Page 96 of Charlie
“Do you know what your father is keeping in those locked closets?”
“No.” Atlas shook his head while Maximum rolled over on one end of my mattress to lie on his belly, propped himself up on his elbows, and admitted:
“Neither do I, but I have a good idea where he’s hiding the key.”
“Where?” River whispered in a conspiratorial voice.
“Under his mattress. I can show you,” Maximum told River. “But I doubt you’d be brave enough to use it.”
She moved down from my back. “I’ll do it if the rest of you go with me.”
Lumi shook her head. “We can’t! If Conor finds out, he’ll be furious and he’ll…” She didn’t finish her sentence. “Besides, it’s not right to invade people’s privacy.”
Nathan’s voice was icy when he spoke. “It’s not right of him to lie either. You were there, Lumi. You heard him tell me to show that I’m serious by doing my meditation in the pond.”
“He didn’t think you’d do it.”
“I don’t care. It’s not like he tried to stop me either.” Nathan was staring at Lumi. “I was so scared of him throwing me out, but you know what Liv told me?”
They all looked to me again as Nathan continued. “Liv said that Conor is lucky to have a son like me and that there are people out there who would adopt me. Maybe it’s not true that I’d be in an orphanage. Who says Conor hasn’t lied about that too? For as long as I can remember, I’ve been scared of him giving up on me like my mother did. But sitting out there in the icy water made me think that an orphanage might be better.”
“Don’t say that.” River’s face fell. “I don’t want to lose any of you. You’re my siblings. We’re family.”
Nathan pushed his duvet off and swung his legs over the side of his bed. “Come on, let’s go see what Conor has in his closet.”
“He’s going to throw a fit if he finds us in his room,” Lumi warned again.
“No, because we’ll be quick and he won’t know that we looked in his closet.” Nathan pushed up from the bed and moved to the connecting door. “Let me just make sure he’s not there.” Knocking lightly on the door, he waited with the rest of us, but there was no answer.
The rest of us got up, except for Lumi, who kept to the corner of Nathan’s bed, and Atlas, who was still on the floor.
We all looked at them, and then Atlas got up and drew a deep sigh. “Lumi is right. We shouldn’t be doing this, but there’s a lot of things Dad shouldn’t be doing either.” He gave me a pointed look. “He shouldn’t have come on to you without Charles’ permission. When I have a girlfriend, I’m never introducing her to my dad.”
A knot in my throat made it hard to speak, but I understood his position and listened without interrupting.
“Charles was my friend and I’m angry at my dad for hurting him, just like I’m angry at him for hurting you, Nathan.” Atlas looked to Lumi. “Are you coming?”
“No, what you’re doing is wrong!”
Atlas nodded. “I know, but I’ll make sure they don’t touch anything. Can you a least keep an eye out while we go in?”
With an annoyed huff, Lumi crawled out of the bed and walked out in the hallway.
“It’s just going to be a quick peek!” Nathan declared, while I hoped we would discover something the police could use to finally arrest Conor O’Brien.
Nathan stood in front of the connecting door to Conor’s room. With one hand on the door handle, he turned around to look at each of us while putting a finger to his lips gesturing for us to be quiet.
We all gathered close to him and then he turned the doorknob. The door creaked as Nathan opened it and took a careful step, as if Conor might jump out at him.
“Turn on some light,” River whispered. “I can’t see.”
My heart was galloping in my chest. For the kids it was a matter of curiosity and a bit of a teenage rebellion, but for me there was so much more on the line. We were breaking into a cold-blooded murderer’s room while he was in the same house.
A small “click” sounded and then lights came on.
“Where is it?” River whispered to Maximum, who walked to his father’s bed like he was in a museum and attempting not to set off an alarm.
Placing his hands on the bed, Maximum let himself squat down and then he lifted the mattress a little. It took him a solid five seconds that felt like minutes until he held up a key with triumph shining from his eyes.
