“You are grounded for the next four weekends,” Henry said.

“Dad!”

“I don’t care if the Loch Ness Monster is hanging at the pier. You will spend the next four Saturdays and Sundays working around the house under my direct supervision,” Henry said. “And you’re going to start right now. Not only are you cleaning out this garage-I want you to scrub the oil stains off the floor.”

Shawn stared down glumly at fifty years of accumulated grime, searching for a way out. A quick glance at his father’s face told him there wouldn’t be one. Not today, at least.

Gus gave Shawn a consoling pat on the shoulder and started toward the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Henry said.

“I guess I’ll go see the shark,” Gus said.

“I guess you’ll stay here and help Shawn with the garage,” Henry said.

“But you just said Shawn was taking advantage of me,” Gus said.

“He was,” Henry said. “And he’s going to keep doing it until you learn to stand up to him. Think of this as your first lesson.”

Chuckling, Henry walked out of the garage. Behind him, he could hear the two boys arguing over whose fault this was. As he picked up his paint scraper, the arguments were drowned out by the sound of boxes being dragged out onto the driveway.

The day was perfect. The sun was hot, the breeze was cool, and Henry had two boys cleaning out his garage. Talk about a win-win.

Chapter One

The speed was exhilarating. Intoxicating.

The plastic letters on the hatchback spelled out TOYOTA, but as Gus piloted the blue Echo down State Street, it might as well have been a Ferrari.