“Hey, you want to get that pizza tonight? I’ll come over after work,” I asked, sitting in front of my dad. He gave me that look. The one that made it look like I was up to something. I was. I wanted to somehow confiscate the photo album.
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? You asked me last week if I wanted to come over and get a pizza or something,” I reminded him, reverting my eyes to the clicking of my nail.
“I’ve asked you that lots of times. You always say no. I know you. What’s up?”
Well hell. “Fine. Why do you always have to be investigating? I wanted to come and go through mom’s photos. I want some pictures of her, and I want some of my baby photos. The only ones grandma left me were the professional ones mom gave her. I want snapshots, like the everyday ones.”
“Why?” he asked again with that same peculiar expression.
“What do you mean? Because it’s part of my history. I don’t even have my birth certificate. You do. Shouldn’t I have that? What if I need it?”
“Why would you need it?”
“I don’t know. I needed it before.”
“You haven’t needed it since you got your license. It’s locked in the safe with your social security card. I’ll give it to you when you really need it. You’ll just lose it.”
“I will not. It’s mine. Whatever, I still want the photos. You don’t even look at them. I want to see them.”
“Come over tomorrow night. I have things to do tonight,” he lied, dismissing me with a wave of his hand.
Damn. I shouldn’t have asked. Now he was going to go take out the ones I was most interested in seeing. Matt was right. I was officially the worst private investigator of all time. Maybe I should be a kindergarten teacher. Ugh. This sucked. He was probably going to burn them or something. Then I would never know.
Chapter 25
“Are you any good at un-hacking my computer?” I asked Matt, who was totally ignoring me. He wasn’t letting me in on any of my case. I was just along for the ride.
“Who hacked your computer?” he asked, looking through binoculars. We sat side by side on the old railroad tracks, tucked away behind pine trees, overlooking Conker Street and Fleming Law Agencies.
“Becker Cole.”
That got his attention. “Why?”
“He’s a self-governing pig,” I teased. “Nah, he did it when we were sort of dating. I’m sure he just forgot to un-hack it. It’s stuck on his game.”
“Yeah, I can fix it. You’re really not seeing the guy anymore?”
“Nope. Haven’t since the day at the hospital, unless you count the time I ran into him at a restaurant and he fucked me in the bathroom.” I don’t know why I was feeling so lighthearted and giddy, maybe because I decided to be that way. Maybe I decided I was having fun, forgetting about Becker Cole and his screwed up way of life. That comment got me a look that made me laugh uncontrollably.
“Tell me you didn’t really do that.”
“Okay, I didn’t,” I lied. “Where’s your mom?”
“What the hell is wrong with you today? You doing drugs?”
“No, I’m just happy today.”
“New guy? New guy that’s not Poly boy?”
“Sort of, but that’s not why I was asking.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ve just been missing my mom lately, wishing I had a female to talk to about things.”
“You could talk to Marti.”
Snorting, I looked at him like he was crazy. He was crazy. “I said a female.”
“Good point,” he laughed, turning his attention back to nothing. Nothing was going on down below. Normal, everyday Philly traffic, that was it.
“Where’s your mom?” I asked again. I had answers to my own investigation I needed. I wasn’t letting him off the hook.
“She passed away a few years ago.”
“When?”
“2000,” he replied with a narrowed look.
“Are you married?”
“What’s with the fifty questions?”
“I don’t know. If we’re going to be partners. We may as well know something about each other.”
“We’re not going to be partners. I’m just not willing to let you get murdered because your father is too stupid to accept that you don’t belong here.”
“I think he wants me to find my mom’s killer.”
Matt dropped the binoculars again and gave me a studying expression. “What do you mean?”
“You know, I think he wants me to be this excited about all this so I will go on a crusade, looking for her killer.”
Something was definitely off. Matt knew something. Matt was hiding something. He turned back to the small holes, continuing to look at nothing. I startled him for some reason. What was he afraid of me finding out?
“Pay attention,” he ordered without looking at me.
“You never answered me.”
“About?”
“Are you married?”
“No.”
“Do you have kids?”
“No.”
“You don’t?” Shit. I didn’t mean for that to sound so shocking. He looked at me again.
“What are you up to? You’re being awful observant.”
“I saw you with a kid in a wheelchair the other day. Justine and I were at the park.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Is he your brother? Does he live with you?”
“No, he’s my nephew, and yes he lives with me.”
“Oh,” I said, letting a few moments of silence linger between us. I wish he could just talk to me and stop being so cold toward me. He didn’t act that way with his nephew. Not from what I saw anyway. “Why?” I blurted.
“This was a bad idea. Come on. I’ll tell your dad I’m taking this case myself.”
“I saw a picture. I saw a picture of my mom standing on your porch with me. Why was she there? You know something, Matt.”
“You’re crazy. You were never on my porch. I never moved there until after my mother died, so there, Chief Know-it-all.”
“What’s your last name? Why do you only go by M?”
“Let’s go,” Matt ordered, walking in front of me.
I knew it. I was right. Matt was hiding something.”
