High Tide (9781481413824) (14 page)

“Ian?” I frowned, confused. “What are you talking about? What does Ian have to do with anything?”

Sean turned his head again, rolling his eyes as he tried to look at me. “I can explain, okay?” he gasped. “Just stop trying to break my arm, and I'll tell you!”

I paused. Then I shook my head. “Why should I
trust you? You broke in here with a knife,” I reminded him. “Tell me why first. Then maybe I'll let you up.”

“Okay.” Sean sighed and lay quietly for a few seconds. “As I said, I didn't know it was you on the phone. Really. I thought it was Ian. I've been trying to warn that roommate of yours that I'm coming after him. That I'm going to pay him back!”

“Why?”

Sean tensed up again. “Because of my girlfriend!” he shouted angrily. “Ian has been sneaking out with Alyce!”

“I
an is going out with Alyce?” I asked, totally surprised. “Are you sure?”

“You think I made it up?” Sean muttered. “Sure I'm sure. She met him for a movie just the other night And last night he took her up the ocean coast to this hot new club. I followed them.”

Ian and Alyce? Whoa.

Ian hadn't said a word to me about her. Sure, he told me he was seeing someone. He just didn't bother to say who.

If he had, I would have told him to forget it. Sneaking around with Alyce was playing with fire.

Letting go of Sean's arm, I removed my knee from his back and stood up.

He quickly rolled over and rose to his feet. “I guess you believe me now, right?” he asked, rubbing his
arm. “About the call and the sea gull and everything. I didn't know it was you, Adam. I really thought I was doing it to Ian.”

“Yeah,” I told him reluctantly. “I believe you. But I don't get something—if you're so steamed at Ian, how come you've been acting as if I'm the one you hate?”

“Because he's your roommate,” Sean snapped.

“So?”

He shook his head impatiently. “I figured you already knew what he was up to. That's why I've been too angry to talk to you. He's your roommate. Your friend—and I
thought
he was my friend! But I saw him with Alyce and—”

Sean broke off, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. His eyes flashed angrily around the room.

He's looking for the knife, I thought. If he finds it and Ian walks in now, there will be major trouble.

“Sean!” I grabbed his shoulders and squeezed, “Cool it! Calm down!”

“Yeah, sure.” He bared his teeth in an angry grin. “Great advice, Adam. Some guy sneaks out with my girl and you tell me to be calm?”

“Yes!” I cried. “You have to get control of yourself. Remember that story you told me about the guy in your high school?”

He nodded.

“You freaked out and beat him to a pulp, remember? You said you've been afraid of your anger ever since. Well, don't mess up again, Sean.”

“You're right, I know it,” he muttered, his breath coming in gasps. “But whenever I think of Ian, I feel as if I'm going to explode.”

“Yeah, well, control yourself,” I repeated. “I'll talk
to Ian later. I promise. But listen—I saw Ian at the Sea Shanty the other night. Not with Alyce—with another girl.”

Sean stared at me skeptically.

“It's true,” I insisted. “Ian likes girls, period. Not just Alyce. Okay, so he went out with her a few times. But I bet he won't stick with her. It's like . . . Ian borrows things, you know? Clothes and cars and stuff. And it's the same with girls.”

“Alyce isn't exactly a thing,” Sean muttered. “If she knew that's the way Ian thinks about her, she'd flip.”

“Maybe she already does know. Why don't you talk to her?” I suggested.

He frowned. “I don't know  . . .”

“Well, think about it,” I told him. “But anyway, you've got to calm down, Sean—before you do something you'll really be sorry for.”

Sean stared at me for a moment, still breathing hard. But finally I saw him begin to relax. “Yeah. Yeah,” he muttered. “You're right, Adam. I'd be stupid to pull another stunt like the one in high school.”

Some stunt, I thought. “Good,” I told him. “Now, why don't you go home and try to relax?”

Sean nodded, but he didn't move. He just stood there as if he didn't know what to do now that he didn't have anyone to fight.

Get him out of here, I told myself. If Ian comes home, Sean will definitely have somebody to fight with.

“Why don't you go home and take it easy?” I urged.

I nudged him and pointed to the door. Finally he turned and began to walk.

“Listen to some music or watch TV or something,”
I continued as we left the bedroom. “I think there's a Dodger game on. You're a big Dodger fan, right?”

“Right.”

“Great. Perfect.” I pulled open the front door. “Don't worry about Ian. Really, I'll talk to him,” I promised again as Sean stepped outside. “You just keep calm, okay? And think about talking it all over with Alyce.”

Nodding again, Sean turned and hurried away.

I shut the door and leaned against it. Whoa! I thought again. Close call.

Sean could have killed me.

Or Ian, if Ian had come home first.

I took a shaky breath, then went back into the bedroom and started to clean up.

At least nobody's out to get me, I thought as I pulled off the shredded covers. I don't have to worry about any more whispered phone calls or dead birds.

As I flipped the mattress, a corner of it hit the radio and knocked it off the table. I picked it up and noticed the time. Quarter to seven.

Raina, I thought. I have to meet Raina at seven. Better go now.

