Sharp Absence (Sharp Investigations Book 1)

by Kate Anders

  “Nope.” She pops the p at the end.

  I let my body kind of fall to the side slowly so I can try and see what is happening on the laptop screen. I can’t tell much about what is going on, I especially can’t read what is on the screen, but what I can tell is that she is scrolling through what looks like a list of something. This goes on for a few minutes, but every once in a while, she highlights something before moving down the list again.

  The silence is really starting to get to me. It’s the middle of the night, some random girl is sitting on my living room floor, and answers might be right around the corner. I start wringing my hands together to try and avoid bothering her, she really doesn’t seem to enjoy my questions.

  “I’m Kenzie, by the way,” hoping she will give me a little more information than she had.

  “I know.”

  “And you are?”

  “King.”

  “King? Your name is King?” For whatever reason, I have my doubts that her parents named her King.

  Another deep sigh and then finally, “Blake King, my name is Blake King.”

  “And you do computer forensics?” The pitch of my voice gets higher and squeakier at the end, like I’m nervous or something.

  She scoffs. “This is not computer forensics. Joe Blow from Geek Squad could figure this out.”

  “Oh.” Well, now I feel like a moron. I was so proud of myself earlier, telling Will all about how I managed to get into her email account, and now suddenly I’m back to being a computer moron who has no idea how any of this works.

  Finally, after a few more minutes, Blake sits back, rests her back against the couch and looks up.

  “Well, that’s not creepy at all.” That’s when I realize this is the first time she’s really looking at my timeline I built on the wall. She’s not wrong, it is kinda creepy, if I was in some stranger’s apartment and saw this on the wall, I would find a reason to leave.

  “Uh, yeah, sorry, I just, I’m better with, you know, visuals,” I scramble, trying to sound reasonable.

  Blake sets her laptop on the coffee table in front of the sofa before pushing it toward me. “Recognize this?”

  I look at the screen and find the highlighted line on a list of web addresses. It’s something called Blue Sky Cloud. She did it. She really did it.

  “No, I’ve never heard of it.” I turn to look at her. “This is it, though, right? This is her cloud?” I ask.

  She shrugs her shoulders and pulls her laptop back toward her. “Probably.”

  “So now what?”

  “Now you wait.”

  “Wait?”

  “It’s gonna take a second for me to open everything up.”

  “You’re going to get into it now?”

  The look she gives me once again just reinforces that she thinks I’m a moron.

  “Well yeah, that’s what you wanted, right?” She’s taken to speaking slower, as if it will help me follow what she is saying.

  “Yeah. Yes. Of course. Yes.”

  Blake rolls her eyes at me, but she goes back to work. I’m not even going to pretend that I have any idea what Blake ends up doing. But at least this time I can see the screen on the laptop as she is working.

  She keeps moving things around on the screen, flipping between tabs, opening different programs, so fast that I have no idea how she is following any of this. Then after a little while, she stops. I take this opportunity to really study what is on the screen. I recognize it from so many movies and television shows, a black dialogue box on part of the screen with this white text in it. She’s really going to break into Clara’s cloud, we are actually going to get somewhere.

  “How long do you think it will take?” I whisper.

  “This program is a beast. But not long.” Turning, she looks at me once more and studies my face before saying, “You sure you don’t have any grape soda?”

  I can’t stop the giggle that escapes me. “I’m sure. I have a Diet Coke if you’re interested though.”

  I can’t help but laugh at the look on her face, she looks like I just offered her the most disgusting drink on the planet.

  “No. Just no.” She shudders.

  We both wait, patiently staring at the screen of the laptop, waiting for the answers I’m praying it will bring. The silence in the room is stifling, the only sound I can hear coming from the apartment is the sound of my own breathing and the gentle whisper of the heater running.

  “Got it,” she announces. There was no sound. I don’t know why, but I was really expecting that it would make like a ding or something to indicate it was done. But there was nothing. Just silence.

  I hold my breath while Blake sits there and does some more work on the laptop, this is the moment. This is what it all comes down to. If there isn’t anything in here, I have to figure something else out and I don’t know if I have any ideas to work with right now.

  The login screen pops up, and she fills in the fields and next thing you know, there it is. A screen full of files. Little blue folders of data. Data that could answer so many questions.

  “Looks like there’s art,” Blake mutters and starts opening up files.

  All at once, the breath is stolen right out of my chest and I gasp. Right there in front of my face is Clara. With Collin. She looks like she is out of breath, her mouth slightly open as she stares right at Collin’s face. It seems like whoever snapped this photo caught them right in the middle of some kind of intimate moment between the two of them. It’s clear based on how close their heads are to each other that they have to be standing only mere inches apart from each other or with no space at all.

  My mind races at the possibilities. For a split second, I seriously think that she and Collin were involved with each other. It certainly looks like they are involved. Anyone looking at this photo would think so. Why would she do that, though? It doesn’t make sense. She was so angry when she found out about Collin and Chanel. Was she mad because she was mad for me, like any best friend would be? Or was she mad for another reason? Was she mad because he was cheating on her too? How can this possibly be happening? I’m nothing but frozen as these thoughts run through my mind at breakneck speed.

