Kiki and Jacques by Susan Ross Page B

happened with the police?”
    â€œThey asked many questions, then they took us home.”
    Jacques exhaled.
    â€œBut they want Mohamed to come back to the police station with Hooyo tomorrow after school.”
    Jacques’s fingers felt cold and slippery. “Did your brother see who did it?”
    â€œNo! Mohamed was down in the basement the whole time, moving boxes. He heard something and ran upstairs, but it was too late.” Kiki’s eyes grew wide. “Hooyo is very scared. She says if Mohamed gets into trouble, we could all—they could make us go away.”
    Kiki stopped and lightly traced the scar with her thumb. “My father told us we would have a safe life in America. It was his dream for our family to be safe.”
    â€œ
I promise you
,” Jacques said softly, “it’s going to be okay.”
    â€œYou are positive?” Kiki’s bottom lip was quivering.
    â€œYes.” Jacques coughed and looked away. How could he promise her that? If he told on Duane, the police would surely come for him. He could get arrested, and since Duane had escaped through the bridal shop, maybe Grandmère Jeannette would get into trouble too.
    â€œWe’ve got the first soccer match today; I better get moving.” Jacques gripped the handlebars.
    â€œGood luck with the game.” Kiki wiped her eyes with the edge of her hijab and went back to the house.
    Something was moving in one of the upstairs windows. As Jacques pushed off, he thought he saw the outline of Mohamed’s face, flickering in the glass.

19
    Jacques rode his bike out toward the lake. The houses drifted away as he pounded on the pedals, trying hard to focus. He circled the lake and stopped by the small rocky beach to throw stones in the rippling water before heading back to town.
    By the time Jacques reached the soccer field, the sky had gone dark. Pine trees and the spires of St. Francis stood out against black-bellied clouds. There was a distant crack of thunder, and as if on cue, Sunday church bells began to ring.
    As Jacques approached the field he could tell immediately that something was wrong. A huddle of boys with grim faces stood kicking at the ground with their cleats, while Mohamed sat alone a few feet away, hugging his knees. Jacques searched for Sammy, but it didn’t look like he’d arrived yet. He’d have to do this alone.
    He jogged up just in time to hear Boucher cursing.“We’re not playing with that kid! It was bad enough Coach made him co-captain, but my uncle says he’s a thief. If old man Silverstein dies, Mohamed could go to jail for
murder
.”
    O’Shea turned toward Jacques. “Hey Gagnon, I heard you were there when Mr. Silverstein got robbed.”
    â€œDid you see Mohamed whack him?” Boucher made a slamming motion across his body.
    â€œShut up, you jerk! It
wasn’t
him.” Jacques spit the words in Boucher’s face. “You’re nothing but a stupid A-hole!” He said it all without thinking, but the weird thing was, for the first time in two days, Jacques felt his shoulders relax.
    Boucher’s eyes went blank before sinking into black darts in his head. He pulled one arm back for a punch, but Coach Morrin got there just in time to grab it.
    â€œWe got a game to play!” Coach Morrin barked. He turned to Jacques. “Get the boys on out there! It’s time to start.”
    Jacques took a deep breath and stood straight. He dribbled the ball away from the huddle and over to Mohamed. “Let’s go!”
    Mohamed sprang to his feet and nodded once.
    The other team was from Purgatory Hills. Everybody knew their guys were tough. Someone said the captain’s brother had been kicked out of school for breaking a kid’s arm, and Jacques believed it.
    As they ran onto the field, Jacques saw Sammy’s car round the corner. Sammy jumped out while it was practically still moving and flew on the field.