Page 20 of Promise Keeper

I grunted and groaned and pulled myself up, as Roy pushed and cursed and grumped.

Finally, my hips were at sill level, and I propped myself on my forearms. Roy let go, and my legs hung along the brick outer wall. Before I knew what happened, my ankles were grabbed and with one great shove from Roy, I went flying like a javelin in the window head first.

The model train table was coming at me fast. There would be no hiding this break in or my involvement in it if I destroyed the miniature town of Metamora with my face like Godzilla tearing through Tokyo.

I needn't have feared though, as, like Roy suggested, I was like a sack of wet sand. My forward momentum quickly changed to dropping like a rock. I hit the ground, crushing my arms underneath me and whacking my chin on the floor, rattling my teeth in my head.

"All right in there?" Roy called.

"Wonderful," I answered, circling my bottom jaw to make sure it wasn't broken. "Never better."

"Flashlight," he called, and tossed a keychain sized one in the window. It landed on my back.

"Thanks."

I rolled over and got on my hands and knees, feeling for the flashlight. Along the back wall, I'd only missed landing on a low bookshelf that ran underneath the window. I flicked on the flashlight and perused the contents.

"I hear talkin'," Roy whispered in the window. Then his feet scuffled off into the distance to hide.

I shut off the flashlight and sat still, barely daring to breathe. In the front of the building, I could faintly hear Anna's voice. Then I heard Roy again, out the window in the distance. "Echinacea! Elderberry! Robitussin! What's the blasted code word?"

The code word? We had one a long time ago, but I didn't remember it either. It would've been a good idea to have one tonight. Hindsight...

"It's Ben," Roy whisper-yelled. "Sayonara."

For the love of all things good and holy.Ben? Here? Now? Would he arrest me and haul me off to the Brookville jail? Would he bail me out or leave me in there to rot?

10

"Hello, Cam," Ben said, the top of his head showing through the window. "Nice weather tonight. I can see why you decided to go for a stroll. I can't figure out how you ended up inside there, but I'm sure you'll tell me the story."

My stomach dropped. Calm and disappointed Ben was worse than screaming and yelling, red-faced, angry Ben. "How did you know?" I asked.

"Mia tried to wake you up to get some cold medicine. Low and behold, it wasn't you."

"And she told you?" I figured Mia would at least give me an hour's head start.

"No, she didn't. She and I are going to have a chat about that later. She was in the kitchen when I went downstairs to check on you, to make sure you had the heating pad and the Tylenol and some water close by. She kept trying to distract me and said she'd make sure you had everything. Then when I told you goodnight, Monica laughed when I kissed her forehead. If she hadn't of, I would've never known."

"Can't blame her for that, I guess."

"No, I don't suppose you can. I'm lucky I went for the forehead. That could've gotten weird quick."

I stood up and leaned over the bookcase to the window. "I can explain. There are diaries in here that I think might tell us who the bones belong to, but there's no way Fiona will let me borrow them."

"If she knew why she would," he said.

"Not if I told her I suspected she dumped the bones and the diaries would help prove it."

"What? You think Fiona did it? Why?"

I explained about the family pride angle and the pool being dug in the Stein's back yard. "So it makes sense that the body is tied to her somehow and she wanted to get rid of it to save face."

Ben drummed his fingers on the window sill. "It does sound like a motive. A made up motive, but more than I have to go on with any other lead." He shook his head. "Grab the diaries. I'll watch for anyone to come along. Be quick."

"Ben! This is against the law."

"It's getting evidence in a case. There's a difference."

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