They all ran off the porch and onto the wide boulevard. It was brightly lit beneath the amber street lights. They could see Cassidy. Her bike was a block ahead already. She was staying on the sidewalk and out of sight. In front of her, far off and barely visible, was the dark shape of the other bike rider. They started to run to catch up.
“We’re totally gonna lose them,” Dwayne called out.
“No, it’s fine. She’s following him from far back. She’s on him. As long as we can keep her in sight, we’ll be okay.”
As soon as Suzie said that, they could see Cass enter the street and dart across to the other side. They quickly did the same, and found themselves ducking in and out of bushes to stay hidden. Then they saw the thief clearly up ahead as he seemed to be closer now.
“I think he stopped,” Suzie said as they all quickly ducked behind a building.
Suzie took a quick look at her phone and could see it was only 4:40 am. The streets were still deserted. She looked down at her favorite bright orange sleeping sweatshirt and realized it was not the smartest wardrobe decision to wear following a thief, but there was nothing she could do about it now. They all stopped and took a look at Cass up ahead. She had hidden behind a building on the next block. She was waving her hands at them to get out of sight, so they made sure they did.
The thief had moved out into the street now, and was looking back in their direction. He was still on Pete’s bike, and was moving in slow circles in the middle of the road. He stopped for another moment, looking around. Then he did a quick turn around and took off again.
Cass quickly popped her bike out from behind the building and continued to follow him. Suzie and the rest moved out as well, keeping a close eye on Cassidy. They kept moving, but they didn’t have to move too quickly to keep up.
“This guy is not moving all that fast, is he?” Roberto asked.
“Yeah, I was hoping for this,” Susie said as they continued to move along the sidewalk. “As long as he thinks nobody is following him, why should he go fast? It would only look suspicious.”
“You got it all planned out, huh? What do we do once we catch up to this guy?” Dwayne asked.
“Ah!” Suzie exclaimed. “We call in the cavalry,” she said while holding up the little card from Sergeant Joe and her phone.
“Sounds good to me. I’m gettin’ tired already,” Dwayne said.
After another block they lost sight of the thief, but could clearly see Cassidy. She had stopped on the sidewalk and was waving at them to catch up. They ran as fast as they could and made it to her within a couple of minutes.
“Hey,” Suzie said, almost out of breath.
“He went in there, right through that side door,” said Cass, pointing ahead to the same building she had followed him to a few days earlier. “I knew it! I knew he had a way in there!”
They could see some lights go on inside. Then there was a shadow on some frosted glass windows. They could clearly see a figure walking around the inside of the building.
“Wow, okay. Good work Cass. This must be where he takes the bikes,” Suzie said.
“Great! Let’s get ‘em back!” Roberto said.
“Hold on, not so fast. That’s a job for the police,” Suzie said, holding up Sergeant Joe’s card. She took out her phone and hit the button to light it up, but nothing happened. She tried and tried, then it blipped on for a sec with a large red battery icon, and went dead again.
“Oh no, I forgot to charge it! Roberto, do you have your phone?” she asked.
“Naa man, it’s back at the tent!”
“I can ride to get it,” Cassidy said as she moved her bike forward.
“Cass, I need you here, in case he takes off again. You are the only one who can keep up with him. I need you guys to keep your eyes glued to this place.”
“What are you going to do?” Cass asked urgently.
“The bagel store will be open by now. It’s only two blocks. I’ll call the cops and be right back. Make sure we don’t lose him!” she said.
“You got it, Suzie,” said Roberto.
“Yeah, he’s not goin’ anywhere without the Double Scoops all over him!” Cass said.
“Ha! That sounds good. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Suzie said as she started to run up Lefferts Boulevard another two blocks. As she had hoped, the bagel store was open on the other side of the street. She quickly ran across towards the door when something almost hit her as she stepped onto the sidewalk from the street. It was a bike speeding past her.
“Hey! Watch out!” boomed the rider as he flew by, nearly ramming right into her as she quickly hopped onto the sidewalk and fell to one knee.
