To Have and to Heist(10)

“Thanks again.” I grabbed the bag from the back of her car and hoisted it over my shoulder.

“This area is mostly one-way streets,” Emma called out. “If the police are on your tail and you need me for a getaway, make sure you’re running in the right direction.”

* * *

◆ ◆ ◆

?Anyone who has gone to school in Chicago is familiar with its numerous yellow bus destinations—everything from ice cream shops to aquariums and from jousting matches to skydiving in a giant wind tunnel. Our teachers were spoiled for choice when it came to field trip venues, especially museums. After fourteen years of school with multiple field trips every year, it was a shock to discover there was actually a museum I hadn’t seen.

Tucked away on a quiet tree-lined street in the Gold Coast neighborhood, the Victoria Museum is three stories high with an elegant but restrained Italian-style limestone exterior. Although I was tempted to just push open the ornate inlaid front door, I pulled my fedora low and snuck around to the side gate leading to the back garden.

It didn’t occur to me at the time to wonder why the gate was unlocked or who had left the fresh footprints in the mud. Nor did I bother searching the dense foliage at the back of the yard. I was focused on rescuing my bestie, and there she was, leaning out the second-story window, her face a blur in the drizzle of rain.

“Simi?” Her thin voice carried over the loud crunch of my footsteps on the gravel path below the window.

“I’m here.” I held up my bag. “I brought rope and other stuff to help get you down.”

“I can’t believe you came.”

“Of course I came. I’ll have you out of there in no time.” I forced a smile, but Chloe knew me too well. Even in the semidarkness, she could tell I was worried.

“It’s too high to throw the rope, isn’t it?”

“Maybe for an amateur.” My joke fell flat as did the rope after a few failed attempts. Like I’d told Emma, I knew how to throw, but if I couldn’t do it, there weren’t many who could.

“I’ll tie it to a stick or branch and lift it up,” I said. “Or you could climb out the window, and I can talk you down.”

“It’s too high,” she said. “I can’t do it.”

I heard a crack in the bushes: the rustle of leaves. I looked behind me, but there was nothing but trees and darkness.

“What is it?” she called out, her voice low. “What’s the matter?”

“I heard something. It must just be a cat.” I walked over to the bushes and picked up the nearest fallen branch. Thick and sturdy, it was almost six feet long.

“I’ve got the perfect branch,” I shouted, tying the rope to the top. Chloe leaned out over the window, and I held it in the air just under her outstretched hands.

“Got it!” She untied the rope and pulled it inside.

“Tie it to something sturdy.”

Chloe moved away from the window. Moments later, the shriek of an alarm pierced the silence.

“Chloe?” My heart pounded in my chest. “What happened? You need to get out of there.”

“It’s too late.” She leaned out the window and dropped the rope, her face pale in the semidarkness. “Someone turned on the system or I’ve triggered one the alarms. The police will be on their way. You need to leave before they get here.”

“No.” I grabbed the rope and threw it up toward her, over and over and over again. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Her face was pale in the moonlight, resigned. “This has nothing to do with you. I was stupid. I didn’t do my due diligence and now I have to pay the price. I won’t drag you into it.”

Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second.

“The mostly dead man in Rose’s living room had nothing to do with you and yet you showed up with bleach.” I picked up the branch but my hands were shaking too much to tie the rope. Panic fuzzed my brain. I ran for the wall, clawing at the wet, slippery bricks, desperately trying to find a handhold. If she wasn’t coming down, I was going up.

Red and blue lights lit up the trees. Tires screeched. Doors slammed.

“Jump!” Unable to find purchase, I grabbed the bulging suit bag, holding it out as if it would somehow break her fall. My breath burst in and out of my lungs, my face wet with a mix of rain and tears. “I’ll catch you. Fall on me. Please. Please. Just jum—”

A hand clamped over my mouth, cutting off my words. Big. Warm. Slightly sweaty and smelling of pine and earth.

Maybe if my brain hadn’t already tipped into sensory overload, I might have reacted differently. I’d taken self-defense training. I’d lasted through six judo classes with my brothers until someone had thrown one of the twins on top of me, and I’d suffered a minor concussion and a fractured arm. I knew what to do when someone grabbed me from behind, but instead of slamming my heel into his instep, twisting, and running away, I froze.

Lights swept over the window above and then Chloe disappeared.

Four

Shhh. I’m not going to hurt you.” My assailant wrapped a strong arm around my middle, pulling me tight against his hard body. Step by careful step, he pulled us back into the thick bushes until I could barely see the window where Chloe had been only seconds from escape. Protected by a canopy of trees, the mini forest was dry despite the rain and fragrant with the sweet scent of the flowers.