Page 24 of A Sublime Casualt
The entire establishment seems to hush for a moment.
“So she was meeting up with someone.” He nods as if accepting the fact. “It wasn’t me, man. Wish it was.”
His pain is palpable, enough to knife me in the heart. Thomas is the brother I never had, right along with Jackson.
We wrap it up. Thomas and I hug it out, and I promise to fill him in on anything I might hear.
No sooner do Charlie and I pull away from him than I dive right in.
“Do you think he had anything to do with my sister’s disappearance?”
She takes a ragged breath and sighs. “I didn’t until he paused when you mentioned the hotel. I guess I don’t really know. My gut says don’t take him off the table just yet.”
That’s what I was afraid of.
My gut says the exact same thing.
* * *
I wishI could say I went straight home after I dropped off Charlie. We exchanged a heated kiss that made me want to haul her into the back seat like some sexed-up teenager, but instead, I watched as she made her way past the security gate and blew me a kiss. I should have gone home, defused, wrapped my head around things, but I found myself in front of the Wakefield Police Department, hands stuffed in my pockets while I stared down the sign.
The inside of the precinct has always reminded me a little of a café. The scent of coffee permeates the place with undertones of sugar as boxes upon boxes of donuts rest every six feet. It’s true what they say—a cop loves his donuts, but in our case the local donut shop delivers as a gift for the extra patrol we give it during our night shifts. You might say what they’re giving away in confectionaries they are making up in savings on a private security firm. It’s the safest place to be in Wakefield after midnight, if you ask me.
I give a quick knock over Neil’s door, and he perks up, waving me in and encouraging me to take a seat.
“What’s going on? No offense, but you look like hell.” He looks chipper, well rested, and if I didn’t know better, like he was getting some action on the side.
“I shouldn’t look like hell.” I manufacture a loose grin. “I got laid, so you’d think it would take the edge off.”
“No way.” He leans over and high-fives me, and now I feel like an ass for even mentioning it. Being with Charlie was no frat house conquest. I wanted it. I needed her in every way. She’s all I think about, all Iwantto think about. “That’s great. I’m happy for you. I really am, but why the long face?” He leans back in his oversized seat and rocks back and forth, his eyes pinned on mine with concern.
“Charlie mentioned she spoke with Miles. She said he showed her the DMs.” I brush my hand over my face in a fit of frustration. “Dude, did you even look?”
His entire countenance shifts to something just this side of affronted. “Yes, I promise you, I looked.” He laughs at the thought. “Is that what this is about? Don’t worry, man. The investigation is still moving along. I’m not closing any doors, and I’m certainly not leaving any stones unturned. I saw the messages myself. I checked out the account, and it was hacked. It was fake. They werenotfrom your sister. The IP address led right back to Mumford Drive—that’s where—”
“Miles lives.” I close my eyes, embarrassed as hell that I could have even thought Neil was dropping the ball. “I’m sorry, man. My head is everywhere.”
“Don’t think about it. If it were my sister, I’d have done the same. You did the right thing. Besides, you’re in love, right? It’s still new. You want to side with her first. It’s only natural.” He flips a pen between his fingers. “I think it’s sweet that she’s trying to help. It means she cares for you, in the event you’re too dense to notice. Nurture that relationship. Leave the investigation to me. You still have access to anything you want. Just name it.”
“Great. I want to see Lizzy’s laptop.” I throw it out like a stone, wanting to see if he’ll catch it. “It’s in evidence, and my mom is convinced she’s got prized family recipes on lockdown in there. She was downright distraught that she couldn’t find her mother’s recipe before the holiday, and a meltdown ensued. I told her I’d give it a look before Christmas.” It’s a lie, but I didn’t want Neil to think I came filled with doubts. I did, but that’s not the point.
“Hell yes. Let me get it. It’ll have to stay here, but feel free to scour all the recipes you want, sweetcakes.” He offers up a cheesy wink as he rises from his seat. “In fact, I think I remember a file labeled just that.”
I know they’re there. I happened to be at my mother’s while she was copying them out of a recipe book. I shoot a quick text to Jackson as Neil takes off.
Call me in five minutes. Tell me you think someone broke into your car last night. Just do it. When I put Neil on the phone, talk his ear off for as long as you can.I hitsendand hope to God this works.
It takes a few minutes for Neil to come in. I pluck a pair of latex gloves off the box on his desk as he hands the thin metallic case over. He plugs it into the wall to wake it up, and my phone rings on cue.
“Yo?” I nod to Neil as I answer and mouth, “Jackson.” He shakes his head while opening her laptop and getting it started for me. “What? Slow down, man.” I spin Lizzy’s laptop my way. “Hang on.” I pull up Jackson’s texts and delete the entire field before putting the phone back to my ear. “You know what? You really need to slow down. Hang on one more time.” I pull the phone to my chest. “Dude, I’m sorry to ask, but would you calm my pussy of a cousin down and take the phone over to someone who can help him? He’s rambling something about his truck getting broken into. He seems to think it’s pretty serious.”
Neil gives a slow blink as he leans over and takes the phone from me. “I got this, man. Get your mother what she needs.” He scowls at the phone as he heads on out.
A surge of adrenaline hits me as I open the word documents in Finder. My sister kept a roster of passwords hidden in a file, and I know this because after listening to her lament her password confusion one too many times, I showed her what I did and she copied it to a T. And bingo. Here it is, AAAcodex. I told her to label it that way. In the event someone stole her laptop, it wouldn’t screampassword central. I click into the file and scan it for anything odd. Lizzy’s got basically the same password for everything, give or take the numeral one or an exclamation point for everything from the bank to her library card—Pebbles, a nickname her friends gave her in high school. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Nothing that sends the hair rising on the back of my neck.My pics. There’s a live hyperlink attached, but I don’t dare click it in the event Neil wanders in. Embedded deep in it are the wordsBeautiful X Girls. Shit. The user name next to it readsRubyrose, and the password is the same as everything else, Pebbles1. I back out and open and close every file in her documents folder I can in hopes to cover my tracks. By the time Neil comes in, I raise my hands in surrender.
“Can’t find it anywhere. Mom’s outta luck.” I close down the computer and slide it back to Neil. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” I rise to leave, and he hands me my phone.
“We’re going to figure this out, man.” He bears into me hard as he says it, and I believe every word. Neil is a good guy. Perhaps not the best investigator on the planet, but then he’s not as invested as I am, as Charlie is on my behalf. “Go enjoy that girlfriend of yours. If anyone deserves some good in their life, it’s you.”