Pushed Read online

  “Evan had this box with him the day he died,” I tried to explain. “We thought you should have it, that you’d want to know everything there was to know about that day—about Evan.”

  “I do know everything there is to know about my son!” yelled Mr. Davis. “I also know when two punks are trying to blackmail me.”

  I stood up. So did Joe. “That’s not why we came here. We came because we care about Evan,” I said.

  “If you don’t get out of here, you’re going to get more than you bargained for. I promise you that,” Mr. Davis threatened.

  “How did it go with Evan’s dad?” Lily asked as soon as we’d joined her at a table all the way in the back of the common room.

  “He kicked us out,” answered Joe, “after he threatened to call the cops—or was it before?” He looked at me.

  “I think it was both,” I said.

  “So that’s it? He tells you to go and you just go? Is that how you solved all your cases?” Lily demanded.

  I did a room check. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to us. “Keep it down, okay?” I told Lily.

  “Look,” Joe said, “we think you could be right about Mr. Davis. We think he might have murdered Evan, or maybe paid someone to do it. But that’s only one possibility. Wait, I mean that’s only two possibilities. We have to uncover every possible person who could have wanted Evan dead.”

  “Joe’s right,” I added. “It’s way too soon to focus on just one suspect. That’s not the way we solve cases.”

  “You’re wasting your time on anybody but Mr. Davis,” Lily insisted. “You didn’t see the way he talked to Evan. I did. It was like Mr. Davis hated him. All he cared about was that he might possibly lose the election.”

  “We’re not done with Mr. Davis. I promise,” I told Lily. “Okay?”

  She didn’t answer. Her blue eyes were icy. “Okay?” I repeated.

  “Just trust us a little,” said Joe.

  “Okay.” Lily sighed. “At least somebody cares about Evan. Somebody besides me. He was so great. He didn’t deserve to die. I want to see his killer pay.”

  Before Joe or I could answer, Sean came into the room. “How was your little tea party?” Mark called over to him. “You ready to go upstairs and pack your bags for college with all your new cash?”

  “It might take me longer than I thought,” Sean answered. “But I’ll get there.”

  “We’re all sure you will,” a plump woman with silver hair said as she stepped up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

  “I don’t know whether that’s a polyester dress,” Joe said softly. “But I’m thinking that has to be Tess Markham.”

  The woman raised her voice. “You’re all going to get where you want to go. I won’t stop until you do.”

  “What about me, Tess?” whined Nina. “I’ve been here a lot longer than Sean. How come he got the fancy tea party before I got anything?”

  “I’m out of here,” Lily said softly. “Hearing about the fund-raiser just makes me think of Evan. He was so happy when he got back from that dinner Tess set up for him.” She stood up and headed for the door.

  “I have to match the teen I’m presenting with the group I’m presenting to,” Tess explained. “I’ve told you all this before. The tea was for women who are very active in charities that involve animals. I thought they’d respond well to a teen who wanted to be a vet. They were touched by the stories about all the pets Sean has had. And they were impressed by his math and science grades.”

  They may have been impressed, but from the way Sean was acting, they hadn’t donated all that much money.

  “Does that answer your question, Nina?” Tess asked.

  “I guess,” Nina muttered.

  “Good. Now, excuse me, everyone, while I say hello to our newest guests.” Tess walked over to me and Joe and sat down at our table. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived. But I know Sandy took care of you. He’s the best.”

  “Definitely,” Joe said.

  “This is a great place. We’re glad we found it,” I told her.

  “I am too,” Tess answered. “I hate to think about kids who don’t find the Haven—or someplace like it.” She frowned a little, and I wondered if she was thinking of her son. “Not that there actually are any places like the Haven. This is the best center for runaways in the city.”

  “Take a look at all the awards on her office walls if you don’t believe her,” called Rosemary.

  “I believe!” Joe exclaimed.

  Tess laughed. “You’re Joe, am I right? And you’re Frank.”

  “How’d you know which of us was which?” I asked.

