“Anyway,” I say. “I just wanted to say thank you for being a good neighbor and… well, that’s all.”
Finally, Maria’s lips curl into a smile. “It’s nice having you as a neighbor too.”
And then I get the hell off her front porch.
Chapter 22
Julie and Maria are coming over today to help do some last-minute planning for the fall carnival in a few days. I was nervous about having Maria over after that weird encounter when she found me and Sean alone in her kitchen, but she seemed perfectly normal at school drop off the next day. So it was hard to argue when Julie insisted we needed to talk about the carnival. It’s always difficult to say no to Julie.
With everything going on, I have let cleaning fall to the wayside. We do have a cleaning woman who comes once a week, but in between, the house gets cluttered with Bobby’s toys and the floors get muddy with his footprints. And everything gets so sticky. I swear, that child’s hands are perpetually sticky.
It takes me about two hours to put away all of Bobby’s toys, mop the floors, and vacuum, and I clean the kitchen and bathrooms top to bottom. At first, I tried to get Bobby to help, but that was a lost cause. And then I make a flourless chocolate cake. That is Julie’s absolute favorite thing. It’s the only thing she says is “worth the calories.”
Maria and Julie are supposed to arrive at three o’clock, so by a quarter to three, I’ve got everything perfect. My house is sparkling clean, Bobby is occupied up in his room, and the cake is out of the oven. I’m about to sit down on the sofa to relax a bit before they arrive when my phone buzzes on the coffee table. I have a text message. From a blocked number.
Want to know a secret, April?
I stare down at the phone, frowning. I see the three dots, which means the person is still typing. I hold my breath, terrified to see what it’s going to appear on the screen next. It’s been such a long time since I got a text message from this person. I thought they had decided to leave me alone.
And then the words appear on the screen:
There’s a surprise buried in your backyard.
I inhale sharply. What does that mean? A surprise in my backyard?
I look down at my watch. I still have at least ten minutes before Julie and Maria arrive. I’m not going to be able to concentrate if I don’t check my backyard.
I hurry out the back door into our huge backyard. We hire a professional to mow our lawn because both Elliot and I are hopeless at gardening. So the grass is freshly trimmed, and it’s a vivid shade of green. Well, all of it except for one little area.
I step out onto the lawn, feeling the soft grass crunch under my feet. There’s a little patch, no more than a foot wide, where the grass has been uprooted. The dirt is loose, like somebody had been digging there.
Oh my God, what is in my backyard?
I run over to the corner of the yard, where we have a shovel that can be used for gardening and digging out the car in the winter. I don’t have much time, but I have to see what’s buried in my yard. I won’t be able to think straight until I do.
I mean, it can’t be a dead body. It’s not big enough for that.
The dirt comes away easily. Somebody was digging here very recently. Maybe even today. I shovel out some of the dirt, wondering how deep I’ll have to go. Then I shovel another mound of dirt. And another. And another.
And then my shovel hits something.
My hands are shaking as I reach down into the small hole I’ve created. I brush away some dirt, and then my hand touches fabric. I wrap my fingers around the object and I pull it loose.
“Raffey!”
In my determination to dig out the object, I hadn’t realized Julie and Maria had come into my backyard. And now Maria is staring at the dirt-caked stuffed animal in my hand, her face pink.
“Maria,” I sputter. “I…”
“I knew Bobby must’ve taken him,” Julie says, almost triumphantly.
Maria marches over to me and yanks the dirty stuffed animal out of my hand. She looks down at the dirty giraffe, and her eyes fill with tears. “Look at it. How will I get this clean?”
“Actually,” I say, “the secret to cleaning stuffed animals is to get a mesh laundry bag and—”
“Oh, shut up, April,” Julie snaps at me.
I jerk my head back like she slapped me. I squeeze my fists together, not sure what to say or do. I wish I could tell them about the text messages, but I can’t take that risk. Not with that picture of me and Mark floating around. “I don’t know how this got in my backyard,” I finally say. “But I’m sure Bobby didn’t…”
“Oh, please!” Julie huffs. “The toy was buried in your backyard? How else could it have gotten there? Unless you have a dog we don’t know about.”
“I’ve got to get this clean,” Maria mumbles. She doesn’t lift her eyes to look at me. “I can’t stay.”
“We’ll reschedule.” Julie’s voice is so kind and gentle, I almost don’t recognize it. “Don’t even worry about it.”
I feel a lump in my throat. “I… I’m so sorry, Maria.”
She nods, but she still doesn’t look at me.
The two of them go out through the backyard without even passing through the house. I just spent two hours cleaning and they didn’t even come into my house. All because of that stupid toy in the backyard. How did it get here anyway? Could Bobby really have buried it there?
But no. I got that text message about it. Whoever is torturing me put that stuffed animal in my backyard, just to humiliate me in front of my friends.
Which means whoever is sending me these messages was in my backyard.
I stand in the middle of my backyard, my hands coated in dirt, and I shiver. I run back into the house and find my phone on the coffee table where I left it. My hands are almost too shaky to type in my reply:
Please tell me what you want.
As usual, there is no reply.
Chapter 23
To: Fall Carnival Committee
From: Alice Knowles
Subject: Re: Carnival
I am supposed to help out tomorrow at the fall carnival at the beanbag toss. But I noticed tonight that I have a bit of a scratchy throat, so I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it.
To: Fall Carnival Committee
From: Patty Westman
Subject: Re: Carnival
I was supposed to make brownies for the carnival, but I just realized that I don’t have any eggs in the house! So unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to bring brownies as promised. That is, unless somebody wants to come to my house and bring me some eggs!
To: Fall Carnival Committee
From: Teresa Yu
Subject: Re: Carnival
I just realized that this weekend is my parents’ anniversary! I was supposed to volunteer at the bouncy house for the 2-3 PM shift, but I can’t do it because of this prior obligation.
To: Fall Carnival Committee
From: Julie Bressler
Subject: Re: Carnival
The grocery store sells eggs, Patty.
Can anybody take Teresa’s shift at the bouncy house?
To: Fall Carnival Committee
From: April Masterson
Subject: Re: Carnival
No worries, Patty! I’ll make extra brownies!
To: Fall Carnival Committee
From: Sean Cooper
Subject: Re: Carnival