Can You Keep a Secret? (8 page)

And so much more scary.

“I Googled
bank robbery in Shadyside,
” Eddie said. “But nothing came up. As soon as we know for sure where the money came from.…”

“I won’t be able to keep it a secret from my parents,” I said, shielding my eyes from the low sun that filled the windshield. “I mean, once I have my share. Thousands of dollars. I’ll have to tell them about it. But how? How can I explain it?”

Eddie smiled and patted my hand. “Let’s worry about that when the time comes. We can tell them you won the big bingo prize at the school fair.”

“Not funny,” I said.

“Hey, one step at a time, Emmy. When it’s safe to take the money, we’ll figure out a way to tell our parents. Do you really think they’ll be shocked and horrified and want to turn it in to the police immediately?”

“I don’t know. I—”

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Eddie said. “My stepdad will grab it up. He’ll be thrilled. Sure, Lou is a cop. But he won’t care where it came from. We need the money so bad … he’ll be dancing on the dining room table, tossing it up in the air like confetti.”

“Not sure about my parents,” I said softly. I couldn’t get rid of the heavy feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. I wished I could have Eddie’s confidence. He was so good at never letting anything get in his way. He just always seemed to be in control, ready to face anything.

“I think we can trust the others to keep the secret for now,” Eddie said. He wasn’t really talking to me now. He was thinking out loud. “I was worried about Danny. If anyone decided to dig up the briefcase and take his share of the money, it would be Danny. But I don’t think…”

“Danny can be a jerk,” I said. “And he loves to fight. But he would never do a thing like that.”

Eddie remained silent, thinking about that, I guess.

I found a parking spot half a block from Eddie’s house and squeezed into it. The houses are small and close together in the Old Village, and there are no driveways, so there’s always a scramble for parking on the street.

We climbed out of the car, and I locked the doors. This isn’t the best neighborhood in town. The sidewalk was cracked and rutted with weeds growing through the cracks. We walked along the curb. I wondered what Eddie’s parents were like. I’d never met them. Never seen them at any school events.

“Mom’s very quiet,” Eddie said, as if reading my thoughts. “She doesn’t say much, and she waits on Lou hand and foot. But she’s the real boss of the family. When she has a strong opinion, Lou gripes and mutters, but he always backs down.”

“And is he the tough-cop type?” I asked.

“Not really,” Eddie said. We crossed the street. The house on the corner had its front window boarded up. “Lou likes to talk tough. But he isn’t a bad guy. He used to take my brother Johnny and me hiking and fishing all the time, before Johnny went into the army. We had good times. Lou’s favorite thing is to lie on the couch and watch sports on TV. He doesn’t care what the sport is. It doesn’t matter. He always falls asleep after about twenty minutes.”

We started up the concrete steps to Eddie’s house. It was a narrow gray shingle house with black shutters. The paint was peeling on some of the shutters, and one rain gutter was tilting off the roof at the side of the house.

“Of course, Lou’s been totally depressed since he was suspended,” Eddie said, lowering his voice as we crossed the front stoop. “Depressed and angry.”

I heard country music pouring from the open front window. And a man’s voice from inside, shouting to someone in another room, “How can you burn spaghetti?” Followed by a woman’s laughter.

Eddie pushed the front door open and led the way inside. There was no front hallway. We stood in a small, cluttered living room. A fat brown armchair had a stack of magazines on a square table beside it. A matching brown couch faced a flat-screen TV, a soccer match on the screen. The mantel over the narrow fireplace was lined with family snapshots.

Eddie’s stepfather had a phone to his ear and was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. He nodded hello, but kept talking. He was a tall, nice-looking man with a head of thick salt-and-pepper hair brushed straight back, tanned cheeks, and round blue-gray eyes. He had a black-and-white Shadyside Police T-shirt pulled down over ragged denim cutoff shorts.

“My hearing is a month away,” he said into the phone. “Can you believe what they’re doing to me? Another month I’ve got to live like this?” He kept gesturing with his free hand, as if the person on the other end was here in the room.

Shaking his head, Eddie guided me into the kitchen. It was bright with white cabinets and a long white counter. Eddie’s mom turned from the stove where she was boiling a big pot of spaghetti. “Emmy? Nice to meet you,” she said with a warm smile, waving her wooden spoon.

