Nowhere to Turn (13 page)

School let out at noon the next day. It was the beginning of break. I decided to use the extra time that afternoon to go to the hospital and see Mr. Schuster. Morgan came with me.

“Robyn!” someone called just as we stepped off the elevator. “Robyn!”

It was Isobel. She was in a small waiting room across from the elevator. So were some of Mr. Schuster's neighbors—Esther and Edith and another woman I recognized from my dog-walking expeditions. Isobel's parents stood halfway down the hall talking to a man in a white lab coat. Isobel came out of the waiting room to greet me.

“How's your grandfather?” I asked.

“My dad said nothing is broken, so I guess that's good,” she said. “But he hurt his wrists and his back and one of his knees got banged up. It's really swollen. The doctor says that in his condition, it could take a long time for him to recover. Depending on how much damage was done to his knee and his back, he might not be able to walk again for a long time.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “After all that progress he made . . .”

“It looks like he's had a lot of visitors,” I said gently. “I bet he appreciates that.”

Isobel nodded. “All of those women in there are either neighbors or they know him from church. My dad says he had no idea Grandpa was such a ladies' man.”

“Will he be able to go home soon?”

Isobel's face clouded again.

“That's what my parents are talking to Grandpa's doctor about. The doctor is worried. He thinks Grandpa should consider going to a home, where he can be looked after. But Grandpa doesn't want that. He got all upset when my dad mentioned it. My parents got into a big argument about it. My dad keeps saying that Grandpa isn't well enough to make decisions for himself, but he doesn't want to force him into a nursing home. My mom thinks my dad should take charge and that if the doctor thinks Grandpa needs to be in a nursing home, then that's what he should do.”

I glanced at Elliot, who was shaking the doctor's hand.

“Isobel,” I said, “what were you—”

I stopped when I spotted Elliot and Claudia coming toward us.

“Robyn,” Elliot said. “I understand you were at the mall yesterday. One of the police officers I spoke to said that he took a statement from the girl who walks my dad's dog.”

Isobel stared at me.

“You were there?” she said.

“I was doing some errands with my friend.” I nodded at Morgan.

“It's quite a coincidence that you witnessed the whole thing,” Elliot said. “The police told me they took a lot of statements. If they don't lock up that boy, then there's something seriously wrong with our justice system.”

Morgan glanced at me.

“Is your father well enough to have visitors?” I asked.

“I'm sure he'd love to see you,” Isobel said before Elliot could answer. “Come on. I'll take you.”

Morgan shrugged, slipped into the waiting room, and started sorting through a stack of dog-eared magazines. Mr. Schuster opened his eyes as soon as he heard us enter the room. He looked right at me, then touched the bridge of his nose and traced a line diagonally across his cheek to the bottom of his ear.

“He wants to know how Nick is,” Isobel said.

“I haven't seen him,” I said. I turned to Isobel. “Did you take your grandfather to the mall to see Nick?”

Isobel's cheeks turned pink. She bit her lower lip and glanced at her grandfather. He nodded.

“Did Nick ask you to meet him there?”

“No,” she said. “I called him.”

I had been right. The phone hadn't rung because Nick wasn't the one who made the call.

“Grandpa asked me to. At first he wanted me to see how Nick was doing. Then he wanted me to arrange for him to see him. But every time I called, a man answered and told me that Nick couldn't come to the phone.”

That explained why Glen had told me to stop calling the one time I'd tried to get Nick on the phone. He must have mistaken me for Isobel. But Isobel had finally got through.

“Do you know why your grandfather wanted to see Nick?”

Isobel glanced at her grandfather again. Again, he nodded.

“He wanted me to ask Nick if he stole those coins. He wanted to look at Nick when he answered. He knew he'd be able to tell if Nick was telling the truth.”

Mr. Schuster nodded.

“And?” I said.

Mr. Schuster shook his head slowly.

“We didn't have a chance to talk to Nick before Grandpa . . .before he fell,” Isobel said.

I looked into Mr. Schuster's watery eyes.

“Do you think Nick pushed you?” I said.

He neither nodded nor shook his head. Either he didn't know or he didn't want to say. I don't think he wanted to believe that Nick would hurt him.

“What about you, Isobel?” I said. “What do you think?”

She looked uncertain. “I don't know.”

“Now what?” Morgan said when I went back to the waiting room.

Good question. I was both relieved and puzzled by what Isobel had told me. Nick hadn't gone to the mall to meet Elliot. And it seemed less likely that he had gone to harm Mr. Schuster. Instead, he had gone because Mr. Schuster, through Isobel, had asked him to. But I was still haunted by what I had seen at the mall and I wondered, not for the first time that day, whether my father had had a chance to do what I had asked. But even if he had, it wouldn't explain what had happened to Mr. Schuster's coin collection. Maybe I had been wrong about what had brought Nick to the mall, but that didn't mean I had been wrong about everything. I thought about what Esther and Edith had said about Elliot asking his parents for money and about what I had overheard Claudia say about credit cards. I also thought about Elliot's insistence that his father wasn't well enough to make his own decisions. Add to all of that his sudden interest in his father's coin collection—and his knowledge of Nick's past . . .

