The Break-In Read Online Free PDF Page B

be denied. They needed a How.
    “Promise you’ll give the ring to Lisa.”
    And a Why, Alex thought.
    “She lives at. oh god, I can’t even think with the pain.”
    Alex looked away from the now blood-soaked tea towel. It made him feel even more guilty and even less able to think. They couldn’t call 911 or the police would show up. He knew from his dad that a bullet to the hand wasn’t fatal. Not unless it caused a huge loss of blood. But they still had to get Marcus to the hospital. He’d been shot. Emergency room doctors don’t care what happened, his dad used to say. They just fix the problem and move the meat. Human meat.
    “W-we’ll go to em ... em ... emerg.”
    “Yes!” Marcus climbed to his feet. He checked his pants pockets with his good hand for his keys and pulled them out.
    What about the How? How did the shooting happen? They couldn’t show up at the hospital with a bullet hole and no How. Alex thought back to his father emptying the Smith & Wesson on the living room table. “U-un ... un-l-loading.”
    “What?”
    “That’s the H-how.” Of course, the police would check the bullets, if the hospital called them. They’d want to see the gun. It was registered, of course, to Alex’s father. “I-it’s my d-d-dad’s ...”
    “Okay,” said Marcus. “You were checking out your dad’s gun when I knocked on the front door. You opened it, gun in hand. I took one look at the gun and insisted on checking to make sure it wasn’t loaded. It was. I accidentally shot myself trying to get the bullet out. It’s perfect.”
    “You came f-for your g-g ... girlfriend’s ring.”
    “They’ll never believe it,” said Marcus.
    “Th ... that you have a g-girlfriend?”
    “No! That I just happened by and checked the gun. And, anyway, you shot me in the hand!”
    “Fine. Then y-you broke into my house!”
    Marcus held up the bloody towel and turned a shade paler. “I’m getting dizzy. Can we move this along?”
    “I’ll d-d-d ... drive.”
    “You’re, like, eight years old!”
    Alex tugged at Marcus’s jacket, and a hairy blond ball fell to the floor. They both stared, mouths open. Boris lay perfectly still.
    “Oh, no. Your spider’s dead.”
    Alex dropped to his knees. He poked at Boris’s lifeless, curled-up legs.
    “I am so sorry, Alex,” Marcus said. “I couldn’t be more sorry. But the thing was crawling all over my body. It was like he was looking for an opening. I just freaked out.”
    Alex looked at Boris. How could I have been so cruel as to include an innocent creature in my revenge, he thought. If only I hadn’t come up with this stupid plan. Boris would be in the glass tank back at the pet store right now. He’d still be hanging out behind the plastic palm leaf next to the tank full of tiny lizards. His death wasn’t Marcus’s fault. “A-a-a-accident,” Alex said.
    They couldn’t leave Boris’s body here. They had to take him to the hospital, care for him until they could give him a proper burial. Alex grabbed the Kleenex box from the counter. He tore off the top and emptied out half the tissues. He put Boris’s little ball-of-yarn body on the bottom tissues and covered him with the others. Then he tucked the cardboard coffin under his arm and held out his hand.
    Slowly, Marcus handed over the keys. “You driving is so not legal.”
    Alex took his father’s sunglasses from his shirt pocket and pulled them on. “W-w-what part of this d-day is?”

Chapter Nine

    Alex explained why driving to the hospital would be simple. He’d watched his parents drive a million times, and he knew a great route that was all side streets. But when he put himself behind the wheel of Marcus’s car, Marcus pointed out the problem. His feet didn’t quite reach the gas pedal or the brake. Not if he wanted to see where he was going at the same time.
    The answer lay in a grocery bag in the back seat. Alex pulled out a four-pack of toilet paper and stuffed it behind his back.