“Right. I think it was the steroids. Buck started directing his anger toward me too.”

I thought about that for a few moments. “Buck wanted you to take steroids too.”

“Yes.”

“Was he upset when you didn’t?”

“Yeah. I mean, he said something like, you think you’re too good for them or something. I don’t remember his exact words.”

“So how was Buck getting the steroids?” I asked.

Troy closed his eyes and said, “Oh man.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to say.”

“Troy, I’m trying to help here.”

“It stays between us, right?”

“Where did he get them?”

Troy’s eyes opened. He turned toward me and looked me straight in the eye. “His brother.”

I think I gasped out loud. “Randy?”

Troy nodded. “He deals out of his father’s gym. A lot of people know that.”

“But Randy has a huge career ahead of him. Why would he risk that?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“How do you think he got that huge career? Do you know how many athletes do it—pro, college, and yeah, even high school? It’s practically an epidemic. Some get caught, but most of the time they know how to cycle or take some kind of masking agent. Everyone is looking for an edge, Mickey. The other guy is doing it, so they do it. The other guy is going to get that college scholarship, so you do it so you can even the score. After a while, they don’t even see it as cheating. They see it as leveling the playing field.”

I swallowed. “Is that how you felt, Troy?”

“What?” He put his hand against his chest. “No. Look, I’m telling you the reality. Truth is, I don’t need it. I’m a point guard. My game is more finesse. But I get it. Don’t you?”

“No,” I said. “I wouldn’t cheat.”

“Really? I’ve seen how much you love basketball. Suppose everyone else was taking a pill that made them bigger and stronger and you got left behind. You got cut from the team. You weren’t any good. And the only reason is, they were taking this pill and you weren’t. Are you saying you would never, ever take it? That you’d just settle for getting cut and watching others take your spot?”

I shifted in the seat. “That’s not the reality.”

“But that’s how some guys start to see it,” Troy said. “You’re a special talent. You don’t have to worry about that. Or maybe, look, maybe I’m trying to justify what a friend did. I don’t know.”

I tried to let all of this sink in. According to Troy, Randy Schultz dealt steroids. Was that true? How could I check on that?

Uncle Myron might know.

I thought now to the tense scene I’d witnessed a week ago at Schultz’s gym. What was going on between Uncle Myron and Randy? What help did he and his dad want from him that, as a lawyer, Myron couldn’t share with me?

“There’s something else,” Troy said.

I waited.

“I didn’t think much of it before all this happened and even after, I mean, whatever I was saying, Buck is still my best friend. I wouldn’t believe . . .”

“Wouldn’t believe what?”

“Do you know the shed behind the town circle?”

Kasselton had a town circle. On one side of it was the high school. On the other was a bunch of municipal buildings and the YMCA. “No, not really.”

“It’s behind town hall, near the Y.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway, a few days before they ran the tests, I was supposed to meet Buck at the circle. We were going to take a couple of laps.”

The circle was exactly half a mile in circumference. It was a popular jogging spot.

“I got there early,” Troy said, “and I spotted something weird.”

“What?”

“I saw Randy and Buck going into that shed.”

I was getting confused. “The one behind town hall?”

“Right.”

“What kind of shed is this?”

“Well, that’s just it. I looked it up. The property is owned by Schultz’s gym.”

“So it’s theirs?”

“I guess. So I followed them to it. When they saw me, they freaked out.”

“Freaked out how?”

“They pulled down the shades and came out and acted like it was nothing. But I saw something.”

“What?”

Troy took his time. Then at last he said, “Test tubes.”

I tried to make that compute. It wouldn’t. “Did you ask Buck about them?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I figured . . . well, I figured that they had something to do with the steroids. You know. Like it was his supply hut or something.”

“You don’t think that anymore?”

“I don’t know. But that was the last time Buck and I talked. Nothing was ever the same. Now he’s gone, and I got thrown off the team. So now I’m thinking about what you said. I’m thinking about that shed. And I’m thinking there’s some secret in there that could give us all our answers.”

Chapter 35

Troy and I agreed to meet up that night at the town circle and check out the shed under the cover of darkness. I’d hoped to talk to Ema during lunch because I really needed her take on Luther and my father, not to mention what Troy had told me about Buck and his brother, but Ema had to meet with Mrs. Cannon, her math teacher, during lunch for extra help. She had a big test coming up.

Schoolwork waits for no teenager. Schoolwork doesn’t care about your problems.

Around 2:00 P.M., I got a text from Spoon: Found something huge. When can you get here?

Ema and Rachel had been copied too. I texted back that I would go right after practice. Ema wrote that she had some homework and would meet me there. Rachel said that she had play tryouts—she was going for the role of Éponine in the school’s production of Les Miz—so she wouldn’t be able to make it, but hoped someone could fill her in later.

Our team.

I thought about the four of us and wanted to shake my head. What chance did we have against guys like Luther? On the one hand, none. On the other hand, we had done pretty darn well so far.

As soon as practice was over, I showered, changed, and hurried to the hospital. The lady behind the desk had gotten to know me by now. She handed me a pass with a minimum of fanfare. I took the elevator up to his floor.