  “It’s cropped.” Blake’s voice breaks me out of my downward spiral.

  “What?” I say.

  “The picture. It’s cropped.”

  I look at the picture, closer this time. She’s right. It is cropped. Now that I look at it, it’s not the standard size of a photo, the dimensions are wrong. It’s too wide and too short for it to be a standard photo.

  “There’s no background,” Blake continues. “They cropped out the body position and the background.”

  She’s right. I can tell they are outside because I can see the blue sky above them, but that’s it. I can’t even tell the time of year it is because there is nothing other than a small amount of sky showing. No trees, no buildings, no leaves on the ground, no ground at all.

  “That’s weird,” I murmur and Blake nods.

  She opens a few more files and they are all pictures of the same event. At first, I thought it was the same exact photo but then I realize it’s not.

  “It’s rapid fire,” I say to Blake. “All taken one right after the other.”

  “The crops are different too, like they are moving so the crop has to be changed.” Blake starts humming to herself then pulling up some other information and screens I don’t get.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Metadata,” she replies.

  “Metadata.” Blake nods, never missing a step. “Like location and stuff?”

  “Should be. There isn’t. Someone removed the metadata.”

  “You can do that?”

  “You can do anything if you know what you’re doing,” she explains.

  “Cause that’s not scary,” I retort.

  She snorts but keeps going.

  “That it is. Everything is data these days, it’s freaky to know a few keystrokes can change the trajecto
ry of your life.”

  “Don’t worry, I only use my powers for good. Not evil.” She actually winks at me when she says it. Well, at least the girl has some kind of sense of humor. Suddenly she stops typing, and I can see the lines around her eyes crinkle. “That’s odd,” she mutters almost so softly I didn’t hear it.

  “What’s odd?”

  “I can’t open this folder.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t open this folder.”

  “Yeah, that explains everything.”

  She sighs. “Okay fine. I can open it. But it’s encrypted, so it’s basically unusable. I’m running my normal decryption programs but—”

  “But what?”

  “Who is this girl?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why would she have encrypted files?”

  “I don’t know. She’s missing. I’m looking for clues, so I’m basically the definition of clueless.”

  “Okay, but who is she?”

  “What. Do. You. Mean.”

  “Like is she a girl who found an encryption program on the internet and ran it with no effort, or is it something else?”

  “Oh. Yeah, she’s like a math and computer übernerd. She works on machine learning or something like that. And some kind of math that makes no sense to me.” I shrug my shoulders. “She’s tried to explain it, but I don’t get it.”

  The more I talk, the more Blake’s shoulders sink down.

  “So she could have encrypted this herself?” she asks.

  “I’m not really sure I know what encrypting is, but yeah, probably.”

  “There is no way I can open this tonight.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “This is custom work. She locked this up tight. My standard programs won’t work. They are designed for the weekend warrior computer guy, not someone who can write encryption on their own. Will didn’t say anything about this,” she starts, shaking her head.

  “I don’t think Will really knew. I told him we were in college, but we didn’t really get into likes and interests. I’m just trying to find her. It’s hard to know what’s important,” I try explaining because honestly, it’s the truth. It’s so hard to figure out what is important and what isn’t. It would take me weeks to tell someone everything there is to know about Clara’s and my life over the last four years. How do you boil it down to what’s important? What has been going on for a long time, and something Clara said to me in passing like a month ago, is important? How am I supposed to remember this?

  “This is going to take work.”

  “I’m sorry.” I start to freak out that maybe she isn’t going to want to keep going or maybe she is going to want more money because this isn’t an easy case or something. “Do you need something more from me, because whatever you need, I’ll get it.”

  “I like a challenge.” She smiles at me as she starts packing everything back up in her bag and getting ready to leave.

  “So that’s it.”

  “Yep. This is not plug and play,” she tells me. “But at least now you have some stuff you can add to your creepy wall.” She gestures over to my timeline.

  “I’ve been calling it my Wall of Crazy.” I laugh.

  “That works.” She looks around the room one last time. “You start adding to the Crazy and I’ll get to work on opening these files.”

  “Do you think it will take long?” I ask, knowing time is of the essence.

  “Depends. If she is really trying to keep people out, then yes, if not, then it will go a lot faster.” She starts walking through the living room and to the front door, I follow close behind.

  Right before she opens the front door, she turns to me, I’m sure she is going to say something well-meaning just like everyone else, or maybe something awkward because no one knows what to say to me anymore to make me feel better, but instead she says, “Next time, have grape soda.”

  Stunned would be an understatement. But not stunned enough not to agree.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “DON’T FORGET ME” BY WAY OUT WEST

  Kenzie: We need to talk

  Collin: I already hooked u & my dad up wut else do u want

  Kenzie: It’s about Clara, it’s important

  Collin: So talk

  Kenzie: In person

  Collin: Come on u know I can’t

  Kenzie: I found some information and you’re in it

  Collin: Wut r u talking about

  Kenzie: You know I’m looking into Clara being missing. So imagine my surprise when I find a stash of photos and you’re all over them

  Collin: Ur full of it

  Kenzie: Okay, I’ll just turn this stuff over to your dad then.

