by Maria Quick
‘Anyway,’ I continued, boring myself as well as everyone else, ‘I thought nothing of it until a few months ago, when my mom finally told me who he was. I Googled him, and got in touch. As fate would have it, he was already heading to Miami, so that was lucky.’
I cringed as soon as I said the word “fate,” but it was too late. The deed was done. My plan that I’d formed in the last thirty seconds was to make my story as vague as possible. No embellishments, no unnecessary dates. The best way to do that was to make myself as vague as possible. So, I giggled a lot and played with my hair. Normal wishy-washy teen stuff. Except, I hadn’t brushed it recently and my hands got caught in it. Angela stared in disbelief as I yanked my fingers out of the tangle, taking a lot of hair with it. The waiter didn’t move a muscle. Then, I giggled again.
‘You do seem to be related to my husband,’ she said slowly.
‘You cheeky bitch,’ Ronnie muttered.
‘Although, you look nothing like him.’
Suspicion clouded her eyes. I cursed myself, stealing a quick glance at Ronnie. To save time, I giggled again moronically.
I had no idea what he looked like. I mean, I could see him, but he was transparent. I couldn’t really define colors unless I was right next to the lucy. And he was halfway across the room.
They’re kinda like clear black and white photos. I can see his hair is dark, but actual color? No clue. Don’t even ask what his irises were.
‘I’ve got black hair. Jet black, really thick,’ Ronnie told me quickly, thankfully reading my mind. ‘I’ve also got the lightest shade of blue eyes you’ve ever seen. Or not, apparently.’
Well, that was exceedingly helpful. What a damned shame I couldn’t genetically be related to him.
‘I wear contacts,’ I suddenly said, baffling everybody in the room. Hey, my eyes were so dark they were almost a solar eclipse. I’d read about hereditary traits, and knew about eye and hair color. I’d needed it on a case a couple months back. Forgot I learned it, thought it was second nature to everyone. Since all humans - dead or alive - looked a little dazed, I guess it wasn’t. Whoops.
I tried to quickly find some similarity with my “father.” It was proving immensely difficult. My hair was auburn, for a start. Which I’d always found weird, because both my parents have blond hair. Dirty in my dad’s case, white in my mom’s. You know, I used to look at myself in the mirror and wonder whose squib genes I got. Because they were both beautiful, tall and quite athletic. I was squat, and one of my dreams in life was to get an elevator in our home.
But hey, at least I could lie quickly.
‘My mom has dominant genes. She has the HCRB7 DNA strand, so obviously I take her looks,’ I chuckled knowingly, before pausing. ‘You have heard of that, right? I mean, it is basic science.’
It goes without saying that it probably doesn’t exist. But one thing I do know, false confidence gets you further than knowledge.
‘Of course. I’ve read about that,’ Angela coughed, saving face. Nobody liked looking stupid.
‘So, I met him about...’
‘Three months! It’s been three months. Also, what were you rabbiting on about?’ Ronnie sighed.
‘...three months ago, I think it was. He seemed like a nice guy.’
Instantly, the suspicion returned. I backtracked quickly.
‘Annoying as hell, and I’m so, so glad I did not grow up with him, but okay for the two hours he was in my home.’
She relaxed a little, even smiled. A cold, calculating smile that she shared with the waiter. He didn’t return it. I wasn’t sure he did anything, ever. If it wasn’t for him suddenly shifting positions, I would’ve assumed he was a robot.
‘This is Jose, by the way,’ Angela announced at long last. ‘He’s a friend of mine.’
Friend, huh? That was a euphemism if I ever heard one.
‘Did he bring anything with him?’ she asked suddenly.
‘Like photos?’
‘No, I meant more of a- never mind,’ she tutted, irritated.
‘Briefcase! She means my briefcase!’ Ronnie yelled excitedly, jumping up and down. I swear I saw Jose flinch.
‘No, he didn’t bring anything other than a briefcase, or something. He’d said he was on vacation, so I was wondering why he’d brought work stuff with him, but whatever. I guess that’s the kind of man my dad was,’ I murmured dreamily.
