Geektastic

by Mary Frame

  “Annabel? You in there?”

  Jude and I share a look. It’s Fitz.

  He opens the door.

  Fitz steps into the room, his eyes moving from me to Jude to the bed, roving over the monitors and tech, then back to me. “What are you guys doing in here?”

  I can’t help but smile. My little brother is worried about my virtue. It’s really quite sweet.

  “Uh, Jude needs help with his . . . sheets.” It was the first thing that came into my head.

  He frowns. “What?”

  “The fitted ones are real hard to fold. I was just, you know, showing him how.”

  “Annabel Lee, you must be outside your mind if you think I believe that.” He pauses. “You have no idea how to fold a fitted sheet and I have to fix it every time.”

  “Fine.” I throw up my hands in exasperation and say the only thing that will keep him from pursuing further questioning. “We’re going to have sex. Lots and lots of sex. And it’s really kinky. There’s whips and cuffs and cameras and other things not mentionable in polite company.”

  Fitz freezes. Eyes wide, mouth open. “You think any of that is mentionable in any company?” His voice is a lot squeakier than normal.

  I don’t look over at Jude. I don’t want to see his expression, which is either as shocked as Fitz or grinning like a loon.

  “Yep. We need to do it now, though, because it’s the only time we’ll have alone and I can get real loud.”

  He’s still not speaking.

  “I mean, really loud.”

  Jude nods once. “Can confirm.”

  Fitz’s head shakes back and forth. “No. I can’t hear this. Fine, I’ll go, and I’ll ask no more questions, but I’m still,” expression confused, “not sure I believe you. But even if it’s a lie, I don’t wanna picture it. The party is going fine, by the way. You’re welcome for doing all the work here tonight.” Fitz waves distractedly as he heads back out the hallway.

  “Thank you kindly, Fitzy.” Jude shuts the door after him and then turns around to face me. “So. Whips and cuffs, huh? You into all that?”

  I shrug. “Don’t know, never tried. Might not be opposed if the partner’s right.”

  He glances over at me, his eyes hooded and bright. But he doesn’t say anything, though his hands clench at his sides.

  A shiver of excitement rolls through me at the thought of Jude tying me up. Or even better, tying him up. Heat fills me, but now is not the time.

  “We should probably get to work, with all the, uh, geeky stuff.” I move over to his desk station, and after a second, he follows.

  Unfortunately, I’m not a hacker and I don’t understand any of what he needs to do, so I mostly sit on his bed with my laptop and start typing up facts about what we’ve gathered so far, what I understand about Grace’s code—leaving her name out of it—the faux FBI agent, blackmail at BFU . . . Scandal in Blue Falls? Seems like it’s more fitting for the Enquirer than the Daily Blue.

  I finish and Jude is still sucked into his computer coding, or whatever, so I open up a blank document and stare at it. I haven’t written anything new in forever. Every time I tried, every word I typed was stupid, lame, inadequate.

  I take a breath. I don’t care if I’m dumb, this isn’t for anyone but me.

  So I type. I fill it with the emotions of the past week.

  The words likely don’t make sense to most. I write about despair, regret, longing, shame, feeling fragile as the thinnest blade of grass, all sprinkled with verbs about burning for someone with more heat than the hottest flames of an inferno.

  It’s a page of nonsense words, not even poetry, really, more like a collection of verbs and nouns and adjectives, but when I’m done, the vise around my chest is only half as tight.

  “I’ve got something.” Jude’s voice pulls me back.

  I stand next to him at his desk. “Did you find where the messages are coming from?”

  He frowns. “No. I’m running into too many walls and diversions. It’s going to take days to track through it all. But the money . . . this is interesting, because the money is coming through the university.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Universities are frequently victims of cyber criminals because they have weak security. They also store a ton of personal data, personnel records, and credit cards.”

  “Damn. I would never have thought of that.”

  “That’s because you don’t think like a villain. I can’t tell who’s moving the funds, but someone is funneling it through university channels. The strangest part is, I don’t think the money is being stolen from the university like I expected. Their balances are not affected. It’s like the money is being moved through there to cover their tracks.”

  “How do we find out who it is?”

  He shakes his head. “I have to dig a bit deeper. I also recovered a portion of a message David conveniently forgot to mention from a few days ago.”

  “What does it say?”

  “It was another delivery of some sort. I couldn’t locate all of the specifics, but there was a date and location. The corner of Fifth and Main, during the Turkey Parade.”

  “That’s not much to go off of. So what are we gonna do?”

  “We should get eyes in the area. Maybe keep a lookout for anything suspicious.” He shrugs. “See what pops up.”

  “It’s gonna be hard during the parade. The whole town will be there.”

  “That’s likely the point. Luckily,” he stands up and pulls a box down from the top shelf of the closet, “I have some toys to help us out.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

  —Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

  Annabel

  The Turkey Parade is held every year on November 15, come rain or shine or impending disaster.

  The streets are lined with people who’ve been there for hours, waiting for dusk, when it begins. They’ve brought their beach chairs, coolers, grilled turkey legs, and various turkey paraphernalia. Kids run around with glow sticks. It’s basically a big party.

