Read Online Dangerous Deception by Peg Kehret - Free Book Online

six bus rolled up and we climbed on board. We didn’t talk much. I watched out the window, to be sure we got off at the right stop. I think Lauren was worried about that, too. We followed our progress on the map we’d printed off the transit company’s website, and we disembarked at the right place.
    Ten minutes later, we boarded the number fourteen bus, headed for Sophie’s neighborhood.
    By the time we walked up the uneven sidewalk to Sophie’s door, we were both tired. We climbed the stairs to apartment 3 and knocked on the door. Nobody answered.
    â€œSophie?” I called. “It’s Emmy.”
    Silence.
    We knocked again.
    The door to apartment 4 opened and a scruffy young man with three earrings in each ear said, “Nobody’s home there. I think they moved.”
    â€œMoved!” I said. “Are you sure?”
    â€œNobody’s been here since last week when the ambulance came. The mom got carried out on a stretcher, and the kids trailed along after it.”
    â€œThey haven’t moved out,” I said. “They’re only staying somewhere else while the mom is hospitalized.”
    He shrugged. “Whatever.”
    â€œMeow.” The scrawny black cat crept out from behind an old broom that leaned against the wall in the corner of the hall. “Meow.”
    â€œMidnight!” I said. “What are you doing out here?”
    â€œMeow!”
    I squatted down, holding my hand out toward Midnight. He hesitated, then approached and sniffed my fingers.
    â€œDang cat’s driving me nuts,” the man said. “It cries and scratches on their door all night long.”
    â€œHave you fed him?” I asked.
    â€œIt ain’t my cat,” the man said. “Why would I feed him?”
    â€œThe poor thing is hungry,” I said.
    I dug in one of the grocery bags, lifted out a bag of dry cat food, ripped off a corner of the bag, and shook some food onto the floor. Midnight began eating.
    â€œWe brought some food for the little girls who live here,” I said. “We’ll leave it here, and if they don’t come back in a few days, you can have it.”
    â€œOkay,” he said. “Leave as much as you want.”
    I held out the bag of cat food. “Would you feed Midnight and give him a bowl of water?”
    â€œNot me,” he said. “I don’t like cats, especially black ones. Black cats bring bad luck.”
    â€œThat isn’t true,” Lauren said. “That’s a silly superstition.”
    â€œWhatever.”
    Lauren and I glanced at each other. I wanted to give this guy a lecture about kindness and common sense. Either that or a good hard kick in the shin.
    Instead, I asked him, “By any chance, do you have a Post-it note that I could have?”
    â€œA what?”
    I held up my fingers to indicate the size and said, “Those little papers that have stickum on the back.”
    He shook his head. I don’t think he knew what I meant.
    I ripped a three-inch square piece off the top of one of the paper grocery bags, then rooted in my backpack for a pencil.
Dear Sophie: Call me!
I put down my phone number, and signed the note
Emmy (Your Secret Friend)
.
    â€œI don’t suppose you can give us a piece of tape,” Lauren said to the man.
    â€œNope. No tape,” he said.
    I wedged the note into the crack of Sophie’s door as hard as I could, hoping she’d find it. I did not believe she had moved because she would never move and leave Midnight behind. Probably her mother remained in the hospital, and Sophie was staying elsewhere and had no way to get home to take care of her cat.
    The man abruptly closed the door to apartment 4, leaving Lauren and me—and Midnight—in the hall.
    â€œThanks for nothing,” I muttered.
    â€œI think his name is No Help,” Lauren said.
    â€œIf we leave the bags of food here,” I said, “No Help will grab them the second