A million thoughts started to race through Suzie’s head now; Should she run back now and get the police? Should she take a closer look and see if the bikes are all there? Should she wait and watch what he does?
She needed to get closer. She walked into his block, stopping behind each tree trunk. She made her way across the street and was hiding behind parked cars while she moved closer towards his house. She quickly ducked in behind the car parked in front of his house. She looked through the car’s windows, over the metal gate and up into the driveway. The gate was only a dozen feet from her now.
There was barely enough light from the approaching dawn to see that at the end of the long driveway his garage door was left open. It was too dark inside to see anything, however. The thief left his own bike in the driveway, but she couldn’t tell if there were any other bikes inside the darkened garage.
She knew if she dragged the police here she would need to show them some kind of proof, some evidence this was the guy. Her mirror on his bike was not going to cut it. Only a stolen bike would. She needed to get a quick look into that garage. She looked back at the house. The windows were barely lit by a light on deep inside somewhere, but other than that, she could see nothing.
She walked around the rear of the parked car slowly, keeping her head down and staying low. She took another peek at the house and again saw no movement. She took a deep breath, stood up and moved to the gray metal gate that was across the driveway. She slowly lifted the latch that held the chain link fence closed. She started to open the gate and it made a very loud creak.
She stopped and looked at the house again. Nothing. She moved the gate some more and it creaked again. She opened it little by little until she had enough room to squeeze in. She left it open behind her, afraid it would be too loud to close again.
She walked by the house and took a peek into the closest window. She could see nothing but a closed blind inside. She crept along the house, staying below the windows. When she had to move by a basement window, she hurried passed. She still couldn’t make out anything in the dark garage as she approached the rear of the house.
The backyard was small with rusted metal car parts laying around, along with some very old bicycle wheels. There was an old white refrigerator in the far corner that was tipped over and half covered in orange rust. The ground was overgrown with leafy weeds and vines. The whole place gave her the creeps and she couldn’t wait to get out of there.
The garage was on her right, at the end of the driveway, about fifteen feet from the house. It didn’t sound like much, but it was a long way to step out into the open and risk being seen. She took another deep breath and moved quickly.
She did a quick little jog past the thief’s black mountain bike still laying in the middle of the driveway. She moved into the garage, stopping a step through the open door. It was all dark inside and she turned back towards the house. She still didn’t see anything moving. There was a dark gray back door above a few wooden steps that was closed. Nobody was looking out any windows to her great relief.
She turned and took another step into the garage. It was very dark, so she waited a minute for her eyes to adjust to the low light. She started to make out some shapes. There was a lawnmower closest to her. Then there was some kind of small engine laying on the cement floor behind that. Some more heavy looking metal parts were laying around. To her great disappointment, she could see no bikes. There was a large object towards the back. It had a blue tarp covering it. Sticking out the bottom of the tarp was something shiny. She carefully moved in a little more, trying desperately not to make a sound.
Slowly she crept and bent low near the shiny object. It was the unmistakable chrome rim of a bicycle wheel turned sideways, a front wheel! She lifted the tarp slowly. Higher and higher it revealed the entire wheel. Attached to that was a narrow front reflector. Above were the curved handlebars of a racing bike. The white frame had a little emblem on the front with an Italian flag. There was no doubt, this was Roberto’s stolen bicycle.
She quickly placed the tarp back down and backed away. She turned to leave and was so excited at finding the proof she needed she forgot about all of the metal parts laying on the floor and stumbled over one of them. She tripped towards the wall on her right and caught herself by grabbing at a shelf. It was loose and tipped over, spilling a half dozen boxes of small parts and tools all over the side of the garage. Worse than the mess was the horribly loud sound it made as it all came crashing down and clanged all over the floor.
Suzie froze. Her heart was pounding and quickly she knelt down to make herself as small as she could behind the lawn mower. She looked over at the house. Nothing was happening. Then she saw a shape moving. A light came on in a back room. Then lights came on in the backyard and flooded everything with a glaring white brightness. It was so bright she had to shield her eyes. She half stood up and looked around. The light was streaming into the garage. There was nowhere to hide!
The back door of the house swung open and slammed outward.
“Hey there! Hey! Hey you in there!” Yelled the thief from the doorway of the house.
Run! she yelled to herself, but she froze.
