The Trap (7 page)

“I could hear my body a lot more clearly if people would stop telling me what to do!” I muttered to myself, but I only wrote
Everything’s fine. Love, Julie.

I wished I had asked Robin if the swim team was doing any better, but in a way I was glad she hadn’t told me. It hurt too much that I wasn’t taking part. I was still angry with my family for directing my life without giving me a chance to make up my own mind.

Two of my friends wrote “How I’m spending my summer vacation” letters, but since they were mostly about guys they had met, I just gritted my teeth and sent short answers that sounded as if I were having just as good a time. Who would be interested in the elderly people I was meeting? Nobody.

I jumped as a snap like a twig breaking came from just outside the window. I stared at the open shutters and saw nothing but the deep blackness outside. Something or someone was out there. I could feel it. My hands grew clammy, and it was hard to breathe as I listened intently for another sound of movement, but the night was silent.

It’s only a cow, I told myself. Calm down. Don’t be so ready to be scared.

I turned back to my laptop and the e-mail I’d received from Ellie, one of my friends on the swim team. I clicked on
Reply
and began typing:

I jumped again as just under the window came a dull thump, as if someone had bumped the outside wall. I stiffened, not daring to look up. Was someone outside the window, looking in? Although my legs were trembling, I knew I had to investigate. I couldn’t just sit there and allow myself to be watched, not even by a cow.

I shut off my laptop, then stood up slowly and stretched. Forcing myself to remain calm, I slowly sauntered out of the study. When I was in the hallway, out of the window’s range of vision, I ran to the kitchen door and silently opened it.

Slipping through, I made my way around to the back of the house. Golden strips of light beamed through the open shutters onto the ground under the study window.

No one was there.

I glanced to each side and saw only the empty clearing with the tangled vines and trees of the forest massing beyond. There was no sign that cattle had been there, so I couldn’t blame a cow for making the noises that had frightened me.

I didn’t like being alone in the darkness, so I hurried to the kitchen door and reached for the handle. I tugged, expecting it to open, and was shocked when it didn’t budge. The door was locked.

I hadn’t locked it. I knew I hadn’t. It was the kind of knob with a center button you had to push in and turn. They were so easy for intruders to open with a credit card that everyone in Santa Monica had installed dead bolts for better protection. If I just had a credit card to push the lock back … but I didn’t.

Behind me, I heard the rustle of bushes. Whirling, I pressed my back against the door. Opposite me, at the edge of the clearing, I could sense movement. Shadowy movement I was barely able to make out. Whatever was there was well hidden by the dark night.

But I was out here with it.

Turning, I pounded on the door, yelling in panic, “Aunt Glenda! Help me! Let me in!”

I THOUGHT I HEARD SOMEONE COMING CLOSER AND CLOSER. I
could feel eyes boring into my back. I yelled and pounded all the harder, and when the door suddenly swung open, I stumbled and fell into the kitchen. “Shut the door! Hurry!” I shouted.

Glenda tugged on my arm, pulling me to my feet. “Julie!” she cried. “What happened? What’s the matter?”

“Somebody locked me out of the house,” I said. “Then he came after me.”

I turned and saw that the door was still open. Glenda had stepped to the sill and was peering outside. “No one is there,” she said.

“He was,” I said, leaning against her and trying to make out shapes in the darkness. “I’m sure of it.”

A deer stepped from the shadows of the trees into the clearing, his eyes reflecting the kitchen’s light, and Glenda gave a relieved sigh. “There you are,” she said. “What you saw and heard was only a deer. You accidentally locked the door and didn’t realize it.”

Glenda shut the door and turned the button in the knob. “It’s a good thing Gabe took those pills the doctor gave him,” she said. “He’s sleeping through all the racket. Otherwise, he’d be banging around in here with his crutches, demanding I call the deputy.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to explain. “I was afraid, and I couldn’t get back into the house.”

She led me to the kitchen table. “I’m going to heat some milk for you,” she said. “It will help you relax.”

