Caught in the Act Read online

  “Wait! You told him that?” Panic washed through me, and my legs turned all rubbery.

  “Got you the job, didn’t I? You should be thanking me, Dylan,” she said. “Welcome to the staff at Granitewood Lodge. It’s a great place to work.”

  “But the Hilliers know my mom! What if he says something to her? I’ll be screwed.” Now my mouth felt dry. Why did this dumb stuff keep happening to me today?

  “Oh, don’t stress out about it, Dylan. He won’t even remember this happened. He’s always way too busy.” She stepped forward and gave me a little hug. I didn’t resist. She was soft and warm. Then the screen door creaked open, and a family burst inside.

  “Welcome to Granitewood Lodge,” Heather said, sidling back behind the desk. “How can I help you folks today?” She flicked me a quick finger wave and turned back to her customers.

  Outside, I stood blinking in the bright sunshine. Somehow I’d managed to get myself a summer job. I was too confused to figure out if I was happy about it or not.

  “Good for you, Dylan!” Mom beamed at me from behind the bar at Rocky’s Roadhouse when I went in to break the “good” news. “I figured you’d get the job. You’re such a mature and responsible guy these days.”

  That nearly made me choke on a sip of Coke. I swirled the ice cubes with my straw.

  “Um, there’s something you should know before you get too excited, Mom,” I said, and her smile melted. She spun around like she was afraid to hear what I needed to tell her. She grabbed a plate of nachos from the kitchen ledge and set it on the counter in front of a man who was reading. Then she leaned on the counter and sighed.

  “What happened this time, Dylan?”

  “Okay, so it’s not that bad, you know, and I wasn’t the only one there.” Then I told her about the fire, and she listened calmly as she made slow circles on the bar with a damp towel. Not even looking at me. When I finished, I waited. And, whew, she actually smiled again.

  “At least you stuck around instead of bolting. And you’re right, Nicole would have told me for sure.” When she patted my hand, I felt myself relax a bit. “That could have turned out awful though. Use your head, Dylan, okay? Promise you’ll stay smart this summer.”

  The man at the bar was smiling as he eavesdropped. “Bigger the kid, bigger the problem,” he said. “Trust me, it doesn’t get any easier, Stephanie.”

  “Gee, thanks, John,” Mom said, forcing a smile. “That’s the last thing I needed to hear.”

  Chapter Three

  Friday evening I had only three more days of freedom. Yet there I was, stuck at home with Gran, with zip all to do. Cory had some family birthday party happening. The evening seemed to stretch ahead like a colossal yawn. I sat in front of a screen in my room, steering a speeding car with my controller and wishing something cool would happen. Then, like magic, the phone rang, and I grabbed the portable in my room.

  “So did you get the job?” It was Cory. I had to use a landline because Mom wouldn’t let me have a cell phone in such a small town. It was pointless, she said, and she was probably right.

  “Yeah, got it,” I said, but I didn’t explain exactly how I got it. I’d be holding on to that.

  “Cool. I guess.” He sounded almost disappointed. “So why don’t you come over and stay here tonight? My folks and sister are going out now to celebrate some more with the family, and I don’t feel like going with them. Mom said you could come over, since they’ll be home late.”

  “Be there in fifteen,” I said, then hung up and headed for the door.

  I still had to get past Gran. She was playing Solitaire on the coffee table in front of a Frasier rerun.

  “Going to Cory’s. Sleeping there. See ya tomorrow, Gran.” My hand was on the knob.

  “Hold it,” she said, then turned around to look at me. “Does your mom know? Did you even call to tell her?”

  “I will when I get there,” I said, then opened the door a crack.

  “Where’s your overnight stuff, Dylan? You know, pajamas, toothbrush, change of clothes. Etcetera.”

  “Gran, I sleep in my boxers in the summer. I keep a toothbrush at Cory’s. It’s all good.”

  “Don’t forget to call your mom,” she said, but her voice was muffled by the door that I’d closed behind me.

  “Right, Gran,” I called back to her.

  Then I ran all the way down six flights of stairs and grabbed my bike from the bike rack.

