,” I corrected him. But Eddie was right. Jeremy was jealous of me. I’d only begun to realize how jealous the night before in the diner.

Eddie must have seen he’d gotten to me, because he clapped his hand on my shoulder and grinned.

“Don’t take it so hard. I mean, what can you expect from a re-tard.”

I shrugged his arm away. “Get lost, Gordon. You’re nothing but a creep.”

“So that’s the thanks I get for telling you,” he grumbled. “I should have saved my breath.”

I walked away without answering. Nerd! It was plain to see that he enjoyed telling me it was Jeremy.

When I got home Mom was there. She looked pale and shaken, the way she looked when Grandma died three years before.

“Where’s Jeremy?” I asked after I kissed her cheek, something I’d stopped doing lately.

“In his room. We saw Mr. Vogel this afternoon.”

“Mr. Vogel?” So it was true? In the back of my mind I’d still hoped that Eddie had been lying about the ruler.

“They found a ruler with Jeremy’s name on it in the auditorium near the sets.”

“What does Jeremy say?”

Mom sighed deeply, then sank into one of the kitchen chairs. “He claims that he hadn’t been in the auditorium, or in the school for that matter, since your spring concert last month.”

“But what about the ruler?”

“I lost it. I don’t remember when.”

I spun around. Jeremy was standing in the kitchen doorway. His eyes were red. I could tell he’d been crying.

“Eddie says he saw you in the school yesterday afternoon,” I blurted out.

“Hah!” Jeremy said angrily. “You still believe that good-for-nothing jerk?”

“Jeremy!” Mom exclaimed.

“Well, I’m sick and tired of everyone saying I spilled paint on those sets. I didn’t! I didn’t!” He looked at me with sad dog eyes. Trusting eyes. “You know I wouldn’t do something like that, Adam. Don’t you?”

I looked down at the floor. Anywhere but at those eyes, begging me to believe him.

“Well, dammit,” he shouted, “it would be nice if my own family believed me.”

“Of course we believe you,” Mom said soothingly. She looked at me. “Jeremy isn’t a liar, Adam. You know that.”

I had to turn away from her gaze, too, silently pleading that I believe my brother. I wanted to believe him, but I had to know the truth.

“Well, where were you yesterday?” I asked, my voice sounding tougher than I’d meant it to.

“What is this, a trial?” Jeremy asked. “Where were you on the night of the murder,” he said in a deep voice, only it wasn’t funny at all.

I persisted. “It would help if you could tell us where you were and who saw you. You know what I mean.”

“Of course I know what you mean,” he snapped. “I’m not that dumb. Mr. Vogel asked me the same thing. And I’ll tell you what I told him: I was out riding.”

“Didn’t you see anyone?” Mom asked.

“No one special,” he muttered. “I came home, studied alone since Mrs. Dawson came Wednesday instead of yesterday, then I just went riding around until six, six-thirty. Then I came home and waited for you guys to come back from the All-Star game so we could go out and have dinner.” He stamped his foot angrily. “I don’t care if you believe me or not. I didn’t touch those sets and that’s that.”

Before I could say a word, he ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs to his bedroom. Mom and I both winced when he slammed the door shut—the loudest, I’d swear, since we’d moved into the house.

Mom bit her lip. “Poor Jeremy. He has so much to bear.”

“To bear?” Now I was angry. “Look, Mom, you know very well that he can be destructive. Look what he did to my baseball cards.”

“I know what he did,” she said evenly, “and I know how frustrating he can be. But let me remind you that Jeremy is not deceitful. If he’d done this terrible thing, he would have admitted it to you by now. I think Mr. Vogel understood that. I can’t see why you don’t, his own brother.”

Now that all three of us were angry, I went up to my room to think things over. I tried to put all the facts in logical order, but they kept chasing after one another, canceling each other out. For one thing, I couldn’t deny that Jeremy was jealous of me. Also, that he was glad that the sets were destroyed when I told him about it last night. Just as he was glad that we’d lost that ball game that time the fly ball landed at his feet.

Okay, I told myself. So he’s happy when I fail at something that’s important to me. So what does that prove?

That he poured paint over the sets? Of course not. It only proves that he can’t stand to see me succeed, probably because he never does. Then it hit me—the horrible truth of how my brother felt about himself. I tried to imagine being Jeremy—not really good at anything except gardening and playing make-believe games with little kids like Tommy.

