The Great Bike Rescue by Hazel Hutchins

beneath the TV again.
    At supper that evening, Dad and I ate out on the back deck. Riley’s chain lock was wrapped around the railing. Yup, I’d done it. It had taken me awhile, but I’d figured it out. Mind you, Riley wasn’t going to be pleased next time he came over and tried to undo his lock. After I’d opened it on my own, Dad had shown me how to put the numbers in a different order. We’d had a good time together. Maybe Riley had been right about the father-and-son thing…in a weird way.
    But I hadn’t yet got the details out of Dad about his own bike-stealing days. I was waiting for the right moment. Which was now.
    â€œSo you really stole your teacher’s bike?” I asked.
    â€œI moved it,” said Dad. “That’s all, Levi. It never left school property.”
    â€œWhere did you move it to?” I asked.
    â€œThe fence, right nearby,” he said.
    I knew there had to be more.
    â€œWhere else?” I asked.
    â€œThe bike stand. In the little kids’ playground.”
    â€œWhere else?” I asked.
    The tips of Dad’s ears were turning red again.
    â€œThe roof,” he said.
    â€œYou climbed up on the roof of the school? Dad! That wasn’t responsible! What if you’d fallen off the ladder? What if the bike had fallen off the roof and hit someone?”
    Dad sighed.
    â€œNo, Levi. It wasn’t responsible,” he said.
    â€œAnd if I ever catch you doing something like that, I’ll be very, very upset and you will be grounded for the next ten years.”
    I knew he meant it. Well, not the ten years of grounding, but he would be really upset. Dad takes his parenting seriously.
    But still, it’s kind of nice to know your dad is human.

Chapter Ten
    Emily Grimshaw. Emily Grimshaw. One way or another, her name kept coming up.
    It was Wednesday, day twelve for my missing bike. For Riley’s, it was day eleven. When he phoned with the latest update, I could hear in his voice that he was losing hope.
    â€œSomeone took my reward posters down,” he told me with a sigh. “Mom says that most places only leave them up for two weeks, so there’s no point in replacing them. We posted ads online instead.”
    â€œI didn’t take the posters down, Riley,” I said.
    â€œI know,” he answered. “I think it was Emily. She hinted at it when she stopped me the other day.”
    See what I mean about the way her name kept turning up? And what was it between my friend and my nemesis? He sounded discouraged about our bikes, but he didn’t sound mad at Emily about the posters.
    â€œDid you mention a reward online?” I asked.
    â€œNo. Mom almost had a heart attack when I told her that it could be rewarding the thief. No more money.”
    â€œGood,” I said. “It’s better that way.”
    â€œI guess,” said Riley. “Anyway, what I really called to tell you is I can’t hang out this afternoon because we’re visiting my grandma. Sorry, but Mom says I have to go.”
    Riley has so much family around that he gets tired of visiting them. I’ve got grandparents, but they live on the other side of the country.
    â€œThat’s okay,” I said.
    After we hung up, I sat looking at the phone. It was the downstairs one that stores numbers and lists the last thirty callers. I scrolled through the list. Because business calls go to Dad’s cell, there weren’t a lot of calls on our home line. At least half of them were from Riley. Others were long-distance numbers or “unknown” callers, which are usually telemarketers.
    But one listing was different. It was from the previous Wednesday, the day Dad said a girl had called and Emily had later shown up at my door. I was pretty sure the call was from Emily. I didn’t exactly want to call her back. Talking face to face would better.
    I knew how to get an address from a phone number. I turned on