“Truce?” Danny said.
Eddie didn’t reply, but I could see he was over it. The six of us walked back to our fire. Callie and Roxie said it was their turn to collect firewood. They disappeared into the trees.
Eddie and I got settled. We sat against the side of our tent. He slid his arm around my shoulders, and we kissed. I closed my eyes. I wanted the woods to disappear for a while. I wanted to close out everything but Eddie and me.
A popping sound made me jump. I recognized the sound. Riley popping open a can of beer. I snuggled against Eddie’s cheek. I closed my eyes again and pressed my lips against his for a long kiss.
Angry voices interrupted. I turned, a little breathless, and saw Danny and Riley gesturing and shouting at each other. Roxie and Callie stood behind them with armloads of firewood.
“What is this fight about?” I cried. “What is your problem tonight?”
They didn’t reply. Danny gave Riley a hard shove. But Riley is a mountain. He didn’t budge.
“What are they fighting about?” I asked Eddie.
“I don’t care,” he said. He jumped up and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s go.” He grabbed both hands and gave me a hard tug.
“Huh?” I resisted. “Where are we going? We were just getting comfortable. You and I—”
“I’ve had it,” Eddie growled. “All this fighting and stuff. Babies. Seriously.” He pulled me again.
I followed him toward the trees. The moon disappeared again behind clouds, and we walked in total darkness. The air grew cooler as we stepped under the trees. A narrow dirt path curved through the woods, tangles of shrubs and prickly vines brushing us as we passed through.
“Eddie—stop,” I said. “Where are we going? Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see,” he said. He pushed a low tree limb away from the path.
I felt a sharp sting and swatted a mosquito off my forehead. Eddie was walking faster now, his head low, arms swinging at his sides. I hurried to catch up.
“Hey, Eddie—wait. Where are we going? Really.”
He spun around, his face hidden in darkness. “Don’t you trust me?”
I answered reluctantly. “Yes, of course, but…”
He took my hand and helped me over a fallen log. He kissed my cheek, then tugged me along the path. Something slithered over my foot. A snake?
A shiver ran down my back. I lowered my gaze. Too dark to see anything down there.
The trees ended, and we found ourselves in another clearing. Small and flat. Patchy weeds and low pine bushes. Eddie kicked a stone out of our way. He stopped in front of a wide, old tree, the bark crusted with deep ruts.
“Here we are,” he said, his eyes locked on mine.
“Here we are where?” I asked. “There’s nothing here, Eddie. We’re—”
He covered my mouth with a kiss. “This is our place, Emmy,” he said quietly, lowering his hands around my waist and holding me. “This is our secret place.”
I gazed around the small circle of weeds and low shrubs. This is weird, I thought. Eddie isn’t usually this emotional. Or, is it just that I don’t know him very well?
He held me close, staring into my eyes. I knew he was waiting for a response. But I was a little in shock, I guess.
“Do you like it?” he asked finally. “I scouted it out, Emmy. A secret place just for us.”
Definitely weird. But sweet.
“I like it,” I whispered.
Then I gasped as he pulled a knife from his jeans pocket.
He flipped open the blade and raised the knife. “I’m going to make it so this place will always be ours,” he said.
11.
My heartbeats pattered in my chest. I pulled back, pulled free of his arms, and staggered a few steps away, my eyes on the knife blade.
First a gun. Then a knife. How dangerous is he?
Eddie wouldn’t hurt me. Of course not.
To my surprise, Eddie swung away from me and raised the knife to the tree. I watched with my arms tightly wrapped around my waist. My breathing slowly returned to normal as he dug the blade into the soft trunk of the old tree and began to carve.
“Eddie—?” I called out. But he raised his free hand to silence me.
He rested his left hand on the trunk and carved with his right hand, the knife scratching away at the wood, small pieces of bark falling to the ground.
He didn’t look back. He worked quickly, intently, bringing his face close to the tree. Finally, he lowered the knife and stepped back. When he turned to me, he had a smile on his face.
