That night I dreamed about the silver dog again. Only this time it was a wiener dog, and he was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt. Sean was there again, holding out a chocolate donut, saying “Here, Eric, come and get Flip!” Then I saw shoes — green-and-gray Rock Shockers, running down a granite mountain, and I heard my voice scream, “Jesus! I can’t do this anymore!”
And I heard a woman’s voice say, “You’re always tougher than you think.”
Then I woke up. The clock on my nightstand said it was 10:00 am. I’ve never slept that late in my life, and my stomach was growling. Thankfully, I smelled bacon downstairs.
Bacon wasn’t the only thing waiting for me downstairs. There were also cinnamon rolls, Fawn, Bob, and that wiener dog — Eric.
I’m glad I was wearing my good pajamas.
“So, you’re not a reporter, are you?” I asked.
He shook his head and took a bite of a hot cinnamon roll. “No. Sorry I misled you. I was trying to find my brother and sister.”
“Who’s that?”
Fawn spoke up. “Eric’s my brother.”
“I thought Flip was your brother.”
“He is too. Flip and I have the same mom and dad. Our mom died when we were little, and then our dad married Eric’s mom, and they had Eric. We lived in the same house for about ten years, and then our parents got divorced.”
“Oh. That’s kinda confusing.” I grabbed a plate and a bunch of food. I took a huge bite of a cinnamon roll, and then thought about asking Eric why he had been sneaking around so much, but I had to chew on my thoughts for a minute, so the adults took over the conversation. I’m not sure where Brady was.
“So, how did you find out who we were?” Fawn asked my mom.
“I lifted your fingerprints off your water glasses at Easter. It took awhile to get the results back. You guys have done a good job covering your tracks.”
“So, you suspected something was wrong?” Bob Hansen — if that was his real name — asked.
“My wife is suspicious of everyone,” Dad said.
“It was the jet — and the fact that your company had such a big factory and lots of employees after only being in business for a couple of years.”
“We didn’t want our money going to waste on just us. It’s hard for the Stevens family to just sit around and do nothing.” Fawn grinned. “So Flip let me choose what kind of company we should start.”
“So you’re the creative genius behind Swiftriver shoes?” Dad asked.
“I guess, but I just had the interest in sports and shoes. We needed a business expert we could trust, so we got Bob over here.”
“You’re not a brother too, are you?” I swallowed quickly so I could ask that question.
Bob laughed. “No, I was Flip and Fawn’s business teacher in high school.”
“Huh?”
Mom’s phone rang, so she got up and went into the kitchen to talk.
Fawn continued. “Flip was a terrible business student. He always liked art and photography — stuff like that. He would have failed the class, but Bob tutored him during lunch every day.”
“Think of what Dad would have done if Flip had failed business!” Eric slapped Bob on the knee.
“We weren’t going to let that happen,” Bob said. “I didn’t need Drake Stevens breathing down my neck . . .”
Mom came out of the kitchen. “That was Matt. He said some climbers found a blue backpack halfway down the mountain.”
I had totally forgotten about Matt and Nate. I guess they had to hike back down the mountain after we flew away in the helicopter.
“Did they find any ID? I hope no one else fell.” Fawn looked panicked all over again.
“Uh, no, I doubt it. They checked all the pockets. Didn’t find a thing. But the center compartment was filled with rocks.”
“Who would carry rocks all the way up Half Dome?” I asked.
Dad looked at me sternly. “I’m pretty sure no one carried them up.”
Fawn stood up. “Are you saying that someone filled the backpack with rocks, and deliberately dropped it on Flip?”
“That’s my guess,” Mom said.
I stopped shoving food in my mouth for a minute. “Why would someone want to hurt Flip?”
“For revenge,” Eric said. “After Flip and Fawn testified against the people who had our dad killed, lots of them went to prison. There might be a few people still around who are mad about that.”
“And that’s why you’re hiding out?” I took a drink of orange juice. “Sounds like a bad movie.”
“I wish it were,” Fawn said.
“By the way, I like the name Samantha way better than Fawn.”
“Me too,” Fawn said. I noticed she was wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt, and running shoes.
“You don’t really like high-heels and skirts and floppy hats, do you?”
Eric laughed. “Fawn? Liking to dress up? That’ll be the day! Flip’s the one who likes to dress up.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Riley, your mouth is full of food!”
“Sorry, Mom. It’s just . . . Flip? Dressing up? That’s hilarious!”
