Seconds Away by Harlan Coben Page B

know—”
    “Another time, Mickey, okay? Just go.”
    The elevator doors opened beside me. I stepped inside and pressed the button. I watched as the doors started to close. Rachel tried to smile at me, but it wouldn’t hold. And then, maybe half a second before the doors shut all the way, I saw someone else behind her.
    It was Chief Taylor. And he was staring straight at me.
    “Hold that elevator!”
    But I didn’t let my fast reflexes work this time. The doors closed all the way. There was a small delay, as if the doors might open again and let Chief Taylor in. But they didn’t.
    I headed down to the lobby and walk-sprinted out the door.

CHAPTER 13
    I caught up with Spoon and Ema in the parking lot.
    “Keep moving,” I said. “Chief Taylor might be on to us.”
    We hurried down the block and back onto Northfield Avenue. There was a dry cleaner located on the corner. We ducked behind the building.
    “Was Rachel in that room?” Ema asked.
    I nodded and told them everything that had happened.
    “So,” Ema said, “somehow Abeona is involved in this too?”
    “Seems so,” I said.
    Spoon was silent. He looked a little lost. I worried about him. He hadn’t asked for any of this. True, none of us had, but he seemed a little more like a babe in the woods. Our friendship, if that was what this was, started only a few days ago when he walked up to me in the cafeteria and offered me, well, his spoon. That was how our relationship, not to mention his nickname, started.
    “So what do you think we should do?” Ema asked me.
    “I hate to interject,” Spoon said, finally speaking, “but the Musicals I Love Foundation meeting would definitely be over by now. My parents will be expecting me.”
    “Musicals I Love Foundation?” Ema repeated.
    I gave her a don’t-ask headshake.
    When the bus showed up, we hopped on and started back for home. We got off where we had begun, on the corner of Kasselton Avenue and Northfield. I figured that I’d walk home via Bat Lady’s house and stop by to see her. But I didn’t know what to say. I was exhausted and scared and confused.
    As we neared Bat Lady’s street, my cell phone trilled. It was Uncle Myron. I was going to ignore it, but that wouldn’t do any good. “Hello?” I said.
    “I figured you’d be home by now,” Myron said.
    “I’m on my way.”
    “Do you want me to pick you up?”
    “No, I’m good.”
    “But you’re on your way?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good,” Myron said. “I need to talk to you about something.”
    I switched hands. I could see Bat Lady’s creepy house now. “Is everything okay?”
    “Everything’s fine,” he said.
    “Okay then. I’ll be home soon.”
    I hung up. Bat Lady’s house looked, as always, haunted. The wind had picked up and for a moment, I almost thought the gusts would topple it. There was a bent willow tree in the front yard and, I knew, woods in the back. Night had started to fall.
    Ema and Spoon stayed on the sidewalk across the street. As I approached, I noticed that no lights were on. Not one. Strange. Usually the Bat Lady had a light on in her bedroom. But not tonight. I knocked on the door, feeling the porch beneath my feet shake. One of the columns had already collapsed.
    There was no answer.
    I walked back over to Ema and Spoon. We started down the street in silence. Suddenly—yet as always—Ema said, “I’ll see you guys later.”
    She veered toward the woods without another word.
    I wanted to ask where she was going or if I could accompany her, but I had been through that before. She would only get upset with me. I watched until she vanished into the thickness.
    Unsure what to do, I let my curiosity get the better of me. I knew that it was probably wrong, that it was some kind of breach in our trust and friendship. As I said before, we are all entitled to our secrets. But I asked anyway.
    “Spoon?”
    “Yeah?”
    I could still back off, but I didn’t. “What’s Ema’s deal?”
    “What do you mean?”
    I