She poured milk into a pan and put it on the stove. Then she gave me her full attention and said, “Tell me what happened, right from the beginning.”

I did, and she said, “You only
thought
someone was out there. You saw the deer. That’s all it was. I told you, we have animals that make night noises. Rabbits … squirrels … remember?”

“An animal didn’t lock me out of the house.”

Glenda glanced toward the door as she answered, “You said that someone was outside, not
inside
, where he could lock the door.” She poured the steaming milk into a mug, brought it to me, then sat in a chair directly across the table.

“Trying to make your way outside at night would make anyone nervous,” she told me. “And it would be easy to accidentally turn the lock in the knob without realizing it. It’s loose. It could turn easily in your hand without your noticing.”

She reached across the table and gripped my hands. “This is all Gabe’s fault. His trying to blame someone for his fall, and making such a big deal about those foolish nail holes, has only fed your imagination. I’m going to tell Gabe that he’s positively not to say another
word about being tripped on the stairs, and you’re not going to even think about it. It’s over and done with. Understand?”

“Yes,” I answered reluctantly. I couldn’t prove to myself one way or another that the door had locked accidentally, so it wouldn’t help to argue about it. What Glenda had said made sense. I had to admit she was probably right.

“Good,” Glenda said, and gave my hands a final pat. “You are not in danger. I’d never want that. Gabe and I are fine, too. Now drink your milk, and let’s both be off to bed.”

I dutifully went to my room, but I couldn’t sleep. I kicked off my blanket and lay with my eyes wide open, listening … waiting … for what? I didn’t know. The silence of the night was a thick black sludge, slowly creeping into every corner of the room. At some point, it closed around me, covering me, and I slept.

The morning sun, poking through the blinds in golden stripes, woke me, and I was surprised to see that it was close to eight-thirty. I hurried to dress. Ashley had said she’d come this morning, and I hoped she wasn’t already waiting for me.

I rushed into the kitchen so fast I tripped over a pair of long, jean-clad legs that stuck out from under the kitchen sink. I went sprawling. “Ouch!” I cried.

“Ouch!” echoed a voice from under the sink.

I sat up as the owner of the legs squirmed out from under the sink and faced me.

“I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt you,” I said to one of the best-looking guys I’d ever seen. His eyes were almost
as dark as his hair, and they widened with surprise as he looked at me.

“I’m not hurt. Are you?” he asked.

I stopped rubbing my knee. “I’m okay,” I said. “I just didn’t expect you to be there.”

A wide smile spread across his face. “And I didn’t expect you to drop into my lap.”

I suddenly realized that my legs were still draped across his, and I scrambled back, sitting cross-legged. I said, “We’d better start over. I’m Julie Hollister. Gabe and Glenda Hollister are my dad’s uncle and aunt. I’m here to visit them for the summer.”

“And I’m Luis Garcia,” he answered. “I’m here to fix the drain under the sink.”

We both laughed.

I spoke first. “Aunt Glenda told me about you. She said you’re in high school.”

“For one more year,” Luis told me. “Then I plan to go to Texas A&M. Because I’m number two in my class, I’ve got a good chance for early admission and a scholarship.”

“That’s great,” I said. “You sound pretty organized. What are you going to major in? I bet you know already.”

“Computer science. Where the money is. A&M has a good program.” He grinned and shrugged and I noticed how broad his shoulders were. “I love anything to do with computers. My mom complains that I spend too much time with them.”

Glenda came into the kitchen just then and stared down at us. “My goodness, Julie,” she said. “Are you helping Luis?”

“Not exactly,” I answered.

“She will,” Luis said. “If she’ll hand me that pipe wrench over there.”

As I did, he smiled up at Glenda and said, “I’ll tighten the U-joint and the job will be finished. I cleaned it out, and you should have no more trouble. I’ve got those bedding plants you wanted in my truck. I’ll plant them where you showed me.”

