Blackwater by Eve Bunting Read Free Book Online Page B

elbows into my sides to hold my bones together. I was staring blankly at the hole where Alex and I had hidden the towels, and I suddenly knew where the missing flip-flop was. It probably fell out inside there.
    I peered over my shoulder. Nobody there. Nobody watching. But there had been yesterday. I got down on my hands and knees and poked my stick into the opening. It hit something, pushed it further back. The flip-flop came out on the third try, and I hunched there, holding it.
    On the other side of the river, Gloria Webster was jogging along the path. I recognized her redhair and the yellow nylon shorts she wears when she trains for the Gainsville marathon. Was it Gloria who’d seen us yesterday?
    I stood up. Now that I had the flip-flop, what could I do with it? I should give it to Raoul. I could say I’d found it. But would he believe me? Or would it be something else to point a finger at me? I could put it back in the hole. Or throw it, and let the Blackwater take it the way it had taken Pauline. That would be safest. The rubber sole had little dents made by Pauline’s toes. I remembered her dangling feet, and I was shaking again. I stuffed the flip-flop deep in my jacket pocket and curled my hand around it.
Don’t think about it. Don’t think about who wore it and what happened here.
    Now I couldn’t get home fast enough, tripping over myself as I half walked, half ran along the path.
    The Batman was standing in his open doorway, wearing striped pajamas, drinking from a bright blue mug. “Hi, young man,” he said. “How are you feeling this morning? How’s the head?”
    I slowed reluctantly. “OK.”
    Hannah came out, already dressed in cut-offjeans and a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pushed back. She was eating something from a bowl. “Hi,” she said. “Like some cereal?”
    “No,” I said. “Thanks.”
    “The cops were here last night, asking questions.” She wiped a trickle of milk off her chin.
    “Oh?” My fingers tightened around the flip-flop.
    “They wanted to know if we’d seen anything.” The Batman pulled hard on one ear. His ears were long and droopy. I looked at them, trying not to hear what he was saying. Maybe he pulled at his ears a lot.
    “I told them we can’t see the pond from the house,” he said. “The bend’s right there. We can’t see past it.” He pointed with the blue mug and I looked where he was looking. The bend was there all right.
    I shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I’d better get home.” Then I remembered. “Thanks for bringing over the book,” I told Hannah.
    “Sure.”
    I began edging away.
    “Wait up,” she said. “I’ll walk with you.” She set the empty dish and spoon on the porch nextto her bicycle. The backpack had been thrown there, too.
    I didn’t want her to walk with me. I didn’t want to talk to her or anyone.
    “It was Raoul who came last night,” she said, hurrying along the path beside me. “He’s a nice guy. Real friendly. He had a policewoman with him. She’s new, I think. I didn’t know her.”
    My throat was dry and my mouth too. It had probably been Samellen Ferguson. “Did they ask anything else?”
    “Naw. But …” She nodded across the river. “Raoul said somebody over there, walking or something, saw the whole thing. Whoever it was put in a call to 911. But it was too late, of course. The police talked to her.”
    My heart thumped like a drum in my chest. Maybe I was having a heart attack, too.
    “Raoul wanted to find somebody else to back up whatever information they got. He’s asking around.”
    “Did Raoul tell you what the person said?” Hannah picked up an empty Fritos bag, crumpled it and put it in her pocket.
    “No way. Raoul’s nice, but he’s still a cop. Iguess he can’t go blabbing about stuff like that. I think he only told as much as he did to open us up, you know. But like Dad said, we can’t see past that bend. It’s probably just that the person saw them fall. What else could it be?”