not be able to fly. She signed on and opened up her mail program. Only one message.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Alicia
Hey Roni, is that you?
Brian
Roni smiled at the e-mail message on her laptop. How had he found her e-mail address? She burped pepperoni and green olive pizza and typed in a reply.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
How’d you find me?
Roni
The reply came back almost immediately.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
I hacked everybody’s e-mail addresses from the school computer. ;-)
Have you looked outside? It’s raining cats and elephants out there. BTW I found out some stuff from my mom. Guess who’s the #1 suspect.
B
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
Douglas Unger?
Roni
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
Actually, it’s Alicia and Ted’s real dad. My mom says they’re trying to track him down, but nobody knows where he is.
BTW, who’s Douglas Unger?
B
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
We have to talk. Can you—uh-oh, POS
Roni hit the send button and turned to face her mother, the P arent O ver S houlder.
“What are you working on?” Nick asked.
“A story for the paper.” It was only half a lie, Roni reasoned. If she could figure out what had happened to Alicia it would make one heck of a story. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
Roni knew her mother was proud of her for writing for the school newspaper. Nick’s dream was that Roni might one day become the editor of the Bloodwater Clarion. But Roni had bigger plans—like being an investigative reporter for the Washington Post.
“Yes, of course, but shouldn’t you turn your computer off during a thunderstorm?”
“Yes, but—”
A blinding flash of lightning was followed instantly by a huge clap of thunder. The lights went out. Roni’s computer stuttered, emitted a piteous beep, then the screen went to black.
24
overboard
How long had she been adrift? An hour? Two hours?
Alicia stood on the deck in the driving rain, wet hair plastered to her skull. It was coming down so hard she couldn’t see either shore. A flash of lightning revealed the broken door to the cabin. It had been easy to kick the door open, once she had set her mind to it. But what good had it done her? She was stuck on a runaway boat with no way to control it.
She couldn’t start the engine—he had taken the key.
She should go back inside, get out of the rain, and wait for the boat to wash up on shore. But where would that be? She might float for miles, maybe even as far as the lock and dam at Alma. And then what? With the storm filling the river past its banks, she might be swept over the dam to her death.
Alicia sometimes thought she would be better off dead. But she did not want to die.
Another flash of lightning lit up the choppy, rain-spattered surface of the river. Dead ahead floated an enormous tree that had been torn up by its roots. Alicia had no time to brace herself. The front of the boat rode up onto the floating trunk and the deck suddenly tilted. Alicia’s feet went out from under her. She caught the gunwale as she went over the side and for a moment she hung there, her legs trailing in the cold river water, but the boat spun against the tree and a branch swept her off like a giant broom. Alicia grabbed for the branch, but caught only a handful of leaves that tore away as her head slipped beneath the muddy, storm-battered surface of the Mississippi.
25
style
Roni’s mother spent most of the next morning at home fielding phone calls. Every time she hung up the phone and tried to leave for city hall, the phone would ring again. Alicia Camden’s disappearance had hit the news, and the mayor, Buddy
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Alicia
Hey Roni, is that you?
Brian
Roni smiled at the e-mail message on her laptop. How had he found her e-mail address? She burped pepperoni and green olive pizza and typed in a reply.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
How’d you find me?
Roni
The reply came back almost immediately.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
I hacked everybody’s e-mail addresses from the school computer. ;-)
Have you looked outside? It’s raining cats and elephants out there. BTW I found out some stuff from my mom. Guess who’s the #1 suspect.
B
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
Douglas Unger?
Roni
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
Actually, it’s Alicia and Ted’s real dad. My mom says they’re trying to track him down, but nobody knows where he is.
BTW, who’s Douglas Unger?
B
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Alicia
We have to talk. Can you—uh-oh, POS
Roni hit the send button and turned to face her mother, the P arent O ver S houlder.
“What are you working on?” Nick asked.
“A story for the paper.” It was only half a lie, Roni reasoned. If she could figure out what had happened to Alicia it would make one heck of a story. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
Roni knew her mother was proud of her for writing for the school newspaper. Nick’s dream was that Roni might one day become the editor of the Bloodwater Clarion. But Roni had bigger plans—like being an investigative reporter for the Washington Post.
“Yes, of course, but shouldn’t you turn your computer off during a thunderstorm?”
“Yes, but—”
A blinding flash of lightning was followed instantly by a huge clap of thunder. The lights went out. Roni’s computer stuttered, emitted a piteous beep, then the screen went to black.
24
overboard
How long had she been adrift? An hour? Two hours?
Alicia stood on the deck in the driving rain, wet hair plastered to her skull. It was coming down so hard she couldn’t see either shore. A flash of lightning revealed the broken door to the cabin. It had been easy to kick the door open, once she had set her mind to it. But what good had it done her? She was stuck on a runaway boat with no way to control it.
She couldn’t start the engine—he had taken the key.
She should go back inside, get out of the rain, and wait for the boat to wash up on shore. But where would that be? She might float for miles, maybe even as far as the lock and dam at Alma. And then what? With the storm filling the river past its banks, she might be swept over the dam to her death.
Alicia sometimes thought she would be better off dead. But she did not want to die.
Another flash of lightning lit up the choppy, rain-spattered surface of the river. Dead ahead floated an enormous tree that had been torn up by its roots. Alicia had no time to brace herself. The front of the boat rode up onto the floating trunk and the deck suddenly tilted. Alicia’s feet went out from under her. She caught the gunwale as she went over the side and for a moment she hung there, her legs trailing in the cold river water, but the boat spun against the tree and a branch swept her off like a giant broom. Alicia grabbed for the branch, but caught only a handful of leaves that tore away as her head slipped beneath the muddy, storm-battered surface of the Mississippi.
25
style
Roni’s mother spent most of the next morning at home fielding phone calls. Every time she hung up the phone and tried to leave for city hall, the phone would ring again. Alicia Camden’s disappearance had hit the news, and the mayor, Buddy
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