‘Yes, of course, he was a good man,’ she said snappily. ‘You said this was months ago. Have you heard from him recently?’
‘No, actually. He’d said he needed time to get his head around it, so I left him to it. He had my cell number and he said he’d get in touch soon. But he never did. So, I came down here to find out what had happened.’
‘Why now?’
‘School’s over,’ I shrugged. Almost, anyway.
‘It’s May,’ she frowned.
‘Yes, it is,’ I said, agreeing that that was the correct month.
‘Schools in England don’t finish until the end of July,’ Ronnie informed me.
‘Oh my God, what?’ I couldn’t help myself from yelling.
Angela and Jose jumped, and she looked a little afraid of me.
‘That’s a bit odd to me, is all,’ she hastily explained, anxious.
‘Right! I’m sorry. I get antsy about, um... education,’ I finished seriously.
‘I’m sure British children are fine,’ she assured me, glancing quickly at her watch. I took the bait.
‘Well, it was nice meeting you,’ I sighed, wrapping it up. Jose and Angela blinked at me.
‘You don’t know I’m missing yet,’ Ronnie hissed.
I’d been starting to stand up, but I quickly flopped back into the chair and composed myself.
‘Do you know where my dad is?’ I asked.
She narrowed her eyes at me. Okay, I could’ve tried to beat around the bush a little, but I already looked insane. Might as well go the whole ten yards.
‘No, I’m afraid I don’t. He went missing around the time he met you, actually.’
‘My God, that’s terrible!’ I gasped. ‘Do the police know?’
She hesitated.
‘Yes... actually they’ll want to talk to you,’ she said. I didn’t like her tone.
‘Really? Maybe I’ll go to the police now,’ I challenged.
‘Okay. Be sure to tell them you were the last person to see him,’ she reminded me.
‘Absolutely!’ I grinned, getting up to leave. Ronnie didn’t mention any last-minute additions, so I was able to actually stand up this time.
‘Are you staying in Miami, or heading back home? Where did you say were from?’ Angela asked casually.
‘Boca Raton. My mom lives there, Yasmin Mendes. She’s away at the moment, and she doesn’t know about all this.’
‘Of course. Are you staying in Miami?’ she pressed.
‘Yeah, only for tonight, though. I’m heading back home tomorrow morning.’
‘Really? Well, I don’t wish to keep you. We have places to go and things to do, so...’
‘Right, of course! Thanks for your time. It was really nice meeting you,’ I said cheerfully.
I could tell her smile dropped as soon as I was out of her sight. Ronnie disappeared to collect George, and we headed back to the car to bide our time.
‘Did you guys find anything of interest?’ I asked as I shot off a quick text to Mickey.
‘Denture gel in the bathroom. Did you know that?’ George asked Ronnie. He burst into laughter, so I guess not.
‘What about the mysterious Jose?’
They both shook their heads.
‘What exactly could we find out?’ Ronnie asked. ‘Unless it was on full display, secrets are going to stay hidden. If they exist in the first place.’
‘Maybe I should look myself. Those cabins don’t look too hard to break in to,’ I mused.
‘Alright,’ they agreed.
They started heading toward the car but stopped when I didn’t follow
.
‘Now?’ Ronnie asked.
‘They said they were leaving,’ I pointed out.
‘That was to get you out so they could bonk,’ George snickered, looking at Ronnie, ashamed. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.’
‘I’m more offended by the word “bonk.”’
‘Actually, you’re wrong. I hinted about the location of the money, and my guess is, they’ll go after it right now.’
I got an excitable text back from Mickey, telling me he was doing what I’d asked. I ignored all subsequent texts from him. I’d asked him to quickly forge a Facebook page for myself, pretending I was Yasmin’s daughter. That ought to be enough proof for Angela. For now, anyway. I expected them to come running out any second now.
Any second.
‘How long are you gonna wait?’ George somehow yawned. He had a point. It’d been ten minutes.
‘Okay, I’ll come back later,’ I groaned.
I’d wait in the hotel instead. At least there was ice cream there.