“Fine, drop me off at my dad’s.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to find my own answers. There has to be photos or something. I think you know something. I think you’re hiding something from me, just like my dad.”
“I met you when you were twelve.”
“Did you, Matt?” Ha! I knew it. Matt turned his lying eyes away from me and led the way down the steep path back to his car. He wouldn’t answer me. “I think you did know my mom. I think that was me on your porch, but why? Why did my dad and grandma try to keep me from going to my mother’s grave? Why did they tell me she died in September, but yet her stone and her death certificate says March?”
“Cassandra, I don’t know the answer to any of those questions,” Matt said, turning to face me just as my feet slipped, sending me flat on my ass. “Go ask your dad,” he dared, continuing down the bank.
A hand would have been nice. Asshole.
Matt wouldn’t take me to my dad’s. He wouldn’t answer one question, and he ignored me by blaring Stevie Nicks on his radio. My playful mood dissipated with all the answers. Poof. Up in smoke. Why? Why all the secrets and lies?
I didn’t go to my dad’s at all. It was pointless by then. He was on to me and everything I wanted wasn’t going to be there anyway. I wanted to call Becker, not Justine, not my new friend Cooper, but Becker. Grrr. Why him?
I didn’t go inside. I got out, stomping in a pout all the way to my car. This was bullshit. It was my life and I deserved to know the truth. Grandma Belle had to save something. There had to be something amongst the boxes in the basement. As much as I hated the creepy dungeon, I was going to find out.
I carried three full boxes and t
wo shoe boxes upstairs. I wasn’t about to stay down there and search on the concrete floor. Uh-uh, no way. It was too creepy and there were spiders. I know, I screamed a couple times when my face went right through their webs.
After I had showered to stop thinking about spiders in my hair, I ordered a pizza and sat on the floor. The first box was mostly birthday and Christmas cards. I did find a total of seventy-five bucks, though. Money my grandma never took out of her cards. She would be happy to know she was feeding me supper tonight. Most of what I had found so far was going out to the curb. The cards and letters were damp and musty smelling, and why on earth would you keep bank statements and canceled checks for twenty years?
A half a pizza and one more box later, I was left feeling full of food and empty of answers. I was just getting ready to open it when the doorbell rang.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked, seeing Matt.
“I came to look at your computer. Jesus, Cassie. What happened in here? Did you do all this?” Matt asked, letting himself in. My house was actually clean, except for the mess I had on the floor. That looked better than it did ten minutes ago, too. I had most of it in trash bags, ready to go out.
“Yeah, well, sort of. Becker kind of did it for me.”
“Why?”
I shrugged, walking to the table to open my laptop. Sure enough, there I was. My avatar stood in the same room she’d been stuck in for months. “I don’t know. He said I had enough clutter in my life.”
“What? He just came in and remodeled your house? Who does that?”
“Becker. He loves me.”
“He doesn’t love you, Cassie. He’s a snake. He was using you. Stay away from him.”
“I am, but I don’t like it. You had nothing to do with that by the way. You don’t hold that power over me. I broke it off on my own.”
“Because you figured out what a snake he was?” Matt asked, walking around and checking out everything in my house. “I love these handles,” he called from the kitchen. “I wonder where he got them.”
I didn’t reply. My attention was on my computer. My game girl was wearing different clothes, she looked sad, and the nightshirt she was wearing had a red heart, saying, I love you. It was planted there by Beck. Matt needed to hurry and get it off.
“Are you fixing my computer or what?”
“Yeah, but this is crazy. At least you got something out of the bastard before you dumped his ass.”
I wanted to defend Becker. Taking a deep breath, I offered Matt some pizza. He took it and sat at my table with my laptop while I continued my own task.
“What are you doing? What’s with all the mess?” Matt asked, biting into his slice of pizza.
“Looking for history. Nobody else will tell me anything. I thought maybe my grandma had something.” See. That look right there. That startled expression of me finding out something told me that I wasn’t crazy. Matt was in on something. I just didn’t know what.
“Find anything?”
“No. Nothing.” I pouted, opening the very last box.
Yes. Finally. Pictures. This was what I was hoping for. I thought, anyway. Most of them were old black and white photos, some were of my mother growing up, and even a couple of her being pregnant, but nothing that would give me any answers. I was probably better off not knowing. Maybe I should just let it go and move on. Sighing, I placed the photos in a nicer, dryer box. I had just gotten my new camera that day, the QVC box worked out perfect.
Matt worked diligently, not talking to me while I cleaned up my mess. I needed another shower. My clothes smelled like the musty papers and cards. “You going to be long? I’m going to grab a shower,” I asked.
Matt snorted. “Yeah, this guy is good. Really good. I’ll just take it home and give it to you at work tomorrow. I’ve got to get Jacob,” he decided, looking to his watch for the time.
Normally I made fun of him for still wearing a wristwatch. Most people turned to their cell phones for that. Not Matt. Not on his old-timey flip phone.
