Never Going Back
Never Going Back
Back at Kidd’s I sat in Dean’s office and thought about how best to pull off the job. Ty Collins and Becky Sylvester would be out of the apartment the next night. That was as good a time as any.
I wrote out a list of the tools I’d need.
1 janitor’s uniform
1 pair of work gloves
1 dust mask
1 black felt-tip marker
1 white felt-tip marker
2 panes of glass, 24 inches by 24 inches
glass cutters
hair dye, silver
photo paper from the 1960s
portable printer and scanner
The last two items were Lisa Wan’s concern. My business was getting in and out with the photos and not getting caught.
Speed would be important. How quickly could I get the photos out of their frames, scan them, replace them and put the frames together again? If each photo took six minutes, that was the total of one hour. Far too long to stay in the apartment. But if I took them out of the building, scanned them somewhere else and then returned the copies, I’d have to break in twice. That was once too many. There was no easy solution. I would have to take the scanner with me and hope I was fast enough.
Dean was busy getting the restaurant ready to open for dinner. I could tell he was nervous, making sure everything would be perfect. But he was also happy. He was doing what he was born to do, what he loved to do.
In a way that was how I felt. Planning a job like this, figuring out the details, was what I enjoyed most. It was a gift.
I told myself that was wrong. I didn’t have to be something I didn’t want to be. It was my choice.
Or was it?
I had to fix things with Lisa so she’d leave Dean and me alone. That meant on the last job. Just because I enjoyed it a little didn't’ mean I wasn't going to quit. I was done after this. For good.
I bought the hair dye at a pharmacy, and the rest of the materials from a hardware store. The glass was heavy, but I carried it home on the bus.
The restaurant was busy. I stayed in the office, working on my plan. I could hear people yelling and dishes breaking on the floor. It sounded like Dean was having a tough night.
I cleaned off Dean’s desk and carefully laid the glass on top.
The uniform was light brown. On the back, in black letter with a white outline, I wrote:
JOHN’S GLASS
REPAIR & INSTALLATION
CLEARLY THE BEST AROUND!
I washed the uniform in the bathroom sink, then hung it up to dry. It had to look like it had been worn a few times. While it dried, I dyed my hair.
I don’t like disguises. They feel unnatural to me. Less is more, as far as I’m concerned. But Ty Collins had seen my face, and I needed to look as different as I could. Most people don’t look too carefully, especially at blue-collar workers.
When I looked in the mirror, my hair was a shiny silver. I looked older, but somehow happier. More at peace. I imagined my older self, my hair turned silver naturally. Still working in the restaurant, safe and in no danger of going back to prison. It was a good future.
Alison (Ali) Kidd is not your average teenager. She learned early on how to pick locks, crack security codes, and not leave a trace. Ali is an excellent thief, but it is because she’s so good that she ends up getting thrown in jail. Determined to retire from her criminal ways, Ali has plans to get legitimate work helping her brother, Dean, at his restaurant. However, when you’re as good a thief as Ali, there’s always people who won’t let you quit, no matter how hard you try.
Working for her aunt’s boyfriend for two summers installing alarm systems when she was fifteen, Ali learned a lot about the ins and outs of home security. She wasn’t a criminal, but she did use her knowledge to retrieve her brother’s baseball glove from the principal’s office after hours. This would only be the beginning, though. Later, Ali would start working for a girl she knew in high school, Lisa Wan. Lisa opened a pawn shop after she graduated and gave Ali some well-paying jobs - taking a comic book here, some jewelry from a rich person there…. Ali didn’t feel like a criminal; it was just her doing something she was really good at. Things were going pretty well until an ex-husband got nosey.
The Peace Valley Apartment job was like any other. Lisa told Ali that a woman had divorced her husband and wanted her jewelry back. Ali accepted the job, got the jewelry, and her pay. However, the ex-husband knew about Lisa and her background and mentioned it to the police. Lisa got cold feet, thinking that the police were going to figure it out, and set up Ali to take the fall. It wasn’t that Ali didn’t steal the jewelry that upset her; it was the fact that Lisa gave her up to the police. Ali was tried, convicted and sentenced to one year in jail. From that point on, Ali decided to retire from her questionable career and, instead, support Dean with the restaurant.
Newly released, Ali waits for her brother to pick her up from the jail’s parking lot - but he doesn't come. She ends up walking back to the restaurant where Dean lives in an upper apartment. She finds it empty with no sign that Dean had been there for days. The restaurant is closed down, and Ali doesn’t understand what is going on. She goes through all of Dean’s appointments and phone calls, finally zeroing in on calls from Ajax Credit. She makes some inquiries and discovers that Dean owes them a lot of money, which is strange because Dean has always been so good with the restaurant’s finances. Ali decides to go to the Ajax Credit building to see what’s up. When she gets there, she sees her brother in the window and knows that he’s being held against his will. It’s been a year, but Ali’s skills kick in as she breaks into the building and makes her way to her brother. Dean is tied up and tells her to leave right away - it’s a setup. But, before Ali can do anything, Lisa and her bodyguard appear. Lisa tells Ali that Dean has borrowed money from her for gambling and can’t pay it back, but she’s willing to cancel the debt if Ali will do a job for her. Ali feels that she has no choice and agrees to come out of retirement to do this one job that will clear her brother’s debts once and for all.
For this job, Ali needs to be prepared. The place has high security and a coded room that contains a collection of original photographs that Lisa wants back. Lisa didn’t realize their worth when she sold them from her pawn shop, but, when she found out they were worth millions, she put the plan together to get Ali to steal them back without anyone knowing. The plan is to replace the photographs with copies. Ali cuts and dyes her hair and gets everything prepared to the last detail including bringing a piece of glass to replace the glass in the frames in the vault. Ali doesn’t get all the photographs, but she gets enough to appease Lisa. With Dean’s debt repaid, everyone parts and things should go back to normal.
Days later, the switch is discovered by the owner, and he reports to the police. After dusting for prints, they find Lisa Wan’s fingerprints on some of the glass in the frame and discover that those photographs are fakes! Lisa is arrested. Ali has finally repaid Lisa in kind and has gotten Lisa out of her life and Dean’s. With Lisa out of the way, Ali is able to do what she planned - retire from her old life and start a new life helping her brother at the restaurant.
Wiebe has crafted a fun and action-packed tale with a strong female protagonist. Though Ali Kidd is a criminal, Wiebe is able to prompt the reader to empathize with her situation. The way in which the characters are presented invites the reader to understand their position and join them on their journey. The plot is believable, and there are very few moments that stretch the logic. The quickly paced writing is adds to the enjoyability of the adventure. Never Going Back would be a good read for adolescent and adult reluctant readers that are looking for a story that bridges the teen and adult years. A very fun adventure in intrigue and suspense.
Penta Ledger is a teacher-librarian at Gravenhurst High School in Gravenhurst, Ontario.