The Pineville Heist (8 page)

The cruiser sped down Main Street at breakneck speed, with the sirens blaring and Tremblay cursing the entire way back to the school. Arriving, the Sheriff screeched to a halt in front of the school.

Back at the entrance to the high school, Amanda and Carl were hugging, making up, not expecting to see Tremblay's cruiser lining up beside Carl's. Their night wasn't over yet.

Aaron flew forward in response to the sheriff's abrupt halt. Carl tucked his hands into his pockets and stepped away from Amanda, as he watched the cruiser grind to a halt.

Dispatch crackled on the radio: “Sheriff, you still on?”

Tremblay put the cruiser in park, cursed and grabbed the radio. “Go ahead.”

“Mister Stevens is back.”

“My dad?” Aaron balked, as Tremblay brought the mic up to his mouth to speak.

Aaron leaned forward to the mesh-wall separating him from Tremblay. He clasped the tips of his fingers around the mesh and plastered his face to the metal. With desperation, he pleaded, “Please don't tell him I took his money. He'll kill me if he knew I had something to do with this.”

“Where the hell are you?” Derek's furious tones were unmistakable, masked unsuccessfully in a cold, steely and distant business voice; Aaron knew them too well. “You said ten minutes, Tremblay. I have other things to do besides sit around waiting for you! I want to know what…”

With a light clink, Carl tapped on Tremblay's window with the end of a lollipop as Aaron listened to his Dad drone on; hot air, as usual. “Everything all right, Sheriff?” Carl said, peering inside.

Amanda walked into the school with Aaron, leaving Carl and Tremblay to their discussions in the parking lot. The door clicked shut behind them and a flustered-looking Principal Parker jangled his keys as he approached the pair. “Miss Becker, I was just about to lock up. Any luck?”

The door clicked again behind Carl as he slipped into the school, causing all three to turn in his direction. “Okay, Aaron, the Sheriff just told me. Can you show me?”

Aaron nodded and set off down the hall with Carl beside him, Amanda behind and Principal Parker trailing at the back of the pack, still appearing puzzled and out of the loop. “What happened out there, Carl? What did you find out?”

“It's under control, Mister Parker,” Carl said with a flippant tone, a purposeful glare in his eyes.

“What's under control? You're not telling me anything,” Principal Parker barked, getting his back up.

“Yeah, Carl,” Amanda chimed in, causing Carl to flick his eyes at her, hoping to silence her sharp tongue.

The fiery embers in Amanda's eyes told Carl that this wasn't over. “Look, Amanda, you really need to leave this to us and not get any more involved,” he snapped, a final shot.

“They're my students. Of course I'm going to get involved,” Amanda hissed at him, with no plans of letting Carl get in the last word. She'd put up with his attitude for too long. He was always dismissing her out of hand, especially in front of other people, including her students, and now her
boss, Principal Parker.
How dare he treat me like a second-class citizen.
Not today, not again.

Carl didn't have time to put Amanda in her place, though. He kept moving, focused on Aaron, as they arrived outside the library. Could this kid really have the evidence, sitting neatly tucked beneath a few rolls of plastic? Apparently not, if Aaron's sickly gasp was anything to go by. His face was pale as a sheet when he turned to his followers. “It's gone!”

“What?” Carl rasped.

Aaron pointed to the empty spot, where just a box of rags and some assorted tools remained strewn haphazardly on the ground.

“I stashed it right here.”

Carl frowned and pursed his lips, before curling them into a displeased grimace. “Now I suppose you're going to tell me it just vanished into thin air–like the bodies did?”

Aaron felt the bottom fall out of his stomach, like a weight crashing at his feet.

Principal Parker gruffly pushed past Amanda. “Bodies? What the devil is-”

Glancing at the 'Danger' sign beside the doors, Aaron's heart skipped a beat. “Maybe… maybe someone moved it?”

Aaron's suggestions fell on deaf ears, as Carl grabbed the boy by the arm and yanked him away from the library. “If your nose was Pinocchio's it would be as long as my…”

“Carl!” Amanda cried, cutting Carl's remark short.

“I'm done listening to his stories,” Carl spluttered, the indignation getting caught in his throat.

“But, I really found.”

“Shut up! You've wasted enough of our time.” Carl's 'good cop' veneer had slipped, revealing a hot-headed and frustrated man who's had enough crap for one day. Amanda shot him a warning glance, but Carl didn't care. He knew a wild goose
chase when he saw one. Missing money, missing bodies. There was a real search to do but this kid was just wasting time.