13
Back in my room, I tried to find out what I could about Ronnie’s body. There wasn’t much to go on. The body had no ID and nobody had come forward. Police were encouraging anyone with information about a missing white male to contact them. Unless Angela did it herself, he’d be John Doe for the foreseeable.
‘Nothing new yet,’ I called out to Ronnie, standing with George on the balcony. They’d decided not to be useful and instead were gaping at sunbathing women. ‘Circumstances are suspicious, though. That’s all they have on your body so far.’
‘Did you say something?’ he called back, not even glancing my way.
‘Oh, for God’s sake. Yes, I- what’s the point,’ I sighed, calling Ally for some sane conversation.
Clearly, I was suffering from heat stroke.
‘Anna?’ she questioned, as she always did. Like, who else did she expect to be on the other end? Was it a vague attempt at being psychic, guessing my name based on caller ID? Ugh, why did I bother?
‘Yeah, Ally. It’s me. Surprisingly,’ I muttered.
‘I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.’
Anyone else get a sense of déjà vu here? I could’ve sworn we already had this conversation.
‘Ally, my horoscope is wrong,’ I told her forcefully. The bizarre statement attracted the attention of the serial oglers on the balcony. They trotted in, and I dutifully put Ally on speaker.
‘Just because it’s not right, it doesn’t mean it’s wrong,’ she said mystically.
‘How on Earth do you work that one out?’ puzzled Ronnie.
‘Okay, whatever. Um, what do you have for me?’
‘I haven’t had a chance to look into poor Ronald’s life yet.’
I resisted the urge to toss the cell across the room. She was infuriating. I had absolutely nothing, and she was giving me even less.
‘Seriously? You’ve had a whole day. What have you been doing?’
‘Oh, you know. Feng shui, crystal healing; that sort of thing.’
From anyone other than Ally, it’d be hella sarcastic. But I was sadly convinced that that’s exactly what she’d been doing. Poor George had to turn away in disgust.
‘And you couldn’t find even five or ten minutes to help me out?’
I literally wanted her to search their names on the databases she had access to. I mean, it’s not much to ask, is it?
You know, it was probably my fault, though. If I’d read her horoscope, I’m sure it would’ve told me that she’s not in a helping mood.
‘You’re right, Anna. I’m so sorry, it’s unforgiveable. I will immediately delve into Ronald and Angela’s lives, and call you the second I find out anything. I am so, so sorry,’ she breathed.
I hung up before she could apologize some more. With those lines of enquiry on hold, I texted Mickey to see if he’d had any luck with other things I’d asked him to do. He assured me he had. At least one of my friends was reliable.
Maybe now I could start getting something done.
‘Ally might be useless, but Mickey’s come through,’ I told them. George narrowed his eyes at me but I wasn’t sure why. ‘My fake life should be easily searchable now. I’m gonna guess that Angela and Jose will be on their way to Boca Raton in the next hour or so.’
‘Want me to keep watch?’ Ronnie suggested.
‘That’d be great. Come back when they’ve left, and I’ll drive down and break in,’ I gulped. Easier said than done. I wasn’t one for casually breaking laws, but I’d already done that on several cases. I guess it was just my thing.
I watched Ronnie somersault off the balcony instead of walking down twenty flights of stairs and chuckled. Lucies could be pretty great companions. When they weren’t staring me out, I mean.
George had been quiet since I’d put Ally on speaker. It couldn’t merely be due to her oddness.
‘Okay, what’s up?’ I groaned.
‘What’s your name?’
I certainly wasn’t expecting that question.
‘You know my name. Were you hit on your head, too?’
‘I know your name’s Brianna. But your father calls you Bree, Ally calls you Anna. You introduce yourself as Ann. Who are you?’
‘It’s a stupid name,’ I shrugged, perplexed. ‘My dad gave me that name so of course he calls me that. Ally’s... not great at listening. I call me Ann. What’s the issue?’
He instantly looked impassive, nonchalantly strolling around the room. He didn’t look me in the eye.
‘It seems like you’re trying to be different people.’
