"You should give it up."
My jaw dropped. "Give it up? Why?" I turned to give Joel a pleading look. "We can't give it upnow."
But he only shrugged. "Eh, it's probably for the best."
The response seemed so out-of-character that I didn't know what to think. "But—"
He reached for my hand. "Just trust me, okay?"
I glanced around, hoping to see what I was missing. When I looked to Jake, he said, "I still say we go for the gloves."
My aunt gave a loud huff. "That's it! We're leaving!"
And then, she grabbed my uncle's elbow and practically dragged him past Officer Nelson and straight out of the house. From the open doorway, I stood ,watching with the others, as the two of them marched down my long driveway, heading to who-knows-where.
A couple of minutes later, the police car, with Officer Nelson behind the wheel, drove past them and disappeared down the lonely country road. My aunt and uncle paused for only a moment before, once again, resuming their march.
But where, exactly, were they going? I turned to Joel and asked, "You said you saw their car?"
"Yeah. Maybe a quarter-mile up the road."
I gave a weary sigh. "Well, at least they're working harder for it."
Now, in the aftermath of that whole sorry spectacle, it struck me that nearly nothing had been accomplished. True, Ihadgotten my stuff back, but that wouldn't solve the bigger problem.
Not only would they surely be back. They'd probably be back sooner than I dared to hope. There was a time, not too long ago, when they came by only once a month. Now, they were showing up every few days.
Things were getting worse, not better.
And worst of all, I had no way to stop them, because Istillhad no idea how they were getting in. Tonight, I might've finally found out, if it weren't for Bishop butting in at the worst possible time.
With another sigh, I turned and headed back into the house. Joel's brother or not, Bishop deserved a word or two about that, and I was determined to give it to him.