Andi Unstoppable (14 page)
Romero's truck was still in the lot. I bet she got him to go to art club too. I looked around the lot to make sure no one was watching. When I didn't see anyone, I sprinted for Romero's red pickup. On my tippy toes, I peered into the bed of the truck. The blanket was there, and I remembered the duffel bag I so desperately wanted to see was under it.
I stepped on the bumper and swung my leg over
the tailgate. I whipped the rough blanket aside. The bag was still there. I ripped open the zipper and pulled out the contents: a long silver wig and a white gauzy robe with glitter on it. I removed the piece of fabric I found in Shalley Park from my pocket. It matched. I pulled the robe all the way out and found a small tear in the sleeve. Although crumpled and worn from being inside my pocket, my piece fit into the tear perfectly.
I'd found the ghost.
I heard a shuffling sound, and peeked over the side of the truck. The school security guard moseyed in my direction, snapping a large wad of pink bubblegum. I didn't have time to climb out of the truck without being seen, so I threw the blanket over my head and hid.
I waited and listened. I was about to climb out of my hiding place, when I heard voices approaching the truck.
“Let me know how your mom is,” I heard Bethany say. My sister was right outside of Romero's truck! Oh, this was bad. If she caught me, I was dead meat.
“I will,” Romero said. “Thanks.”
“And I'm sorry for my sister being so nosy,” Bethany said.
“That's not your fault,” Romero replied.
“She's a pain, but she's still my sister.”
They were talking about
me
while standing right beside the truck bed where I was hiding.
Romero laughed. “Ava is nosy too. I think it's a little sister requirement.”
Bethany sighed. “She's all I have left of my mom and dad too. I wish we got along better.”
My heart started to beat faster, and I wondered if I should reveal myself. I didn't because I wanted to hear what else my sister had to say.
“I had better get back to Art Club,” Bethany said.
Romero said good-bye, and a few moments later, the pickup door opened. And the engine started.
I peeked out from under the blanket. Above me, the tops of trees and the sky passed by. I knew we couldn't be too far from the school yet, but I couldn't tell where I was from just seeing the treetops and an occasional streetlight. If I knocked on the rear window of the pickup, I might scare Romero and cause an accident. I chewed on my lip. Aunt Amelie asked me to stay out of trouble. I don't think this is what she had in mind.
The pickup made a sharp turn, sending me
slamming into the side of the truck. Gravel crunched under its tires as the truck slowed down. I crouched under the blanket and placed my hands on the floor, so I would be ready to spring up and out of there.
Finally, the truck rocked to a stop. I prayed that Romero didn't need anything from the back of his truck, but that prayer was short-lived because suddenly the blanket was ripped from my head.
“Ahhhh!” Romero screamed and jumped backward.
I scrambled to my feet, scooped up the duffel bag with the ghost costume, and hopped over the tailgate. I landed with a thud in the gravel. We were in the Shalley Park parking lot.
I turned to find Romero a few feet away. He had a
hand to his chest as if he were trying to hold his heart in place. “What were you doing in there?”
“What are you doing at Shalley Park?” I said back.
He dropped his hand and glared at the duffel bag in my hand. “Give that to me.”
“No way,” I yelled. “I have this as proof that you are the ghost and robbing those graves.”
He lunged for the duffel bag, but I jumped out of his reach.
“You've been stealing from the graves!”
He held one hand with the other. “I need the money.”
“For what? To take my sister out on a date?” I slung the strap of the duffel bag diagonally over my body.
“No,” he snapped, stepping toward me. “Do you want to know why Ava misses so much school?”
I took two huge steps back. I was the closest to the path leading into the park. I didn't think I could outrun Romero, but I was willing to try. “Yes.”
His jaw twitched. “It's because our mom is sick, really sick. Ava has been going with her to the doctor's appointments.” He dropped his glare for just a second. “I â I can't. I can't handle going with her, so my little sister has to do it.”