“Hey! What are you doing in there!” he barked again, this time louder. His thick glasses flickered in the light as he was sticking his large head out of the door. He took a step down while he bent his neck around to get a better view at the garage. “Hey! Who is that? Hey!” he yelled as he started to walk down the steps.
Suzie stood up and looked around frantically. Then something caught her eye. She peered out to the driveway.
“His bike!” she whispered to herself. “C’mon, Suzie. Run!”
She sprang out and ran ahead as he reached the bottom of the steps. She grabbed up the black mountain bike and in one motion jammed her foot down on its pedal while pushing off hard with her other leg.
“My bike!” the man yelled as he started to run towards her.
She was already at the fence before he could reach the driveway. She rammed the front wheel of the bike into the partially opened gate and it flung open wildly with a metallic crash. She bounded ahead and was out on the street. She looked into her old side mirror to check her back. The thief was not there. He had stopped running!
She had to slow down and turn her head around to take another look. Indeed, the man was not there. She pedaled on further and looked into the mirror again only to see Roberto’s stolen racing bike come shooting out of the driveway and into the street. She was at the end of the block when she looked again and the racing bike was not far behind her. She could see the thief pedaling hard and shaking his fist at her.
She took a gasp of air and turned right at the first corner. She desperately was looking for anyone to run to, but there was no one up yet. If she stopped she was sure he would catch her, so she fiercely pedaled on. She looked again in the mirror and he was catching up!
She turned onto another block and she could hear him skidding his tires and turning right behind her. On the block in front of her, to her great surprise, was a big blue and white car with the words New York City Police Department printed along the side. It had a bright side light that was shining onto the front yards of houses along the block. They were looking for something, or someone. She let out a yell and the light instantly turned in her direction. She waved an arm frantically. The police car’s engine roared and it sped up to meet her, turning on its sirens.
“Hey! Hey! Help!” she yelled.
The police car pulled up next to her, with the red and white lights spinning on the roof, covering everything in the flashing colors.
“Suzie! Hey kid, are you alright!” came a familiar voice. It was Sergeant Joe coming out of the passenger side door and running over to her.
“Yes, he’s chasing me. It’s the thief!” she said, motioning behind her.
The thief had stopped cold when he saw the police car. He quickly turned the bike around. He pedaled away back towards the top of the block where an
other police car skidded to a stop in front of him. He tried to race around it but the thin racing tires slipped on the dirty street and he crashed down on the ground. He moved to get up and run. Two officers from the other car had already leapt out and they grabbed him before he could go anywhere.
“Looks like we got ‘em,” Sergeant Joe said calmly.
“You really got him,” she said. Then she took a deep breath and turned back to Sergeant Joe and began to break down and cry.
“It’s alright, Suzie. It’s gonna be okay now,” he said, hugging her and gently patting her back.
“How did you know where to find me?” she asked when she regained some composure.
“You can thank your friends, here,” Sergeant Joe said. “They brought me the map, and we grabbed a couple squad cars and went to the area you circled. Pretty easy, actually.”
“Easy peasy!” a voice called out. It was Cassidy. She jumped out of the back seat of the police car and ran over to Suzie’s side. “Hey, you talk about me goin’ off alone after the bad guy!”
“Yes, not a good move at all,” said Suzie smiling, wiping away her tears.
“Next time we go as a team,” Cass demanded.
“Stick together,” Suzie answered.
“That’s right!” said Cass.
“And don’t forget about the guy who got the cops in the first place!” Peter said as he came out from the back seat as well. “And remembered the map, too.”
“I’m just glad I was working the desk,” Sergeant Joe said. “Ya know, I had a hunch you were further along than anyone thought. Boy, was I right about that!”
They looked over towards the other police car. The thief was in handcuffs and they were ducking his head down and placing him into the back seat. Another officer was picking up the fallen bike next to the car.
“That’s evidence!” Suzie yelled out. She turned back towards Sergeant Joe. “That’s Roberto’s bike. It’s stolen.”
“They know,” he told her.
“It came from his house. He lives around the block,” she exclaimed.
“Don’t worry, detective. We’ll get it all straightened out,” Joe said smiling. “We’re all professionals, right?” Suzie nodded and smiled back. He continued, “Hey, you wouldn’t believe what they found inside that building your friends were eyeballing.”
“Eyeballing! Ya gotta love cop talk!” said Peter.
“Right. C’mon, Sherlock. Let’s get you guys outta here,” Sergeant Joe said as he helped them back into the car.
Chapter 21