The Great Bike Rescue by Hazel Hutchins Page B

called you, Levi. Some girl knocked on the door. She’d seen us talking to you. She asked if we knew your phone number. We didn’t, but we know your last name so we looked it up for her.”
    Weird. It had to have been Emily Grimshaw. But Emily already knew where I lived. And even if she didn’t, she knew my last name. She could have looked up my phone number herself.
    â€œAnd then she asked if she could use the phone to call you,” said May. “So I said yes. But you weren’t home, so we made her a bunch of sandwiches instead.” May looked at Julia. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything about the sandwiches.”
    â€œIt’s okay. It’s just Levi,” said Julia. She turned to me. “Don’t tell anyone else because we don’t want to embarrass her, but…well…once or twice we’ve seen the same girl hanging around the garbage bins behind the hamburger place.”
    â€œWe figured she was hungry and too proud to ask for food, and that’s why she knocked on the door,” said May.
    â€œAnd made up the story about wanting to phone you,” said Julia.
    â€œExcept she wasn’t hungry. She didn’t eat the sandwiches,”said May.
    â€œBut she did save them for later,” said Julia.
    â€œBut we don’t think she was going to eat them later either. She took all the cucumbers out. No one eats cucumber sandwiches without the cucumbers.” said May.
    â€œShe rolled the bread up in her T-shirt,” said Julia.
    â€œBut don’t worry,” said May. “The cucumbers didn’t go to waste. I gave them to my grandma, because she says they’re good for taking away the puffy skin under her eyes when she’s tired.”
    I was in a complete daze by the time I left Julia’s house. Or May’s house. Or whoever’s house it was.
    All the food talk had also made me hungry. As soon as I got home, I made my own sandwiches— not cucumber—and sat at the kitchen table to eat them. Dad came down to refill his coffee. He looked out the window at the deck railing. The chain lock wasn’t there anymore.
    â€œWho’s learning to crack the combination now?” he asked.
    â€œRiley’s brother,” I said. “After that his little sister wants to try.”
    â€œIf I’ve created a family of thieves, I’ll never forgive myself,” said Dad, shaking his head.
    He topped up his cup and looked at me again.
    â€œIs that where you were this afternoon? Over at Riley’s?”
    â€œNo,” I said. “I was trying to track down Emily Grimshaw.”
    Dad looked thoughtful. He nodded slowly.
    â€œEmily Grimshaw…that’s who came to the door the other day. I thought she looked familiar, but it’s been years…” He paused again, deep in thought. “Little Emily who used to make you really mad because she always wanted to play but you’d never let her.”
    Little Emily! As if she was sweet and innocent!
    â€œShe made me mad because she stole my stuff,” I said.
    â€œShe was just trying to get your attention, Levi,” said Dad. “It always came back. Well, most of it did.”
    â€œAll I remember is the stealing part,” I said. “Especially my toboggan.”
    â€œYou never actually saw her with your toboggan,” said Dad.
    â€œShe had it, all right,” I said. “The world’s sneakiest six-year-old.”
    Dad smiled. He actually smiled!
    â€œShe was pretty sharp for a little kid,” agreed Dad. And then his expression grew more serious. “I think she had to be, Levi. There were problems next door. It was complicated. The police came by a couple of times. I think her mom was doing the best she could, but there were other people living at the house, and it wasn’t a good situation. Why were you trying to track her down?”
    â€œI’m still trying to figure out that part myself,”