  The heat was stifling, and it was so humid, it was like riding through smothering steam. My clothes stuck to me instantly, and within a few minutes I could feel the sweat trickling down my back. With this hot weather so early, it was shaping up to be the perfect summer. Too bad I had to miss it being stuck with a job.

  Cory was waiting on his porch when I wheeled into his driveway. He came down the steps and slapped my hand.

  “Come on inside,” he said. “Got a new video game to show you.”

  Great. I’d just left a boring screen, and now I had to sit in front of another one. But it was his house, so he got first shot on the plans. Which is why, an hour later, we were still sitting in front of a screen shooting at stuff in some sort of new military game. His house was hot, and I was sweltering. He said the ac wasn’t working properly, and that wasn’t working well for me. I half wished I had an excuse to leave, but I couldn’t come up with one. Till the phone rang.

  Cory answered, and his face dropped. “It’s your gran,” he said. “She sounds mad.”

  “Oops. I knew I forgot something. I’ll try and calm her down.” I grabbed the receiver.

  But I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. She was furious. Mom had called home to talk to me, and Gran told her I was at Cory’s place and was supposed to have called the bar to let her know when I arrived. So Mom was worried that something had happened to me on the way over. Which explained the frantic call from Gran. And the order from Mom to come home for the night instead of sleeping over. Nuts!

  “Okay, okay, Gran,” I said, trying to soothe her. “I totally forgot. I’m sorry! I’ll be there in a little while. Yep, before eleven. I promise.” I hung up and looked at Cory. “I wish they wouldn’t freak out so much over me. Let’s at least go for a bike ride before I have to get home. I’m sick of being inside.”

  That’s how we wound up running into Tanner a few minutes later.

  “Hey, guys!” Tanner waved at us from under a streetlight, where he stood with another guy. I recognized him. Tanner’s cousin Jacob, who always visited for summer vacations. We rode over to them. I still had nearly an hour before I had to be home.

  “What’s up?” I said.

  “Well, we were thinking—” Jacob was grinning as he looked at Tanner.

  “That since it’s so stinking hot tonight—” Tanner grinned back.

  “We should head over to the secret beach for a skinny dip,” Jacob said. “I mean, look at those stars!” He swept his hand across the inky sky, which was thick with stars and a crescent moon. “Sure don’t get that in the big city. Be even better at the beach.”

  “Okay, I’m in,” I said. “Since my freedom’s running out. Starting a job at Granitewood Lodge on Tuesday.”

  “That sucks,” Tanner said.

  “I know,” I said. “But Mom wants me to start helping out at home. Anyway, it’ll be cool to be able to buy my own stuff without begging, for a change. So you up for this, Cory?”

  Cory’s face was twisted, as if he was having a debate in his head.

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “I was supposed to stay home. This is already stretching it.”

  “But it’s the first day of vacation,” said Tanner. “And that whole note-burning thing this afternoon turned out so lame.”

  “Oh, whatev,” said Cory. “Let’s do this, dudes!”

  Cory and I dropped our bikes at the top of the hill. A set of log steps had been built into the steep bank leading down to the beach. Pale moonlight seeped through the trees and shivered out across the water. We scrambled do
wn behind Tanner and Jacob, half on our butts because the old steps were half buried in undergrowth. At the bottom, we stood on a gleaming crescent of sand and let the lapping waves lick our toes.

  “Wow, it’s so warm,” Jacob said, then started to whip off his clothes.

  In a few seconds we were all wading into the warm shallows, then diving under like a bunch of nocturnal otters to swim farther out.

  I was the first one to spot the flashlight beam bobbing around in the trees onshore. It was farther along, beyond where the beach ended, above a craggy hunk of granite where I knew there was a path. Kids liked to sit on the rocks there and fish, since there was a deep pool at the bottom. On nights like this, though, they liked to sit on the rocks and do other stuff.

  “Quiet for a sec,” I said. “We don’t want them to notice us. So don’t move.”

  We swam closer to shore, where the moonlight wouldn’t give us away. Then we stood in water up to our chests, watching. The guys on the rock were being stealthy themselves, talking in low whispers with the odd rumbly laugh. I had the feeling they might be “getting up to no good,” as Gran would say. And warned me not to be doing. Ever.