The moon reappeared and a shaft of pale light fell over his work. I took a step forward and saw what he had carved. Eddie ♥ Emmy.
“Sweet,” I said.
He brushed away some chips of bark with his fingers and stood admiring his own work. “Our special place,” he murmured.
I stepped up and squeezed his hand. “Hope you didn’t hurt the tree.”
He snickered. “It’s like a tattoo. A tree tattoo. It only hurts for a little while.”
“Eddie, do you have a tattoo?” I realized again how little I knew about him.
He didn’t answer. He looked away from me and tapped the knife blade on the rough bark below his carving. “Hey.”
“What’s wrong?” I said. “Shouldn’t we be getting back to the others?”
Something caught my eye at the edge of the small clearing. I squinted into the silvery light. A rabbit. A scrawny rabbit, standing still as a statue on its hind legs. Ears straight up. Tiny dark eyes locked on us.
Eddie tapped the tree trunk rapidly with the knife blade. “Weird,” he muttered. He jabbed the blade into the soft bark.
Then he slid one hand to the other side of the trunk. I saw a dark hole there, a hole in the trunk nearly as big as a soccer ball.
“Whoa. This tree is hollow,” Eddie said, his face twisted in surprise.
“Hollow? Really?”
He nodded and shoved his hand into the hole. “Hey. How weird is this? Emmy—there’s something in here.”
I stepped up beside him. “Inside the tree trunk? What is it?”
He pulled his arm back. Jerked it hard a few times, trying to free whatever was gripped in his hand, struggling to pry it from the opening. Finally, he gave a hard tug and staggered back.
I stared at the leather briefcase in his hand. Eddie raised it into the light. “Oh, wow. Oh, wow. I don’t believe this,” he said. “What is this doing in there?”
12.
Moonlight caught the briefcase and made the dark leather glow. I could see there wasn’t a scratch on it or any wear and tear. It was like new.
Eddie twirled it in his hand by the handle. “How did this get in the tree?” he asked.
I didn’t have an answer. He dropped to his knees and worked the latch on the briefcase’s front. His fingers fumbled at it for a few seconds. Then I heard it click, and Eddie pulled the latch open.
He lowered his head and spread the satchel open. “Oh, wow. Wow.” He kept murmuring to himself.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’s in there?” I dropped to my knees beside him.
He reached inside and pulled up a stack of paper. No. Not paper. As my eyes focused, I realized he held a thick stack of money.
He dropped it back into the briefcase and pulled out another stack. His eyes were wide with shock and excitement. His hands trembled as he shuffled through the bills, examining them.
“All hundreds,” he said finally. “Emmy, all hundreds. Look. Look at this.” He pulled up a huge handful.
I took them from him and spread them in my hands like a deck of cards.
“Ohmigod. Ohmigod, Eddie.”
“Thousands of dollars,” Eddie said in a whisper. He tilted the case toward me. I could see that it was jammed to the top with money.
“There’s thousands of dollars in here. All hundreds,” he said. He swallowed hard. He kept blinking rapidly, in disbelief, I guessed.
My heart was poun
ding in my chest. “Put it back,” I said.
He gasped, as if I had said something shocking. “Huh?”
“Put it back, Eddie,” I urged. “Whoever left it there … whoever hid it … well … we don’t want to get involved.”
“Are you crazy?” His words came out shrill, his voice high. “This is unbelievable, Emmy. This is a miracle. This money … it will solve all my family’s problems.”
I grabbed his arm and squeezed it. “Listen to me. Why would someone hide this money? I mean, maybe it’s stolen. Or maybe it’s drug money somebody had to stash away.”
He trained his strange gray eyes on me. “So?”
“They’ll come back for it. They won’t be good people,” I said, my voice trembling. “Think about it, Eddie. They might be really bad people. And whoever it is, they’ll come back for it.
“Did you ever hear of finders keepers?” he said. He moved the briefcase, swinging it out of my reach.
“Don’t be crazy,” I said. “Please. Don’t be crazy. You’re not thinking clearly. Whoever it is will come looking for the money. You don’t want to get involved.”