Principal Parker slowly coughed and interjected in the silent aftermath of Carl's outburst. “What's going on? Aaron?”

Aaron swallowed and began to answer: “I found the…”

“I said shut up!” Carl's voice was sharp and fired at Aaron with a violent velocity.

“But…” Aaron's face was strained and weary. Why wouldn't anybody believe him?

Carl pulled a cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open. Yet, Principal Parker raised an index finger in polite protest. “That won't work in here.”

“Why not?”

“We installed a ‘no cell phone’ system this year. Too many students were spending all their time texting and so forth…”

Carl didn't wait for Parker to finish his rambling thought and instead walked away, down the hallway. “Wait here. I'll be right back,” he said, directed at Amanda. “I have to call the Sheriff.”

Principal Parker shook his head, clearly feeling vexed by his sudden lack of authority in his own school. Watching Carl leave, Parker touched Amanda on the arm, snapping her out of a glazed expression. “Look, I have to finish locking up, and then I'm heading home for a bit,” he told her. “Call me with an update, if
they
tell you anything.” He rolled his eyes, as she nodded back at him.

As Parker ambled down the corridor, out of view and earshot, Amanda leaned towards Aaron, in a friendly, collegial way. “What did you find, Aaron?”

Aaron studied her face. “What?”

“Carl said to show him something.”

“The money,” he said, clearly and loudly. Triumphantly the words came out of his mouth. Finally somebody wanted to
hear what he had to say. Somebody was actually listening. “I found the money the robbers took from the bank.”

Amanda was quiet for a moment or two. “Oh my God,” she muttered absent-mindedly. “Aaron, this is important–where's the money now?”

“It was right there…” Aaron pointed to the empty space of floor, just as the library doors burst open with a loud slam–a monstrous hulk clambering toward them, part Darth Vader, part Sponge Bob Squarepants. Amanda screamed, before realizing that what first appeared to be a Space Monster was in fact Chuck in a large bright-yellow biohazard suit, with an air-filtered helmet.

“Jesus, Chuck!” Amanda exclaimed, holding her heart as if it might explode.

“Sorry, guys,” Chuck said in a muffled hiss as he pulled the helmet off, in a fine cloud of dust, unmasking a bemused grin.

Amanda stepped back, covering her mouth with her hand. She sure as hell wasn't paid enough to inhale any toxins. Yet, Aaron leaned forward, peering into the library to see a bunch of Chuck's tools and materials scattered around.

“Did you find a green bag out here?” Aaron asked, impatiently.

“A green bag?” Chuck vacantly repeated Aaron's words.

“A backpack,” Aaron clarified.

Chuck shook his head slowly. “No, I don't think so… ” He turned back to the doors and walked into the library. “Come on in–it's still okay to breathe in here… for now.”

Amanda looked uncertain, but followed Aaron inside regardless.

Outside the school, Carl was leaning against the door to his cruiser, with his cell phone pressed to his ear. “I think we should just take him back to the…”

Suddenly, the voice on the other end of the phone cut Carl off. Carl cleared his throat and frowned. “But, what for? It's obviously not here. Okay, okay, I'll look around a bit more and then head over.”

Carl hit the red 'end call' button and slipped the phone back into his pocket. There was a cloud over his head. It seemed like the goose-chase wasn't over yet. And now he had to look for a bag that a kid–a born-liar, just like his old man -says is hidden in the school all the while facing Amanda's scornful, needy glances.

Kicking the ground, Carl took a deep breath and went to reenter the school building. Gripping the handle, he pulled, but the door wouldn't budge. “What the.?”

Carl slammed his fist on the glass. Locked out. He turned around just in time to see a car turning out of the parking lot. “Mister Parker?! Amanda! Where are you going?” Carl screamed in vain. The car was already speeding away.

Back in the library, Amanda walked cautiously amongst the disarray. She craned her neck upwards. Every third or so ceiling tile was missing–black holes staring down on her -with long sheets of thin plastic cascading down from each square. In the middle of the room, a ladder ascended into a larger ceiling opening. Amanda glanced around at the plastic film, covering the book shelves. All the spines and titles were blurry and obscured.

On the ground, Aaron noticed the plastic rolls that Chuck had moved. A green blur was amongst the plastic film. Aaron
immediately recognized the backpack's shape and size. “Found it.”

