Nowhere to Turn (10 page)

Ben called the next morning, just as I was dashing to school. I'd given Orion a longer-than-usual morning walk—I felt so sorry for him, cooped up in that basement all day—and was a couple of minutes away from being late for homeroom. I let the call ring through to my voice mail and promised myself that I would call him back at lunchtime.

Morgan was waiting for me at my locker at noon. She said something that Morgan hardly ever says: “I'm sorry.”

“For what?” I said. “You didn't do anything.”

“Except harass you to go out with Ben.”

“Don't give yourself too much credit,” I said. “If I didn't like him, nothing you could have said would have made me go out with him. But I do like him, Morgan. He's really sweet and so considerate. Maybe I don't feel the same way about him as I do about Nick—
did
about Nick. But—I don't feel exactly the same way about you and Billy, but you're both my best friends. Feeling differently isn't necessarily bad, right?”

Morgan said nothing.

“Right, Morgan?”

“I have no opinion,” she said firmly, as if trying to convince herself that it was true. “I promised myself that I wouldn't give you any more advice—unless you ask for it.”

I laughed. If there was one thing that Morgan lived for—besides shopping—it was dispensing unasked-for advice.

I went directly to Mr. Schuster's house again after school. My phone rang just as I started up the porch steps. I checked the display. Ben again. I sighed. I really did like him. But . . .Another ring. I pressed the button to answer—and my phone died. I'd forgotten to recharge it. I slipped it back into my pocket and rang the doorbell.

Elliot answered. He had a sheaf of papers in one hand and seemed distracted as he stepped aside to let me enter.

“I'll leave the door unlocked so you can let yourself in after you walk the dog,” he said. “You can take him up to see my father when you get back.”

There was a telephone on the desk in Mr. Schuster's den and another one sitting on a table in the front hall.

“Would it be okay if I made a quick call?” I said.

“Any time,” Elliot said. “You don't even have to ask.” He paused as he turned to go back into the den. “Local, right?”

I nodded.

I tried Ben's number and was surprised at my relief when I ended up with his voice mail. I left a message telling him that I wasn't home and that my cell phone battery had died. I promised to call him later.

Orion started barking as soon as I opened the basement door and had his front paws up on the plywood barrier by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs. He couldn't wait to get out of there. I gave him a dog biscuit and attached his leash while he ate it. I couldn't quite believe it, but I was starting to think of him as a canine friend instead of a scary chore. My dad would have been astonished if he'd seen the way I led Orion upstairs and put on his booties.

We walked for an hour. When I let myself back into the house, I saw Mr. Schuster gripping his walker and making his way slowly up the stairs to his room. A big man in a tracksuit was helping him. When they reached the top, the man said, “Congratulations, Mort. You're doing really well. You can go downstairs and have dinner with your family later. But you have to take it slow, okay? And you have to promise you won't go on the stairs alone. You have to have someone to help you.”

Mr. Schuster nodded. Isobel beamed at the top of the stairs.

Orion and I followed him into his room. As soon as Mr. Schuster had settled into his armchair, Orion dropped his head onto the old man's lap. Mr. Schuster looked tired but pleased with himself.

“Way to go, Mr. Schuster,” I said.

“Tomorrow we're going to celebrate,” Isobel said. “My dad is going to the mall to get his hair cut. Grandpa and I are going with him. While my dad's at the barber, we're going to find a nice place to sit and people watch. Right, Grandpa?”

Mr. Schuster smiled lopsidedly at his granddaughter.

When I started back down the stairs with Orion, I saw Connor sprawled on a bed across the hall. When he saw Orion, he shrank back against the wall. I thought about trying to introduce him to the dog the way I had introduced Isobel but decided against it. I understood how he felt. I had felt that way myself—and my experience hadn't been anywhere near as terrifying as his.

I settled Orion back into the basement. As I buttoned my coat afterward in the front hall, I glanced at the phone on the hall table.

Ben.

He had been trying to reach me for hours, and I still hadn't spoken to him. He had to be wondering what was going on. I picked up the phone in the hall to make a quick call—and had the shock of a lifetime.

Nick was on the line.

CHAPTER
NINE

“T

he mall,” he said. “Noon tomorrow. Upper level, in front of the Gap. I'll be there.” I heard a click. He had hung up. I waited until I heard another, slightly louder, click. That told me that whoever he had been talking to had also hung up. Then I gently put down the receiver.

