Page 19 of Promise Keeper

"Rolling around and kicking, pulling the covers, that sort of thing."

"That's fine. I have Ellsworth to keep me company. We'll have a brother's sleep over, won't we, Ells?"

Good gravy, a brother's sleepover. The way he snuggled that cat, if I didn't watch him, Ben would have our house filled with as many cats as dogs!

9

Isent Anna and Logan a text message with the plan for the break in and had them relay the message to Roy, and they were not to breathe a word to Johnna. We needed her locked up tight in bed for the night.

Ben was asleep. I could hear the reverberations from his snores all the way down on the couch. Mia was still awake, which could present a problem. She was in her bedroom, but having trouble sleeping. She'd have to go to sleep soon, though. It was a school night after all. Not that the Sandman always cooperated or had a sense of time.

Her bedroom door opened, and her footsteps headed from her bedroom to the bathroom overhead. A glance at my phone showed I had thirty minutes until our master plan went into effect.

There was only one thing I could do. Find a stand in.

I dialed Monica's number. "I need your help. It involves the bones. I need to sneak out. Can you come over?"

I explained the details and had her promise to park two doors down in front of Grandma's Cookie Cutter and come to our back door. While I waited, I put on my sneakers and a navy blue hoodie with my black leggings. Dark clothes--check. Roy said he'd bring the tools to open the back window of the train depot. Breaking and entering equipment--check. After a handful of minutes there was a faint knock on the patio door. Body double--check.

"You better not end up in jail tonight," Monica said, whisking in the door and taking my place under the blanket on the couch. "Mia knows the difference between you and I, and I'm pretty sure I won't fool Ben either."

"Lay there and pretend you're sleeping. I'll be back before you know it."

I dashed out the back door and around the house, down the street beside the canal, avoiding light and keeping to the shadows. As I crossed the bridge, Anna and Logan strolled in front of the grist mill, holding hands. I pretended I didn't see them and went as fast as I could by the horse stalls where the horses were kept that pull the canal boat. When I eased alongside the train depot in darkness, I let out a sigh of relief.

Almost to the back of the depot, a yowl rent the air followed by Roy shouting. "Mangy tom! You scared the devil out of me!"

Spook hightailed it around the corner, his tail a full bottle brush, his ears back, and darted into a bush.

I rounded to the back of the depot and spotted Roy below the window, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. "That cat is a bigger menace than those coons."

"I think you scared him as much as he scared you. Anna and Logan are almost in place. I hope they don't crack if someone comes along."

"Nah," Roy stood up straight and wiped his brow with a ratty hanky. "If anyone comes along they can pretend they're out here canoodling."

"Why would they be outside canoodling at almost midnight?"

"Well, Cameron Cripps Hayman, it's more romantic out here under the moon beside the water, now, isn't it?"

"I guess it is." Who knew Roy had his finger on the pulse of romance? It was a strange and somewhat scary thought. "Let's get this show on the road," I said.

Roy pulled a thin metal file out of his pocket and slid it between the two window panes up where the lock sat between them. "Wiggle it a little," he whispered to himself. "It should give... just slide it to the side...and... bingo." He pulled the file out and shoved the window up.

"I don't now if I should be horrified or impressed by that, Roy."

"Either is a compliment." He laced his fingers together and bent, holding his hands out, palms open. "Step up. I'll boost you in."

Something told me this wouldn't end well, but lacking a step stool or a ladder--and I was done with ladders--I put my foot in Roy's hands and my hands on the window sill. "One, two-- I didn't say three!"

He'd lifted my foot before I was ready, and I scrambled against the wall with my other foot, gripping on to the window sill for all I was worth.

"Use your upper body strength," Roy said, wheezing holding my weight.

"I'm trying."

"You're like a sack of wet sand."

"Not helping, Roy."

---