“From swimming?”

I gritted my teeth as a new wave of pain surged through my shoulder. “Yes.” And they seemed to be happening more frequently, which worried me.

“Is there anything I can—”

“No, I’m good.” And I was. A minute later my shoulder relaxed and so did I. Until I remembered the truck in my front yard as we pulled up to the house.

“Wow. Awesome truck,” Jackson said.

My brows shot down as I studied his happy, innocent expression.

“I see why you weren’t impressed with my classic. Your dad has restored a real one to perfection.” He turned off the engine and hopped out. Next thing I knew, he was walking around my brother’s truck, running his hand along the paint job like it was a rare gem.

“Can I sit in it?”

“No!”

“Your dad doesn’t let people touch it?”

Had he really never seen it before? We didn’t live on a busy street. If he had no need to come into this neighborhood, I could see why he might not have ever seen it. “Have you never heard . . . ?” Did this mean he didn’t know about my brother?

“What? Am I missing something? Did your dad win some big award for this or something? I’m always a step behind in this town.”

It took me two seconds to remember that he moved here his freshman year. I assumed people still talked about my family. About my brother. But maybe we were old news. It was kind of ironic that the one person in town who reminded my dad of my brother didn’t even know of Eric’s existence. The thought of someone not knowing about my brother made my breath catch in my throat. Did the thought thrill me or devastate me? I wasn’t sure.

“It’s complicated.”

He held up his hands. “Hey, I get it. If I had this truck, I wouldn’t want people touching it either.”

“Right. Well, thanks for the ride.”

“I told you we were going to be friends, Moore.”

I wanted to object, but I just smiled and headed for my house.

Fifteen

Bungee jumping? Your activities have quite a range.

I tapped my fingers lightly on the keyboard, waiting for a fast response from Heath Hall like I’d gotten the other night, but was left with lots of white screen waiting to be filled with message bubbles. He couldn’t be online all the time. I shouldn’t have gotten on the computer the second I walked in the door anyway. I should’ve called Amelia and yelled at her for ditching me.

So I did.

“What took you so long?” she responded.

“I started asking Ms. Lin about the best artists she taught.”

“For the Heath Hall thing again?”

“Yes.”

“And did you find out anything?”

“Nope. She acted like she had some legal contract to keep names secret. Kind of like all the people who know who Heath Hall is and won’t say.”

“Well, don’t forget there are a bunch of people who just say whatever random name they think of too.”

“That’s probably part of his game.”

“True. I’m sorry I couldn’t wait for you. I tried to text you that, but you must not have gotten it.”

“No, I got them. Too late. So your aunt is in town?”

“Yes, and my mom wanted me to come straight home after practice.”

“Aunt Faye?”

“The very one. It should be a fun week,” she said in a monotone voice. “Oh.” Her voice was back to its animated self. “Guess what I saw online just now?”

“That Heath Hall is going to bungee jump this weekend?”

“You saw that too?”

“Yes.”

“So are we going to witness another Heath Hall event?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I mean, what’s the point? I’m sure he’ll be wearing a mask again.”

“The point is that we have nothing better to do and it’s obvious that you really want to know who he is, despite what you’re saying.”

She was right. I did want to know. I’d been trying to deny it or write it off as curiosity, but it was more than that. “I’m worried it’s someone I actually know. For that second I thought it was Robert, I was terrified.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to be blindsided. Caught off guard. I don’t like secrets. At least not when other people are keeping them.”

“It’s your controlling nature.”

“I’m not controlling.”

She ignored my protest. “Maybe his mask will fall off as he’s flying through the air. Or maybe when he hits the water.”

“Hardly anyone hits the water off that bridge. Did you?”

“No.” Bungee jumping off Whitestone Bridge wasn’t anything new or special. Practically everyone I knew had done it. It was even professionally run by a company called Just Jump that swept in when it became popular. So I wasn’t sure why Heath Hall was making a point of doing it. He had given a speech at the museum about his reasons for displaying the painting. Sure it was a little, tiny, barely-worth-mentioning speech but maybe he’d do something similar before jumping.

“I really hope I can come. I will start wearing down my mom now, but with the swim meet all day and my aunt here, she’s probably going to want me home. She likes me as a buffer.”

“More like a hostage.”

“Exactly. I’ll talk to you soon.” She hung up.

I heard my mom come in the garage door. She was midsentence and I figured she was on the phone but I went out to greet her anyway. She waved at me with one hand, her keys, hooked around one of those fingers, jingling as she did. Her other arm held groceries while her cell phone was precariously pushed against her ear by her raised shoulder. I grabbed the bag from her and her hand took over the job of holding the phone.

“So can we count on you for a donation, then?” She waited and I held my breath along with her. “That’s great,” she finally said. “I’ll send you the forms.” She hung up with a smile. “We’re almost fully funded.”

“That’s awesome. This is like record time.”

“Every time it gets easier. That’s the reward of experience.” She gave me a hug. “How was school?”

“Average.”

She smiled. “Are you already anticipating the end of swim season?”

“I’m going to be so bored when it’s over.”

She pulled on the ends of my hair. “Well, even if you don’t like the break, your hair likes it.”

“Thanks a lot.”

She laughed and started unloading the groceries, handing me a few items to put away as she went.

I ended up at the far counter, dumping a bag of rice into a canister that sat right beneath the keys to my brother’s truck. During the seven seconds it took to complete the task, I found myself staring at those keys. For a split second I imagined ripping them out of the box and hurling them against the wall. The thought surprised me. I pressed the lid back on the canister and turned my back to the keys.

“I got stuck at school today,” I breathed out.

“How?”

“Amelia couldn’t give me a ride home.”