by Mayer, Dale
"No. Besides he’s not geeky like that. Only knows the basics."
"Well, someone hacked Todd’s account to cause trouble. I, for one, don’t know anyone who’d be good enough, except Todd himself."
Todd had been a natural-born hacker and lacked the willingness to apply the same dedication to the proper education channels. He’d taken computer science last year, only arguments with the teacher had resulted in getting booted from class. His mark had been in the high nineties. He could have fought it and continued, except Todd had a problem with authority. Cassie realized in hindsight, Todd hadn’t liked much about school. Yet he would have graduated.
Now she wondered what he’d have done in six weeks when school had finished. What could he have done? Continued to work at the store? He’d hated that job.
Todd had been brilliant. But not challenged.
So who felt they were better than he was? Who felt they needed to best Todd, even after he was dead. Who wanted to show everyone they could?
***
Gerome entered the front doors of the hospital the next morning. He hadn’t had a chance to come back last night. He needed to ask a few questions. Like where the cell phone had come from.
"Hey, Peter, you’re looking better." Peter’s skin had a pink flush, only the whites of his eyes showed a yellow sallowness that made Gerome wince. Peter had never been a big man, but now he really looked gaunt and thin. These last months had been tough on him.
Peter opened his eyes to stare at him. After a moment, recognition flashed. "Thanks for coming by when you did. I guess you saved my life." Peter reached up a hand to grab Gerome’s.
Squeezing his hand gently, Gerome grinned at his old friend. "I don’t know about that. I’m sure someone would have come by eventually."
Peter coughed. "I don’t think so. I’d been there for quite a while." His fingers moved restlessly on the sheets. "Thanks for helping Martha, too."
"I’m sure sorry about her condition." Gerome grabbed the room’s single chair and pulled it closer before sitting down.
Peter watched him, bleak acceptance in his eyes. "Don’t be. They tell me she’s unconscious and won’t likely wake up. It’s better this way." He sighed and rested back. "She’s had a few tough years, that old gal. She’s been a good 'un."
"Still, it’s hard."
Peter nodded slightly, his old eyes shining wetly. "Aye, it is."
Gerome pulled up a chair and sat down at Peter’s bedside. "Peter, when I was at your place and talking to Martha, I saw a cell phone on the coffee table. It belongs to a young man who died just over a week ago."
Peter’s gaze widened. "Really?"
"He was killed in a car accident at the corner just past your house."
Using his elbows, Peter rolled over slightly so he could see Gerome. "I remember that accident. A couple of kids wandered the site later."
Cassie. That would be something she’d do. "Where’d you get the phone from?"
"I picked it up a while back when I collected the mail from the box. The phone lay off to one side. I thought maybe it belonged to the mailman. I asked him the next day, only he didn’t know anything about it." Peter stared up at the ceiling. "So, I figured someone had pulled off to the side of the road and lost it getting in or out of the car."
"When did you find it?"
"Let me think." He worked his fingers, counting days. "I think it was the Monday after the accident. Not likely later than that. It never occurred to me to that it was related to the boy."
"Did you ever use the phone?"
"Me? Naw. I don’t like them things. Got a perfectly good phone at home,; why would anyone want one to stick a phone in their pocket? So folks could bug the hell out of you some more?"
Gerome grinned. "Would Martha have answered it if it rang?"
"Martha? Yes. I took the battery out 'cause it was wet, and when I put it back in, she said the darn thing woke her up. So I took it out again." He straightened his sheet again. "She was pretty foggy these last weeks, though, so she wouldn’t have made a lick of sense, even if she did answer."
Gerome stood up. "I’ll let you rest now. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I’ll try to stop by tomorrow." He turned to leave, then stopped. "If Martha wakes up, give her my best."
"I will." Peter shuffled upward on his bed. "Thanks for stopping by."
"Any time, old friend…any time."
***
Jessie texted Cassie on her way home from school. She read it and grinned. He’d talked to his dad on the phone. Apparently Adam had called Todd that last night and asked him to go to the liquor store.
"Like that’s going to happen. Todd wasn’t old enough to buy booze. His father knew that." Thankfully no one was around as she talked to the air again. Cassie remembered seeing the broken glass at the accident site and a torn, charred label. The same label as the one she’d seen on the bottle in Adam’s hands earlier.
"Now that I think of it, that makes total sense. That’s why there was booze in the vehicle. He’d gone shopping for his dad." Wow. Cassie immediately called Jessie back. "Hey, Jessie. Did he say anything else?"
"Hi again. Not really. Just that Todd hadn’t wanted to go to the liquor store since he was on his way home…but according to Adam, he’d finally agreed to."
Cassie pounced. "Todd was on his way home?"