“What's wrong with her?” I whispered. My hand fell from the duffel bag's strap until I remembered I needed to keep it for evidence.
“Breast cancer. And all the pink ribbon support in the world isn't going to help her. She's going to die.”
“B-but what about surgery or chemo? I thought they can fix this.”
“Sure, they can try, but this is her second time around. Chances aren't that good.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. I had lost my mother. It had been sudden and violent. She hadn't been sick. The day before she died, I had spoken to her on the phone. She had been healthy. She was in the best shape of her life. She could climb mountains and hike ravines, and I still lost her and my father. But I didn't watch her die. She was just gone. Was watching it worse? I didn't know.
“I'm sorry,” I said.
“Yeah, well, now Ava is going to rip my head off because I told you. She doesn't want anyone to know, especially anyone from school.” He scowled. “So don't go telling anyone.”
“I won't,” I promised.
“Good,” he grunted. “Now, turn over the duffel bag.”
“No way.” I grabbed the strap again.
“You have to. I â I can't go to the doctor's with my mom like Ava can. I'm not that strong, but I can earn money to help pay for everything.”
“By stealing?”
He glared at me, taking a few steps forward. “You're Beth's sister. I don't want to fight with you so just hand it over.”
Before I could answer, a person came up behind Romero. “What is taking so long, Romero? This is the last night I can afford to spend on the site, and I want to get this over with,” Claudette's familiar voice said harshly.
If the duffel bag hadn't been strapped across my body, I would have dropped it in shock.
“Claudette?” I whispered. “What are you doing here? You said we all needed to stay away from Shalley Park.”
“Andi!” Her eyes snapped in my direction. “Yes, I told you to stay away from the park. It's for your own safety.”
“Safety from you!” I shouted. “You used the story of Dominika's ghost to scare us away from the cemetery, so you could dig the graves up with Romero's help.” It all made sense. Hadn't Mr. Finnigan said that greed was at the heart of this crime? Romero did it for money, money he can give his family. Claudette needed money too, but to finance her birding not to pay someone's hospital bills. I should have suspected her before, but I had been blinded by the fact she was Colin's aunt and Bergita's sister.
Colin's aunt waved her hands. “It's not what you think.”
“It's exactly what I think,” I said. “You stole coins from those graves for money to pay for your birding. You're still stealing from them.” I looked from one to the other. “Isn't that what you are still doing?”
She glared at me. “Andi, you need to listen to reason. Give up the duffel bag, and Romero will take you home.”
“No!” I cried and spun around. I ran at top speed for the trail leading into Shalley Park.
“Go after her,” Claudette yelled. “You have to get that costume back or we'll both be ruined.”
Behind me, I heard Romero crash into the forest. He would overtake me soon. His legs were much longer than mine.
“Andi,” a voice called. “Over here!”
I paused for half a second to look around, and then out of nowhere, a hand yanked me into the bushes.
“Shh,” Colin whispered in my ear.
Seconds later, Romero barreled down the path.
We waited for a couple of minutes crouched in the bushes. Finally, we crept out onto the path.
I knocked a leaf from my shoulder. “What are you doing here?”
“When you didn't come home after school, I had a feeling you came here. I arrived just as you were talking to Claudette and Romero.” He shook his head and his hair fell over the top of his glasses. “I can't believe my aunt is in on this. We need to tell Bergita.”
I shoved Romero's duffel bag back into the brush until it was so far in no one would see it from the path.
“What are you doing?”
“This is what they are after. I'm hiding it until we can find more evidence. This might not be enough to convince Officer Handly and the police.”
Colin stared nervously up the path. “I think we need to leave the park, Andi.”
“Not yet. We just need a little more proof that they're behind the grave robbing.”
“So what should we do? Call the police?”
I shook my head. “No, call Bergita and ask her to come. If anyone can talk Claudette into doing the right thing it will be her sister.”
“What am I supposed to say? Hey, Bergita, hurry up and get over here because your sister is a grave robber?”