  “I have my methods.” She winked. “Sandy described you both. But I need a lot more information than he gave me. Hopes, dreams, aspirations. Tell Tess. You’ve heard what I can do when I match the right teen with the right people with money. You first, Joe.”

  “Me. Uh . . .” Joe stared up at the ceiling, thinking.

  “Come on. Didn’t you ever think about what you wanted to be when you grew up?” Tess teased gently.

  “A Major League pitcher,” said Joe.

  “That might be a little tough as a fund-raising angle. Anything else?” Tess asked.

  “A police officer, maybe,” Joe answered, and I knew he was thinking of our dad.

  “Hmm. A noble calling. But have you thought about law? You should think about it.” She glanced at her watch. “Oooh, I’m late for a meeting. But it was great to meet both of you. You have nice manners. I like to see that. And so do the donors.” She gave us a little wave as she walked away.

  That night I couldn’t fall asleep. I kept running over the suspects in my head. Tess seemed really cool when we met her today. And it was great the way she got the kids here money for school.

  But she was obviously really proud of the Haven. And it seemed like her whole life revolved around it. I wondered how far she’d go to protect its reputation.

  What about Sandy? He seemed like he thought Tess was amazing. And she supposedly treated him almost like he was her son. What would Sandy do to protect Tess and the Haven?

  My brain felt like it was closing down as I started thinking about Olivia. Photos . . . blackmailing . . .

  I couldn’t stay awake. I drifted off to the sound of Joe snoring, which he claims he doesn’t do.

  But it wasn’t Joe’s snores that woke me up. It was a soft sound—but a sound that didn’t seem like it belonged in the dorm in the middle of the night: a clicking. I sat up and squinted into the darkness around me.

  I didn’t see anything suspicious. Had I heard the door clicking shut? Had someone been sneaking around in the dorm? It could have been someone heading out to the bathroom, I told myself.

  I started to lie back down, and that’s when I saw it: the ripped sheet taped to the wall between my bed and Joe’s. A message had been written across the white cloth in dripping red letters. Blood?

  I leaned closer to read the words. “Go home—or die.”

  10.

  THIEF

  “Nice love note, guys,” Sean said.

  “Jealous?” I shot back.

  Frank reached out and ran his fingers across the dripping red letters of the word “die.”

  “I really thought this was written in blood last night,” he said.

  “Well, it’s not like you wear a lot of nail polish. Only on special occasions, am I right?” I asked.

  Frank snorted. “Somebody must have used a whole bottle of the stuff to write this.” He pulled the sheet off the wall and folded it up. Then we headed out to the hallway where we could talk without an audience.

  “Any idea who the somebody could be?” I used my fingers to smooth down my hair. I could feel I had some intense bed head going on.

  “‘Get out or die.’ That sounds a little like what Evan’s dad said to us yesterday. He said we’d get more than we bargained for,” Frank answered.

  I did my one-eyebrow raise. “Death is definitely mo
re than I bargained for.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Frank. “It’s hard to imagine Mr. Davis sneaking into the Haven in the middle of the night, though. For one thing, if he got caught, it would create the kind of scandal he’s trying to avoid.”

  “We talked about Mr. Davis maybe having hired somebody to kill Evan. Maybe he hired somebody to deliver the warning,” I suggested.

  “It wouldn’t have been hard at all for Tess or Sandy to get into the dorm. But if they did, it would mean that somebody’s figured out we aren’t just your basic runaways,” Frank said.

  “I don’t think we’ve given ourselves away,” I told him. “Lily’s the only one who knows the truth about us. And she wants us to figure out what happened to Evan. She wouldn’t be trying to scare us off.”

  “Olivia’s our other big suspect. But I don’t think she’s figured out we’re detectives either,” Frank said.

  “Not after my masterful performance as a pickpocket,” I agreed. “There’s one thing that bugs me about Olivia as a suspect, though. Our theory is that she might have been blackmailing Evan, and he went on the attack.”

  Frank nodded. “That still makes sense to me.”

