Here by Mistake Read Free Page B

. . . please, I want the key to Aunt Faye’s base—”
    He stopped when Quint shook his head. “Why did I even ask?” Quint said. “B, you’ve been after me for five years to get in that basement. Now you’re bringing friends along to ratchet up the pressure. I’m telling you, nothing’s changed from when you came at me last month. Your aunt was particular about all that stuff, even though she probably didn’t go down in that basement but two or three times in all the years. Her will’s finally going to be read after all the legal delay. Everything down there’s got to be catalogued and given out the way the will says. Anything not listed in the will’s got to be sold and the money given to the charities Faye chose. That’s what she wanted.”
    “I just want to look,” Brandon pleaded. “I won’t take or break anything. What’s the big deal?”
    “There’s no big deal; it’s just what she wanted, and we’re going to respect that. What I never understood is why you’re so keen on it. Most things’re packed and stacked, and you can’t see what’s there without tearing the crates apart. Once and for all, B, forget it . You’re not getting down there.”
    Brandon saw it was no use, and he didn’t want to make Quint really mad. Conversation turned to Regents Exams, grades, summer plans. Then Sarah noticed it was two o’clock. Brandon made a trip to the bathroom, and then they headed out. Quint held the door for them. “To quote the old TV show, ‘Y’all come back now, hear?’” he said cheerfully as they left.
    Twenty minutes later they were back on Brandon’s porch in the plastic chairs. But something was now different. Brandon was acting happy one moment, angry the next. And he wasn’t paying attention to his friends.
    “What’s with you, B?” Sarah snapped. “You’re in your own world. So you didn’t get the keys. It’s not the end of everything. Get the paper so we can check out some movie times.”
    “I got the keys.”
    “What?”
    Brandon’s hands were folded in his lap and his eyes were on them. “When I went to the bathroom I opened the big closet back there. There’s a cardboard box with all kinds of junk; keys, too.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. The ring had a round brass tag stamped BIRMINGHAM. “I saw these once before when I was there. One of these’ll get us in the house. Another’ll get us in the basement.” He looked up at his friends.
    Sarah snatched the keys out of his hand and shook them in his face. “And what do you think Quint will do when he can’t find these?” she said. “It won’t take him long to figure it out.”
    “These are spares,” Brandon said defensively. “Quint keeps the ones he uses in his office. He probably hasn’t gone in that box in a year. And if something wasn’t there he’d . . . probably think it was lying around somewhere. Everything’s so scattered in that house.”
    “That’s dreaming and you know it,” Sarah told him. “Quint can push his hand into any pile of junk in that house and pull out whatever he’s looking for. The place is scattered; he isn’t.”
    “I thought you were such good friends, B,” Stephen said.
    Brandon’s face flushed. “We are.”
    “He tells you no, so you just sneak around his house and take what you want,” Stephen said, looking him in the eye. “Grimy, B.”
    “That’s right,” Sarah said. “Some friend.”
    Brandon stood up and shoved his chair back. “You sound like I killed somebody,” he said angrily. “Okay, just go if that’s what you think.” He pointed to the street.
    “You didn’t even act like this with Jonesy this morning,” Sarah said. “You’re just mad because you know yourself it was grimy.”
    Stephen nodded, and Brandon wheeled on him. “If I’m so grimy, go before I rub off on you.” He grabbed Stephen’s backpack from the table and threw it in his lap. “Are you deaf? Beat it! Or do I have to throw you out?”