"Right. That’s what dad said?" Jessie spoke slowly now.
"So that’s the last thing Todd did before the accident. There wasn’t enough time for much else. He dropped off his friends, went to the liquor store and connected with someone who bought the booze for him. Your dad has to know who that was."
"Was there time for someone else to get into the picture?" Jessie’s voice strengthened forcefully. "We have to be honest here. There is the chance that Todd drank some of that alcohol himself and then drove home."
Silence.
Cassie closed her eyes, desperately wanting to erase those words that hung so heavily between them. "No. I don’t have to be that honest," she whispered, painfully.
"Cassie, I know you feel that way. I just don’t want you to be hurt if it turns out differently."
"I know that. Let’s return to the main topic. How can we find out who bought the booze?"
"We could ask the deputy to question whoever was working at the liquor store that night? He might do that."
"Maybe?" Cassie didn’t know that he would though; she’d been sending emails pretty often and he didn’t always reply. He was probably sick of her. "Not that this case is a priority."
"Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t follow up, at our request."
"True." Cassie thought about the options. "So stop by tomorrow after school, send the deputy an email or what?"
"An email he’d get in the morning. I don’t have his cell phone number and am not sure that I’m comfortable calling him at his house, even if we had the number." Jessie’s warm teasing voice sounding through the phone, made her toes curl.
Since when had Jessie’s voice felt like warm hug? Cassie shook her herself. Her head was hooked way too much on this guy. He’d infiltrated her mind and even her dreams. She sighed heavily. What a lost cause.
"Cassie? Are you okay?"
Never, whispered her mind. "I’m fine." She shook her head gently. "Just thinking. I think both. I’ll email him tonight and we can go by his office after school."
"Not alone."
Cassie stopped and looked at her phone. "What?"
"I’d like to come with."
"Oh." Her toes wiggled.
"If you don’t mind." Now Jessie’s voice deepened with insecurity.
Rushing inside and upstairs, Cassie said, "No. Sorry. That’s fine." She laughed. "That’s great, actually." She walked over to her bedroom window and stared out. "I didn’t think you’d want to come."
He was quiet for a long moment. "I’d really like a chance to get to know you better." His voice deepened yet again. "If you’re interested, that is."
Open
ing the window, Cassie leaned against the frame, breathing in the fresh air, a warm smile curling up her insides. She grinned. "I’m interested." Cassie laughed feeling heat rush over her face and tickle her toes
Cassie couldn’t keep the silly smile off her face for the rest of the afternoon.
***
Jessie hung up his phone, grinning like a clown on drugs. "Well, that went well."
His mom poked her head in his room. "Did you say something, honey?"
"No, I was talking to a friend on the phone."
She took one look at his face and smirked. "And to a girl from the looks of it."
"What?" Jessie glanced down at the closed phone in his hands then slipped it into his pocket.
"I said that you were obviously speaking with a girl. A special one, if that look is anything to go by?"
He looked down at the floor, and kicked out his foot aimlessly.
She laughed. "That’s fine. I won’t tease you about her – at least not too much."
Jessie rolled his eyes. "Oh great."
"I wanted to know if you’re working tomorrow after school?"
"Uhmm. No, not until Wednesday."
"Good. Can I get you to stop by the accountant’s and pick up some papers for me?"
"I can do that. Well, maybe. What time do I need to get them?"
"Before four. That’s why I’m asking you. I can’t get there in time. Although, I might be able to run over at lunchtime."
Jessie shook his head. The accountant’s office wasn’t far away from the sherriff’s. He could go both places in decent time. "No, don’t worry about it. It should be fine. Cassie won’t mind stopping."
"Cassie?"
Jessie frowned at the sharp tone and narrowed his eyes. Now what was she all hot and bothered about? "Yeah, Cassie. What’s the matter, Mom?"
"I don’t know if I should mention this, but…" She straightened her shoulders. "I feel I should say something. I’m a little worried about you spending time with that girl."
Huh, oh. "That girl?"
"Todd’s girlfriend. Cassie."
"What about her?" Jessie shifted to lean against his bedroom door. He would prefer to avoid this discussion, except he knew his mother too well. If she didn’t say what was on her mind, she’d keep at it and at it.
"I just think you should avoid her, that’s all."
"That’s all? You need to elaborate, Mom. Why should I?"
"For one, she was Todd’s girlfriend. You need to get your own. For another, I’m not sure if she didn’t have a negative effect on Todd’s character. All that drinking, skipping school and the carousing he did."
Only his mother could put skipping school in the middle of those offenses. "I think you misunderstand. Cassie and Todd were friends. Not boyfriend and girlfriend. Not lovers. They didn’t drink together, nor did they carouse together, as you put it. They were friends – and only friends."