  The parade itself comprises a bunch of people moving down the street bearing inflatable turkeys lit up like Christmas trees—big ones, small ones, floats attached to the backs of vehicles. The mayor comes through at the end dressed in a turkey costume and bearing with him Alfred the turkey attached to a leash.

  It’s crowded and festive and difficult to keep an eye out, which is probably what they were hoping for. Whoever they are.

  But we take up positions, one of us on either side of Fifth Street while parade goers move between us.

  The crowd is full of people who normally attend Jude’s party nights, which means he’s continually being bothered. He puts on a perfect show for his babies, but when we manage to speak through the two-way communicators, the strain in his voice is apparent. It’s hard to keep eyes about when you’re constantly surrounded by people vying for your attention.

  Meanwhile, I’m the local no one wants to talk to. Ironic, since he thought having a local on his side would be some kinda asset.

  “I don’t see anything much yet,” I tell him through the communicator. One of Jude’s toys he kept stashed in his closet, a two-way radio earpiece.

  “That’s a Texas size ten-four,” he rumbles in my ear.

  We spend a while standing around on the corners, occasionally speaking through our devices but mostly watching for anything suspicious.

  Down at the end of the street, away from the parade, movement catches my eye.

  A door opens and a figure emerges dressed in all black. The bulky man in black doesn’t do anything suspicious. He just jogs across the street and disappears inside another house.

  It’s probably nothing. I’m not going to be all paranoid.

  A block away at an intersection, a van with tinted windows drives through the stop sign and disappears from view.

  Huh.

  It was
n’t a black van, though. It was white.

  Still. Weird.

  “Jude?”

  “I’ve been a bit waylaid,” he says.

  I shift to find him across the street, an ocean of people between us. There’s a bleached-blonde head next to him, leaning into him.

  “That’s what you get for being such a slut,” I murmur.

  “Hey now, slut-shaming will not be borne on my watch.”

  “What?” one of the coeds asks.

  “Nothing.”

  I laugh and glance down the road again to see Mr. All in Black coming back out of the house, and he’s got someone with him now, someone smaller. It’s hard to make out details because they are both covered in black from head to toe. Pants, long sleeves, beanies.

  Why do they need hats? It’s near dark and not terribly cold. They walk together in the direction of the parade, where I’m standing. I try to act inconspicuous and lean against the building next to me, keeping eyes on them.

  It’s probably nothing. But the smaller person seems to be really out of it, half carried by the other one. Maybe he’s drunk. Or sleeping. They disappear down a side alley.

  I hold the button to speak into the communicator. “There are a couple of oddballs traipsing down the street. I’m going to follow.”

  No response.

  Maybe it’s not even related. But the all-black outfits are weird. It makes me think they’re hiding something and there can’t be additional, separate criminal goings-on in Blue Falls. We have three stop lights and not even so much as a Starbucks. It’s not exactly a crime-ridden area.

  “Jude? I’m following them down a side alley, west of Fifth. You might wanna get over here when you’re done with your harem.”

  I wait fifteen long seconds. Nothing but the hum of silence in my ear.

  Screw it.

  Moving at a brisk pace, I head to the mouth of the alley. It probably takes less than a minute to reach where they turned off.

  The alley is the length of the block, maybe two hundred yards. The big guy is jogging away, now alone, already down at the end of the alley on the other side. He turns the corner, moving in the direction of the parade. He takes one final glance back and I immediately jump into a nearby bush.

  Did he see me?

  I peek out of the bush but he’s gone.

  I click the button on the communicator. “Hey, check out the big guy all in black. He’s heading toward the parade on Fourth.”

  After a couple seconds, he responds. “I’ve got eyes. Following.”

  “Oh, your fan club decided to leave you alone?”

  “You’re the only fan than concerns me, darlin’.” His voice is full of amusement.

  The alley is empty and shrouded in darkness. Where did the other person disappear to? I walk down it slowly. Is someone still here? Hiding? Why?

  There’s a thump from nearby and I jump back into a bush.

  Where did that come from? All that’s down here is the back of the houses facing the street and a few sheds.

  Did that sound come from a shed?

  I move to the nearest one. There are no windows to peer into, and the door is locked when I try it.

  Appears to be a simple tumbler lock, no deadbolt.

  I glance around but the alley is still empty. I reach into my pocket for a couple of bobby pins. I open the first one to stick it in the knob and disengage the pins in the lock.

  I could probably break into this in less than five minutes. If it weren’t so dark. There are no streetlamps down here and I can’t see diddly-squat. I open the other bobby pin to make a tension lever, but I still can’t get the barrel to line up.

  I reach for my phone—I can use the flashlight function—but a sound down the alley, a yell that doesn’t sound like Jude, has me jumping to hide.

  I slip around the side of the shed, listening.

  Probably just someone from the parade.

  After a moment of quiet, I go back to working on the door.

  I’ve got my phone set up in one hand, shining on the knob, while I use the other to stick the pin. It’s real awkward and it’s taking too long. I can’t twist right with one hand; I don’t have enough strength in my wrist.

