Under Cover by Caroline Crane Read Free Book Online

strip mall, Mei had relaxed.
    Frosty Dan was extra busy and Ben had a girl
helping him. She must have been new. Why would they hire her
instead of me? She looked to be in her late teens, with brown hair
and bangs, and brown eyes that were soft and cow-like. She had on
brown Bermuda shorts and a brown apron. Ben’s apron was white.
    I took Mei up to the counter and showed her
pictures of all the different concoctions. As usual, I chose a
banana split and so did she. I could never feel guilty about banana
splits. How can you go wrong with all those vitamins and minerals
in the fruit?
    We took a table near the window. It looked
out on parked cars and the foot traffic going past. We ate for a
couple of minutes before I began my questions. I started small,
with the ones that weren’t quite so important.
    “Did you always live in Borneo?” I asked.
    “Yes. Always. My father has business.”
    I wondered if her father approved of my dad,
a man much older than Mei and not a big earner. Unless he earned
more than he let on to Mom and me.
    “I wish I could see Borneo,” I said. “The
pictures look so beautiful.”
    “Is not so busy as here.”
    “We saw the busiest part yesterday, I think.
But there’s a lot of countryside, too. Did you know my father a
long time?” I saw Ben watching us and tried to wave him over. He
didn’t move.
    “Three years I know your father,” said
Mei.
    “Is Mrs. Mulvaney a friend of his?”
    “Yes. Very long time.”
    “Funny, I never knew she existed. Is there a
Mr. Mulvaney?”
    “No, she is—it is her name when she is
born.”
    “Maiden name. She’s not married?”
    “Yes, she was married. Now she is Mulvaney
again. Is how she wants it.”
    It must have been a contentious divorce, I
thought. “What’s her first name?”
    “First—name?”
    “The name you call a person, um—informally.
Like, I’m Cree. My dad is Jules.” I didn’t say anything about Mei
herself. I supposed it was her first name, but I knew that in China
they put the last name first.
    “I don’t—oh, yes. She tell me call her
Sue.”
    “Sue,” I repeated. “I thought her first name
started with U.”
    “With me?”
    “No, the letter U.” I traced it on the fake
marble tabletop.
    “Oh. Oh, I see. Letta U.” She, too, wrote it
with her finger. “Maybe—is—Oo-sala.”
    That stumped me as much as it did her. I
recovered faster. “Ursula?”
    “Yes. Oo-sala.” She smiled, now that that was
settled.
    “Oh, I get it. Ur- sue -la. And Liam is
her son?”
    The smile disappeared. “Yes, her son.
Leem.”
    “I wonder if that’s who Hey Buddy is. Liam
Mulvaney.”
    “No, no. He is—Leem Penny.”
     

 
    Chapter
Six
     
    Liam Penny.
    That was a new one.
    “His brother?” I asked. She didn’t know what
I was talking about.
    A younger brother. A half-brother, if he was
Mrs. Mulvaney’s son. Grandma said she didn’t know anything about
Dad’s family.
    If he was Hey Buddy, what was he doing in
prison? Was that why my dad came all the way from Borneo? Why
wouldn’t anyone tell me?
    I was not going to ask Mei. She clearly
didn’t want to spill the Mulvaney secrets. Or even the Penny ones.
Maybe it was none of my business.
    I couldn’t help feeling it was sort of my
business, with my dad being involved. But he had opted long ago not
to be my dad, so that took care of that.
    I looked over at Ben for some kind of
reassurance. He was busy chatting with the girl in brown shorts.
That got me temporarily off the Mulvaneys and the Pennys. Or was
the plural of it Pennies? There had never been any others besides
Mom and me, so I didn’t know.
    Somehow I finished my banana split and got
Mei back to Hudson Hills. That time the door was unlocked. She
pulled it open and thanked me way too much for the ice cream. I
didn’t see Mrs. Mulvaney. Or Dad, or anyone who might have been Hey
Buddy. They were all on my mind as I drove back to Southbridge.
    So was Ben. And that girl in brown shorts. I
told myself he had