The Big Dip (6 page)

On a hunch, I did a quick Google search.

And then I knew, I
knew
, what the Margaret Rose was, and where to find it.

But there was no time now. I had to concentrate on getting Ellie back.

There was a new voice on the other side of the counter.

“What's the problem here, Amy? These folks bothering you?” The policeman had come to investigate.

“N-no. No bother,” Amy said nervously. She didn't look at me. “I'm going to make red hots for these two nice boys. On the house.”

The boys sniggered again. They were getting rewarded for whining. Amy had probably ruined them for life.

“Sounds good,” the policeman said, frowning. “We don't want any trouble.”

Then the policeman gave Amy a look.

An understanding look—followed by the faintest of nods.

It hit me.

The cop knows. Amy told him
. That's why she had talked to him for so long.

Amy started cooking a couple of red hots. The policeman nudged the guard and the two of them walked away. The boys smirked.

I stepped casually into the storage room. Pushing open the back door, I ran.

Chapter Ten

Fireworks blazed over English Bay. High in the night sky, they formed a silver globe. The globe hovered, glittery and bright. Then it dissolved into fading streamers that disappeared into the water.

Most fairgoers had left to watch the fireworks from a better viewpoint. PNE staff were dimming the fairground lights. Compared to the sky, the fairgrounds were dark, almost inky.

Like Baseball Cap had whispered to me on the phone:
It'll be dark by then. Dark
as my soul
.

I edged out from behind a kiosk plastered with ads. I peeled off an ad and wiped sweat off my forehead.

It was closing time. I watched the roller-coaster attendants walk toward the gates.

I'd wait a few more minutes and then go behind the roller coaster as Baseball Cap had instructed.

I thought about Amy. By now she'd have closed down Herbie's and gone home. I should have known I couldn't trust her. I couldn't trust anyone. I was on my own.

Amy was a nice girl, but she didn't get it. She didn't understand that I couldn't risk bringing the police in. She'd only pretended to agree with me on that.

If Baseball Cap suspected the police knew, he might not show tonight. I might never get Ellie back.

At the thought, my throat went dry.
Don't panic
, I told myself. Panic is no good. I shut my eyes, felt the cool night air on my skin and took some deep breaths.

I couldn't be mad at Amy. She'd meant well. Skip was lucky to have her waiting for him. If I made it through this, I'd tell him so.

Hiding behind the kiosk, I counted my blessings, few as they were. I hadn't told Amy where I was meeting Baseball Cap. I hadn't told her what and where the Margaret Rose was.

I thought about Baseball Cap's phone call. His threats were carved on my brain. But I still felt I was missing something. It loitered at the edge of my mind.

A movement caught my attention. A figure at the now-shadowy entrance was heading toward the roller coaster.

Baseball Cap?

Dragon-red fireworks blitzed the sky, making the fairgrounds even murkier. I had to squint to follow the figure. When it reached the roller coaster, it faded, shadow into shadow.

I didn't think the figure had been wearing a cap. Also, it looked bulky, not lean.

Staying close to the shadows of the rides, I edged toward the roller coaster. I walked slowly around the coaster. I'd never been there when it was shut down. It loomed in the dark, bony and rickety, like a dinosaur skeleton.

All was shadows, stillness and silence.

A door opened, spilling out a cone of light. A figure stepped in front of the light so that it was just a silhouette.

This wasn't the bulky figure I'd seen running toward the coaster. I was sure of that. This person was lean. This must be Baseball Cap, without the baseball cap.

But who was the bulky guy? And where was he now?

Behind Baseball Cap, I saw a panel of switches and a large lever—the control booth.

Baseball Cap was still a silhouette, but there was something weird about his head. It was all smooth.

He had a nylon over his head, I realized, to disguise himself.

He hissed, “So? Where's the Margaret Rose?”

“Where's Ellie?” I demanded.

Baseball Cap pointed to the first car on the track. I could just make out a slumped form inside. “What have you done to her?”

He whispered, “Shhh, Mojo. Don't want to attract attention, do we? She's sleeping, with a little help from me. Not to worry, it's just sleeping pills.”

I started toward her.

