Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price (13 page)

“Coop, don’t,” Hiro said.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t toss your cup in the garbage. Bring it with you and throw it out at home.” She nodded toward the police car but kept her head down. “What if he’s waiting for you to drop that in the garbage can so he can get another DNA sample?”

Cooper stopped and his eyes got wide.

“Whoa,” Gordy said. “They’d match it to the one you left on the table.” Gordy didn’t know if he could take this much longer.

Cooper nodded.

Gordy’s legs felt shaky.
Yeah. What if?
Hammer would have all the evidence he’d need to make an arrest—or a surprise appearance as Elvis. How could they hold up this charade? Gordy wanted to stick with the Code, stick with Cooper, but Hiro was obviously wavering. And Gordy felt like he’d accidently spill everything if Hammer so much as turned his head toward him. How would he ever get through Monday? Even Cooper would have messed up royally if Hiro hadn’t stopped him.

Hiro was definitely super perceptive. She had sensed danger at Frank’s the other night before either one of them. In a flash, Gordy heard her voice in his mind. “Let’s go. Please! I have a bad feeling!” Gordy wondered if Hiro was getting a bad vibe right now.

Cooper stuffed the empty cup in his backpack. “How did you even think of that?”

Hiro smiled. “It’s what I’d do if I were him.”

Cooper mounted his bike. “You’re going to make a good cop someday, you know that?”

“Better believe it.”

T
he three of them rode back to Cooper’s house in relative silence. Hiro’s mood seemed to shift on the ride. By the time they climbed up the ladder and over the stern, she turned quiet.

Instead of going inside the cabin, Cooper led them to the bow. He sat at the very front and let his legs dangle over the side.

“We need to talk about that surveillance hard drive.” He could hear the raspy voice in his ear.
Sunday night. Or else.
He rubbed the back of his neck. He could almost feel the man squeezing.

Gordy eyed him. “You’re not thinking of delivering it to the bell tower tomorrow night, are you?”

“No. But I’ve got another idea. I just need to process it a little. We won’t be able to talk at church. Wanna meet here after lunch?”

Gordy shrugged. “Works for me.”

Hiro seemed off in another world. Cooper waved his hand in front of her eyes. “Hiro?”

“I’ll be busy in the afternoon. But I can make it here after dinner, I guess.”

“Okay. What’s wrong?” He hated to ask the question—because he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

“Twenty minutes ago I threatened a police detective.” Hiro fidgeted with her braid. “I’m supposed to be a policewoman
someday, and I confronted the man on his police ethics.
We’re
the ones who are wrong here.”

Cooper didn’t know what to say. She’d just bailed them out of a jam—at her own expense. In some other situation that may have made him proud or especially grateful. Right now it made him feel dirty. Like he’d stepped in the mud and wiped his shoe on her jacket.

She rubbed the necklace. “Maybe you should have said something.”

“Like what? Oh, by the way, we
were
here the other night. Saw the whole thing. Elvis and his clown pounded Frank and robbed his place. Honest. Oh, and by the way, are you Elvis?”

Gordy snickered, but he looked a little spooked.

“I mean, come on, Hiro. What if Hammer is one of the guys? If I say something to him, I could be playing right into his hands.”

Her eyes filled with tears.
Great.

“My Dad would be ashamed of what I just did. Of what I’m doing. I’ve dishonored him.”

Ouch.
“What do you expect me to do?” Cooper asked.

“Fight for the truth. Like you always used to do.” Hiro crossed her arms across her chest. “Can’t you see this is going to backfire on us? They’re going to find out, and when they do, we’ll look a lot worse than if we’d just come forward with it.”

“But we didn’t do anything wrong,” Gordy said. “Right, Coop?”

Cooper nodded. “You make us sound like we’re criminals or something.”

“We’re
lying
to the police. We’re holding back
evidence
with that surveillance hard drive. That
does
make us criminals.”

“C’mon, Hiro. You’re looking at this all wrong.”

“Am I?” She stood and took a step toward him. “Your only concern is protecting yourself.”

“What?”

“You don’t care about anyone else.”