“They won’t have a clue who took it,” Eddie said, latching the case. “How would they know? Check for fingerprints on the tree trunk?” He laughed, a crazy laugh.
“Not funny,” I said. “This is too dangerous.”
Suddenly, I felt a sharp tingle at the back of my neck. My senses went alert.
Is someone watching us?
I spun around and squinted across the clearing. Was it the rabbit? No. The rabbit was gone. But the feeling lingered, just a strong hunch that we were being watched.
I climbed to my feet. My knees were wet from the grass beneath the tree. “Eddie, I’m begging you. Put the money back.”
“You’re no fun,” he said. “I thought you were a fun person.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “This isn’t about fun. This is about taking someone’s money and getting into incredible danger.”
“I-I need this money,” he stammered. “My family…”
“And what about the others?” I cried, motioning toward the campfire. “We have to tell the others about this, don’t we?”
He shook his head. “No way.” He climbed to his feet, gripping the case tightly in his right hand. “It’s ours, Emmy. It’s our secret. We don’t want to split it six ways—do we?”
Before I could answer, a voice cried out: “Hey—what have you got there?”
Eddie and I spun around. I saw Riley first, hands on his waist, his eyes on the case. Danny, Roxie, and Callie came trotting up behind him.
“Emmy, we didn’t know where you two went,” Callie said. “We thought—”
“What’s in the briefcase?” Riley repeated. “Where’d you get that?”
Eddie hesitated. I saw him grip the case handle tighter.
“Who brings a briefcase to a campout?” Danny demanded. “What’s going down here? Why do you two look so weirded out?”
“It’s … kind of a long story,” I said.
Eddie nodded. “I found this,” he said, raising the case in front of him. “In this tree.” He slapped the trunk. It made a hollow thud.
“You found a briefcase in a tree?” Danny scrunched his face up, squinting at Eddie. “Seriously?”
“What’s this really about?” Roxie demanded, turning to me. “Why are you acting so strange? What’s up with all the suspense? Why did you two sneak off in the first place?”
“Eddie’s telling the truth,” I said. “We found it in this tree. Let’s go back to the campsite and relax,” I said. “Eddie and I will tell you all about it. I swear.”
And that’s what we did. We settled in front of the fire. Riley popped open a few more beers. I took one, too. I felt so jittery and tense, I thought it might help calm me.
Eddie opened the case and showed everyone the stacks and stacks of hundred-dollar bills. “There’s got to be a hundred thousand dollars in here,” he said.
Danny slapped his forehead. He jumped to his feet and did a wild dance. “We’re rich! We’re totally rich!” He and Riley bumped fists.
Then Riley tilted back his beer can and emptied it in one gulp. He crushed it and heaved the can against a tree. Then he joined Riley and Eddie and they bopped around like lunatics, laughing and shouting.
I saw that Callie and Roxie had grown very quiet. They didn’t dance or laugh or cry out or join the celebration in any way.
When the boys finally settled back down to the ground, the argument began. Callie spoke first, softly, timidly. “We have to take it to the police. You’re not really thinking of keeping it—are you?”
“Of course we’re keeping it!” Danny cried. “We can divide it up tonight. The money goes six different ways—and then who will be able to find it? No one.”
Eddie frowned. “Divide it up tonight? Well…”
“What’s wrong with that?” Danny’s tone suddenly turned angry, challenging. “You want to keep it for yourself?”
“No way,” Eddie said. “For sure, we’ll share it. But…”
“We have to be careful,” I said. “I mean, this much money … it could be really dangerous to keep it. We don’t know who hid it in the tree. We don’t want to put ourselves in horrible danger.”
Callie stood up. Her legs were trembling and she had both hands down at her sides curled into tight fists. “We can’t argue about this,” she said through gritted teeth. “Why are we even talking about it? We have to turn it over to the police. It has to be stolen money. Maybe there was a bank robbery or something. And we—”
“There wasn’t any bank robbery in Shadyside,” Eddie told her. “You know my stepdad is a cop. If there was a bank robbery, trust me, he’d be talking about it. He’d be talking about it day and night.”
