Should have known, Jack thought. If there’s another, darker way of looking at something, Weezy’s going to find it.
“Like what?”
“Like maybe he couldn’t drown you because he knew people were watching.”
“Then why would he swim out at al ?”
“How about to drag you away from the spot where he’d thrown the whatever?”
Jack hadn’t considered that, but he saw a problem with it.
“If that was true, wouldn’t he be hanging around to make sure I don’t go back in?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe.”
“Can’t we just give the guy the benefit of the doubt?”
“Sure we can: He saw you fal in, thought you were drowning, and swam out to save you.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
“But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have something to do with the deaths of those three Lodgers. Maybe he’s got a list—and maybe they’re on it but you
aren’t. Plus you’re Steve’s friend. That means he does the right thing for you and for anyone not on his list. But if you’re on his list, better watch your back.”
“But wouldn’t a guy who could plan and do the murders of three men just stand there and watch me drown?”
Weezy shook her head. “Hardly anybody’s al bad, Jack. Just as hardly anybody’s al good.”
Jack thought of Mom and Kate and couldn’t imagine anything bad about them. But he didn’t mention that to Weezy. Who knew what she’d dream up?
Whatever it might be, he didn’t want to hear it.
He shivered. “I’m heading home to change.”
“What about the canoe?”
He looked at it, half pul ed up on the bank. He’d forgotten al about it.
“Guess I’l have to paddle it back.”
Weezy smiled. “Best you stay away from the water for a while. I’l help you carry it.”
Not a bad idea.
It turned out to be pretty light so they each carried it on a shoulder.
“This is turning out to be one bad day,” she said. “Maybe the worst Saturday ever.”
Jack knew what she meant.
“Yeah, we get nabbed in the Pines, the cube gets stolen, the pyramid disappears—”
“You mean ‘stolen.’”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. And to top it off, I take a cold-water swim and come up with nothing.”
“Top it off? The day is stil young, Jack. It’s not even noon yet.”
Swel .
They were riding their bikes back toward their homes when Tim pul ed his patrol car up beside them. He was grinning.
“Heard about your dunking.”
Man, news traveled fast in this town. Jack bet his folks already knew.
“Yeah, wel …”
“You look like a drowned rat.”
Jack needed a change of subject. “Did you find out anything about the state troopers I told you about?”
Tim’s grin vanished. “Yeah. And no. I cal ed the sheriff and he cal ed the state, and the state said they didn’t know what he was talking about. When the
sheriff pressed them he was told he’d be a lot better off if he minded his own business.”
Jack looked at Weezy and she looked back.
“I saw that,” Tim said. “What do you two know?”
Weezy gave her head a tiny shake—
suits, and the backhoe digging up the mound. He left out the parts about being locked in the cruiser and the spong traps episode, also the theft of the
cube and the pyramid. No use laying too much on him at once.