  The clock was ticking toward eleven and my curfew. But I was stuck in the lake with my friends. Our clothes were on the shore. If we made a move, the guys on the rock would spot us for sure. And they had a flashlight. “What should we do now?” Cory murmured beside me. “I’m starting to get cold. If we head for shore, they might see us.”

  “So what if they see us?” Tanner said, not even trying to whisper. “Who cares?”

  “Be quiet, Tanner,” I told him. “Let’s wait a few minutes. Maybe they’ll leave.”

  There were plenty of jerks in this town. I didn’t want to run into any of them in my current state of nakedness.

  “I’m going back anyway. I want to get out of here. Like right now.” Cory started to wade in. It almost looked as if he was tiptoeing through the water to avoid being spotted from shore.

  “Quit being such a suck, Cory,” Tanner said. “They’re not gonna bother us.” Then he dove and started to swim, splashing up a noisy storm with his arms.

  The flashlight flicked our way, and the bright led beam poured over the dark water. “Someone’s out there,” somebody said. It was a voice I knew. That was a bad thing. “Let’s go check it out,” another guy said. Another familiar voice.

  Then the light began to bounce across the rocks and along the path toward the secret beach. Some secret.

  “Crap,” I said. “Nice work, Tanner.”

  Chapter Four

  Tanner had stopped swimming. We all waded over to him and waited. The thin slice of moon felt like a searchlight shining down on us. We kept low in the water. I watched the flashlight as it closed in on the beach, and I held my breath. Then the beam landed on our clothes.

  “Dudes!” one of them called. The light danced across the water. “You guys swimming nekked out there or what?”

  Judging from the dead silence, none of us had the guts to answer. By that point, we all knew exactly who was standing on the shore with a flashlight. Garrett and his nasty band of followers.

  “Come on, don’t be shy, guys.” Low chuckles, but not from any of us.

  “Probably don’t want to attract any attention,” one of them said. “Watch this.”

  In the circle of light on the beach, I saw something fly through the air, and my heart sank.

  “What are they doing?” Jacob said.

  “Pitching our clothes up in the trees,” I said. “Double crap.”

  Tick, tick, tick. I was getting more doomed every second. The guys on the beach were killing themselves laughing as they tossed our clothes as high as they could into the tree branches. In the beam of their light I could see boxers, shorts and T-shirts, including my favorite one, flapping up there like laundry hung out to dry.

  After that, the guys taunted us for a bit, their voices oozing smugness. Then they got bored, I figured. Because we never budged, even though we were all shivering now. I held my breath as I watched them wander away. Their bouncing ray of light grew dim and finally disappeared into the woods. Then we waded back to shore.

  We stood there in the sand, looking up at the ghostly shapes of our clothes dangling from the branches of the pine trees overhead. There was not a chance we could reach them. We tried throwing rocks to knock them down, but that didn’t work. We found a long dead branch in the woods and tried to reach them with that, but still no dice.

  “Well, boys,” I finally said. “Anybody got a Plan B? I mean, unless you’re okay with walking through town like this. I don’t think anyone else would be okay with it.”

  Tanner and Jacob dropped a few choice swear words as they blew off steam about what Garrett and his buddies had done to us. Cory’s face was screwed up like he was either thinking hard or about to cry. I wasn’t sure which. If only we had towels, at least.

  Then I got an idea. “Wait,” I said.

  “Wait what, Dylan?” Tanner said. “Any idea will be a good one right now, trust me.”

  “How about if we check out some of the cottages nearby and see if anyone has towels hanging around?” I said.

  “Hmm, guess we could ‘borrow’ them. Then return them tomorrow when we come back with a pole or something to get our clothes out of the trees,” Cory said. “That’s actually not a bad idea, dude.”

  “Okay, so let’s do this,” I said.

  I ignored the alarm bells that were clanging in my head. We had no other choice. We had to try this, even though the thought of it made me wince. If only Gran and Mom could see me now. Oh, and of course Mr. Hillier. His “responsible” new employee. They’d all be so proud!

