Little Red Lies Read Online Free PDF Page B

disappointment.
    “It’s all right,” Jamie says. “It’s nice to have company.”
    Coop’s bedroom door is open. Not much has changed since Jamie and Coop were kids. On his dresser is a framed snapshot of the two of them with their fishing rods, each holding up a smallmouth bass.
    “I think we have a picture like that at home,” I say.
    On a long shelf are eight model airplanes. “There they are,” Jamie says. “Wow, look at them. We put a lot of work into those. Well, it was mostly Coop. He had more staying power than I did. Nobody else was allowed to help, not even Will.”
    “They’re pretty neat.” I’m about to pick one up, but Ellie reaches out to stop me.
    “We’re not allowed to touch them.”
    “Why not?”
    It’s Nancy who answers. “Just because we’re not. Our father says we’re not to touch anything of our brother’s till he comes home and says we can.”
    “Okay.” I put my hands behind my back. I always thought Mr. Cooper was an ogre, and now I know.
    Hands in his pockets, Jamie bends closer to admire the airplanes and to read the spines of Coop’s books, most of them about pilots and planes and war.
    Now,
I
want to leave. I feel out of place, as if I’ve stumbled into a museum by mistake and it turns out to be where somebody’s buried. Not Coop, though. Coop’s still alive; he has to be. It would be too sad for Jamie, otherwise, and I couldn’t bear that.
    I look out the window at trees blowing in the gusty wind. The silence in Coop’s bedroom is oppressive. “That old Coop,” I say, just to make some noise. “He’s like a semi-brother at our place. He always messes up my hair and asks me if I’ve had it fumigated for rats.”
    “Sounds like him,” Ellie says.
    The next long silence is broken by Nancy’s giggling. “Jamie, I remember how you used to say you were going to marry Ellie.”
    Ellie turns her back on us. “Don’t be an idiot. He did not.”
    Red creeps up around her neck, and I feel a little sorry for her. Ellie’s nearly Jamie’s age.
    “Sure, he did, and we had a big fight over him,” Nancy says.
    Jamie smiles. “I remember the fight.” His face flushes, too, as he notices Ellie’s embarrassment. “Of course, that was a long time ago.”
    Back downstairs, Will’s home. “Hi,” we say. He’s two years ahead of me at school and only nods in my direction. But he can hardly take his eyes off Jamie, as if his presence brings his own brother closer to being found alive. Will’s like his older brother in many ways—not as muscular, though, not as open-faced. Coop you can read like a book. Will takes some pondering.
    Mr. Cooper is home for lunch, too, washing his hands at the kitchen sink. He doesn’t turn around. I wish we could sneak away without saying anything to him. I think Jamie’s just as afraid of him as I am.
    At last, Mr. Cooper looks straight at Jamie. “You’re back home, then, are you?” His face seems chiseled from hard rock, especially his hooded eyes.
    “Yes, Sir,” Jamie says.
    Mr. Cooper turns away and grabs a hand towel from a hook near the sink.
    “I’m sorry …” Jamie starts.
    “What have you got to be sorry for?”
    “He was, is, my oldest friend,” he stammers.
    “He was my oldest son. At least you can make new friends.”
    I can see Jamie struggling to say something, but no words come out.
    “There’s still hope,” I say, my voice a high-pitched squeak.
    Mr. Cooper’s granite eyes are on me, now. “Do you know something I don’t?”
    Good Lord
. Now would be a good moment to just make a run for it.
    Jamie comes back to life. “No, of course not. She means, she can’t, and I can’t, believe he’s … you know.”
    “Dead! Say it. The word is
dead
.”
    Mrs. Cooper takes Jamie by the arm and walks with him to the front door, with me practically treading on their heels. “Don’t take what he says the wrong way, lad. He’s worn-out with searching and grief. Every time he comes up against a brick