Suzie looked up in shock. The bike rider was looking back at her. As he blinked and made a mean face behind the very thick glasses she recognized from earlier, there was no doubt about it, it was the thief! He was on a different bike now, a black mountain bike she didn’t recognize. There was, however, a round mirror on the side of his handlebars that had a golden butterfly sticker. It was her stolen mirror!
He had somehow made it out of the building without the others seeing him. He sped away and she knew she had to move quickly to keep him in sight. There was no time to find a phone or to go back for help, or anything else. She had to move!
She ran along the sides of buildings, following him from afar. She went in and out the parking lots. The owners of the some of the shops were beginning to show up for work, and she hid around their cars, staying out of sight. The thief slowed down a little as he rode around them as well. Suzie was desperately trying not to alert the thief she was following him and scare him away too fast. She needed to at least find out where he was headed.
He turned onto Jamaica Avenue under the elevated train tracks and disappeared to Suzie’s right. She ran to the corner to catch up. When she got there, he was gone. She ran up the avenue while the subway cars thundered overhead, shattering the darkness with flashes of light and sending down showers of sparks. He was nowhere to be seen.
“Where on earth did he go?” she whispered aloud.
She looked down an alleyway to her right and saw the wide open space of the railroad yards beyond some broken chain link fences. On a hunch she decided to run down the alley. At the end she stood looking down onto the train yards. The yards were huge fields that were down a hill about fifteen feet below where she was standing. There were freight cars parked in a few places, with empty rails and train parts strewn about. Right in the center of the yards was the dark solitary figure of a man on a bicycle, pedaling next to one of the tracks.
He’s heading home! she thought. She moved quickly.
Down the hill she ran at top speed. Her sneakers were slipping on the steep exposed granite rock face, but she made it down to the level of the tracks before losing sight of him. He didn’t look back as he pedaled on towards the other end of the yards. She tried to stay low and run next to parked freight cars when she could, but as she looked down on her orange sweatshirt again, she knew if he ever turned around she was done for. It was getting a little lighter out now, and she would be clearly seen.
He kept right on going and eventually she could see he was heading for a long fence that bordered the neighborhood on the other side of the tracks. He rode up to the fence and then disappeared into the darkness between some trees. Suzie was startled at first, and had to stop and stand up on a crate to try to see him, but he was gone. Then she ran on and within a minute she had reached the same fence.
There was a skinny hole cut into the fence, and it was large enough to fit a bicycle for sure. She cautiously approached it and looked around. She was between trees in darkness and looked ahead. She saw and heard nothing but the loud chatter from the multitude of crickets surrounding her.
Then, on the other side of the fence, she saw the thief. He was crossing the street towards some houses, still slowly pedaling his bike. She moved through the hole with a leap, and was on the other side. She made a little noise on her landing which qu
ieted the crickets, but he didn’t turn around.
The sunlight of the next day was still far off, but it was definitely getting brighter by the minute. A pale blue glow emanated overhead. There was a bold stillness in the quiet of the early morning as Suzie crossed the street and passed houses still very much asleep. She tried to walk lightly, but her sneakers uncontrollably crunched the loose stones on the ground and the dirt on the streets.
This part of the neighborhood was completely unfamiliar to her. She was trying to get her bearings but didn’t recognize any street names. He was still coasting along as she followed him, two blocks, and then three. Then he turned left around a corner. She ran as fast as she could to catch up. When she got to the corner she ducked behind a large oak tree and slowly poked her head out. There he was, riding down the middle of the street, about five houses into the block. He stopped quickly and turned around!
She ducked back behind the tree and held her breath. She heard nothing. She bent down low and peeked out above the raised roots of the tree, close to the ground. He had moved, and was near the sidewalk across the street now. He stopped in front of a house.
He was still looking around when he leaned over and opened a gate. She could hear the clank and creak as the metal gate swung open. He rode a little inside and closed the gate behind him, disappearing into the driveway beyond.
That is his house! she thought. I have him!
Chapter 19