  Collin: wait

  Kenzie: You’ll meet me?

  Collin: Just tell me wut u want

  Kenzie: To meet in person. ASAP.

  Kenzie: I’m not fucking around, Collin, I only care about Clara, and if you end up collateral damage, well, let’s just say I can live with that.

  Collin: Fine deets?

  Kenzie: Coffee shop by my apartment 30 minutes

  Collin: no way

  Collin: someone might see us

  Kenzie: OMFG Collin, pick a place and I’ll be there

  Collin: the track

  Kenzie: It’s raining

  Collin: even better no one will be out

  Kenzie: Fine. Half hour or I send this stuff to your dad.

  Collin: u wasn’t this bitchy when we were 2gether

  Kenzie: Don’t push me.

  I throw the phone onto the coffee table. I have a few minutes to kill before I need to leave for the track. He’s right, no one is going to be out there in the rain, the school has an indoor track that works just as well and you wouldn’t have to get wet or freeze your ass off.

  Staring at my wall, I think about all the things that I have been running through my head. Mostly about the pictures. The more I think about it, the more confused I get. Someone had to take them. It certainly wasn’t Clara or Collin. And there is no way either one of them would have arranged for them to be taken. Clara would never do anything to hurt me, of that I am sure. And Collin has way too much to lose with his crazy girlfriend, pictures of him and Clara together like that would only cause problems for him. And if the pictures were from before Chanel and Collin were together then there would be no reason there either.

  Like with everything, as soon as I get some answers, I also get a million more questions. The difference is this time someone else might have some answers. Blake had emailed me the photos after she left, although how she got my email, I have no idea, and frankly, that is not a question I want answered. I printed them out for dramatic reveal purposes, and to see how Collin reacts to them when I show him.

  Up until now, Clara has been the only one who possibly has the answers I am looking for, well maybe the uncle guy too, but basically everyone who has answers is out of reach. But now I finally have someone I can confront. And if I get to freak out my douchebag of a cheating ex in the process, well, all the better.

  The rain hits my windshield as I wait in the parking lot by the track. It’s actually not raining too hard, more like a light drizzle, but with the cold, there is no way I am going to stand outside in the parking lot waiting for my ex to show. And of course he hasn’t yet.

  Looking down at my phone, I see that Collin is already five minutes late. Not surprising. Jerk was always late, even when we were together. Nice to see some things don’t change.

  The windows are starting to fog over from the heater running in my car and the cold air up against the glass. So, of course, it’s no surprise when the sudden knocking on my passenger side window has me about jumping out of my skin.

  Not really being able to see out the window, I roll it down instead.

  “It’s cold. Can we do this in here?” Collin asks as he sticks his head in my car.

  A quick touch of a button and my car doors unlock. A few short seconds later, Collin is s
itting in my car blowing into his hands, trying to warm up.

  “So what’s so important?” he asks in between blowing on his hands.

  “I told you, I found some stuff about Clara going missing and you’re all over it.”

  Collin spins in the seat and looks at me. Hard. “You can’t seriously think I had anything to do with Clara going missing?” he demands.

  I just raise an eyebrow. Of course, I don’t think he had anything to do with it, but I want to see how he reacts if I keep poking the bear.

  “Oh, come on, Kenz, why would I ever have anything to do with Clara going missing? I mean really, think about it. Besides, I’m always around people these days, how exactly was I supposed to pull it off?” he demands.

  I let him squirm a little bit longer before finally letting him off the hook. “No, I don’t think you had anything to do with her going missing. But I do think you know more than you think you do, and I need answers. Real answers. Not some bullshit you are going to try and sell me on.”

  “Ugh, fine. What did you find?”

  “Pictures. Of you and Clara. Together. Very close together.” Technically, I’m not lying, but he doesn’t need to know that yet.

  “WHAT?”

  I just stare at him dead in the eyes, no emotion, no nothing.

  “Kenz, I swear, that never happened. Look, I know it’s hard to believe me, I know I fucked up, I get it. But honestly, I have never been up close with Clara. Seriously, you have to believe me.”

  “I have the pictures, Collin.” This is getting fun.

  “You can’t, I’m serious, it never happened. There is no way.” His neck starts to flush red and I can tell by the pulsing in his neck his heartbeat is skyrocketing. Man, he is squirming, and honestly, it’s kind of believable. “Seriously, let me see the pictures because they have to be fake. They have to be.”

  After letting him squirm for a few more seconds, I finally reach into my car door and pull out the photos I printed a few hours ago and hand them over.

  I see the shift in Collin almost immediately. As soon as they are in his hands he deflates, “Oh,” he murmurs and starts flipping through the stack. “Wait, what is this?”