SHAKESPEARE’ SECRET by Elise Broach Read Free Book Online Page A

to the window. “Were you at Mrs. Roth’s again?” she asked.
    â€œYes,” said Hero, “but I didn’t stay long.”
    â€œLook, Mom,” Beatrice continued. “Isn’t he cute?”
    â€œWell, I can only see the back of his head,” Hero’s mother remarked drily, “but I’m sure he’s a nice-looking boy.”
    â€œHe is.” Beatrice sounded reverent. “He’s cool, too. Doesn’t care what anybody thinks of him.”
    â€œHow do you know that?” Hero asked. “Geez, Triss, it’s the second day of school! How do you know so much about him?”
    Beatrice shrugged. “Everybody talks about him. He got suspended last year, and I guess it was kind of embarrassing because his dad’s a cop.”
    Their mother raised her eyebrows.
    â€œWhat did he get suspended for?” Hero asked.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Beatrice. “Not drugs or anything. Something with a teacher.”
    â€œWell,” their mother commented, “his reputation certainly precedes him. Tell me something, Beatrice.
    Why is a boy more interesting to you and your friends if he has some kind of troubling background? I don’t understand that.”
    Beatrice laughed. “Oh, come on, Mom, that doesn’t make him more interesting. It just makes him interesting.”
    They all watched Danny’s tall frame disappear down the street.
    â€œWhat were you doing with him, Hero?” Beatrice asked again.
    â€œNothing,” Hero said. “He asked if I was your sister, and—”
    â€œHe did?” Beatrice sounded pleased.
    â€œYeah, and then it turns out he knows Mrs. Roth. He used to do yard work for her.”
    Beatrice looked thoughtful. “Maybe I should start hanging out over there.”
    Hero laughed. “Yeah, it’s a great place to meet guys.”
    Beatrice began to spread her homework on the table. “We’ll probably never see him again.”
    â€œProbably not around here,” Hero agreed. “But you’ll see him at school.”
    Beatrice shook her head, cheerfully resigned. “Not alone like that,” she said. “He’s always with his friends.”
    Hero rummaged through her backpack for her Social Studies book, thinking about the strange afternoon. First the ridiculous mix-up with Aaron and his brother, then a wasted hour at Mrs. Roth’s with some strange boy who, as it turned out, probably was a juvenile delinquent. The one thing that had carried her through the school day was the thought of hearing more about the Murphy diamond. But she’d found out nothing else about it, not even where to begin looking.

CHAPTER
8
    As the bus approached the street corner the next afternoon, dark gray clouds massed overhead, and the first large drops of rain speckled the pavement. Hero searched the bus stop for any sign of Danny Cordova and his friends, but the corner was deserted. She felt a rush of relief, and then, though she wasn’t sure why, a vague twinge of disappointment.
    Aaron, who had been treating her like a returning war hero since the hat incident, commented suspiciously, “They’re just laying low for a while. My mom really yelled at Ben yesterday.”
    â€œYou could have told me he was your brother, you know,” Hero said. “Then I wouldn’t have felt so dumb afterward.”
    â€œHe’s not really my brother,” Aaron answered. “He’s, like, a stepbrother.”
    â€œHe is? You mean you have different dads or something?”
    â€œNo, but he’s like a stepbrother. He’s always mean tome.”
    Hero tried not to smile. “You’d better run, Aaron. It looks like it’s going to pour.”
    The words were barely out of her mouth when they heard a rumble of thunder. The rain fell in torrents, flooding the sidewalk. Hero held her backpack over her head and dashed down the street. By the time she