—Are you worried about Emmett? I asked. Is that it? I promise there’s no cause for concern. I barely hit him. In fact, he should be back on his feet any second now.
Even as I said this, we could hear the knob rattling behind us, then Emmett pounding on the door and shouting our names.
—There, I said leading the kid into the hallway. What’d I tell you?
When the pounding on the door stopped, I lowered my voice in order to speak in confidence.
—The fact of the matter, Billy, is that for reasons I can’t go into at this moment, your brother wants to call the authorities. But I fear that if he does that, we’ll never get in the safe, there’ll be no divvying, and that house of yours—the one for you, and Emmett, and your mother—it’ll never get built.
I thought I was making a pretty good case, but Billy just kept shaking his head with his eyes closed and saying Emmett’s name.
—We’re going to talk to Emmett, I assured him with a touch of frustration. We’re going to talk with him all about it, Billy. But for the moment, it’s just you and me.
And just like that, the kid stopped shaking his head.
Here we go, I thought. I must be getting through!
But then he opened his eyes and kicked me in the shin.
Isn’t that priceless?
A moment later, there I was, hopping on one foot as he ran down the hallway.
—Jeezo peezo, I said, taking off after him.
But when I got to the great room, he was gone.
As God is my witness, even though the kid hadn’t been out of my sight for more than thirty seconds, he had vanished into thin air—like Lucinda the cockatoo.
—Billy? I called out, looking behind one couch after another. Billy?
From somewhere different in the house, I heard another doorknob rattling.
—Billy! I called to the room at large, with a growing sense of urgency. I know the escapade hasn’t been playing out exactly as we planned, but the important thing is that we stick together and see it through! You, your brother, and me! All for one and one for all!
That’s when from the direction of the kitchen came the sound of breaking glass. A moment later Emmett would be in the house. Of that there was no doubt. Having no other choice, I made a beeline for the mudroom where, finding the rifle cabinet locked, I picked up a croquet ball and threw it through the glass.
Billy
After they had checked in to room 14 at the White Peaks Motel on Route 28, and Billy had taken off his backpack, Emmett said he was heading out to find Woolly and Duchess.
—In the meantime, he told Billy, it’s probably for the best if you stay here.
—Besides, said Sally, when was the last time you took a bath, young man? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was back in Nebraska.
—That’s true, said Billy nodding. The last time I took a bath was back in Nebraska.
As Emmett began talking quietly to Sally, Billy put his backpack back on his back and headed toward the bathroom.
—Do you really need that thing in there with you? Sally asked.
—I need it, said Billy with his hand on the doorknob, because it’s where my clean clothes are.
—All right. But don’t forget to wash behind your ears.
—I won’t.
When Emmett and Sally went back to talking, Billy went into the bathroom, closed the door, and turned on the bathtub faucets. But he didn’t take off his dirty clothes. He didn’t take off his dirty clothes because he wasn’t going to take a bath. That had been a white lie. Like the one that Sally had told Sheriff Petersen.
After double-checking to make sure that the drain was open so that the tub wouldn’t overflow, Billy tightened the straps on his backpack, climbed on top of the toilet, pushed up the sash, and slipped out the window, leaving no one the wiser.
Billy knew that his brother and Sally might only be talking for a few minutes, so he had to run as fast as he could around the motel to where the Studebaker was parked. He ran so fast, when he climbed into the trunk and lowered the lid, he could hear his heart beating in his chest.
When Duchess had told Billy how he and Woolly had hidden in the trunk of the warden’s car, Billy had asked how they had gotten out again. Duchess had explained that he had brought along a spoon in order to pop the latch. So before climbing into the Studebaker’s trunk, Billy had taken his jackknife out of his backpack. Then he had also taken out his flashlight because it was going to be dark in the trunk once the lid was closed. Billy wasn’t afraid of the dark. But Duchess had said how difficult it had been to pop the latch without being able to see it. We came this close, Duchess said holding his thumb and finger an inch apart, to riding all the way back to Salina without even getting a glimpse of Nebraska.