Her words knocked the wind out of him just as if she’d caught
him off guard with a fist to the stomach. Didn’t she get it? The Code of Silence was about protection—
for all of them.
Why did she think he went all the way to the back of Frank ‘n Stein’s kitchen to grab the keys? To protect them. If he didn’t they’d likely have been caught.

“That’s not true.” He wanted to explain it to her. To show her how wrong she really was. But he stopped. He wasn’t so sure she’d hear him if he tried. And if she didn’t, the wall between them would get a little higher.
The wall.
Sometimes it
did
seem like this thing was turning into a wall.

Then again, maybe she was just thinking about
herself.
How lying to the cops might mess up her chances of becoming one someday. Cooper could feel his own steam rising at that thought.

“When are we going to visit Frank?” she asked.

Where did
that
come from? Cooper wanted to say something about “lying low” again, but she looked dead serious. “I’d like to,” Coop said.

“But you won’t.” Her voice had an edge to it.

“I just think it might be a little risky.”

She shook her head. “Like we’ll look suspicious somehow if we visit?”

“Well, yeah, something like that.”

“I’m with Cooper,” Gordy said. “Visiting Frank is crazy.”

“Crazy?” Hiro raised her chin just a bit. “Frank is a friend. And friends visit. You don’t think it looks crazy if we
don’t
?”

Gordy looked as uncomfortable as Cooper felt. “Maybe we could just send a card. We could all sign it, and, uh …”

Always trying to keep the peace. Cooper loved that about his cousin. But the card idea wasn’t going to fly with Hiro.

A quiet settled over them. Cooper needed options. Trouble was he didn’t have any. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Okay.” Cooper finally broke the silence. “The way I see it, we’re running out of road here. But I still say we wait until the last second to tell what we saw.”

Neither of the other two spoke for a moment.

Cooper felt they were waiting for him to say something. “We’ll come clean before any one of us goes into Detective Hammer’s interrogation.”

Gordy thumped his fist on his chest. “I can bluff my way through with Hammer. I’m for sticking with the Code.”

“And what about his baloney detector?” Hiro said.

“I’ll be like a rock. Nobody will get anything out of me.”

Cooper held up his hands. “Hold on, Gordy. We can’t take a chance with the interrogation, no matter how sure we are about sticking to the Code.”

Hiro nodded. Gordy looked like he was ready to say something, but Cooper held up his hand to stop him. He had to finish this thought. “But we can’t just go to school Monday morning and spill to Hammer either. Not alone.”

Gordy nodded. “Exactly. If he really is Elvis, we’re toast.”

“Sooo,” Hiro’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

“If we don’t hear they’ve caught the robbers by the evening news on Sunday night, I’ll tell my parents everything. We can go to the police together if you want.”

“If we go as a group,” Hiro said, “we’ll be safe. I’ll bring my brother too.”

Cooper shrugged. “Why not? The more of us that go to the police station, the better. They can’t get all of us.”

Hiro smiled. It was just a quick one. A flash of teeth and then gone again. But it was enough for Cooper to know the old Hiro was still there. Still loyal. He didn’t know what he’d do if that ever changed.

“Why wait until Sunday night?” Hiro pleaded. “Let’s get this
over
with.”

“Because I’m praying the robbers will be caught before then and we won’t have to get involved at all.”
Praying?
Why did he even use that word? He’d been
worrying
plenty, but praying was a different story.

Hiro looked like she was wrestling with something. Like how to convince Cooper they should turn themselves in right now.

“Okay. I’ll wait.” She folded her arms across her chest.

Gordy shot her a suspicious look. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

“We’re only talking twenty-four hours.” She nodded. “It will be here before we know it.”

That’s what Cooper was afraid of.

J
ust talk to him, Hiroko. Like you would at the diner.”

Hiro looked at her mom, and then back at Frank Mustacci. Oxygen tubes in his nose. IV’s trailing into his arm. Wires running to monitors with printers graphing his vitals. It was a little hard to imagine talking to him like this at Frank ‘n Stein’s. He needed to be wearing his white apron instead of the hospital gown. And his hands needed to be doing something. Loading relish on a dog. Piling beef on a bun. Something. She’d never seen his hands so still. Now that she was here, she had no idea what to say.