“And that’s not all.” Fawn continued. “He buys all those ‘foofy’ clothes for me. I hate shopping.”
Mom’s phone rang again. This time she stayed in the room to talk.
After a couple of minutes talking to whomever it was, she told us that Flip had moved to a regular hospital room.
“They expect him to get out today.”
“Get out? Of the hospital?” I couldn’t believe it. I thought he was dead yesterday.
Fawn smiled. “Yeah. We went to see him this morning after I saw the doctor for my shin. All his X-rays and scans came back clear. He’s got a cast on the ankle, and he has to take it real easy for a few days, but he’s going to be just fine.”
I thought about all that for a moment. That was a miracle. God had answered Dad’s prayer up on the mountain.
“So what do we do next?” Eric asked.
Bob spoke up. “Maybe you guys need to get out of Fresno for awhile.”
“What do you mean by ‘you guys’?” I asked.
“Dan, Sam, Eric — and probably you too, Riley,” Bob said.
“Hey — I’m not part of this movie.”
Dad put his arm around me. “Well, honey — you are now. You’ve been around all these people for a few months, and if anyone’s done their homework, they probably figure that if you’re around, so are Flip and Fawn.”
I looked at Mom. “Can’t you hunt these people down and arrest them?”
“I need time,” she answered. “We don’t really know who we’re dealing with yet.”
“Mom and I talked about this last night,” Dad said. “It’s summer, so we’re going to take a little vacation, and while we’re away, we’ll try to get this mess figured out.”
My head started spinning, and I knew it wasn’t from hunger ’cause I had just stuffed myself.
“Wait. So you’re saying we all have to hide out now? What about my friends?”
That’s when I remembered . . . “Yikes! Wait here. I have to check something.”
I ran upstairs and looked at my phone. Still dead. I plugged it into the wall charger and turned it on. I watched the screen as it powered up, knowing exactly what I would see the minute everything connected. . .
Five texts from TJ:
Where R U???
We lost!!!!.
Rusty E’d.
In the loser bracket now.
Thanks for nuthin.
I was supposed to play in the softball tournament today! How could I forget that? This wasn’t good. TJ would never forgive me. I threw myself on my bed and buried my face in my pillow.
But maybe if she knew what had happened. . .
I quickly grabbed my phone and wrote a text:
Accident on Half Dome
Flip almost died
Helicopter rescue
I’m in danger
Gotta hide out
There. She’d understand now.
But then I remembered Mom’s words. You can’t tell anyone what happened today.
So I deleted it all and wrote this instead:
Sorry TJ
Tired and sore
Then I hit send.
Dad called from downstairs.
“Riley! Can you come down? Someone’s here to see you.”
I had no clue who it could be. I half expected an angry TJ, swinging a bat.
It was Flip! I mean — Dan. This was all so confusing now! But it definitely couldn’t be Flip, because his hair was combed and he had on a nice shirt with a collar and khaki pants. He was on crutches, and one foot had a dress shoe on it. The other had the cast.
“Who are you?” I joked, as I walked round and round him several times.
He held out his hand to shake mine.
“Daniel Stevens. But you can call me Flip. And I have some pretty awesome pictures to show you from yesterday.” He held out a little piece of plastic. “The camera’s trashed, but the memory card’s still good. Wanna take a look?”
“Sure!” I ran to our computer in the living room, but Mom stopped me.
“First things first,” she said. “You need to go upstairs and pack.”
“For what?”
“Our vacation — did you forget already?” Dad handed me a suitcase. “Bring all your outdoor clothes. We’re going to the Stevens’ secret cabin.”
Flip’s eyes brightened. “I haven’t been there for so long. You’re gonna love it, Riley!”
“Where is it?’ I asked.
Fawn walked in the room. “Can’t tell you. Then it wouldn’t be a secret.”
Bob came in next. “It’s all settled. I talked to Tyler — he’ll be ready to fly everyone out in the jet tomorrow morning.”
Flip pointed to me. “I’m not sure that gives this one enough time to pack. Have you seen her shoe collection?”
Then they were all looking at me. Flip (who’s really Danny), Fawn (who’s really Samantha), Eric (also known as the “Easter sneaker” or “Wiener dog”), Bob Hansen (who I guess was always Bob) and my mom and dad.
“So . . . I guess I’m not getting out of my contract, then?”
Mom crossed her arms. “Not a chance.” Then she came and gave me a hug. “But we’re all going to see this thing through together.”