Anne Schraff - Secrets in the Shadows

Copyright 2002 by Townsend Press, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cover illustration 2001 by Gerald Purnell

Cover design by Larry Didona

All rights reserved. Any one chapter

of this book may be reproduced without

the written permission of the publisher.

For permission to reproduce more than

one chapter, send requests to:

ISBN-13: 978-0-944210-05-5

ISBN-10: 0-944210-05-8

Library of Congress Control Number:

2002103952

Praise for

the Bluford Series:

As soon as I finished one book, I couldnt wait to start the next one. No books have ever made me do that before.

Terrance W.

The suspense got to be so great I could feel the blood pounding in my ears.

Yolanda E.

Once I started reading them, I just couldnt stop, not even to go to sleep.

Brian M.

Great books! I hope they write more.

Eric J.

When I finished these books, I went back to the beginning and read them all over again. Thats how much I loved them.

Caren B.

I found it very easy to lose myself in these books. They kept my interest from beginning to end and were always realistic. The characters are vivid, and the endings left me in eager anticipation of the next book.

Keziah J.

Roylin Bailey flipped on the bathroom switch and yelled, Mom, the switch still dont work! Didnt Tuttle fix it yet? This dump is falling apart!

Roylin, that man dont do nothin around here. All he wants is to go to that racetrack and bet on horses. Hed keep gamblin even if the ceiling fell down on us! Yesterday I had to wash the baby in water I heated on the stove cause we dont have enough hot water to fill a teacup! Mrs. Bailey called back. She had complained many times, but Tuttle, the building manager, was a sour-tempered little man who always had several daysstubble on his face and a greasy Dodgers cap on his head. Requests from the tenants fell on deaf ears. But with five children, Mrs. Bailey had few choices of where to live in this neighborhood.

Roylin was almost seventeen, and he had a pretty good job as a waiter at the Golden Grill restaurant. He worked three days a week and could bring home decent money in tips, especially on Saturday nights. But most of his earnings went to pay for insurance on his mothers Honda. Because he paid for the insurance, his mother allowed him to drive the car to work and school. Between gas, insurance, and clothes, there was no way Roylin could afford to help his mother pay for a better place to live.

Man, this place aint fit for the roaches on the walls, Roylin yelled, kicking the bathroom door shut.

Dont take it out on us, said Amberlynn, Roylins fourteen-year-old sister.

Shut your mouth! he snapped from behind the closed door.

Dont talk to me like that, Amberlynn yelled back. I need a ride to school this morning, she added. Can you take me?

No!

Mom, Roylin wont drive me to school! Amberlynn whined.

Its outta my way. Take the bus or walk, Roylin snapped, stepping out of the bathroom.

Whats your problem? Amberlynn said. Youre just like Dadmean and ugly.

Roylin turned sharply and glared at his sister. Dont you ever say Im like him! You hear me? Im nothin like him, nothin! Roylins father used to beat him regularly, using a heavy leather strap to turn Roylins back into a mass of tender bruises. The slightest offense was enough to enrage the muscular man. He would stand Roylin against the wall and administer blow after blow. That was why Roylins mother finally divorced him. Even being alone with five children was not as frightening to her as living with a man whose wrath was dangerous and unpredictable. Nobody ever knew whose turn it would be to be beaten. Would he use the strap on Roylin, would he crack Amberlynn across her face, splitting her lip, or would he shove his wife so hard against the sink that she would ache for days?

Drive your sister, Mom said crossly. You can do that much, Roylin Bailey.

Its startin to rain, and its a long walk to the middle school, and the bus is runnin late as usual.

Roylin hiked his backpack onto his shoulders. Hurry up if youre comin with me, Amberlynn. I dont wanna be late for my first class and get locked out.

Amberlynn stuffed one more book into her backpack and ran after her brother as he headed for his Honda. Once inside the car, Amberlynn said, I made it onto the cheerleading squad, me and Jamee Wills. Granellis Paint Store is paying for the uniforms. Theyre so nice! Ill be so good at cheering that when I get to Bluford next year I can be on the cheerleading squad there.

Like I care, Roylin muttered.

Hey, aint that Bobby Wallace, that wannabe thug who was hangin out with Londell James when you got shot? Amberlynn asked. How come he aint in jail or something?

That punk copped a plea, and now hes back in school. They got Londell for that drive-by, though. Hes the one who pulled the trigger, Roylin said, remembering the day in the park when he was shot. The memory of it still made him tremble.

Roylin pulled up at the middle school and said, Get goin, girl. I gotta make it to Bluford before the first bell, or its my neck. Eckerly is the meanest teacher in Bluford, and shed just love to mess me up.

Amberlynn rushed out of the car, and Roylin drove on to Bluford High School. Steering the teal-blue Honda through the morning drizzle, he pulled into the parking lot, bolted from the car, and sprinted into the school, careful to avoid the shallow puddles that had formed on the cracked asphalt.

Hey man, Cooper Hodden laughed as Roylin skidded into the classroom, you always tryin to get in under the wire. Why dont you just get up a little earlier, man?

Roylin ignored the comment. He was sitting down when he saw a new girl sitting a desk away. She was the most beautiful girl Roylin had ever seen, even in his dreams. Her skin looked like satin, and she had huge dark eyes shadowed by long lashes. Her slightly pouting lips were smooth, full, and red.

Man, Roylin whistled softly, who is that?

Tarah Carson sat behind Roylin. Fool, she whispered to Roylin, dont even think about that girl. Her name is Korie Archer, and she thinks she is all that!

Roylin paid no attention to Ms. Eckerlys lecture on Civil War battles. He kept staring at Korie, at the way she tilted her head when she was puzzled, at how her smooth hand rubbed her neck when she grew tired of looking at the chalkboard. Roylin had dated other girls, and some of them were pretty, but no girl he had ever seen measured up to Korie. She was somebody he expected to see on the cover of a magazine, not sitting in his classroom. She had one of those incredible faces and bodies that do not seem to belong in the real world, especially the world Roylin Bailey lived in.

Roylin watched Korie glide from the room when class ended. Her perfect figure swayed through the crowd of students in the hallway. He jostled past several others to catch up to her. Hi, he said nervously. Im Roylin Bailey. Todays your first day here, huh?