Nowhere to Turn (19 page)

“Is there another difference?”

“Sure is. One's worth a couple of hundred dollars. The other is worth a couple of thousand. But Elliot didn't know that. He didn't know anything about coins.”

“Until Connor told him,” I said.

Nick digested that piece of information. “Maybe that's why Elliot suddenly wanted Mr. Schuster to get his collection insured. He arranged the whole thing, you know. Mr. Schuster only went along with it because he wanted to make sure that if anything happened, his grandson would be able to collect. He said he probably should have had them insured a long time ago. But Mr. Schuster didn't collect those coins because of what they were worth. He collected them because he loved them. He'd pick one up and start talking about it—it would be like a history lesson, you know?” He smiled. “Mr. Schuster said he'd loved to have seen the look on Elliot's face when he found out that Connor was going to inherit the bulk of the collection.”

“What do you mean, the bulk of it? Isobel told me that Connor was going to inherit the whole collection.”

Nick hesitated. “Mr. Schuster said he was going to leave some coins to me.”

“He did?”

“He said he'd even decided which ones but that he wasn't going to tell me. It was going to be a surprise.” He shook his head. “He liked to talk about coins and history and stuff like that. It made him happy, so I listened. I think he got the idea I was as interested as he was.”

“Are you?”

“The history part of it is okay. But I know his grandson is really into coins. He should get them all. He'd appreciate them way more than I would. I tried to tell Mr. Schuster that. I told him if he wanted to leave me something, he could leave me Orion. You know what he said?”

I raised my eyebrows.

“He said if I kept going the way I was—in school, with a job, a place to live—he'd consider it. He said he wouldn't let just anyone have Orion. It would have to be someone who could give him a good home. Guess that's not going to happen.” He stood up abruptly. “We should get going. I don't want your dad to call Henri and find out we're not there.”

“Okay,” I said. But there was one thing that was bothering me. One big thing.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

“C

oins don't jump into backpacks all by themselves, Nick.”

“I thought you said you believed me.”

“I do. What I mean is, someone had to have put those coins there,” I said. “You have your backpack with you pretty much all the time, don't you?”

He nodded.

“Did you ever see anyone mess with it?”

“No.”

“And it's never been out of your sight?”

“No.” He hesitated. “Well, almost never.”

“What do you mean, ‘almost'?”

He looked down at the floor. “I used to stash it whenever I went to the hotel,” he said. He spoke so quietly that I wasn't sure I'd heard him correctly.

“Hotel?”

“But I always put it somewhere safe. And when I got back, it was always right where I'd left it.”

“I don't understand,” I said. “What hotel?”

“What difference does it make? I'd stash it, I'd be gone for forty-five minutes, an hour at the most, and it was always there when I came back.”

“And you never noticed anything different about it?”

He shook his head. “I always just checked to make sure my stuff was still there, and it always was.”

If Nick didn't take Mr. Schuster's collection—and I was 100-percent positive that he hadn't—then someone must have put those coins in his backpack. But how? And when?

“I don't understand. Why did you go to a hotel?”

“To clean up, okay?” he said. He sounded angry.

“Clean up?”

“It's bad enough I had to do it,” he said. “Now I have to tell you about it?” His eyes burned into me. “There's this big hotel not far from where I was staying. It has these huge bathrooms down where all the conference rooms and meeting rooms are. There's no running water where I was living. So I'd go there to wash up. There's this one time of day when you're guaranteed no one will walk in on you. I tried to look like I worked there, you know, maybe as a janitor or a maintenance guy. Carrying a backpack would have made me look like I didn't belong, so I always stashed it before I went. Satisfied?”

“Why didn't you stay with your aunt?” I asked. “Or come back here? My dad would have let you have your place back.” Then he wouldn't have been in Mr. Schuster's house when Elliot and his family had arrived.

The buzzer sounded.

I got up, pressed the intercom button, and said, “Yes?”

“Robyn, it's me.” Ben. “I need to talk to you.”

I glanced at Nick. He looked away.

“Come on up,” I said. As I buzzed him through the downstairs door, I turned back to Nick. “I didn't know he was coming over,” I said apologetically.

“I'm going to get my stuff,” Nick said. He disappeared into my dad's office.

I heard Ben's footsteps out in the hall and opened the door before he could knock. He was carrying a bouquet of flowers, which he handed to me.

“How's your arm?” he said.

“Sore.”

“Then we'll have to find things to do that won't hurt it. We're off all week, Robyn, and I don't want anything to ruin—” His eyes shifted to someplace over my shoulder and his expression changed. I turned and saw Nick, his backpack over his shoulder and his duffel bag in his hand. He stared at Ben.