Little kids. Tommy! I jumped out of my chair, all excited that I’d hit upon something that might be able to prove that Jeremy was telling the truth. Because I’d decided that Mom was right. Jeremy wasn’t a liar. Sometimes he’d exaggerate or omit things, but that was only human. And there was only one way to find out if we were right.

Jeremy was blasting his Beatles music so loudly, he didn’t hear me come into his room. He was lying facedown on his bed. When I tapped his shoulder he almost leaped to the ceiling.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” he shouted above the blaring din.

“Lower that,” I yelled. He reached out and turned down the volume.

“Why didn’t you tell Mom and Mr. Vogel that you were at Tommy’s house yesterday?” I asked.

“Because then she’d punish me and…” He stopped, suddenly realizing that he’d given himself away. “I mean, I didn’t see Tommy yesterday,” he finished lamely.

He wasn’t good at lying. For some crazy reason at that moment I remembered Eddie’s telling me while we were leaving Gino’s that his father was planning on making me starting pitcher that day. Hah! Eddie sure had no trouble lying, for whatever crazy reason he did it. In fact, he was good at it. I felt my heart pumping away, the adrenaline coursing through my body. I felt strong. Like I could take on anything or anyone. But first I had to settle everything with my brother.

“This business with the sets is very serious,” I told him sternly. “If you don’t tell people where you were, they’re going to think you were the one who destroyed the sets. Especially since your ruler was found there.”

He hung his head. “I know what everyone thinks and I feel bad about it,” he mumbled so softly I could hardly hear him. “But you know Mom. She’ll be so angry if I tell her where I was yesterday afternoon. And ground me for a month, besides.” He looked at me imploringly. “You heard how she carried on the other night, telling me not to go to Tommy’s. I felt awful, knowing all the time that I’d be going there the next day.”

“What was so important about your seeing Tommy yesterday?” I asked.

“I wasn’t exactly going there to play. I mean, we did play, but that wasn’t what was important.”

“So, what was important?” I asked, exasperated.

“Mrs. Stein asked me to watch Tommy yesterday afternoon. She had to go into the city and all the baby-sitters she’d called were busy. She asked me on Wednesday afternoon and I’d said yes. I was able to go over right after school, since Mrs. Dawson couldn’t make it Thursday and had come Wednesday, remember? Even after Mom carried on, I didn’t want to disappoint her. Especially since she was paying me a dollar fifty an hour.” He smiled sadly. “You know how Mom and Dad never let me earn any money because they’re afraid I’ll do something wrong. Anyway, I had to get Tommy from their neighbor as soon as I got home from school.”

I smiled. It was even better than I’d hoped. “So Tommy’s neighbor knows exactly what time you came for him?”

“Of course she does,” Jeremy said matter-of-factly. “I went over there as soon as I got home and she was rushing off. Didn’t even bother have a snack until I got to Tommy’s house. I was there until six-thirty.”

I thought about everything he’d just told me. “But you told Mom that you just went riding around yesterday.”

Jeremy grinned, proud of himself. “That’s what I told Mr. Vogel, too. I planned it out yesterday when I rode home from Tommy’s. It worked pretty good, don’t you think?”

All he could think of was protecting himself from Mom’s anger. He still didn’t realize that being with Tommy was an alibi for something a lot more serious.

I sat next to my brother, going over everything Eddie had told me this afternoon. He was obviously lying about having seen Jeremy in my school yesterday.

“One thing I don’t understand,” I said, “is how your ruler got into the auditorium. Are you sure it was yours?”

“It’s mine. Mr. Vogel showed it to me.” He turned up his palms and shrugged. “I don’t know how it got there, either. I only know that I haven’t seen it in a few days at least.”

I patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. There must be an answer to that, too.” The incident with Mark and Laura Lee’s locker popped into my head. I stood up.

“I have to make some phone calls,” I said. “We’ll get to the bottom of all this.”

“It’s Eddie, isn’t it?” he asked quietly.

I nodded. “Who else? Now, all we need is some proof.”

“I kind of figured it was him. From the way he acted in school, telling everyone I did it. That it was my ruler they found.”

“But he couldn’t have possibly known that unless he did it, could he?” I said.

“Guess not,” Jeremy agreed, smiling. He tugged at my shirt, suddenly anxious again.

“You’re not going to tell Mom about going over to Tommy’s, are you?”

“Of course not,” I said, grinning. “You are, and right now.”

Before Jeremy could protest I pulled him to his feet.

“Go now before you chicken out.”

I ran out of the room.