It sounded as if Nick was planning to meet someone at the mall—someone who lived in the house. Isobel had told me that she and Mr. Schuster were going to the mall. Could Nick be planning to meet them? But that would be stupid. One of the conditions of Nick's release was that he had to stay away from Mr. Schuster. Elliot was going to be at the mall too. Could Nick be planning to meet him? But why would he do that? Elliot had fired Nick, had refused to give him a second chance, and had accused him of stealing Mr. Schuster's coins. Then I remembered what my father had told me about insurance claims. I thought about all the cash the police had found when they arrested Nick. I got a sick feeling in my stomach.

Elliot Schuster came out of the den and stopped short when he saw me.

“Robyn,” he said, startled. “You're still here.”

“I was just on my way home.” I crossed quickly to the door, but it swung open before I could grab it. Claudia stepped into the front hall.

“Where have you been all afternoon?” Elliot demanded.

Claudia's cheeks reddened. She glanced at me.

“Well?” Elliot demanded.

“I told you. I had some errands to run.”

“What errands? Where? If you—” He broke off when his wife looked at me again. “We'll see you tomorrow then, Robyn,” he said.

I took the hint and let myself out. As the door closed behind me, I heard Claudia say, “How could I? You won't let me touch the credit card. You took away my ATM card . . .”

I thought about what Edith and Esther had said about Elliot—and about everything else I had heard about him. I also thought about the insurance policy.

I decided to make a stop on the way home.

Nick's aunt had her overcoat on when she answered the door.

“Robyn,” she said, her voice warm and welcoming. “Glen said you came by the other day. How are you?”

“I'm fine, thank you.” I hesitated. “Is Nick here?”

“He should be,” she said, pulling off her coat. “I just got home.” She called Nick's name. He answered with a muffled shout.

“Sounds like he's in the basement,” she said.

“Would it be okay if I talked to him for a minute?”

She considered this for a moment before stepping back to let me in.

“I don't know what's going on between you and Nick,” she said. “But . . .he's in a lot of trouble this time.”

I didn't know what to say, so I just nodded.

I found Nick sitting in the recliner in the basement entertainment room, staring unblinkingly at the TV screen while he flicked through channel after channel.

“Hi, Nick,” I said.

He didn't answer. He didn't even look at me. I glanced around the room. There was a phone sitting on one end of the bar. I grabbed the remote from his hand and turned off the TV.

“Don't you want to know how Orion is?” I said.

That got his attention. He turned his purple-blue eyes on me.

“I've seen him,” I said. “He's okay.”

“They didn't get rid of him?”

“No.”

He seemed to relax a little.

“Nick, what are your plans for tomorrow?”

He looked back at the blank TV screen.

“What's it to you?” he said.

“Are you going out?”

“Not that it's any of your business, but, yeah. I have an appointment with my lawyer.”

“Is your aunt going with you?”

He straightened up in the recliner and looked at me with irritation.

“She can't. She's working.”

“So Glen is going with you?”

“No. I'm going alone.”

“Your aunt trusts you to do that?”

“Yeah.” He sounded indignant. “Believe it or not, she does. I just have to call her as soon as I get there and before I leave and again when I get home.”

That should have made me feel better, but it didn't. If I was right about what Nick was planning, he would have figured out how to make it work.

“Where is your lawyer's office?”

His eyes flashed with anger. “What's with all the questions, Robyn?”

All the way to the house, I had thought about only three things: Nick's voice on the phone, Elliot Schuster, and the $1,000 in cash. Did it all mean what I thought it might?

“Have you talked to Elliot Schuster since you were arrested?”

“What? Why are you asking me that?”

His eyes shifted for a second to the phone on the bar, and my heart sank. I wanted to believe what Beej did—that he hadn't stolen those coins and that anything else he had done was because he felt he'd been treated unfairly. But it was all so confusing. And the cash that the police had found on Nick made it seem so much worse. Did Nick have something to do with the missing coins or not? If he did, what had made him take them?

From what I had heard, both from Isobel and from the neighbors, there was a lot of friction between Elliot and his father. And according to Esther and Edith, Elliot had a history of asking his parents for money. Add to that that he had found out only recently how valuable his father's coin collection was and immediately took out an insurance policy to cover it. Then, shortly after he'd taken up residence in his father's house, the collection had vanished. Maybe there was a good reason for the insurance company to be suspicious. Maybe Elliot had finally figured out a way to get his hands on some money.