Cooper had been right from the beginning. Police were part of this. And not just any cop, but the detective in charge of the investigation himself. How else could you explain why they let Lunk’s dad off? And Hiro was right, too. Lunk’s dad was part of it. He was Mr. Lucky. He and Hammer were both in this. And likely some organized crime connection was the common denominator that tied them together.
Cooper didn’t move after Lunk and his dad disappeared around the corner of the house. The yapping inside the house died down.
What if Lunk hid in some shadows nearby. Watching. Waiting. Cooper kept still another few minutes, then inched out and crawled to the side of the house. The backyard looked clear. He motioned for Gordy, and minutes later the two hustled down the street. Gordy had an arm around Cooper’s shoulders like they were in a three-legged race.
By the time they got to Gordy’s house, his cousin hardly limped at all.
“Tomorrow is Halloween.” Gordy stood at his door before going in.
Halloween. For an instant Cooper saw the group picture Frank had always been so proud of. He wished Frank could show it to him one more time. And he would give anything to be in a new photo with Frank like that again—even if he hadn’t had a growth spurt yet. But there would be no group photo this year—or most likely ever again. He pushed the thought back and his mind drifted to the unholy holiday approaching.
“I can’t imagine it being any scarier than tonight.”
Gordy grinned, but it faded just as fast as it appeared. “You’ll be there, right? At school?”
“Yeah, but I may be wearing a disguise.”
Gordy grinned again, but this time it stuck. “Costumes are a great idea. Maybe I’ll come as a hostage or something.”
“A hostage?”
“Yeah, I’ll put some duct tape over my mouth and nobody will get anything out of me.”
If only it was that easy. “Tomorrow.” Cooper waved, and crept across the street to his place. He stashed the Spud-zooka in the shed and hurried into the house.
With surprising ease he lied to his mom about where he’d been. He convinced her he wanted to go to bed early so he’d be strong enough for school the next day. Now there’d be no chance of his dad confronting him about the hard drive either.
Fudge followed Cooper to his room and curled up on her rug when he shut the door. He sat at his desk and stared at nothing in particular. Clearly he’d avoided another disaster. He’d avoided Hammer’s little trap. But he’d created another problem in the process. How hard would it be for Lunk to suspect they’d been the ones behind the fiasco tonight?
He swiveled in his chair to talk to Fudge, but she was already asleep. Her ears and feet twitched in random spasms. What did dogs dream about anyway?
She gave out several quiet yips like she was having a nightmare.
He sat next to her and stroked her head. Startled, she tensed and tried to get to her feet.
“It’s okay, girl,” Cooper soothed. “It’s me.”
Her tail thumped against the hardwood floor.
Cooper lightly touched the tips of the fur just inside her ear. Her ear danced involuntarily. He did it again until Fudge stood, gave a full body shake and sat down to scratch her ear with her back paw.
He laughed and tussled her ears. “Okay, Fudge, lay down. I won’t mess with you anymore.”
Ears flat to the sides of her head, she lay back down but kept her eyes open and on him.
“Don’t you trust me?” He scratched behind her ears and his mind jumped to Hiro. That’s what happened with her. She stopped trusting him or lost her respect for him. Maybe both.
Which was really crazy when he thought about it. “Everything I did helped protect her and Gordy. Even Mom and Dad. And Mattie. If I talked, all of them could have gotten hurt. Or killed.”
Fudge gave him a doubtful look.
“You don’t believe me?” Cooper eyed her back. Sometimes it seemed she understood everything he said to her. “Then why did I do it?”
Fudge nuzzled his hand and licked it. Like she was trying to comfort him. Like she understood the truth and knew it would be hard for him to accept. Which was a ridiculous thought. Dogs aren’t mind readers. How could she know anything about his motives?
A thought popped into his head. A question, really. Was the Code of Silence really about protecting your family and friends, or was it all about protecting yourself?
His mind replayed the events of the last week. It had all seemed so simple at first. So logical. Silence is golden. Right? Keep your mouth shut and nobody gets hurt.
Except people did get hurt. Hiro, for one. He’d tested their friendship to the breaking point and then some. He’d done it to Gordy, too.
The Code seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But since when did living a lie become the right thing to do? The Code wasn’t solely built on a vow to stay quiet. It was about living a lie, and doing everything they could to keep anyone from discovering the truth. And that meant more lies. And lots of deception.
Cooper didn’t like the thought of that. He looked around his room. Looked for something to get his mind off this. But all he could think about were the lies.
He told more lies in the last week than he could count. To Mom and Dad. To teachers, police. Anybody and everybody. He hadn’t just broken trust. He’d trampled it. Shattered it into as many pieces as the lies he’d told.
Most of all he’d been lying to himself. How could he have ever figured this would all work out fine … or go away? Lies don’t work that way. They have a way of circling back and showing up just when you don’t want them to.
He started pacing the room. He didn’t want to think about this anymore. It was almost over. They’d stuck to the Code and they were still safe almost a week later. Nobody was breaking into their house at night to shut him up permanently. He was alive, and sometimes that’s what mattered most.
He slumped down on the bed and looked at Fudge. She looked at him with sad eyes. Like Hiro had been talking to her.
“Don’t give me those eyes, Fudge.”
She didn’t blink. And deep in her eyes he sensed the truth. He may be alive, but with all these lies, how could he live with himself?
But he had to. A little longer and things would work out. He was sure of it.
“God, please,” Cooper whispered. “Get me out of this.”
Did God hear the prayers of liars?
He had to shake that kind of thinking. He couldn’t let fear get the best of him. He had to do something. It was obvious now that the robbers would never be picked up. Hammer would see to that. And Cooper’s notes to the police only made the search for him more desperate.
Time was running out. Of that he was certain. If Lunk figured out he’d been the one with the potato gun, it wouldn’t be hard to piece the rest together. Lunk would gladly tell his dad so Mr. Lucky could handle the loose ends and get out of town. His heart kept bringing him back to the same course of action. Something that twisted his gut just to think of it.
“Have I gone too far, girl?” Lying comes with a high price. He was seeing that now.
“It’s never too late to tell the truth, is it?”
Fudge didn’t look convinced.
And deep down … neither was he.