I rolled my eyes. “Tell her that we are at Shalley Park, and we need her to meet us at the cemetery ASAP.”
Colin sighed and called his grandmother. “Hi, Bergita. Yes, yes, I'm fine . . . I know I should have told you I was leaving . . . I'm at Shalley Park.” He glanced at me. “Yes, Andi's here too. We need you to come here . . . It has to do with the ghost and the grave robbery.” He paused. “It'll be easier to explain when you get here.”
I heard Bergita shout into the phone, and then Colin said good-bye. “She's on her way.”
“Good. Now, we need to go to the cemetery and stop Romero and Claudette from taking anything else from the Shalley boys' graves.”
From our many treks through Shalley Park the last few days, Colin and I knew exactly where the cemetery was. It was about a mile from the parking lot, deep in the woods. We walked there in silence, listening for any sound of Claudette or Romero on the trail.
We were about halfway there when I saw a figure to our left. I tapped Colin on the shoulder and put a finger to my lips. I pointed at the form moving through the trees. Sunlight reflected on the lens of the person's binoculars. “Ava! What are you doing here?” I called.
Ava dropped her binoculars and stared at us. She scooped her binoculars back up from the ground.
“Same thing you are, I'm looking for the Kirtland's warbler.”
I frowned. “But you said you didn't want to look anymore, that the grade we already got was good enough.”
“I know, but I got home and realized that I wasn't ready to give up, so I promised myself one more try.”
“You could have told us,” Colin said. “We would have come with you.”
She scowled. “I wanted to do it alone.”
“Colin and I aren't here for the Kirtland's warbler.” I licked my lips. “We have bigger problems. We know who is stealing from the graves and who is pretending to be the ghost to scare us away.”
“It's my aunt Claudette.” Colin stared at the tops of his sneakers.
“And your brother, Romero,” I added.
“My brother would never do that,” Ava snapped.
Colin placed his hand on a low branch. “It's true. Andi found the ghost costume in his truck.”
Ava folded her arms. “Impossible.”
I chewed on my lip. “I know your mom is sick. Your brother told me.”
Ava glared. “What do you know about it?”
“Romero said that you missed school to go with your mom to the doctor, and he helped Claudette because he needed the money for your family.”
Angry tears filled Ava's eyes. “Don't pity me with that sad puppy look. You live in that great big house with your aunt and sister and don't have a care in the world. Meanwhile, I live in a tiny apartment with
my brother, who doesn't care about anyone, and my mother, who is too sick to get out of bed most days.”
“My life isn't perfect,” I said.
She gave a bitter snort. “I know a perfect life when I see it.”
“At least you have your mother,” I snapped. “You can talk to her. What do you think I would give to do that?”
Ava jerked back as if I had slapped her.
“Come on, Colin.” I marched back to the path.
Colin hurried after me.
“Where are you going?” Ava called after us.
“To stop Romero and Claudette,” I said.
After a few paces, I glanced back and saw Ava trailing behind us.
We crept to the edge of the cemetery and
hid behind a huge rhododendron bush about four feet from the edge of the ravine. I pointed to the drop, and both Colin and Ava nodded that they saw it.
Claudette and Romero were digging in Harold's grave. She ran a metal detector over the ground as he dug.
“That's Bergita's metal detector,” Colin whispered. “Claudette must have gotten it out of our garage.”
I nodded. That made sense since Officer Handly had confiscated the one Colin and I had been caught using on Sunday.
Claudette stepped away so that Romero could dig. “What were you doing with her sister? She never would have connected this to you if you hadn't been hanging around her family.”
Romero plunged the spade into the earth. “I like Beth.”
“I don't pay you to like anyone. I pay you to dig up artifacts that I can sell.”
“Well, maybe I want to stop. It's just getting too weird and the police are involved. What if I tell the police what I know about you?” He folded his arms and smiled smugly. “That would be bad news for you.”
She glared at him. “Then, they will ask why you didn't report me when you caught me digging in the woods in the first place.”