"I know you believe that."
"No, mom. I know that."
"What? You and she haven’t…?" She stared at him in shock.
Jessie’s eyes widened. "What? No. No. I…we… haven’t. No!"
Her hand patted her chest in relief, her face turning bright red. "Oh, thank heavens. Well, that’s good. Good." She looked everywhere but at him. "Okay. I won’t mention that again."
She turned and hurried away.
***
"Cassie, I understand you talked to Dr. Sanchez the other day?"
Cassie’s fork stopped in mid-air. She stared at what been a decent lasagna before her mother had opened her mouth. Slowly she put the bite in her mouth, refusing to look at either of the two adults staring covertly at her. She chewed, thinking about what to say. She swallowed finally, and nodded her head. "Yes, I did."
She almost laughed at the relief washing over both their faces. Determinedly, she forked in another bite and waited. Her mother had no patience.
"And?"
Cassie looked up innocently. "And what?"
"How did it go?" Her father jumped in, his voice brusque. "Did you talk to her?"
"Yes, she was just about to leave for the day." Cassie popped more lasagna into her mouth, watching them exchange looks. They couldn’t just come out and ask. They always tiptoed around topics. She considered what she wanted to tell them. Not much, obviously, as she hadn’t told them about stopping in there in the first place.
"Look. I stopped in. She was there, and so we talked for a few minutes. No big deal, okay?"
"Honey, we’re just happy that you went at all."
Cassie rolled her eyes and kept eating.
"When are you going to see her next?"
Playing with her fork instead of eating, Cassie considered whether she’d rather get up and leave or eat a little more. If they kept up the questioning, she’d leave. "I don’t know that I am."
Her father’s fork dropped to the table as he glared at her over his empty plate. "Why not?"
"Tom," murmured Abby, giving him a warning look.
Cassie put her fork down. "Thanks for dinner, Mom." She got up, picked up her plate – still half-full – and headed into the kitchen.
"Remember, she said not to push."
Her mom’s harsh whisper filtered through to the kitchen, loud and clear.
Tom’s brusque voice followed. "What? Can’t I even ask her anything anymore?"
"Not if it’s going to upset her. We don’t want to stop her from going."
Abby kept her voice quiet. Tom didn’t care. "You’re babying her. So what if her friend died? People die all the time. It’s time she grew up and started being mature about all of this."
"Tom, that’s not nice."
Cassie tuned out her parents’ squabbling. Personally, she felt she’d grown up a lot lately. Too bad the adults around her hadn’t.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Cassie found it hard to focus the next morning. There’d been another posting ‘from Todd’ on her Facebook page. Greetings from the world of the undead. And as much as she’d like to block the sender, it was Todd’s original account and she couldn’t quite bring herself to do that – because it was also so close to the truth of his predicament that it just added to her pain.
There were any number of people capable of finding out Todd’s account name and password but the ones she’d considered wouldn’t care to. That’s what she didn’t understand. Why bother? To upset her? It was succeeding. Yet that had more to do with the shock of seeing his name than anything else. If the person was out to cause mischief, it was pretty minor.
Jessie stood at the school gates, casually talking to a couple of his friends. Cassie’s heart sped up. She hated blushing, but knew when he looked at her that her face was turning pink. She chastised herself for it. She’d seen him lots. Had been getting to know him for a while now. He was Todd’s brother, for heaven’s sake. What was wrong with her?
"It’s different now," she whispered under her breath. "Everything’s different."
"Not really."
Cassie spun to see Todd walking on her heels. Her face lit up, until she realized she was being watched. "You’re getting me into so much trouble," she muttered under her breath.
"You’re getting yourself in trouble." His grin was contagious.
Not this time. She glared at him. Realizing a stranger walking behind her was staring back at her, she flushed bright red. "Sorry," she muttered and stalked past the collection of curious onlookers.
"Cassie, wait up."
Cassie quickened her pace. She didn’t know who’d called but she wanted to escape.
"Cassie?" Jessie loped beside her. "What’s your hurry?"
Slowing down slightly, Cassie smiled. "Sorry, I thought I was late for class." She glanced around. There was no sign of Todd.
"No. It’s still early yet. You’ve got at least five minutes."
She didn’t know what to say. Five minutes in her world wasn’t much, only guys seemed to view it as a long time. "I have to go to my locker yet. Are we still
on for this afternoon?"
The dark depths of his eyes lit up. "Absolutely." The light dimmed as he added, "And I have to run by the accountant’s and pick up some papers for my mom. The office is on the way."
"No problem." Cassie didn’t mind. A little longer in his company was a good thing.