I climbed to my feet and kept chatting with Luis while he washed his hands and Glenda wrote out a check for him. After he’d left, I took a good look at Glenda. There were dark circles under her eyes, and the skin around her cheeks sagged. Guilt swept over me. I’d been sent here to
help
Aunt Glenda, not make life more difficult for her.

“I’m sorry I frightened you last night,” I said. “You were right. No one was outside. I must have let my imagination go wild.”

My aunt put an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t blame yourself. I hadn’t gone to sleep yet when you called for help. I’d been thinking … and there were those night sounds.… Living out here is nothing like living in the city with people close by. It’s difficult to get used to at first.”

I wasn’t convinced she had ever become used to it. Even after living here well over a year, neither Glenda nor her friends seemed to have grown used to life on Rancho del Oro. I made a quick breakfast and had no sooner finished gulping it down than Ashley knocked at the back door.

Wiping my hands on my shorts, I pulled open the door. “Hi,” I said. “Come on in. Did you bring your swimsuit?”

She nodded and held up a thin plastic bag. Inside I could see something blue with a price tag attached. She must have bought a new suit after I asked her to go swimming. I smiled and said, “Let’s put on our suits and go down to the pool now, before it gets too hot. I’ll show you where the bathroom is so you can change.” I hoped she knew how to swim. I pulled on my team’s dark blue one-piece suit, hoping I could still be part of this summer’s competition. Stepping into my flip-flops and taking Glenda’s car keys from the key board in the kitchen, I waited for Ashley.

When she came into the kitchen, a T-shirt over her suit, I handed her the tube of sunscreen and led her out the front door, heading toward the carport.

If I’d been moving any faster, I might have tripped over Luis again. He was on his knees, carefully planting yellow and orange marigolds next to the front of the house.

“Let’s hope the cows don’t like the taste or smell of marigolds,” he said.

“Snails do,” Ashley said. It was a simple statement, but she made it sound as if Luis didn’t know what he was doing.

I looked from Luis to Ashley and back again. “Do you two know each other?” I asked.

“Sure,” Luis said. He didn’t look in Ashley’s direction, but he gave me a big smile as he added, “We already said hello when Ashley’s grandmother dropped her off.”

Ashley didn’t say anything. The tension in their attitude toward each other was making me uncomfortable,
so I said, “We’ll see you later, Luis,” and walked to the car.

Once we were in the car and I had backed into the road, I said to Ashley, “When I first got here I thought I was going to be living with a lot of elderly people, so it’s great to know that I’ll get to spend time with you and Luis.”

I thought that would get Ashley to open up, but she didn’t say a word, so I tried again to make conversation. “Have you known Luis for very long?”

“Yes,” she said.

“He seems like a nice guy.”

She didn’t answer.

It was obvious that our conversation wasn’t going anywhere as long as it concerned Luis. Even though I was curious, I couldn’t be nosy and ask why she didn’t like him, so I changed the subject. “Do you know how to swim?” I asked.

“Yes,” Ashley said. “I’ve taken swimming the last three semesters, and I made the school’s team.” For the first time she smiled. “My best stroke is the butterfly. When we get to the pool, I’ll race you.”

I had a surprise coming. I lost the first race to Ashley because I thought she couldn’t possibly beat my record. In the next race I tried as hard as if I were in a meet with my own team. I managed to come in first, but it was tight.

I leaned on the edge of the pool as I struggled to catch my breath. “You’re good,” I said.

She rested her head against the tile edge and smiled. She was breathing almost as hard as I was, but
she managed to say, “Thanks. You are too. Where do you swim?”

“Our subdivision has a swim club,” I told her. Suddenly, I could picture so vividly the members of our team racing cleanly through the water that I spoke out in anguish. “We were going for the championship this year. I know we would have made it, but my parents decided it wasn’t important that I take part. But it was. It was to me. I hate having so many people make decisions that affect me, just because they’re family, and not being able to decide things by myself.”