40
At breakfast the next morning, Mom and Dad announced they’d turned the ringers back on. But if the phone rang, we still weren’t supposed to pick it up unless we knew the name on the caller ID.
“Hopefully the attention is dying down,” Dad told us.
“We’ll see,” Mom said.
* * *
—
I was nervous the whole day at school, thinking about the conversation with Officer Pinkus that was going to happen in the afternoon—if Aidan decided to go through with it. I’d told him I figured Officer Pinkus was the best person to start with. If she said our story made sense, then everyone else would think so, starting with our parents. I knew they’d be mad at us at first, but I figured eventually it would be okay. They’d much rather have a son who ran off to a gaming convention than a son who ran off to another world.
* * *
—
I only had a few minutes with Aidan after school.
“So what did you decide?” I asked.
“I think it’s worth trying,” he said.
“Should we practice?”
Aidan shook his head. “Not enough time.”
Once we were in Mom’s car, on the way home, there wasn’t any way to talk about it any further.
* * *
—
Officer Pinkus showed up at four o’clock. I was relieved to see there weren’t any other officers with her.
“As promised, just a check-in,” she assured my parents. “We haven’t seen any other unusual activity. Mr. Risen is now back in his care facility and knows not to enter any other schools.” It took me a moment to realize that Mr. Risen was Zeke.
After Mom and Dad made some small talk with Officer Pinkus, she suggested we all sit down.
“Actually,” Aidan said, “can Lucas and I talk to you alone for a moment?”
All the adults in the room seemed surprised by this, but Mom and Dad let Officer Pinkus take the lead.
“Sure,” she said. “Where should we go?”
“How about the attic?” Aidan suggested.
Mom and Dad exchanged a glance. But Officer Pinkus was already leading the way.
Aidan and I followed.
41
Aidan sat on the chest. I sat on the floor. Officer Pinkus sat on the edge of the rocking chair, so it wouldn’t rock. The dresser stood in its usual place.
“I have something to tell you,” Aidan said. Then he corrected, “We have something to tell you.”
I thought this meant I’d share some of the storytelling. But once Aidan started, he didn’t leave any room for me. He started by explaining to her how much he loved gaming, about how excited he’d been to go to the gaming convention—and how sure he’d been that his parents wouldn’t let him go during school. From there, he told the whole story, just as we’d put it together the night before. Officer Pinkus took some notes, but mostly she listened.
“I’m really sorry I lied,” he said at the end. “It started out with me doing something wrong, and then it just got worse and worse. I didn’t mean to scare so many people. I feel awful about it.”
“I’m sorry too,” I added. “For what I did.”
“I see,” Officer Pinkus said, putting her notebook aside. “Now do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
“Sure,” Aidan said, totally calm.
“Okay. Let me start with this one: How did you call home, Aidan?”
Aidan’s calm edged a little further away. “What do you mean?”
“You left your phone here. How did you call home?”
“I used a phone at the hotel.”
“Where in the hotel?”
“Where there were phones? Like, public phones.”
“Are you saying there are pay phones in the hotel?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re sure I’ll find pay phones there?”
Aidan nodded.
“And when I check the records for those pay phones, I’ll find calls to this house.”
“Yes,” Aidan said. But it sounded like he was saying it because he had to.
“What costume did you bring?”
“What?”
“You said you went in costume. What was the costume?”
“Um…Super Mario?”
“You wore the same costume every day.”
“Yes?”
“And did you shower?”
“No?”
“You said your wallet was stolen?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did we find your wallet in your room while you were gone?”
“He had a second wallet!” I jumped in when it looked like Aidan didn’t have an answer.
“Okay, look,” Officer Pinkus said. “I could very easily check every aspect of your story. Phone records. Security footage at the hotel. I could talk to the organizers of this convention and see if there was any way in without a badge; I’m guessing the answer’s no. Or, Aidan, I could ask you to describe the convention and the hotel. You were there for three or four days, after all. I’m sure you can tell me all about it.”
Aidan seemed to be shrinking into the shadows. He wasn’t going to say no, but he had also run out of yes.
Officer Pinkus rocked forward to us.
“Here’s the thing—you seemed much, much more genuine when you were talking about Aveinieu. Even though most people think it’s impossible, I believe that much more than I believe what you’re saying now. I’m sure you have your reasons, and I can probably guess at what those reasons are, but for a minute I need the old Aidan back, the one who wasn’t lying to me. Do you understand?”
Aidan nodded.
“I’m going to ask you two questions again. And you need to give me the honest answers. First, were you kidnapped?”
“No,” Aidan said clearly.
“Second, even if you weren’t kidnapped, did you leave here to meet up with anyone?”
“No.”
“Nobody helped you.”