Rushing over, Amanda hovered behind Aaron as he lifted the backpack out of the plastic rolls. Ceremoniously, he unzipped the bag and, right on schedule, he revealed its contents–stuffed to the brim with bundles of cash.

“Holy shit,” Amanda gasped.

“Told ya.”

“Is that it?” Chuck asked, angling to see past Amanda.

Aaron zipped the backpack closed. The show was over. “Yeah. Thanks for your, uh, help.”

Chuck nodded. “Then you two need to get along. It's going to get too dangerous in here. Unless you're a pro, like me.” Putting on his helmet with a quirky grin, Chuck climbed back up the ladder into the ceiling cavity.

Aaron and Amanda exchanged glances, almost reading each other's minds, and headed for the doors–the backpack tightly grasped in Aaron's hand. Feeling vindicated, his cargo suddenly felt lighter.

Once outside in the corridor, Amanda whispered sharply, “I can't believe you took it.”

“It's my dad's.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, puzzled.

“He just deposited it for some deal about the mill.”

“Really? Wow! So the rumors are true?” Amanda said, with a sideways look.

They stopped by Amanda's classroom and she picked up her purse, slinging it over her shoulder as Aaron waited in the corridor. He was shuffling his feet when she returned. “Speaking of rumors–can I ask you something, Miss Becker?”

“Sure,” she replied, suddenly looking at Aaron closely for the first time in hours. The scratches on his face. A small scab of caked blood around a knick on his chin. He looked literally
beaten up by the day's events. Yet his eyes were gleaming with triumph. He found the backpack. He proved the adults wrong. And now here he was, standing in front of her, with a question to ask. “What do you want to know?”

“Are you dating Carl?”

Amanda nodded. “For almost a year now, why?”

“It's just that I heard Steve mention it; that's all.”

Amanda smiled. “Well, you need to tell Steve to mind his own…” Her voice trailed off. She put her hand on Aaron's arm, squeezing it. “Oh, I'm sorry, Aaron.”

The light was disappearing, as the sun dipped below the horizon. It was time for the stars and moon to own the sky. A faint twinkling began to sprinkle the murky navy-blue canvas above Carl and his cruiser. He was about ready to throw his cell phone as he reached Amanda's voicemail for the tenth time.

“I told you to wait for me, Amanda. What the hell are you guys doing?”

Suddenly, the cruiser's radio crackled to life, bristling with the familiar voice of Tremblay. “Carl. You there?”

“Call me back,” Carl barked, ending his call abruptly. Reaching into the cruiser, Carl found the radio's mic. “Go ahead, Sheriff.”

“Those kids' parents called in. I need you to head over and take their statements.”

“I thought you wanted me to.”

“Listen, Carl. When I tell you to do something, you do it.” Tremblay's words were sharp, and stuck in the air like darts in a dartboard.

“Yes, sir… I'm on the way.” Carl slid into his cruiser, muttering under his breath. “Asshole.”

Only seconds later, Amanda pushed open the main doors, with Aaron a few steps behind her dragging the backpack. She was just in time to see the receding taillights of Carl's cruiser.

“That's weird. Where's he going?” she said, distantly.

The glowing red streaks disappeared into the night. “He must have got word about Steve and Mike,” Aaron said looking up.

“Yeah, maybe,” Amanda murmured, catching the door before it locked shut behind them. “Come on.” They headed back inside, Aaron lugging the heavy bag through the doors.

A new light suddenly illuminated the parking lot. The interior light of a vehicle parked in the shadows, as the driver opened his door, stepping out; the gravel crunching ominously under his boot.

Aaron and Amanda were half way up the corridor, when the sound of the main door rattling, locked, caused them to spin around. “He came back,” Amanda said, nodding to Aaron.

Aaron sighed, turning on his heels. “Here we go again.” Pulling the backpack around to face the opposite direction, he started back towards the main doors, where the rattling had increased in volume and force.

In the pale light of the moon, Tremblay was waiting for them. The glint on his Sheriff's badge was luminescent compared to his dark silhouette, as were the whites of his eyes, looking up from beneath the brim of his hat.

Without verifying who was at the door, Amanda pushed her hip into the door, as she flipped and broke the lock's seal with her hands, before shouldering the rest of the door to push it wide open for Tremblay. Tremblay stepped through the doorway and Amanda gasped, slightly taken aback to see the craggy-faced old man, instead of Carl's rugged but considerably smoother features. “Oh, Sheriff, I thought you were… ”