One Way by Norah McClintock Read Free Book Online Page B

talk to those detectives and explain to them what happened. Okay?”
    He leaves the room, and my dad comes in.
    â€œWell?” he says, dropping down into a chair opposite me. “Did you tell all your secrets to Howard?”
    â€œI don’t have any secrets, Dad.” I have a thought. “Dad, you know I’d never hurt Stassi on purpose, right?”
    â€œI’d like to think you wouldn’t, son. But after what that girl told the police, it’s going to be a hard sell.”
    Girl? It was a girl? What girl?
    â€œI don’t care what she thinks she saw,” I say to my dad. “She’s wrong.” I wait a moment. “Has Mr. Grossman talked to her? Do you know who she is, Dad?”
    My dad shakes his head. “He won’t tell me anything.”
    â€œThen how do you know it was a girl?”
    â€œTed Czernak told me.”
    I shake my head.
    â€œHe’s the accountant at work,” my dad says, shaking his head like I’m slow-witted. “I talk about him all the time, Kenzie. He said he heard it was one of Stassi’s friends who talked to the cops.”
    â€œWhich friend?”
    â€œHe doesn’t know. But if you ask me, any friend of the girl you broke up with is going to have a definite bias. But I bet you anything the Mikalchuks believe every word.”
    I don’t bother to correct my dad about Stassi’s last name. Instead I think, It has to be Lacie. Lacie is the one who told the police I did it on purpose. “Dad—”
    The door opens, and Mr. Grossman comes back with the two detectives. They want me to tell them exactly what happened. Mr. Grossman nods, so I tell the story again. They finally agree to let me go with a promise to appear. They also tell me to stay away from Logan McCann. I tell them that will be no problem. I can’t wait to get out of there. I can’t stop thinking about Lacie.
    My dad takes me home. He makes sure I stay there. Mr. Grossman tells me he’ll talk to me again early next week after he’s had some time to sort things out. I head up to my room, but I feel like I’m going to go crazy if I don’t do something.

Chapter Nine
    I think hard. Lacie told the police she saw me swerve into Stassi on purpose. Why would she do that, especially when it’s not true? I don’t even remember seeing her on the street that day. But everything happened so fast. There was probably a lot of stuff I didn’t see. A lot of people too.
    My mom comes into my room.
    â€œWe have to go out, Kenzie,” she says. “Your dad has those tickets—” Tickets to see Dylan. You’d never know it to look at him, but my dad is a huge Bob Dylan fan. He sees him every time he comes through town. And these tickets are the best—my mom wangled them out of a guy she used to date who’s now the program manager at an oldies radio station. They’re second-row seats, if you can believe it.
    â€œI’ll be fine,” I say.
    â€œAnd you’ll stay put?”
    â€œI’ll stay put.” I feel lousy lying to my mom, but if I don’t, she won’t leave. And if she doesn’t leave, I won’t be able to either.
    â€œYou promise? Because your dad has his heart set on this, and once the show starts—”
    â€œNothing will happen, Mom. I promise.” In fact, if all goes well, I’ll be back in my room in my pajamas before the show is even half over.
    I wait until they leave. Then I wait some more, until I’m sure the warm-up act has left the stage and old Bob is up there doing his thing.
    I don’t sneak out. There’s no need. I walk out like any normal person, locking the door behind me. I go directly to Lacie’s house.
    She isn’t home. Her dad, who doesn’t have a clue who I am, tells me she’s at a friend’s house.
    â€œKaryn’s place?” I ask.
    â€œYou must know her pretty well,” her dad says.
    I thank