  “Me too,” I agreed. “But the timing is really convenient, don’t you think?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Frank.

  “Well, Evan was killed when he was on his way to talk to a reporter about something going on at the Haven,” I explained. “If Olivia killed Evan, that means she just happened to prevent him from talking to the reporter—because Olivia wouldn’t care if Evan talked to the press about this place.”

  “It would be a weird coincidence. But those do happen sometimes,” Frank said.

  “So who else do we have on our suspect list?” I asked.

  Joe didn’t have time to answer before the shouting started up from downstairs.

  “You’re not getting away with it!” somebody yelled.

  A softer voice murmured a reply.

  “I wasn’t sure before, but I am now! You’re sick!” the first voice shouted. You could hear the raw fury.

  “Let’s check it out,” said Frank. He took the stairs two at a time. When we hit the downstairs hallway, we saw Mark facing off with Tess.

  “There are people I can tell,” Mark ranted on. “You think I don’t have any power, but you’re—”

  Tess put her hand on his arm. “Let’s talk about this in my office.”

  Mark pulled away. “Why? You don’t want people to hear? I think everybody should. I think—”

  “You don’t want to say any more out here. Believe me,” Tess told him, shooting a glance at me and Frank. “Let’s go into my office.”

  Sandy stepped into the hall. “Problems?” he asked.

  “I just want Mark to come into my office for a chat. We have a little situation we need to resolve. Nothing serious,” Tess told Sandy.

  “Mark, are you going to go discuss whatever the issue is in a calm way?” Sandy asked.

  “Fine. But it’s not like sitting in your office is going to change anything,” Mark told Tess as they started walking toward her office.

  “You two need to get dressed for breakfast,” Tess called over her shoulder to me and Frank.

  “What do you think that was about?” I asked Frank as we headed back upstairs.

  “Sounds like Mark’s very unhappy with Tess. It kind of sounded like he found out whatever it was that Evan was going to talk to that reporter about,” Frank said.

  “And Mark decided to go straight to Tess with it,” I added.

  “I think Mark has just become our best lead to finding out whether Evan was murdered or not,” Frank told me.

  Frank and I made sure to sit at the same table as Mark at breakfast. He shoveled oatmeal into his mouth in silence, not even looking at anybody else.

  “What’s your damage?” Lily finally asked him.

  “Yeah,” Nina said. “We heard you yelling at Tess this a.m. What was up? The only reason anybody should be on her case is her bad fashion sense.”

  “Nothing,” Mark muttered, keeping his gaze on his cereal.

  “Nothing? That’s bull,” Erin told him. “You don’t yell loud enough to be heard in the girl’s dorm when you’re talking about nothing.”

  “Tess—” Mark hesitated. “Yesterday she told me I could get out of lunch-cooking duty today. Then this morning she tells me she changed her mind.”

  “Yeah, right,” said Lily. Nina and Erin exchanged a he’s so lying look. Jason grunted in what sounded like agreement.

  Was there anyone at the table who didn’t think Mark was lying? Who got so bent over something like having to cook lunch? Everybody at the Haven had to do stuff like that.

  The kind of stuff Mark was yelling at Tess—“You’re not getting away with it”—could apply to Tess going back on her agreement to let Mark skip lunch duty, but it was a real stretch. Mark had sounded practically homicidal when he was shouting that stuff.

  Mark shoveled the last few spoonfuls of oatmeal into his mouth. Then, without a word, he got up and stomped toward the kitchen to drop off his bowl.

  “I think I’m done too,” Frank said, even though his bowl was still half-full.

  I took the hint. “Me too.”

  We both stood up and followed after Mark. “I think we should trail him today,” Frank whispered as we crossed the dining hall.

  I nodded. “Seems like he knows something we should know.”

  We dumped our dishes by the sink for the morning cleaning crew to deal with. Then we walked out to the hallway and followed Mark as he headed outside. We were careful to give him a decent head start. We weren’t going to find out anything we needed if he knew we were following him.