“Then where did the money come from?” Roxie demanded. “Look at that case. It’s fresh. It wasn’t in that tree for long. Someone just put it in there. And they’ll be coming back for it real soon.”
“That’s why we’ve got to split it up right away,” Danny said. He turned to Riley. “You agree?”
Riley shrugged. “I’ll take my share now. No problem.” He laughed.
“Don’t be stupid,” Eddie said, latching the case. “We have to hide the money till we know it’s safe to spend it.”
“He’s right,” I said. “What if it’s marked money? You know. Like in a bank robbery. And we start spending it, and we’re caught. And then they think we’re the ones who stole it.”
Callie was still tensely on her feet, her body rigid, her fists tight. “Whoever hid that money is guilty of something bad. It has to be from some crime. We can’t take the risk. The police will be looking for it. We have to take it to them—right now.” She shuddered. “What if the person who planted the briefcase is still in the woods?”
Those words sent a chill down my back.
“You all can argue all night,” Danny said, shaking his head. “I’ll take my share now.” He dove forward and grabbed the briefcase out of Eddie’s hand.
Eddie uttered an angry cry and grabbed Danny by the shoulders. He shook Danny hard, and the case fell to the ground.
Eddie gave Danny a hard shove, sending him tumbling backward. Danny stopped himself before he fell into the campfire.
“Whoa!” Riley cried. “Whoa!” He tried to block Danny from charging back at Eddie. But Danny swerved around him. He tackled Eddie around the knees. Eddie fell to the ground. Scrambled to his knees. Made a grab for the briefcase.
Danny kicked it out of Eddie’s reach. Eddie dove for it.
And I screamed as I saw the revolver fall from Eddie’s jacket pocket.
Both boys saw it, too. Danny dropped to his knees and stretched his hand toward it. But Eddie got there first.
I saw Danny’s hand wrap around Eddie’s. They were both grunting and groaning. They looked like two arm wrestlers, struggling and straining, their hands closed over the gun.
I screamed again, a sh
rill scream of horror, as the gun exploded. The sound of the shot echoed off the trees all around.
My scream cut off. I started to choke.
I watched Danny grab his stomach and crumple to the ground.
“You killed him!” Callie’s scream throbbed in my ears. “You killed him! You killed him!”
13.
Still screaming, Callie ran to Danny and dropped beside him.
Danny raised his head slowly. He gazed around, his eyes unfocused, as if he was dazed.
“Danny? Danny?” Callie cried, reaching for him.
He sat up. “I’m okay.” He ran his hands down his chest, then his legs. “The shot—it frightened me. I just dropped. Reflexes, I guess.”
Callie held onto him, hugging his shoulders. “You’re not shot?”
Danny shook his head. “I felt the bullet whiz past me. Like a burst of air. And the sound—” He covered his ears with both hands.
Eddie moved quickly and lowered a hand to help Danny up. The rest of us stood in place. No one spoke.
Eddie tucked the gun into his jacket pocket. Then he stood Danny up and brushed him off. His way of apologizing, I guess
“Sorry about that,” he said finally, his eyes on the ground. “It was an accident. You know that, right?”
Danny nodded. “We were both being stupid,” he murmured.
“Maybe this will bring you guys to your senses,” Roxie said.
“I’ll second that,” I chimed in. “Okay. We found some money. We can’t fight about it. We have to stay calm and figure out the best thing to do.”
“Everyone knows the best thing to do,” Callie said, still on the ground. “But no one wants to do that.”
“You mean turn it over to the police?” I said.
She nodded.
“That’s crazy—” Eddie started.
But I held a hand up to silence him. “Let’s not start fighting again. Let’s vote. Settle it right away.”
“I vote that we take the money and we all buy new Corvettes,” Riley said. “We have a Corvette Club, all six of us, and we meet every week and go roaring around together, terrifying everyone in town.”
“Shut up, Riley,” Roxie said.