“I'm going to Henri's,” he said. He pulled his jacket out of the closet.

“Wait,” I said.

“Robyn—” Ben began.

I pulled away from him.

“Did you go to that hotel at the same time every day?”

“What difference does it make?” Nick said.

“What hotel?” Ben said.

“Please, Nick. Just answer the question.”

“Yeah,” he said sullenly. “The coast was always clear right around one thirty, after everyone had had their lunch and gone back to their meetings. Sometimes there was no one down there at all.”

“Did you go to the hotel the day the coins were stolen?”

“What coins?” Ben said.

“I went every day.”

“We have to get in touch with Isobel,” I said.

“Who's Isobel?” Ben said. “What's going on?”

“Someone planted stolen property on Nick.”

Ben frowned. “I thought you told me that you and he—”

“Ben, he'll go to jail if someone doesn't do something.”

Ben didn't say a word. I got the feeling that he wouldn't have minded if Nick got locked up for life.

I reached for the phone. My dad's number was blocked—it wouldn't show up on Mr. Schuster's phone. But what if Elliot or Claudia answered instead of Isobel? Would they recognize my voice?

“Here,” I said, thrusting the phone at Ben. “Ask for Isobel. Say you're a friend of hers from school.”

“It would be nice to know who Isobel is.”

“I'll explain, I promise. Please? It's important.”

He didn't look happy, but he nodded. I punched in Mr. Schuster's number and listened as Ben asked if he could please speak to Isobel.

“It's her,” he said, holding the phone out to me.

“Isobel? It's me, Robyn.”

“Ro—”

I cut her off. “I need to talk to you. Is anyone listening? Just answer yes or no.”

“Yes,” she said.

“Can you get away from the house to meet me?”

After a slight pause, she said, “Yes.”

“That's great... Is your grandfather still in the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to visit him?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me when? Just say a number.”

“One.”

“You're going to see him at one today at the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“There's a coffee place in the lobby. Can you meet me there for a few minutes at, say, one thirty?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Thanks. And Isobel? If anyone asks, say it was a friend from school calling, okay?”

“Okay,” she said.

I hung up.

“Why do you want to talk to Isobel?” Nick asked.

“Someone put those coins in your backpack, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“If a complete stranger broke into the house and stole those coins, why would he plant some of them on you? How would he even know about you, let alone where to find you?”

He thought about that for a moment. “You think the thief was someone who knows Mr. Schuster?”

“And who knows you too,” I said.

“A lot of people in the neighborhood know me. I was there every day for a couple of months to walk Orion. Any number of people could have seen me, Robyn.” He thought for another moment. “Mr. Schuster had the house painted last fall. I got to know the two guys who did the job. You don't think it could have been them, do you?”

“Do you?” I asked back.

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

B

en drove us to Henri's house and waited in the car while I went inside with Nick. Nick and Henri had met last fall. She greeted him warmly.

“I'll be back after I've talked to Isobel,” I said.

Nick watched grimly from Henri's front door as Ben and I drove away.

Isobel was sitting at the back of the crowded coffee shop off the main entrance to the hospital. She looked like she had been crying. Then her eyes went to the cast on my arm.

“What happened?” she said.

“It's a long story,” I said. “What's the matter, Isobel? Is your grandfather okay?”

“The doctor was just talking to him. My dad says we can't stay at Grandpa's much longer, and the doctor says Grandpa shouldn't be living by himself anymore. My dad said Grandpa could come and live with us, but Grandpa said no. So then he said that Grandpa would have to go into a nursing home. Grandpa didn't want to do that, either.”

I didn't blame him. I remembered when my father had to put my grandfather into a nursing home. He said that when people go into a home, they have to give up most of the things that they spent a lifetime accumulating—their home, their neighbors... their pets.

“What about Orion?”

“That's what Grandpa is most upset about,” Isobel said. “He agreed to the nursing home on one condition—my dad has to find a good home for Orion. Otherwise, he won't go. I feel sad for Grandpa. I wish he'd come to live with us instead.” She looked at Ben. “Are you the one who called me?”

Ben nodded.

“Are you Robyn's boyfriend?”

Ben looked expectantly at me, waiting for my answer.

“I'm sure Nick didn't steal those coins, Isobel,” I said, trying not to notice the hurt expression on Ben's face. “But I can't prove it. That's why I wanted to talk to you. I was hoping you could tell me everything you can remember about what happened.”

“I have told you, Robyn.”

“Maybe you forgot something,” I said. “Can you tell me again?”