Finders Keepers (6 page)

           
Now Sky really did stand up.
 
“I just wanted to say how nice it was to see you again.”

           
His words sounded so formal.
 
And final.
 
She stood up too, her arms still wrapped around herself.
 
“It doesn’t sound like I’ll see you again anytime soon.”
      
     

He shook his head.
 
“I have to go back where I belong.
 
This isn’t home for me anymore.”
 
He set his lips into a line and stuck his hands in his pockets.
 
It was a totally casual move, and yet Ellie sensed sadness…defeat.
  

Ellie lowered her eyes.
 
She could still see him as the cute, five-year-old goblin and her heart ached.
 
Get a grip.
 
You haven’t seen this kid in eleven years, and you didn’t even have a thing for him when you were five.
 
Why are you getting upset over this?
     

“Wait,” she said again.
 
“You haven’t told me everything.
 
Like why were you at the hospital in the first place?
 
Or how did I really get to the post office parking lot?
 
What do you know about my crow?
 
Why does it feel like you’re hiding something?”

He cocked his head to one side and grinned at her.
 
“I wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if you knew all my secrets.”
 
He let the grin slide when he saw her glare.
 
“The important thing is that you’re safe.
 
And you’re going to stay safe.
 
I…”

A car horn honked.
 
A black Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows pulled alongside the curb in front of the house.
 

“That’s my ride.
 
And oh, here’s this.”
 
He slipped her pink
bumpered
iphone
out of his pocket.
 
“I found it.”
 

Their fingers touched when he handed her the phone, and there was that tingle that traveled from the tips of her fingers to her stomach again.
 
He turned his back to her and she thought she heard him say more to himself than her, “It’s my turn to protect you, Ellie Brown.”
 
But she wasn’t sure, and she didn’t have time to think about it, because when he opened the passenger side door, Ellie got a glimpse of the driver.
 

4

Ellie bounded into the house at full speed.
 
“Taylor!”
 
She dashed down the hall and ran smack into Taylor who came sprinting from the other direction.
 
“Get your keys.
 
We’ve got to go.”
 
Ellie grabbed her dad’s flannel jacket from the hall closet and shoved her still damp sneakers on without tying the shoe laces.
 
Her mom appeared from the kitchen.
 
Ellie flashed her a fake smile.
 
“Just forgot Taylor and I are missing Manny’s bowling tourney.
 
We promised we’d be there.
 
Be back in a few hours.
 
I’ll call.”
 
She left her mother open-mouthed in the hall and dragged Taylor out the front door.
 

           
“I don’t care what you’re up to, but really, are you going out in that?” Taylor pointed to Ellie’s mismatched ensemble, complete with no socks.
 

           
“I’m wearing a bra, aren’t I?”
 
She pushed Taylor toward the cherry red Honda civic—Taylor’s sixteenth birthday present.
 
Cosmically unfair.
 
Seriously.
 
“Hurry up or we’ll lose them.”
 

           
Ellie made a quick explanation as they screeched out of the driveway.
 
“Sky lied.
 
He didn’t find me at the post office.
 
There was a guy at the hospital who tricked me into thinking that Sky was after me.
 
So I took off with him on his motorcycle, and we ended up at the park where he tried to strangle me.
 
Somebody saved me.
 
Maybe it was Sky.
 
But when he left just now he got in a car with my attacker.
 
He’s not the hero, he just might be the wingman!”

           
Taylor took a sharp left throwing Ellie into the car door.
 
“You were on a motorcycle?
 
Are you kidding me!
 
And you didn’t tell me?”

“Taylor!”

“Then why in the world are we following them and not calling the police?”

           
An excellent point.
 
One which Ellie promptly ignored.
 
“Look!
 
There they are.
 
It’s the black Cadillac stopped at the light.”

           
Her friend pressed harder on the gas in order to make the light.
 
They turned left and headed up Main street.
 

           
“They’re up to something Taylor.”
 
And it’s nowhere near on the level of normal
.
 
“I promise we won’t get too close.
 
Do you still have your mace?”
 

Taylor gestured toward the glove compartment.
 
Ellie retrieved the skinny keychain canister and snapped the compartment shut.

           
“What we really need is one of those personal
tasers
.”
 
She was just joking.
 
Taylor reached down under her seat and pulled out a pink Gucci purse.
 
She tossed it over onto Ellie’s lap.
 
“Side pocket.”

           
Ellie unzipped the side pocket.
 
“Holy crap, Taylor.
 
How in the world did you get that?”
 

           
“My mom bought it for me online.
 
She’s worried my impending stardom is going to make me a target for stalkers.”
 
She laughed.
 
It was dry without any trace of amusement.
 

Taylor’s career as a model and actress was a constant sticking point between her and her mom.
 
Taylor wanted to go to college on a sports scholarship—for soccer or softball or both.
 
Her mother was ready to pack up and move them to L.A. practically every other weekend.

           
The girls, as discreetly as possible, followed behind the black SUV.
 
After a few minutes it became obvious to Ellie where they were going.
 
The park.
 
As friendly as the
Colverville
City Park appeared to be in daylight, with its multiple playground structures, pavilions, duck pond, rainbow bridge, and friendly pedestrians walking their dogs, it gave Ellie the creeps and not just because of last night.
 
