Growing up a Thief

Chapter 10: Doubt

     "So I take it these are the guys who taught you, huh?" Richie says as Taylor flips me right side up.

     "Got that right! Taught him everything he knows," Taylor says while puffing out his chest. 

     "Where you guys headed?" Pauly asks, with a look of boredom on his face.

     "Back to Richie's place. Long story but we are going on a trip for a while," I say, still trying to fix my shirt that was just over my head. 

     "Ahh I knew it, you're the kid from the posters. You've got a lot of people looking for you little man," Taylor says, sizing Richie up a bit. "Where you guys going on this trip?"

     "Anchorage..." I say with my head down as we walk, worried they will think our plan is stupid. 

     "Alaska? Ha, Taylor and I spent a summer up there working on the docks with my uncle. I could make a call for you. Get you guys some work while you're up there," Pauly says, which really shouldn't be a surprise to me considering they claimed to have traveled all over. Makes me think about what Bobby told me though, that people head up there when they are running from something. With these two, who knows what they were trying to escape. 

     "That would be amazing man, thank you." My sentence is cut short with a sight that terrifies me to my core: red and blue lights flashing in front of Richie's building. 

     Pauly notices the look of horror on Richie and I's faces. "Tell me that's not your place Richie," he says while the four of us peek around the corner. 

     "How did they find me?" Richie says with a broken whisper. 

     "Well that's our cue. Look, you guys give us a call if you make it up there and we will get you set up. Stay out of trouble or run fast," Taylor says while patting my shoulder, and they both make their escape. Leaving Richie and I standing there, not sure what to do. 

     "The money! Didn't you say you had money stashed away?" I ask in a panic, since that was our only real chance of making it on our journey. 

     "No. It's not up there, it's all in Bobby's safe. Wait, is that Mrs. Riddle?" Richie says, nearly causing me to lean too far around the corner to get a better look. 

     "What, how? There's no way she could have known where you live. Oh my god, man, that is her." Sure enough, Richie's eyes aren't deceiving him. Mrs. Riddle somehow is behind all this. My eyes focus in on her and I can see her crying, sitting in the back of a cop car. Although I'm sure she is just trying to keep me out of trouble, she has no idea what she has just done. 

     "We have to get out of here," Richie whispers and pulls at my shoulder. "Come on man, before they see us. Bobby will know what to do." He pulls me from around the corner and we quickly make our escape.

**********

     When we get back to the diner and we are sure the coast is clear, we head inside and tell Bobby what happened.

     "That's a lot of heat for some kids. Look, I know you don't want to hear this but you may need to make an early exit," Bobby says while filling up two glasses of soda, which we drink quickly, still trying to catch our breath from running. 

     "But what about all my stuff? My clothes, my pack, everything is in that place," Richie says, putting his forehead on the counter. 

     "I'll take care of everything, you can crash here for the night in the office and I'll run up to the store and get you guys enough supplies to last you a while." Bobby puts his hand on Richie's shoulder. "It's going to be okay, bud."