But leave Ian a note. Warn him to stick around tonight.

I hurried into the kitchen and yanked open the junk drawer, looking for something to scribble a note on. As I fumbled through the take-out menus and broken pencils, the apartment door swung open.

“Greetings!” Ian called cheerfully.

“Hi. I'm just leaving. I was just going to write you a note,” I told him.

“What's the rush?” he asked. “I walk in and you decide to split? Is it my breath or something?”

“I'm going to the dock,” I told him. “But I have to talk to you later. So don't go anywhere, okay?”

“Okay. I don't have any plans anyway.” Ian frowned. “But what's going on at the dock?”

“I don't have time to go into it now.” I brushed past him through the door, then spun back around. “But I mean it, Ian,” I warned. “I have to talk to you. Wait for me here. It's really important.”

I left him standing in the doorway, still looking confused, and hurried out to my car.

Questions whirled through my head as I drove down the bumpy lane and turned onto the road leading to the dock.

Would Sean stay calm and wait for me to talk to Ian? Or would he go home and brood? Work himself up until he was ready to explode all over again?

Maybe I should have stayed and talked to Ian, I thought. Or at least given him a hint about what's wrong.

What if Ian doesn't stick around the apartment? What if he decides to go out, and Sean decides to go out, and they run into each other?

Major trouble.

I slowed the car for a second, then sped up again. Whatever Raina wanted to show me probably wouldn't take long. And Ian said he didn't have any plans.

Besides, I promised Raina I'd be there. I didn't want to let her down, not after everything that had happened.

The docks were at the far end of the beach, where the shoreline curved in and formed a big cove. Small sailboats and motorboats bumped against two of the
wooden piers. Water scooters were parked at the third one.

I drove through the gate and pulled to a stop. As I got out, I glanced around.

The sun was starting to set. Most of the boats and scooters had returned for the day.

Except for a couple of fishermen tying up their boat, the docks appeared empty.

My shoes crunched loudly on the pebbly sand as I strode toward the third dock. The big water scooters bumped and thudded softly as the water rocked them against the moorings.

I shivered slightly, remembering last summer. Riding on the scooter with Mitzi. Mitzi falling off . . .

I shivered again, then spun around at the sound of footsteps.

Raina hurried toward me, her blond ponytail swinging back and forth. “Adam, hi. I'm
so
glad you came.”

“No problem,” I told her. “What's up?”

Raina smiled nervously. “Well . . . I'm not sure where to start.”

I turned and sat down on the step that led up to the dock. “Try starting at the beginning,” I suggested.

“It's so complicated,” she said. “But I really do have to tell you. I mean, everything is just all wrong, Adam. I . . . we . . . thought . . .”

“Whoa.” I held up my hands. “I'm not following this, Raina. What's all wrong?”

“What happened,” she murmured softly.

I stared at her, confused. What is she talking about? I thought. What's going on? “Raina—”

“Okay,” she interrupted. “Here goes.”

Here goes what? I wondered.

Raina took a deep breath. “I owe you ah apology, Adam,” she declared. “And an explanation. Actually, we
both
do.”

Before I could respond, Raina glanced toward the end of the dock and waved. “Come on out,” she called.

Footsteps sounded on the wooden planks.

I stood up and turned around.

And gasped as Joy strode toward us from the end of the dock.

N
o! I thought. No way! This isn't happening. I'm seeing things again!

Joy's shiny brown hair bounced up and down as she came closer. She wore white shorts and a yellow halter top.

She
looked
real.

As Joy locked her eyes on me, I shut my eyes. Shook my head.

Don't believe it, I told myself. Just stay calm and wait for it to be over.

“Adam, it's okay,” Raina murmured. She gripped my hand and squeezed.

I opened my eyes.

Joy hadn't disappeared. She stepped across the boardwalk toward us.

Joy is here. And Raina is here, I told myself.

This isn't a hallucination.

I stood frozen, stunned, as Joy stepped up to me. She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me.

I felt the soft warmth of her arms. Felt her hair against my face and her breath on my cheek. Heard her voice.

“Adam!” she cried. “I'm so sorry!”

She
is
here, I thought in amazement. She is alive.

I pulled her arms away and stared at her. “I can't believe this,” I declared in a shaky voice. “It's unreal. No—it's real! But I just can't believe it! How did you get out of the ocean? Why didn't anybody tell me?”

Joy stepped back and exchanged a glance with Raina. “We didn't tell you because—” Joy paused, blushing.

“Because we weren't supposed to,” Raina finished the sentence for her.

“Huh?”

I glanced back and forth between them. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Adam, Joy and I did something we really regret. The whole drowning scene was an act,” Raina confessed. “I still can't believe we went along with it.”

Joy nodded. “We feel really rotten for putting you through it, Adam.”

I couldn't speak for a second. I felt totally shocked. And breathless, as if somebody had punched me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me.

No wonder it wasn't in the newspapers. Or on the TV news.

It never happened.

“How . . . ?” I choked out. I paused and took a shaky breath. “How could you do something like that?” I demanded. “And why? Don't you know how guilty I've been feeling? Don't you know what a nightmare the last few days have been?”