Most of the park was shaded by full grown oaks which blocked a person’s view of the entire park.
 
The seclusion made it easy to think you were the only one there, just to find that someone else was winding their way down the curvy path ahead or behind.
 

           
They pulled into the nearest parking area and let the Escalade continue on further into the park.
 

           
“Suddenly I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Ellie said.
 
She and Taylor watched the Escalade disappear into a treed area.
 

           
Taylor reached under the stereo and produced an oversized pair of sunglasses.
 
“We’ll never know unless we follow them.”

           
Ellie jumped at the sound of a fire alarm going off in her lap.

           
“Oops, that’s my phone.”
 
Taylor snatched her purse away from Ellie and rummaged through it until she produced a small flip phone.
 
“It’s the only ringtone that keeps me from missing my calls.
 
Ooh, it’s Manny!”
 
She rolled her eyes at Ellie.
 
“I wonder how he possibly has time to call when he must be really busy in the middle of his you know, bowling game or whatever.”

           
“What was I supposed to say?
 
You know I’m a terrible liar!”
 

Taylor wasn’t listening.
 
She flicked the phone open.
 
“Hi handsome.
 
How many strikes have you racked up?”
 
She giggled.

Ellie retrieved the sunglasses from where Taylor dropped them.
 
Taylor could make a giggle sound flirty and seductive all at the same time—a language so far beyond Ellie it might as well have been Finnish.
 
Not that it usually bothered her, but then she’d never heard Taylor use it on Manny before—Ellie’s physics lab partner and secret love of her life.
 
Suddenly, there was just not enough air inside of the car.
 
She had to get out.

 
Ellie popped the car door open and slid out.
 
This is possibly the worst idea ever.
 
Of course it had to be mine.
 
Ellie gripped the mace can tightly in her hand.
 
She left the
taser
in Taylor’s purse.
 
The fact was it would probably be more effective in shocking her, than vice versa.
 
Shoot.
 
She should have brought a hat.
 
The hot pink stripes in her hair were a dead giveaway as to identity.
 
Self-consciously she tugged at her pony-tail with her free hand.
 
It won’t be a big deal because I am not going to be seen.
 
I am just going to see where they are going
.
 
In her mind she envisioned herself saving someone else from attack, becoming a hero, and getting both of the boys arrested and put in jail forever.

The thought pricked at her heart a little, at least when she thought about a certain black-haired boy with blue eyes.
 
He wasn’t so bad.
 
A tree root snagged her foot and she lurched forward.
 
The mace flew from her hand.
 
She ended up on her front with a raw, bloody chin.

Two different pairs of hands hauled her to her feet.
 
On her right, Taylor.
 
On her left, her lab partner and Taylor’s new boyfriend Manny.
 
Ellie colored
fuschia
like her hair at the sight of him.
 

“It’s crazy, Elle-belle, but I scored at least a thousand points on my last game.
 
Won the whole bowling play-off!
 
ESPN is going to come out and do a thing on me.
 
It’s going to be way bigger news than your near-death experience.”
 
He cocked his head and a lopsided grin spread across his face.
 
Ellie’s heart melted and puddled somewhere near her toes.

Trying to cover up the flush and her ever-quickening heartbeat, she said, “Fat chance.
 
You can’t even score that high in bowling.”

“I know.
 
That’s why I am so incredibly amazing.”
                                          

“
Shhh
.”
 
Taylor put her finger up to her lips.
 
“I see them over there.”

All three of them ducked behind the tree where Ellie tripped.
 
Manny playfully balanced his elbows on Taylor and Ellie’s heads.
 
He was a long, lanky 6’3”.
 
Ellie focused on the boy talking to Sky.
 
Dark brown wavy hair.
 
Jeans.
 
Khaki jacket.
 
Silver shades.
 
Black gloves.
 
If he wasn’t the one who tried to kill her, he was his close twin.
 
She couldn’t swallow.

“I don’t know why you didn’t call me first thing.
 
You know I’ve got your back Elle-belle.”
 
Reaching into his jacket he produced a rat-sized
chihuahua
.
 
“
Gots
me a secret weapon.”
 
He winked and strolled from behind the tree toward where Sky and the other boy were talking some distance away.
 

“How did Manny get here so fast?”

“He was already here.
 
That’s his sister’s new puppy.
 
She has SAT prep this morning so he offered to walk it for her.”

“His sister is nine.”

Taylor shrugged.
 
Okay, yeah, so that didn’t really surprise Ellie either.
 
Manny was the smartest person she knew, and without competition would be their valedictorian next year.
 
The smart and beautiful genes must run in his family.

The girls peeked around the trunk of the tree and watched Manny walk the rodent sized pup straight toward the boys.
 
Sky and his companion ignored the newcomer and continued talking.
 
Ellie heard Taylor whisper, “Brilliant.”
 
Once again, Ellie had to agree.
 
When he was within just a few feet of the boys, he pointed at the dog and said quite loudly, “Pee
pee
.”
 
The dog went on command.
 
Ellie completed a fast 180 and slid her back down the back of the trunk.
 
She had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from bursting into giggles.
 
Very, very tall Manny walking really, really teeny rat-dog and innocently ordering it to “pee
pee
” was just too much for her to take.
 
It was the dumbest and, admittedly, most brilliant plan she’d ever seen.