“Okay, what did you see?” asked Zach, looking interested.
“I saw a chain, rope, and some newspapers,” replied Cody.
“Those are some interesting things to have in the trunk of your car, don’t you think?” responded Zach.
“You think?” Cody questioned his friend in a high tone. “I’m going to head home for dinner, I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Cody.
He walked out of Zach’s room and down the stairs. An arm grabbed him right as he walked out the front door. It startled Cody.
“Hey!” a voice said.
It was Scotty.
“I just wanted to tell you that I respect what you two are doing. I just ask one thing of you, Cody. Be careful, you have no clue who that man is, and I can’t be there to help,” Scotty genuinely said.
“We will, Scotty, this isn’t a game to us. There is a much bigger picture to this,” said Cody. “Thank you for driving us today.”
“Don’t sweat it. Thanks for the gas money,” said Scotty, his tone changing like before.
“See ya, Scotty,” said Cody, grabbing the handlebars of his bike that was still on the front porch where he’d left it.
“Take care, Cody,” said Scotty.
Cody wheeled his bike down the four wooden stairs and hopped on his bike.
Like always, his brain was in deep thought on the way home. Did that man recognize Cody? Did the man believe Zach’s story? Were he and his best friend in too deep at this point?
When Cody pulled into the driveway, his mom was outside talking to Mr. Durkbridge in the front yard.
“Hi, Mom! Hi, Mr. Durkbridge!” said Cody.
“Hey, Code,” his mom said, stopping her conversation with Mr. Durkbridge.
Mr. Durkbridge waved at Cody and continued talking to Cody’s mother.
Olive was inside playing with her dolls in the living room when Cody walked through the front door.
“Hi, brother! I missed you! How was your sleepover?” asked Olive.
“It was fun, and I missed you too,” Cody replied. “Let me go upstairs and change, and we will do something. Why don’t you pick out a movie?” suggested Cody.
Cody ran upstairs and went into his room, pulled his notebook out of his jeans, and put it in the secret bottom drawer of his desk.
A very good idea popped in his head. He needed to find a phone book for the city of Crestwood. If he found one, he could look up the address and find out the man’s name. Although it wasn’t guaranteed the name would be in the book, it was worth a try. The man did tell him he had lived there all his life. A name would definitely be one more piece of the puzzle. But how would he get a phone book for the city of Crestwood?
Cody went downstairs and hung out with his sister for the rest of the night. Olive handed her brother a VHS tape, and Cody put it in the VCR.
CHAPTER XI
Needle in a Haystack
The next day, before school, Cody told Zach all about the phone-book idea. Zach thought it was a great idea and thought of another good idea himself.
“Dude, there’s this kid in my gym class named Grady or Brady or something. He just moved to Tippwood recently, maybe a couple of months ago. I heard some other guys talking to him about where he came from. He’s from Crestwood. I could talk to him and see if there was any chance that a phone book made the move with him to his new home,” suggested Zach.
Cody always thought Zach was smart and liked his friend’s idea again.
“Go for it, Zach, I was thinking about calling the city and seeing if they would send one to my house, but I like your idea better,” said Cody. “First, though, I would get his name straight before you talk to him,” Cody laughed
“I will. I’m not stupid,” said Zach jokingly.
“No, you are definitely not stupid, buddy,” said Cody in agreement.
The infamous first bell rang.
Fourth period came, and Zach approached the new kid in gym class. The boy was lanky with shaggy hair. He didn’t look athletic at all.
“Hey, I know you’re new here, aren’t you? I just wanted to introduce myself, I’m Zach,” said Zach.
“Oh, hey, uh, I’m Grady,” the kid said, sort of caught off guard. “I’ve seen you around.”
“Cool, dude, nice to meet you. You like basketball?” asked Zach.
“Absolutely, who doesn’t?” Grady fired back with excitement in his voice.
“Maybe we can play at Reagan Park some weekend in the summer? There are always good pickup games with older kids. You any good?” Zach implied.
“Yeah, that sounds great. I’m all right, I can shoot the ball. Where’s Reagan Park, though?” asked Grady enthusiastically.
“Oh, not far, dude, on the other side of town,” said Zach. “I have a question for you. Did you move from Crestwood?”
“Yeah, why?” Grady replied.
“Just thought I could ask a small favor from you, nothing crazy or anything,” said Zach.
“Oh well, what is it?” the new kid said.
“Do you think you might have a phone book for Crestwood?” asked Zach, not really knowing what type of response he was going to get.
“Um, sure, I guess, my parents keep all the phone books in the closet. They come every year. My mom and dad don’t ever throw them away. It’s actually very annoying seeing them in the closet. That’s a weird favor, man. Um, what do you need it for?” Grady asked.
Zach had to think quickly. “I’m doing a project for my art class and need phone books,” replied Zach sharply.
“That’s weird, man. I’ll try to bring one in for you tomorrow if I remember,” replied Grady.
“Really? Thanks, man. Now I’m going to go ask the other guys in our class if they have any phone books. Thanks again,” said Zach, slowly moving toward a group of other kids.
“No problem and don’t forget about the basketball game,” said Grady.
“Oh yeah, I won’t!” yelled Zach.
At lunchtime, Zack told Cody of the news, making sure Frankie and the rest of the table were not listening.
“Okay, dude, I talked to the new kid at gym class. He is going to bring the phone book tomorrow,” said Zach.
“That’s good,” Cody said, keeping his voice down. “Let’s go to my house after school tomorrow and look for the name in the book.”
“Sounds like a plan,” replied Zach.
The day moved slowly for the rest of the afternoon for both boys. Cody had missed an assignment in math class, and his teacher asked to see him after class. Though he didn’t like math, Cody was usually still a B student and one of the teacher’s favorite students. The other kids filed out of the room while Cody lagged behind.
“Cody, I am worried about you,” Mr. Jones said. “You scored very low on the last test, and that’s not like you, is something going on?”
Caught by surprise, Cody responded, “No, Mr. Jones, everything is fine.”
“Well, just know I’m here if you need or want to talk,” Mr. Jones said.
Cody could see the concern on his teacher’s face.
“Thank you, Mr. Jones. That means a lot. I’ll try to work harder,” replied Cody.
“I hope you will, Cody, this is a huge concern,” Mr. Jones responded.
“I know. I understand,” said Cody.
“Here, take this, Cody,” Mr. Jones said, handing him a piece of paper. “It’s a work sheet of difficult problems. If you do them correctly and turn it in to me after class tomorrow, I’ll apply some credit to that test to help you out,” encouraged Mr. Jones.
Cody didn’t really know what to say. He was shocked that his teacher had offered it to him.
“Thank you,” said Cody softly.
“You’re welcome. One time—that’s it, Cody. Now, get to your next class,” replied Mr. Jones and then started shuffling through papers on his desk.