Maybe her mom sensed it. She had a way of knowing what people were thinking. Mom also had a way of not pushing. She cradled one of Frank’s hands in her own and stroked it gently.

Hiro wanted to do the same. But she couldn’t. She pictured him laying on the floor of the diner. When she thought he was dead. He didn’t look any more alive than he did that night.

“Do you remember how confused I was when I first worked for you?” Her mom’s voice was soft. Soothing. “I mixed up orders. Gave customers fries when they ordered onion rings. Put hot peppers on their beef when they ordered sweet. But you knew it was the grief, didn’t you? Remember what you told me?”

Hiro looked for any sign of understanding on his face. Eyelids flickering. Maybe a twitch. She saw nothing.

“You’re in a tunnel, Katsumi. It’s dark and scary, and you think it will always be this way. But you’ll get through. You’ll see.” She squeezed his hand. “And you were right. God led me out of that horrible place. And he put you in my life like an angel in an apron, encouraging me all the way.”

Hiro wanted to talk to him that way. Wished she could tell him how she missed his grandfatherly advice. The way he checked up on her. Watched out for her.

“And now
you’re
in a tunnel. It’s dark. It’s scary.” Hiro’s mom leaned in close. “But you’re going to find the way out. Our Jesus will show you when the time is right.”

They were
all
in a dark tunnel. Her, Coop, Gordy … all three of them. Only their tunnel was made of lies and deception. And they needed to find a way out. She wished they were here right now.

They weren’t able to talk at church this morning, and they probably wouldn’t talk until they met at
The Getaway
to work out their plan for the surveillance hard drive and the bell tower.

“How about we pray with you, Frank. Would you like that?” Hiro’s mom talked to him like she really believed he could hear her.

When her mom started praying, Hiro’s throat burned. She held her own hand and prayed at the same time. Prayed her own silent prayer.
Don’t take him away from us, Father. Bring him back. Please. Bring him back.

She didn’t realize her mom had stopped praying until she felt her hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll let him rest now.”

She didn’t want him to rest. She wanted him to sit up and get out of this place.

Her mom placed his hand back on the bed. “We’ll be back, Frank. I promise you that.”

And I can promise you something, too.
Hiro stood.
I’m going to find the person who did this to you.

Her mom walked out of the room. Hiro hesitated, then reached out and touched his hand. It felt warm.

G
ordy could see everything from the table he and Hiro shared outside Dunkin’ Donuts. Coop approached the bell tower on foot from the opposite direction—from the west. Cargo shorts. Sweatshirt. Backpack. Even
he
didn’t recognize Coop with the hood pulled so far forward. His entire face was lost in the shadows, even when he passed under a streetlight. The darkness made for a perfect cover.

Gordy kept his eyes on everything west of them. Hiro had everything to the east, which was tricky because of the McDonald’s and the size of the parking lot for the Jewel-Osco grocery and drug store.

Hiro also had the phone. If they saw anybody watching him, or heading his way, he’d get a call, and put into play one of the escape plans.

“He’s at the bell tower,” Gordy said. “Duct tape is out. Aaaaand he’s taping the note to the bell tower. Kaboom. Message delivered.”

“Cut the commentary and keep your eyes open,” Hiro whispered. “If anybody is watching, Coop’s in the danger zone now.”

Gordy grabbed a donut. “Just like a real stakeout, eh? Donuts and everything.” If he didn’t do something to try to keep things light he’d go nuts. He felt jumpy enough as it was already.

Coop stayed on the sidewalk and picked up the pace, walking directly past them without even glancing their way. Gordy watched to make sure nobody trailed him.

They’d hammered out the plan on
The Getaway
after dinner. Gordy still didn’t like the idea of Coop making the drop alone—or even leaving the note in the first place. Hiro gave it her vote, though. Felt they’d be doing something. Which really meant she wanted to play detective. At least they decided to wait until after dark.

Hiro even brought her pocket digital camera. Not exactly the high-tech surveillance equipment the police had, but hey, it had a 10-to–1 power zoom. Which is why Gordy figured this was all about Hiro wanting to find the robbers herself.

Gordy wished he’d been the one making the drop. Once he got on his bike, no way those guys would catch him. “You think those goons are watching?”