Endless

Disturbing the Peace

I waited in the lobby of the twins’ boarding house on Magnolia that afternoon with Krista, Liam, and Bea, while Joaquin, Fisher, Kevin, and Dorn made their way past the staircase to the door of the first-floor room where the twins had been staying. I still couldn’t believe they had been placed so close to my house. The very idea of their proximity to it gave me the creeps. But then again, I had been staying with Krista for the last few days anyway, and hopefully, when and if I ever felt comfortable in my house again, the two of them would be long gone.

I glanced nervously at the front door and the weather raging outside, and hoped we could get through this without a scene. After the funeral earlier, there was a sort of unease between the Lifers and the visitors.

Fisher pounded on the door. It sounded like thunder. Liam startled and even I flinched. Apparently he wasn’t as concerned as I was about being discreet. Not that I was surprised. All my friends were on edge with another member of our group gone—someone they’d laughed with, hung out at the cove with, shared secrets with. They wanted answers, they wanted justice, and they wanted the deaths to stop.

“Selma? Sebastian? We need to talk to you,” Joaquin said. “Please open the door.”

There was no reply. A door on the floor above creaked open, and I could feel whoever it was eavesdropping. Joaquin glanced at Dorn, who’d worn his Juniper Landing Police uniform for the occasion. His police cruiser—the only one in town—idled out on the street.

“Selma and Sebastian Tse?” Dorn said, heaving a sigh. “This is the Juniper Landing Police. Open up.”

Several more doors opened overhead. One man actually stepped over to the top of the stairs, his fuzzy bathrobe hanging wide over a T-shirt and boxer shorts. “What’s going on down there?” he asked Bea, who was closest to him.

“Nothing.” She shrugged casually. “The police just have a few questions for someone. No big deal.”

“Selma and Sebastian Tse, we know you’re in there,” Dorn said, lowering his voice. “Open the door or I’ll be forced to break it down.”

“That doesn’t sound like nothing,” the man said, creeping down a few steps but keeping a safe distance.

I gritted my teeth and stared at Krista, who looked pale against the backdrop of the yellowing flowered wallpaper. This was not good. Finally, the door at the end of the hallway opened a crack, and either Sebastian or Selma—it was impossible to tell which—peeked out.

“What do you want?”

“Mr. Tse?” Dorn began.

“That would be Miss Tse,” Selma corrected him with a sneer.

“My apologies,” Dorn said, sounding not a bit sorry. “Would you please step out into the hallway?”

She didn’t move. The door didn’t move. “Why?”

“Is your brother inside, miss?” he asked, tugging up on his utility belt.

Selma’s eyes flicked to his gun in its holster. “Why?” she said again.

“Because we’re going to need you both to come with us.”

The door ripped open so fast that the guys jumped back, and Krista grabbed my arm. Sebastian stood there, his fists clenched at his sides. He was seething.

“Come with you where?” he demanded. His gaze darted to Joaquin’s face, then Fisher’s, then Kevin’s, as if he was studiously memorizing every detail. “Are we under arrest? We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“We just want to ask you a few questions,” Dorn said firmly.

“So ask,” Selma said.

Dorn glanced over at us, and at the man in the bathrobe, then toward the stairs leading up, where who knew how many people were listening.

“We’d rather do it over at the station.” Dorn reached for Sebastian, and in a blink Sebastian lunged at him, slamming the much bigger Dorn back against the staircase wall behind him. I flinched and Selma screamed. Almost instantly, Dorn got Sebastian in a headlock and wrestled him face-first to the floor. Liam craned his neck past me to get a better look at the action.

“That was a bad idea,” Dorn said in Sebastian’s ear. “Now you’re under arrest for assaulting a police officer.” I heard the cuffs click around his wrists without ever seeing Dorn take them off his belt. The guy was good.

“Sebastian!” Selma cried. “Are you okay?”

“Get the girl,” Dorn growled at Joaquin as he dragged Sebastian to his feet. His face was red and his cheeks quivered. He was angry, maybe even embarrassed, that Sebastian had gotten the better of him, even for that one second.

More doors opened and a crowd started to gather. Joaquin made a move toward Selma, but she flinched back. I grabbed his arm.

“Let me try,” I said.

He raised his hands. “All yours.”

I took a deep breath and approached Selma. Without her brother by her side, she looked scared. Angry, but also scared. She eyed me cautiously, and I turned my palms out in an apologetic way.

“Look, if you just come with us willingly, everything will be fine,” I said. As long as you aren’t the one who hauled my family off to hell, I added silently.

“Yeah, right. Your ape of a cop just mauled my brother,” she snapped.

“Your brother attacked a police officer,” I shot back, frustration niggling at my nerves. “But if you agree to answer our questions, I’m sure they’ll let him off with a warning.”

Selma leaned out of the apartment doorway when she heard the police car’s door slam. Her hand covered her mouth. I could see how much she wanted to be with him, and recalled from my flashes of Sebastian’s life the depth of emotion they felt toward each other.

“Do you want to go with your brother, or do you want to stay here?” I asked. “Alone.”

“I’ll come,” she snapped, grabbing her bag from just inside. “You got any lawyers in this town?”

I shot a glance at Bea, Liam, and Krista as Selma stormed out the door. The twins were not about to make anything easy.

“You guys good?” Joaquin asked as Dorn loaded Selma into the backseat of his car next to her brother. Bea, Krista, Liam, and I were supposed to stay behind to search the Tses’ room for more coins, or anything else suspicious.

I glanced back at the apartment. “We’ll get it done as fast as we—”

Suddenly, a crackle of static cut me off. Grantz’s voice boomed through the speakers on our walkie-talkies.

“Be advised, Pete Sweeney has been located. We’re transporting him to the station now. Over.”

My eyes widened as I looked at Joaquin. “He’s alive.”

“This is a good thing, right?” Liam said.

I zipped up my jacket. “I’m going over there.”

“I’ll come with you,” Joaquin offered.

“No. No way.” Dorn was standing in the doorway now, practically filling up the space. “I need you and Fisher here with me.”

“It’s okay. I can go by myself,” I said.

“No. You can’t. Nobody goes anywhere alone anymore, remember?” Joaquin said, briefly cupping my face with his hand. I felt everyone staring at us—at that brief moment of intimacy—and my skin burned.

“I’ll go!” Krista and Liam offered at once.

“You,” Joaquin said, pointing at Liam. “You go with Rory. Bea and Krista, search the room.”

Krista’s eyes filled with worry. It was nice to have someone around who cared about me that much. My friends back home were really more casual acquaintances—people I studied with or ran track with. But Krista had become more than that. She’d become like a second sister. Unfortunately, right now all I could think about was getting my real sister back.

Krista looked at Joaquin. “But Rory might need—“

“Just do it, Krista,” Joaquin ordered.

Her shoulders slumped. “Fine.”

“Come on,” I said to Liam. “We’re wasting time.”

On my way out the door, Joaquin grabbed my wrist and turned me to him. I could feel the excitement, the anticipation, coming off him in waves. “You radio me the second you find out what’s going on,” he said, glancing at the twins, who sat whispering in the back of the cruiser. “By the end of the night, one of these people is going to talk. We’re gonna get them back, Rory.”

His energy was contagious, and for the first time in days, hope filled my heart. I nodded. “We’re gonna get them back.”