Another picture started to emerge. What if Elliot was scheming to get control of his father's affairs, including his financial affairs? What if he'd come up with a way to get his hands on both the coin collection and the insurance money—by making Nick look like a thief? It would explain a lot of what had happened. But how could I prove it?

“Robyn?” Morgan said, elbowing me.

“Huh?”

“What are you going to do now?”

“I need to talk to Elliot. I'll be right back.”

I got up and went back out into the hall. Elliot and Claudia were standing outside Mr. Schuster's room, deep in conversation.

“Oh, yes, the dog,” Elliot said when I asked him. “We'll be here for a while, but Connor is at the house. He'll let you in.”

Perfect
, I thought. I waved Morgan out of the waiting room and told her I was going to go walk Orion.

“So I guess I'll catch up with you later, then,” she said.

“Uh-uh. You're coming with me. I need you to help create a diversion.”

“Diversion?”

While we waited for the bus, I explained to her what I had been thinking. Morgan was intrigued.

“But what about what happened at the mall?” she said.

“I'm working on that.” Or, rather, I hoped my father was.

As the bus pulled up in front of us, my phone rang. It was Ben.

“You want to do something tonight?” he said.

“Uh, okay,” I said. I hadn't given Ben much thought lately. I had been too preoccupied with Nick. He must have picked up on my mood because he said, “Is everything okay, Robyn?”

“Sure. Everything's fine.”

We made plans to see a movie. Morgan looked quizzically at me when I dropped my phone back into my pocket, but she didn't ask.

After a short ride on the bus, we got off and walked to Mr. Schuster's house. I was about to ring the bell when Morgan put out a hand to stop me.

“Just a sec,” she said. She pulled a compact mirror out of her bag, checked her reflection, then freshened her mascara. “Okay. Ready.”

As Elliot had promised, Connor let us in. He quietly acknowledged me but couldn't take his eyes off Morgan. She's what most people would call beautiful. She knows it, and she's not above using it to her advantage—or mine, if I ask. She flashed Connor a great big smile and thrust out a hand. He puffed up a little when she asked him what his sport was.

“How do you know I'm into sports?” he said, cheeks flushing.

“Are you kidding?” Morgan said. “The shape you're in, either you're into sports or you work out on the reg.”

“I'm gonna go and get Orion,” I said—not that anyone was listening.

“Football,” Connor said. “And I play hockey.”

I headed for the basement. Orion jumped up at the barrier when he heard me coming.

“Hey, boy,” I said, holding out a dog biscuit. He devoured it and barked. He seemed more worked up than usual. He probably missed his visits with Mr. Schuster. I removed his leash from the hook and pushed the barrier aside. Orion wriggled through the opening before I could attach the leash and bolted up the stairs. I ran after him, but I wasn't fast enough.

“Hey!” Connor shouted in alarm.

By the time I reached the top of the stairs, Connor was plastered against the wall, his eyes wide with terror. Orion was in front of him, barking furiously. Morgan was off to one side, staring steadfastly at the floor. She didn't know Orion, but she did know better than to stare a strange dog in the eyes. The dog might take that as a challenge.

“Orion,” I said. “Sit.”

Instead, Orion turned and streaked up the stairs. This was not going according to plan.

“Catch him!” Connor screamed at me. “Put him back in the basement.”

I glanced at Morgan. She took Connor by the hand.

“It's okay,” she said calmly. “Robyn knows what she's doing.” She shot me a glance that told me that she hoped so. She led Connor toward the living room, and he darted inside gratefully. Morgan mouthed “Good luck” at me from behind the room's French doors. I had a feeling I was going to need it. Morgan was doing her part, but Orion was not cooperating. He was really wound up.

The barking stopped just as I got to the top of the stairs. Orion wasn't in the hallway, which meant that he was in one of the rooms. I pictured him lurking in a doorway, ready to pounce.

Get a grip, I told myself. Orion might not be perfect, but he wasn't vicious, either, no matter what Connor thought. Second, dogs can sense fear. I told myself to think of something pleasant, something that would calm me. An image flashed into my mind: Nick and me cuddling together on my father's couch.

It was like a blow to the heart.

All of a sudden, I realized that I wasn't mad at Nick anymore. I missed him. I wanted to be with him. If only he wasn't in so much trouble . . .

I drew myself straight and reminded myself that I was upstairs for a reason. I stood silently in the hall and listened for Orion. A whimpering sound was coming from Mr. Schuster's bedroom. I peeked inside. Orion was lying on Mr. Schuster's bed. His head was flopped on a pillow.

I approached him cautiously and sat down on the bed beside him. He looked at me with sad eyes. I held my hand out so that he could sniff it, then patted his head. He whimpered again.

“I know exactly how you feel,” I said. I patted him some more and then snapped the leash onto his collar. “Come on. We've got work to do, and then I'll take you for a nice, long walk.”

His ears pricked up when he heard the word
walk
. He jumped off the bed and padded down the hall with me. Connor and Morgan were still locked away in the living room. Connor's eyes got big when he caught sight of Orion coming down the stairs. Then Morgan reached out and touched his arm, and Connor seemed to forget that there was anyone else in the house.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I slipped a few Kanine Kookies out of my pocket. After a quick glance to make sure Connor wasn't looking, I threw them into Mr. Schuster's den and let go of Orion's leash. The big dog bolted through the den door to hunt for the biscuits.