  I think I’ve almost got it, though.

  “Freeze! Hands in the air!”

  I drop the pin to the ground and lift my hands, turning my head to see who’s behind me. What if it’s the bad guy pretending to be a cop? I can’t make out much, they’ve got a flashlight pointed at me, but there’s a glint of a badge on their breast.

  Footsteps approach from behind. My hands are pulled down and back, and then there’s the unmistakable feel of handcuffs clicking around my wrists.

  Then I’m spun around to face the cop.

  “Chad?”

  “Annabel? What are you doing?” He releases my shoulders.

  “How did you know I was here?”

  He rolls his eyes. Clearly I’m not fooling him with all my attempted misdirection. He still knows me too well. “I’m working the parade. Someone stopped me and said some crazy woman was breaking into a house. I should have known it was you, with such an accurate description.”

  “Oh, ha ha ha, hilarious.”

  “What are you doing?” he asks again.

  “Um, first of all,” I say, like I’m explaining something to a child, “I’m not breaking into a house. This is a shed. And also, what did the narc look like?”

  “I don’t know. Tall guy. Brown hair, I think.”

  I groan. “Seriously, Chad?”

  “I wasn’t paying much attention. I was more concerned about the crime than the innocent passerby.”

  “Probably not so innocent,” I mutter.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Annabel, what are you talking about?”

  “It’s nothing, I’m sure. Just a story I’m working on for the paper.”

  His eyebrow rises and he shakes his head. “Annabel. I’m a cop now. I think I can handle it. You’ve always treated me like a kid.”

  “What? That’s not true. I never treated you like a kid.”

  “It is too true, like I’m some dumb man-child. Even when we were in college.”

  I freeze. Is he right? Still, old defenses die hard. “You locked yourself out of your dorm room three times in the first week.”

  He lifts his brows and says nothing.

  “Fine. Maybe you’re right.”

  He presses a hand to his chest. “My my my, Annabel. Are you admitting to being wrong? You have gotten older.”

  “Don’t get used to it.”

  We share a smile, and then he rubs the back of his neck. “You would always give me a hard time. That’s why I was so surprised, that day you . . .” He waves a hand. “You know. And I handled it very badly. I’m sorry. You were a good friend. The best.”

  As usual, my initial reaction is to shut down, not think of or speak of that day, and my face must go blank because Chad puts his hands on my shoulders and ducks his head to meet my eyes.

  “Annabel. We were young. Young people do stupid things. Locking myself out of my dorm room wasn’t the half of it. I also ended up in the wrong class more than once. And not even on the first day. Like two weeks in.”

  I shake my head. “Being a space cadet isn’t the same as lying to your best friend. There’s a difference between idiocy and cruelty.”

  Chad recoils. “I never meant to hurt you. I never lied to you.”

  “By omission,” I insist.

  We’re silent, staring at each other, feeling the weight of the past between us heavier than a mountain.

  When he finally speaks, his words are low and deliberate. “You should know, I pursued Taylor for a long time. She didn’t want anything to happen between us because of you. Although she never told me about your feelings. She kept your secret even though it nearly tore her apart. And I kept my feelings to myself because she asked me to and I love her. I won’t apologize for her part in thing
s, but you should know, she misses you. And I do, too. We were dumb kids, but we aren’t kids anymore.”

  Jude’s words flash across my mind like a scrolling marquee.

  Pain is better than nothing at all. You are lovable.

  It’s not only about love in the romantic sense of the word. I loved Taylor and Chad, too. And I still do. It doesn’t just go away because I will it to.

  But I still don’t know what to say and so we stand in silence until he finally breaks it, again. “Will you please let her talk to you, at least? To explain?”

  A large part of me wants to run away screaming from this whole conversation. But the truth—if I dig down into the cavernous hole in my mind to uncover it—is that I miss Taylor with my whole being. I want her to grovel not because I’m a sadist, but because I miss her so much it hurts. And like a pain that’s been ignored for too long, the fix is going to hurt more than the injury that caused it.

  “Fine. I’ll think about it if you uncuff me.”

  “Oh, right.”

  The vise squeezing my chest is now about a quarter as tight.

  “Annabel?” Jude’s voice calls from down the alley.

  “Over here,” I call out.

  Jude ambles over, speaking as he approaches. “Nice to see you again, Officer.”

  “You supposed to be keeping an eye on this one?” Chad cocks his head in my direction.

  “I think she’s pretty good at keeping an eye on herself.”

  Chad glances back and forth between us, then he grins, his pearly whites flashing in the glow from his flashlight. “This is probably true.”

  My attention is drawn back to the shed. Is there something here? Why else would I have been ratted out? Who was that guy?

  “Come on, I’ll escort you guys back to the parade.”

  Chad’s not taking any chances with me. Clearly. “Fine.”

  We walk with him down the alley to the main street.

  “Don’t forget. You promised. Taylor will be expecting your call. Her number’s the same.”

  “I promised to think about it!”

  He waves a hand while walking off. “And call me before you go breaking into people’s sheds. Okay?”

  “I’ll try.”