She was really young looking. She had Eddie’s wavy dark hair and gray eyes. She was short and very thin, in dark straight-leg jeans and a red-and-white-striped top. “Monday is spaghetti night,” she said. “Hope you like pasta. I make a very spicy tomato sauce.”

“Love it,” I said.

Lou’s voice boomed in the other room. I could hear the floorboards creaking under his heavy footsteps.

“Lou is ranting again,” Mrs. Kovacs said, turning back to the boiling pot. “He’s talking to his brother up in Buffalo. But his brother can’t help him. He’s a pharmacist. He can only tsk-tsk.”

“Lou just likes to rant,” Eddie said, smiling.

“Actually, that’s not true,” his mom said seriously. “He … he’s so upset, he can’t stop himself.” Her voice caught. “And I think he has a right to be upset. I mean, they haven’t treated him well. Not at all. And he’s been on the force for over ten years.”

I turned as Lou came bursting into the kitchen, his face red, waving his phone in front of him. “Tony didn’t know what to say,” he told Mrs. Kovacs.

She stirred the pot without turning around. “Your brother means well, but he never knows what to say.”

“He told me to be patient!” Lou exclaimed. “Do you believe that?
Be patient?
If I wanted advice like that, I’d open a fortune cookie.”

His eyes went wide, as if he didn’t realize I was there. “Sorry, Emmy,” he said. He reached out and shook my hand. He had a huge hand, and I don’t think he meant to squeeze my hand so hard. I mean, he practically crushed it.

“Eddie told me about your … uh … trouble,” I said.
Awkward.

Lou opened a cabinet, pulled out a box of Ritz Crackers, and began tossing them into his mouth. “Yeah. Trouble,” he muttered bitterly.

“Go ahead. Spoil your appetite,” Mrs. Kovacs said without turning around.

“When is the last time I spoiled my appetite?” Lou shot back. “Like never?”

“We have pasta every Monday,” Eddie chimed in. “And Lou makes the meatballs. They’re awesome. It’s the only thing he knows how to make.”

“It’s an old Polish recipe,” Lou said with a mouthful of crackers. “My grandmother taught it to me. You’d laugh if I told you the secret ingredient.”

“What’s the secret ingredient?” I said.

“Salt and pepper.”

I laughed. Eddie laughed, too. I think he was trying to lift the mood. Maybe get his stepfather to stop ranting and being angry for a few minutes.

Lou studied me. “Your family Polish, too?”

I shook my head. “No. My great-grandparents came from the Czech Republic. I think it was called Czechoslovakia back then. I still have some family there. My Great Aunt Marta lives in Prague.”

I suddenly pictured the black wolf with the blue eyes. I guess it was because I mentioned Aunt Marta. I felt a tremor of fright, but I forced the image of the wolf from my mind.

Lou shoved the box of crackers back in the cabinet. He turned to Eddie. “No offense. I don’t want to embarrass you in front of your friend here. But you’d better take a shower before dinner. You stink, fella.”

“I know—” Eddie said, blushing.

“What were you doing? Rubbing dead dogs on your clothes? Rolling around on top of them?”

“Yes,” Eddie said. “That’s what I was doing, Lou. That’s what I do when no one is looking.”

“You’re funny,” Lou said, frowning. He shook his head, his eyes on me. “Not much to laugh about around here, Emmy. The whole town thinks I’m some kind of crazed maniac. One mistake and … and…”

“Lou, let’s try to have a pleasant dinner,” Mrs. Kovacs said, finally turning around to face him. “I know you’re in pain, dear. But—”

“The funny thing is…” Lou said, ignoring her. “The funny thing is, they really need me right now. They’re getting nowhere with the robbery investigation. I mean
nowhere
.”

Eddie’s eyes went wide. I felt my heart skip a beat. We were both suddenly alert.

“Robbery?” Eddie said. “What robbery?”

17.

“I guess you young people wouldn’t want to read a newspaper,” Lou said sarcastically. “Where do you get your news, anyway? From
“SpongeBob SquarePants
?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “We don’t watch cartoons, Lou. That’s more
your
style.”

Lou opened his mouth to answer, but thought better of it.

“I have a breaking news app on my phone,” I offered.

Lou squinted at me. “And you still don’t know about the robbery here in town a few nights ago?”

“Cut her some slack,” Eddie said. “Just tell us about it. Come on, Lou. Just tell us what you’re so fired up about.”

