Don't Tell Anyone by Peg Kehret Read Free Book Online Page A

project,” the clerk said, when it was finally Shane’s turn. “Unless there’s a last-minute problem, you can pick up the building permit tomorrow.”
    A last-minute problem, Shane thought, such as a bunch of wild cats with no place to go.
    Shane hurried out to his truck. There would be no last-minute problem, no reason for Brice to delay clearing the field. Shane would see to that.
    On Friday morning, Shane would drive to Elmwood and cash the forged check and close out his savings account.
    With luck, he would sell his truck by Friday, too. Hisad was already running in
Auto Trader
, and two people had called about it.
    He would fly the Colby hot-air balloon and stage the crash-and-burn “accident” Friday night, then head for New Mexico.
    Once the apartment project was started, the money Shane had stolen would not be missed until the end of June, when the bookkeeper figured the quarterly business taxes. Maybe not even then.
    If the theft was discovered, Brice would never accuse Shane because by then Brice would think Shane was dead.
    Everything was working out exactly as Shane had hoped. All he had to do was keep the kid quiet about the cats. That should be a piece of cake.

    That afternoon, Megan hurried home from school. She planned to walk Dinkle, feed the cats, and then start telephoning the animal agencies.
    As she approached her house, she heard her sister’s song coming from the end of the block.
    â€œ
Walk, walk, walk the dog
    Up and down the street.
 . . .”
    Good, Megan thought. Kylie’s taking care of Dinkle. That will save me some time.
    She took her homework out of her backpack and put the cat food and the jar of fresh water in. Then she wrotea quick note to her mother, got on her bike, and took off before Kylie could see her and beg to go along.
    The smashed van was gone. Megan did not go to the place where it had been. It gave her a strange feeling to know that yesterday at this time, a woman had died there. Although she had never met the woman, Megan felt sad.
    She walked quietly toward the tree where she had left the dish of cat food yesterday. She looked from side to side as she walked, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mommacat.
    At the base of the tree, Megan saw a package the size of a shoe box, wrapped in plain brown paper. Someone had written on the paper with a red marker: CAT FOOD .
    That’s odd, Megan thought. Had someone seen her feeding the cats and wanted to help? But why do it this way? Why not just put the cat food in the dish?
    She picked up the package; it was too light to be full of cat food. She removed the wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside was a sheet of white paper, with a message written in the same red marker.
    If you want the cats to live, don’t tell anyone. You are the only one who knows. Keep it that way.
    There was a P.S. at the bottom of the page. It said:
Do not show
anyone
this note.
    Megan read the message a second time.
If you want the cats to live, don’t tell anyone.
    Don’t tell anyone what? About the accident?
    She put the note in her pocket, then stuffed the box and the wrapping paper in her backpack.
    She poured fresh water in the cats’ bowl and filled the pie plate with cat food.
    She took out the paper and read the message again.
    The note must be from the driver of the tan car, Megan thought. He thinks I can identify him and wants to scare me so I won’t do it. He knows from the newspaper article that I come here to feed the cats, so he knew where to leave his message.
    She had already told the police everything she remembered about the driver. It was too late for anyone to warn her not to tell. Of course, the driver didn’t know that.
    Her hands trembled as she folded the note and put it in her pocket. The driver must be desperate to write such a threatening note. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe the crash had not been an accident.
    A new idea exploded in Megan’s mind. If the crash was