“Not so fast, Mojo.” Baseball Cap reached a hand back to clamp the lever.

The nylon twisted his face into a leer. Or maybe he
was
leering. There was a note of pleasure in his whispery voice. He was enjoying himself, the sicko.

“One wrong move,” he said, “and little Ellie gets the big dip—without a safety bar. You can imagine what would happen then, huh, Joe? The car drops and Ellie goes flying.”

He clenched the lever. I was hypnotized by the sight. I couldn't pull my eyes away.

I said dully, “I don't have the Margaret Rose with me. But I know where it is. I can tell you, if you'll just let Ellie—”

“Not good enough, Joe.” Baseball Cap stepped back into the control booth. In the light, his nylon-distorted face was grotesque.

Realizing I was staring at him, Baseball Cap muttered a curse, and switched off the control booth light. “The Margaret Rose, Joe.”

He glanced over at Ellie.

He flexed his fingers on the lever.

What to do? I couldn't bluff. He knew I didn't have the Margaret Rose— Wait. Rewind. He'd said,
So? Where's
the Margaret Rose?

How did he know I didn't have it?

If he knew about the Margaret Rose, he would know how easy it would be to carry.

Something didn't compute here. If this guy had been involved in the gallery break-in, he ought to be familiar with the Margaret Rose.

I needed to buy time. I needed to think.

I held my hands up. “Okay, okay, you win. I stashed the Margaret Rose nearby. I'll get it for you.”

Maybe he wasn't working with Babs Beesley, after all. That would explain why Babs had come after me.
She hadn't known
about Baseball Cap kidnapping Ellie
.

But Baseball Cap had been at the roller coaster when Babs had shot Jake. They'd fled together. That couldn't be coincidence.

If it wasn't coincidence, what was it?

“Hand it over now, Joe,” snarled the figure in the control booth. “Or Ellie wings it to the stars.”

I glanced at my sleeping sister. She looked so little. My eyes stung. I couldn't think anymore. I was petrified with fear for Ellie.

But something knocked at my brain. It hovered just out of reach.

Words. That's what the something was. The kidnapper's words on the phone.

It'll be dark then. Dark as my soul.

By the light of the…
shivery
moon, shall
we say?

And just now:

Hand it over now, Joe. Or Ellie wings
it to the stars.

That wasn't thug talk. It was clever talk.

I stared at the figure in the control booth. Rage and realization filled me with the hot urge to kill. No wonder Ellie had been grabbed so easily from my house.
She'd opened the door.

I lunged forward and tackled Skip, throwing him to the ground.

Chapter Eleven

I kneed Skip in the throat. He was choking as I tore the nylon off his head.

“You were supposed to be in the Okanagan,” I shouted, shaking him. The back of his head crashed against the pavement. I wanted to kill him.

I glanced at Ellie again. She was safe. And I knew I wouldn't kill Skip. I wouldn't give Ellie a murderer for a brother.

Skip coughed. His voice came out ragged, frightened, un-Skip-like. “Please understand, Joe. I wouldn't have hurt Ellie. I just wanted to cut loose, y'know?”

I shifted my knee back from his throat. I held him down, but I didn't bash him around anymore. “No, I
don't
know. You tell me.”

Skip's voice gained strength. “Last night I heard Dad telling Mom about the gallery thefts. He said something about the Margaret Rose, and I remembered what Jake gasped out to you. I wasn't sure what the rose was, but I knew it had to be worth a bundle.”

I didn't think it was possible to loathe anyone as much as I did Skip at that moment. “Go on,” I said.

Skip's voice grew almost cheerful. He was so sure that good old, not-too-bright Joe would forgive him. Skip could clever-talk his way out of anything.

He said, “I thought, what if
I
could get hold of the Margaret Rose? I wasn't sure how I'd manage it, but I knew I didn't want to go to the Okanagan. I told Dad and Mom that I wanted to sign up for an advanced-math summer course. They went for that, easy— they love it when I show initiative. They're always saying I'm too lazy.”

Skip chuckled. “If they only knew! The deal was, my aunt would come to stay with me. But as soon as Mom and Dad drove off, I told Auntie I was visiting you for a few days. She didn't need to come till later in the week.