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jacob. His nephew’s name was Jacob. Why wouldn’t he tell me that before? Why was he raising his nephew? And why wouldn’t he tell me? Just stop, Cass. It’s none of your business. I decided for the tenth time to let it go, let it wash down the drain with the hot water. It was pointless, anyway. I didn’t have anyone else to go to. My mother and father were both the only child, both their parents were gone, and I had no idea about my grandpas—no one ever talked to me about them. My mom would have, and she might have. I was just too young to remember.
Thinking about it now, I knew my grandmother knew something, too. I just didn’t know what or why she wouldn’t tell me. I remember asking questions about my mom and dad, about my mom’s death, about my mom growing up, I just didn’t pay much attention when my grandmother derailed them with her silly behavior. It worked every time.
“You’ll never guess what I found.”
“Hello, Cooper. How are you,” I smiled, dumping a can of food in the bowl for Snowball.
“There’s this old school out here that is closed up. I guess it has been for over twenty years. You in?”
“Of course. Want me to come to you?”
“That would be great. How about you come here Saturday rather than me coming home this weekend?”
“Okay, that sounds like fun. I got a camera. I can’t wait to try it out. You might have to teach me how to use it, though. It’s a little more technological than I am used to.”
“What did you get?”
Talking about my new Nikon D7100 DSLR camera with Cooper was like taking a kid to a toy store. He was more excited about it than I was. I had to get out the owner’s manual to answer all his questions. He was so excited about my new camera, more so than me.
“That thing is like a thousand dollar camera,” he excitedly told me.
“Thirteen hundred to be exact,” I corrected. I knew it was too much and I would spend the next year paying it off, but I didn’t care. Nor did I care when I spent another two hundred on all the accessories the salesman insisted I needed. If it made me happy, I deserved it. Exploring abandoned buildings with Cooper and my new camera made me happy. “Hang on a second, Coop, Justine keeps beeping in my ear.”
“Okay.”
“Hey, let me call you back. I’m talking to Cooper.”
“You are? You like him, don’t you, Cass?”
“Yeah, a little,” I admitted.
“Good, because I really, really like Hunter. Call me back. I want to tell you something.”
Talking to Cooper was much easier than I had ever thought possible. We even had a connection, sort of. Not like the weird pull Becker and I had, but it was there. I was sure we were connecting, just on a different level. After a long forty minutes of laughing and talking with Cooper, we finally said goodbye. He wanted me to call Justine back so she could tell me what he already knew. He was afraid of my answer, he said. No matter what I said, he wouldn’t tell me.
“Oh my god. I have been waiting for three hours.”
“You have not. It wasn’t even an hour,” I joked. I was trying my best to leave whatever my past was, in the past, be happy, and think about the future. Even listening to Justine rattle on and on about a weekend in two weeks at Hunter’s family’s beach house didn’t work. It still kept creeping up.
“You better not back out on me. Please, please do this.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Justine questioned, assuming she would have had to talk more than she did.
“Sure. Why not?”
“YAY! I thought I was going to have to twist your arm. I think I love Hunter.”
Laughing, I assured her two weeks didn’t warrant love. Although I think I fell in love with Becker that fast, maybe faster. Okay. New plan. No more thinking about my puzzling past and no more thinking about Becker. I’ve got this.
Chapter 26
I worked side by side with Matt the entire week, coming up with next to n
othing. Refraining from asking questions about anything touchy, I talked about the case instead. I still didn’t care about it, but I did get some practice on my new camera. I was actually pretty good at it. And after getting my computer back, I thought they were rather good. I couldn’t wait to show them to Cooper. I took shots of everything but our suspect, wandering away from Matt while he did the investigating.
Cooper and I Skyped pretty much every night, but I refused to send him any of my shots, telling him he had to wait. As soon as I would think about things that didn’t add up or Becker, I found something else to photograph. I took photos of everything and nothing. One of my favorites was the dangling light bulb in the basement. I don’t know how I captured it, but the glow that illuminated around it caused some sort of camera trick that formed a haze. The old block window behind made it that much more enchanting.
I drove to Cooper’s on Saturday and we had a blast exploring the old school. Cooper taught me a lot of cool tricks with my new camera, the old window shots being my favorites. We took serious photos, silly photos, and even dangerous photos from the fire escape of the old building. I had fun. I was really doing this. Becker was beginning to be a thing of the past and I was living with the cards I had been dealt.
I saw Cooper every chance I got, and we talked every single day, sometimes twice a day. Justine was head over heels in love with Hunter and I listened to her go on and on about him nonstop. I didn’t mind. I was happy that she was happy, and if we couldn’t have the Cole brothers, best friends were the next best thing. Justine even admitted she was more in love with Mason’s money than Mason himself. I knew it all along. She also admitted to already having sex with Hunter. Why that surprised me was beyond me. It shouldn’t have.
I was actually looking forward to the weekend away with Justine and our new romances. A beach house along the coast of New York. Perfect for my new camera. I couldn’t wait to get some shots of the sun setting over the ocean. Yes, I was aware that it would probably be the weekend I finally had sex with Cooper, and that made me a little apprehensive. There always had to be a first time, though. I could do it.