  Mark strode down Twenty-third Street, heading east. There were lots of people heading to work, which gave us some good cover as we trailed him. He took us all the way over to Second Avenue, then hung a right.

  Practically every block we passed on Second had a place that sold pizza by the slice. None of them were open. Too early. But that didn’t stop my stomach from growling.

  “He’s going to hear us if your belly gets any louder,” Frank said.

  “I didn’t get to finish breakfast,” I protested.

  “Hey, wait. Isn’t that Olivia up there?” asked Frank as we approached St. Mark's Place.

  “Yeah. Looks like Mark sees her too.” We watched Mark cut across the street, heading straight toward Olivia. He shoved her up against the wall of yet another pizza place. Then he jerked her backpack off her shoulders.

  Faux Hawk guy—whose name we’d found out was Eli—tried to grab it back from him, but Mark elbowed him away. He rummaged through the backpack and pulled out Olivia’s camera. He dropped the pack and shook the camera in Olivia’s face. I could tell he was shouting at her, but Frank and I were too far away to hear the words.

  “He seems as mad at her as he was at Tess,” Frank commented.

  Mark raised the camera over his head, then slammed it down on the pavement.

  “Maybe madder,” I said as Mark stomped on the camera with one of his heavy work boots.

  Olivia and her crew seemed to have decided to let Mark do whatever he was going to do. They watched as he brought his foot down on the camera again. Then he stormed away.

  “We definitely need to find out what that was about,” said Frank. “We need to dig up more info about Evan’s father, too. The way he went off yesterday—it just made me more suspicious of him.”

  “Want to split up?” I asked.

  “Good idea. You should hang with Olivia. She’s already starting to trust you, I think. You sort of proved yourself to her by picking that man’s pocket,” Frank answered.

  I nodded. “I’ll wait a little while before I head over there. I don’t want anyone to think I might have been following Mark—or even that I saw what just happened.”

  “I’ll head back out to Long Island. I think I’ll scope out Mr. Davis’s campaign headquarters, see if I
can find out anything from the people who are working for him,” Frank said.

  “I’ll meet you at Gray’s Papaya at four,” I told him.

  “Gray’s Papaya is nowhere near the Haven,” Frank protested.

  “I know. But I’ve been thinking about those Gray’s hot dogs since the last time we were here with Mom and Dad,” I said.

  Frank stared at me. “That was more than four years ago.”

  “Those were some very good hot dogs,” I pointed out.

  “Actually, they were pretty good. See you there at four.” Frank turned and headed for the closest subway station. It was only about a block away.

  I went into a tiny Korean grocery store and bought myself a Rice Krispies square. I needed some food in me if I was going to be in top shape while I was observing Olivia. When I finished every marshmallowy bite, I wandered toward Olivia.

  Eli and Shay were with her, and a guy I hadn’t seen before who looked sort of like a young Jack Black.

  “Joe, hey!” Olivia called when she spotted me. “Where’s the brother whose name should be Robert?”

  “Frank had some stuff to do,” I answered as I joined her group. “What are you guys up to today?”

  “The first thing we have to do is get me a new camera,” answered Olivia.

  “What happened to your old one?” I asked. I was curious whether or not she’d tell me the truth.

  “Some psycho grabbed it and smashed it.” Olivia swept her hand toward the sidewalk, where pieces of the camera were still scattered.

  So I’d gotten a partial truth. Olivia hadn’t mentioned she knew the psycho in question. “Why’d somebody do that?” I asked.

  “Aw, you haven’t been in the city for long, have you, little boy?” Shay asked. “There are crazies all over the place. Once this woman punched me in the chest. Didn’t say anything first. I didn’t step on her foot or ask her for anything. She just walked up to me and wham!”

  “Jeez,” the Jack Black–looking guy muttered.

  “Yeah, Alex, jeez,” Shay said, sarcasm dripping off her.

  “Don’t fight, chicklets,” Olivia told them. “Where should we go shopping for my camera?”

  “Kmart has an okay selection. And it’s only a few blocks away,” Shay said.