“When you phoned, I pretended to be heading to the Okanagan. But all the time I was at home, right across the street.

“After our conversation, the old brain kicked in. If I pretended to kidnap Ellie, you'd tear the planet apart to find a Margaret Rose. Like I always tell you, Mojo, you've got this intense ability to concentrate, even if you don't realize it.”

Skip grinned—and even now, hating him, I felt the old infectious encouragement. The guy had charisma. That's what made him so dangerous.

I clenched my teeth. “Talk.”

Skip explained, “When I knew you'd be busy talking to the cops, I slipped across the street. I tapped quietly on your front door and told Ellie to go over to my house right away. We were going to plan a surprise party for you, I said. She skipped ahead like an excited puppy. The kid loves me, Joe.”

“All the girls do,” I said bitterly.

“Then I twisted your front lock off with a screwdriver so you'd think a stranger had forced his way in.

“At my place, Ellie started to whine about her dumb backpack, so I gave her hot chocolate laced with Mom's sleeping pills.

“Know how I got Ellie here?” Skip's tone was warm, confident. “I drove her in Mom's car, the one we keep the wheelchair in for my gran. Once I parked, I simply wheeled Ellie into the fairgrounds.”

Skip paused. I think he was waiting for congratulations on his brilliance.

Good thing he couldn't see my face. I wanted more information from him. “Who were the other guys?” I demanded. “The guy with the baseball cap, and the bulky guy I saw a while ago.”

“Never saw any baseball-capped guy.” Then Skip chuckled. “But the bulky guy is one of the attendants. I paid him to unlock the control booth after everyone left. I pretended I wanted a free ride. Instead, he got a free crack on the skull. He's over there”—Skip jerked his head toward the trees—“sleeping it off.”

“I saw Baseball Cap by VanDusen Gardens,” I said. “I thought he paged me. But it was you.”

“You bet.” I could hear the smugness in Skip's voice. “I followed you to VanDusen.”

I could have pointed out that Skip wasn't as brilliant as he thought. He'd been thinking of the wrong Margaret Rose all along. But I felt very, very tired. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't hold Skip down for hours on end, and I couldn't pummel him into unconsciousness either—tempting as that was.

He was weak. He wouldn't have any fight left in him. I figured I could let Skip up while still holding on to him.

Then something totally unexpected happened.

Skip's grin wavered. His face crumpled. Tears poured down his cheeks.

This, from Skip—confident, nothing-fazed-him
Skip
?

Shocked, I released him. He sat up. The tears flowed on. They had a more powerful impact than if he'd punched me.

“I'm so sorry,” Skip wept. “So sorry, Mojo. I screwed up big-time. I went too far. I wouldn't have hurt Ellie. You're my best friend. You know I wouldn't hurt your sister.”

Maybe I knew that. Or maybe I didn't know Skip at all.

“I'm gonna let you go for now,” I said. “I want you to get outta here. Away from Ellie and me. I'll decide what to do about you later.”

I stood up. He struggled to his feet, swayed and staggered off.

I rushed over to Ellie. She was slumped against the safety bar. Jumping into the car, I put my arms around her. “Wake up, El.” I stroked her face. “You gotta wake up.”

She moaned.

With a sudden lurch, the train was in motion. Light flooded out of the control booth. Skip grinned at me.

He'd pulled the lever.

The train clattered along the rails. If I was alone, I could have jumped free—but not with Ellie.

“Sorry, Joe,” Skip laughed—a crazed, gleeful laugh. “I couldn't let you tell anyone. Think about it. There's
no way
I could let you spoil my life.”

“SHUT IT OFF, SKIP,” I yelled.

Still laughing, Skip shook his head. “I always
could
get the better of you.”

The train started its climb up to the top of the big dip.

I hauled Ellie off the safety bar, then yanked it up. If I could just pull the bar down over us…

It was too late. The train had reached the peak.

It crashed down the big dip, pitching Ellie and me forward, out of the car. I clung to the bar, stopping us from hurtling off. I braced my feet on the floor and jammed a hip into the side of the car to weigh us down.