How much could Dad know? Maybe parents had an instinct about their own kids, or Dad had a baloney detector of his own. But if he acted like he was holding anything back, Dad would be all over it. Cooper swallowed. “Yeah, isn’t it awful?”
“You never said a thing about it when you got home.” He glanced at Gordy. “Neither of you did.”
Gordy stood—and Fudge yipped and scrambled away. “Oh, sorry, Fudge.” He jammed his hands in his pockets.
Cooper had to say something before Gordy did. “I-I guess it was the boat.”
Mom shifted Mattie off her lap. “What?”
“Yeah,” Cooper said, relieved he had a trail to lead them down. “The whole surprise of the boat. We were talking about the robbery on the way home, then we saw part of the fence down and then there you were, Dad, driving out of the backyard with the pickup.”
The explanation just kind of gushed out. Cooper was getting some real traction now. “And once I saw the boat, I didn’t think about what happened at school today until you called us in to see the news.”
Dad moved over to the couch and sat on the arm. “I guess I can understand that.” He nodded like he was thinking. “But still … we’re talking about Frank here.”
Taking a deep breath, Cooper forced himself to slow down. He couldn’t afford a mistake now. “Detective Hammer, the guy they showed on TV, talked to the students at an assembly today. Said Frank is in ICU at Northwest Community Hospital.” He paused. “He’s in a coma, just like the reporter said.”
Cooper’s mom wiped back tears. “This is going to hit Hiro’s mom hard.”
“Hiro thinks Lunk might be wrapped up in it somehow,” Gordy said. “He works there part time now, you know.”
“Neil Lunquist.” Mom stood and started toward the kitchen. “I still have a hard time trusting that boy.”
“Which is why that doesn’t make sense,” Cooper said. “I mean, how obvious would that be? I’m sure the police would check out every employee’s story.”
Stopping, she turned to look at Cooper. “Those sirens we heard last night. That must have been what it was all about. I told you something terrible must have happened.”
Mom didn’t know the half of it. Cooper pushed the images out of his mind. “They gave us a form for you to sign.” Volunteering this information hadn’t been part of his plan. He’d hoped to stall the whole thing off. But not mentioning it now might only make them suspicious when they did find out.
“What kind of form?” Dad looked right into his eyes.
Cooper kept his gaze steady. “Some kind of permission form so they can set up interviews with the kids.”
“I’d better take a look at it,” Dad said.
Cooper needed to breathe. All he wanted to do was get out of the room. “I’ll get it right now.” Hurrying into the kitchen and down the hall toward the front door, he pulled open the closet and knelt down beside his backpack. The form wasn’t hard to find, and when he turned around his dad and Gordy were headed his way.
“Did the police say why they felt the witness is a Plum Grove student?”
“Uh-huh.” Cooper pulled the English book from his backpack that he’d “borrowed” from Jake Mickel. “This. Someone left a book in the dining area.”
“And that led them right to Plum Grove.” Dad nodded.
And by showing the book, Cooper hoped he’d effectively lead his dad from shifting any suspicion his way.
Mom came around the corner from the kitchen. “I’m just glad you rode bikes in the park.” Shuddering, she stepped over and hugged Cooper. “If you had gone to Frank ‘n Stein’s like you’d planned to, you might have been there when they got robbed.” She squeezed him tighter. “I probably shouldn’t have said that, because now you might get bad dreams.”
Might get bad dreams? Cooper squirmed just a bit. Last night his dreams would have terrified a horror film fan.
“You were going to Frank ‘n Stein’s last night?” Dad raked his fingers through his hair. “Thank God you didn’t go. What made you change your mind?”
Cooper hesitated. “Well, uh, we started heading that way, but, um—”
“I wasn’t hungry,” Gordy interrupted.
Mom laughed. “You not hungry?”
“And so we rode around a bit until I did get hungry.”
Cooper had to stop him. If Gordy kept on going, he’d blow everything.
Dad looked confused. “So then you did go to Frank ‘n Stein’s when you got hungry?”
“No.” Gordy’s eyes darted to Cooper. “I sort of had an accident and fell into the creek. So we couldn’t go to Frank ‘n Stein’s. I got all wet and muddy. Real muddy. My shoes were loaded with it.”
Dad glanced at Gordy’s feet. “Shoes sure cleaned up nice.”
“I wish,” Gordy said. “These are my old ones.”
“Did either of you boys see anything that might help the police?”
Cooper shrugged. “It was dark.” He needed to get the focus off last night. The permission slip. “Here, Dad.” He held out the bright yellow form.
Cooper’s dad took the form and frowned as he read it. Mom stood behind him and read over his shoulder.
“They may ask for DNA testing?” Cooper’s mom said. “Isn’t that a bit extreme?”
Cooper’s dad kept reading the form. “They intend to find out who the witness is, whether he wants to offer the information or not.”
“Do we sign it?” Cooper’s mom look concerned.
Carson MacKinnon nodded. “I don’t see why not. One of us will be there. We need to do everything we can to help. We’ve got nothing to hide.”
Maybe you don’t. Cooper watched his dad sign the form. But I sure do.