‘What, like a split personality disorder?’ I scoffed. ‘Psychologists aren’t even sure if that’s a real illness. They think it’s attention-seeking.’
‘Is that what you’re doing?’ he asked bluntly.
He was deadly serious, but I found it to be hilarious. What a strange thing to complain about. My name annoyed me because I preferred Ann to Bree. It wasn’t a big deal like he was making out.
‘You think I’m attention-seeking because people can’t get my name right? Wow, okay.’
‘It’s like you’re trying to hide something,’ he went on. I had absolutely no idea what he was getting at.
‘Like what?’
He looked at me suspiciously, but I was utterly bewildered. He dropped his eyes from mine and shook his head.
‘Nothing.’
‘Okay. Wait, aren’t you doing the same thing? There’s no way your real name is George. You took way too long to answer. What’s up with that?’
‘I died,’ he pointed out. ‘Using my real name’s a little too close to home right now. So yeah, I am hiding. Question is, are you?’
‘What on Earth would I be hiding from?’ I challenged. I was super interested to hear his reply, but he didn’t have one. What a shame.
‘Why do you talk to people like that?’ he asked instead, changing the subject entirely.
‘What now?’
‘You. You talk to people like dirt when they’re only trying to help.’
‘I’m sorry if I upset you-’
‘Not me,’ he sighed. ‘Ally. Your dad. His girlfriend, to a lesser extent.’
‘Ex-girlfriend,’ I gleefully corrected. He threw his hands up, frustrated.
‘That’s what I mean! What is wrong with you?’
‘Nothing’s wrong with me,’ I suddenly snapped. ‘You don’t know my life, okay?’
I wasn’t sure where this whole social justice warrior thing came from, but I wanted it to crawl back into its hole. I’d forgotten, George was a college boy. He wasn’t in the real world. He didn’t realize that sometimes people pissed you off or that maybe you’d had long, complex relationships with family and friends. I guess in his world, John Lennon’s Imagine was only a hop, skip and a jump away. But people were jerks, and we loved schadenfreude too much to ever be a part of a world like that.
You know, people could’ve supported me. My dad could’ve believed me. Kids in school could
’ve thought it cool that I saw ghosts. Police could’ve chosen to listen to me, but they didn’t. Nobody did. They chose to belittle and mock and scoff at me instead. So, here I was: bitter and twisted and not yet eighteen.
Whoa, that was a load off.
‘People suck,’ I summed up. ‘At least in my experience.’
‘You still don’t need to treat them like crap,’ he chided.
‘And people don’t need to treat me like crap, but they do. You’ll see what will happen at the end of all this. If I don’t get arrested, I’ll get called a crazy liar. My dad will ground me and tell me to “stop seeing ghosts,” like that’s something I could easily do. Nobody understands. And when they don’t understand, they don’t want to try. It’s easier to ignore somebody than listen.’
‘Am I interrupting?’
We both jumped at the sound of Ronnie’s voice from behind us. He was peeking his head through the door, obviously having listened in. It was a welcome interruption. Things had gotten intense.
‘Yeah, but thanks. I think we needed it. What’s up?’
‘Angela and Jose have taken off. Mentioned something about Miller Street, wherever that is.’
‘That would be my aunt’s address. Good, they’ve taken the bait. Let’s go.’
The adrenaline from the argument helped to pep me up. I was going to commit a burglary. Okay, I was definitely going to be arrested at the end of this. Maybe I ought to see what else I could add to my list.
‘Wait, aren’t you worried that they’ll confront your aunt?’ George asked. I laughed.
‘I’d like to see them try. She emailed me back this morning to let me know she was in New York until tomorrow.’
‘What if they do a bit of breaking and entering like you?’
‘So? They won’t find anything.’
Ronnie frowned.
‘I think what the boy meant was, it may be upsetting for your aunt when she returns?’
‘She has insurance,’ I shrugged.
They looked at each other, shaking their heads in dismay.
‘Oh, to be human again,’ Ronnie guffawed.
‘Hey, if they want to break into my supposed home, that’s entirely their fault. Nothing to do with me.’