  We stumbled along the shore path, traipsing across cottage property lines in our desperate towel hunt. Whenever security lights flicked on, we ducked behind bushes and kept to the shadows. We passed plenty of boathouses and deck chairs, but no towels.

  “So where’re all the towels?” Tanner said. “I mean, everyone swims from their docks.”

  “Probably hanging from clothes-lines closer to their cottages,” Cory said. “We’ll have to check there, maybe.”

  “We’re screwed if someone spots us,” Jacob said.

  “Got to risk it, guys, if we ever want to get home tonight,” I said, and then I pushed my way through the undergrowth, heading for the yellow light that spilled through the window of the nearest cottage. As we edged through the trees and closed in on the deck, I spotted it. A row of beach towels hanging from the deck rail. I turned to my friends and waved them on.

  But a sudden flash stopped us in our tracks before we got there. Then there was another flash. And another and another, with every move we made.

  “Crap!” I said. “Freeze, guys. It’s a motion sensor.”

  Cory dropped to the ground, and the rest of us followed his lead. Then, hunkered close to the ground, we crab-walked toward the deck. And each snatched a towel. A dog started to bark, deep and loud, like he meant business. We wrapped our towels around us and took off around the corner of the cottage, heading for the road like we were being chased by banshees. Tanner and Jacob went in one direction. Cory and I headed for the bikes we’d left at the top of the hill. Then we rode off in opposite directions without even saying goodbye.

  Thank goodness the apartment door was unlocked. I slipped inside slowly and shut the door with a soft click. Gran always waited up till Mom got home from work, but most of the time she dozed off. And this time, whew, I could see she was asleep on the sofa, slumped sideways, with her legs curled up. I could see the time on the dvd player. It was well past 11:30. I dashed for the hallway and my bedroom.

  “Dylan?” Gran’s sleepy voice. “That you? What time is it?”

  “Got home awhile ago,” I said. “Just going to the washroom. You totally slept through it, Gran.”

  Must have worked. She didn’t say another word. And I dove between my sheets, leaving the filched towel on the floor beside my bed. So glad th
at today was finally over. Because there was no way that tomorrow could possibly ever be as bad as today had been.

  The next morning, when I sat on the side of my bed to get dressed, it only took me a few seconds to realize that the towel was gone. Uh-oh. My gut instantly began to churn. I could hear voices in the living room. I checked my clock. It was past nine.

  I opened my bedroom door and edged along the hallway. Mom, Gran and Officer Nicole were sitting there. The stolen beach towel was on the coffee table. Mom, with her radar hearing, spun her head as if I’d just said something.

  “Oh, good morning, Dylan,” she said. “Any idea where this towel came from?”

  “Um, what towel, Mom?” Nice one, Dylan.

  “I wonder who was getting up to no good last night?” Gran said, eyeing me.

  “Mom, I told you not to say that,” my mom told Gran. “Really, I think he knows he’s in a whack of trouble by now, don’t you?”

  “Trouble?” My mouth was dry, as if I’d been eating soda crackers. “For what?”

  Then I realized Nicole was holding a camera.

  “Come over here and I’ll show you,” she said, patting the sofa beside her.

  I sure didn’t want to go there, but I had no choice.

  Chapter Five

  Turned out it wasn’t a motion-sensor light after all. It was a motion-sensor camera! With an SD memory card. Which Nicole now had in her own camera.

  The camera had been hanging in a tree. The nature-crazy cottagers liked to photograph the animal nightlife. They had photos of wolves, bears and deer that had crossed their property in the dark. And photos of US! Luckily, you couldn’t see much in the four shots. But my shocked face was definitely caught in the flash before we hit the ground and scrambled away. Only mine in the spotlight. The other three guys all had their heads turned. Crap! Why me?

  “Not a big deal,” I said, trying to sound as if I believed myself. “Because we’re returning the towels today. When we go back for our clothes.” My face was burning big-time because of the looks on all their faces. “As you can tell by the photos, we were in a bit of a jam. We couldn’t exactly knock on the door and ask to borrow them.”