Lou leaned back against the kitchen counter. His big hands squeezed the counter edges, then relaxed, then squeezed again. I could see how tense he was, how he was nearly bursting from his anger.

“It was an armored truck robbery,” he said. “At the Division Street Mall. This guy in a ski mask showed up just as they were loading the truck with the money from ten stores for the whole week.”

My heart was skipping beats now. I tried to swallow but my mouth was suddenly as dry as cotton.

This is the robbery. This is where the money came from.

“Just one guy with a gun,” Lou said. “That’s all it took. He didn’t even have a buddy, someone to drive. He flashed a revolver and told the truck guys to fill his briefcase with money.”

“Wow,” Eddie said. “Did he get a ton of money?” Eddie had his eyes on me. We both had the same thoughts. And we both knew we had to force ourselves to act completely innocent and normal.

“Yeah. Thousands,” Lou said. He clenched his fists. “Thousands. He tied up the two truck guards, and he got away quickly and cleanly. No muss. No fuss.”

I let out a long breath of air. “Unbelievable,” I muttered. I couldn’t get the image of the brown leather briefcase out of my mind.

“But the robber didn’t know one thing,” Lou continued. “He wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.” He motioned us to follow him. “Come here. I’ll show you this.”

“It’s almost time to eat, Lou,” Mrs. Kovacs said.

He didn’t answer her. He led us to an alcove at the back of the living room. A wooden counter against the wall served as a desk. The little space was filled with bookshelves and files and papers in total disarray.

Lou sat down in front of a laptop and tapped some keys. “Look,” he said, motioning Eddie and me closer until we huddled right behind him.

“The masked robber didn’t realize he was standing under a security camera,” Lou said. “Look at this picture of him. It’s grainy, but you can see him pretty clear.”

I leaned over Lou’s shoulder to get a better view of the laptop screen. I could smell Lou’s aftershave, very strong and minty. On the screen, the black-and-white picture was dark. But I could see a guy in a ski mask, holding a revolver. He was big, tall and broad. He wore a dark sweatshirt, very baggy, but you could still see that he had a belly that hung over the front of his dark pants.

“Do you believe it? The guy took a selfie without knowing it,” Lou said. “Check him out. He’s a big dude. This photo will definitely help identify him when he’s caught.” He spun around. He stared at Eddie, then turned to me. “Hey, what’s your problem?” he demanded. “What’s up with you two? How come you suddenly look so pale? I didn’t frighten you—did I?”

*   *   *

I don’t know how Eddie and I made it through dinner.

I definitely had no appetite after seeing a photo of the guy whose money we stole. My stomach was actually doing flip-flops, and I felt as if my heart had leaped into my throat.

I could see Eddie was totally tense, too. He kept chattering about school and about his job, telling stories about Mac Stanton, and talking about Danny and Riley. Talking a mile-a-minute. Anything that came into his mind. It wasn’t like him at all, but his mom and stepdad didn’t seem to notice.

Mrs. Kovacs barely said a word. She kept asking us how we liked the spaghetti. It was actually pretty good, but I had to force myself to eat it. I really didn’t feel like eating.

Lou jumped up a couple of times to answer phone calls. He went into the kitchen to talk, but we could hear every word of his conversations since he was shouting and ranting angrily.

Finally, Eddie made an excuse. He said we had to work on a history project at my house. And we made our escape.

“Whew.” He wiped sweat off his forehead as we walked down the block to my car. I noticed a tomato sauce stain on the front of his T-shirt. My stomach was still gurgling. I took a few deep breaths.

Eddie put a hand on my shoulder. “Can I drive?”

“You said you don’t have a license,” I replied. “Remember?”

“I know. I’ll be careful. I just feel like driving.”

I handed him the key. Actually, I felt too shaky to drive. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere,” he said, sliding behind the wheel. “I just want to drive.”

So that’s what we did. We drove aimlessly around Shadyside and eventually found ourselves going up the River Road, the sun dipping low, turning to gold in the river out my window.

“Well … that was intense,” Eddie said finally. He pulled the car onto the grassy shoulder and put it in park. “Seeing that masked guy … it kind of freaked me out.”

“Me, too,” I murmured. I kept my eyes on the sunset. “So now we know where the briefcase came from.”

“And we know who stole the money and hid it in that hollow tree,” Eddie finished my thought. He started to slide an arm around my shoulders, but I squirmed out from under it.