to go to the high school. His feelings about Vee were no secret, after all. But something was missing. I couldn't feel Patch anywhere inside my head. If he was altering my thoughts, he'd found a new way to accomplish it, because as far as I could tell, what I was seeing was real.
'Who would do that?'
He rose to his full height. 'The list is long.'
'Are you trying to tell me you have a lot of enemies?'
'I've upset a few people. A lot of folks place bets they can't win. Then they blame me for walking off with their car, or more.'
Patch walked one space over to a coupe, opened the driver's side door, and took a seat behind the steering wheel. Reaching under it, his hand disappeared.
'What are you doing?' I asked, standing in the open doorway. It was a waste of breath since I was well aware of what he was doing.
'Looking for the spare key.' Patch's hand reappeared, holding two blue wires. With some skill, he removed the ends of the wires and tapped them together. The engine turned over, and Patch looked out at me. 'Seat belt.'
'I'm not stealing a car.'
He shrugged. 'We need it now. They don't.'
'It's stealing. It's wrong.'
Patch didn't look the least bit troubled. In fact, he looked a little too relaxed in the driver's seat. This isn't the first time he's done this, I thought.
'First rule of auto theft,' he said on a smile. 'Try not to hang around the crime scene longer than necessary.'
'Hang on one minute,' I said, holding up a finger.
I jogged back to the theater. On my way inside, the glass doors reflected the parking lot behind me, and I saw Patch swing out of the coupe.
'Hi, Brandt,' I said to the boy still flicking popcorn into a long-handled dustpan.
Brandt looked up at me, but his attention was quickly drawn over my shoulder. I heard the theater doors open and sensed Patch move behind me. His approach wasn't all that different from a cloud eclipsing the sun, subtly darkening the landscape, hinting of a storm.
'How's it going?' Brandt said uncertainly.
'I'm having car trouble,' I said, biting my lip and trying on a sympathetic face. 'I know I'm putting you in an awkward position, but since I helped you with that Shakespeare paper last semester…'
'You want to borrow my car.'
'Actually…yes.'
'It's a piece of junk. It's no Jeep Commander.' He looked right at Patch like he was apologizing.
'Does it run?' I asked.
'If by run you mean do the wheels roll, yeah, it runs. But it's not for loan.'
Patch opened his wallet and handed over what looked like three crisp hundred-dollar bills. Reining in my surprise, I decided the best thing to do was play along.
'I changed my mind,' Brandt said, eyes wide, pocketing the money. He fished in his pockets and underhanded Patch a pair of keys.
'What's the make and color?' Patch asked, catching the keys.
'Hard to tell. Part Volkswagen, part Chevette. It used to be blue. That was before it corroded to orange. You'll fill the tank up before you return it?' Brandt said, sounding like he had his fingers crossed behind his back, pressing his luck.
Patch peeled out another twenty. 'Just in case we forget,' he said, stuffing it into the front pocket of Brandt's uniform.
Outside, I told Patch, 'I could have talked him into giving me his keys. I just needed a little more time. And by the way, why do you bus tables at the Borderline if you're loaded?'
'I'm not. I won the money off a pool game a couple nights back.' He pushed Brandt's key in the lock and opened the passenger-side door for me. 'The bank is officially closed.'
Patch drove across town on dark, quiet streets. It didn't take long to arrive at the high school. He rolled Brandt's car to a stop on the east side of the building and killed the engine. The campus was wooded, the branches twisted and bleak and holding up nothing but a damp fog. Behind them loomed Coldwater High.
The original part of the building had been constructed in the late nineteenth century, and after sunset it looked very much like a cathedral. Gray and foreboding. Very dark. Very abandoned.
'I just got a really bad feeling,' I said, eyeing the school's black voids for windows.
'Stay in the car and keep out of sight,' Patch told me, passing over the keys. 'If anybody comes out of the building, take off.' He got out. He was wearing a fitted black crewneck tee, dark Levi's, and boots. With his black hair and dusky skin, it was hard to distinguish him from the background. He crossed the street and, in a matter of moments, blended completely into the night.
Chapter 28
Five minutes came and went. Ten minutes stretched to twenty. I struggled to ignore the hair-raising feeling that I was under surveillance. I peered into the shadows ringing the school.
What was taking Patch so long? I shuffled through a few theories, feeling more uneasy by the moment. What if Patch couldn't find Vee? What would happen when Patch found Elliot? I didn't think Elliot could overpower Patch, but there was always a chance-if Elliot had the element of surprise.
The phone in my pocket rang, and I jumped out of my skin.
'I see you,' Elliot said when I answered. 'Sitting out there in the car.
'Where are you?'
'Watching you from a second-story window. We're playing inside.'
'I don't want to play.'
He ended the call.
With my heart in my throat, I got out of the car. I looked up at the dark windows of the school. I didn't think Elliot knew Patch was inside. His voice came across impatient, not angry or irritated. My only hope was that Patch had a plan and would make sure nothing happened to me or Vee. The moon was clouded over, and under a shadow of fear I walked up to the east door.
I stepped into semidarkness. My eyes took several seconds to make something of the shaft of streetlight falling through the window encased in the top half of the door. The floor tiles reflected a waxy gleam. Lockers were lined up on either side of the hallway like sleeping robotic soldiers. Instead of a peaceful, quiet feeling, the halls radiated hidden menace.
The outside lights illuminated the first several feet into the hallway, but after that, I could see nothing. Just inside the door was a panel of light switches, and I flipped them on. Nothing happened.
Since the power was working outside, I knew the electricity inside had been shut off by hand. I wondered if this was part of Elliot's plan. I couldn't see him, and I couldn't see Vee. I also couldn't see Patch. I was going to have to feel my way through each room in the school, playing a slow game of elimination until I found him. Together we would find Vee.
Using the wall as my guide, I crept forward. On any given weekday, I passed down this stretch of hall several times, but in the darkness it suddenly seemed foreign. And longer. Much longer.
At the first intersection I mentally assessed my surroundings. Turning left would lead to the band and orchestra rooms and the cafeteria. Turning right would lead to administrative offices, as well as a double staircase. I continued straight, heading deeper into the school, toward the classrooms.
My foot caught on something, and before I could react, I went sprawling to the floor. Hazy gray light filtered through a skylight directly overhead as the moon broke between clouds, illuminating the features of the body I'd tripped on. Jules was on his back, his expression fixed in a blank stare. His long blond hair was tangled over his
