seems to know. Mike says Dad was working alone and they think he’s hidden something at home. Mike asked me where it was.”
“You know where it is?
“No, I don’t know, Ben!”
“OK, don’t lose your shirt, I’m just asking.” Ben turns his back to me and rummages around the parts on the desk. I realize I’ve hurt his feelings but I’m no good at dealing with emotions right now, his as well as my own. I take a deep breath and watch as he picks up a circuit board and considers it.
“What you doing?” I ask, thinking that I can restart the conversation.
“Trying to get these bits together, like you asked me.” The tone of his voice tells me he is angry with me.
“Sorry, Ben, I’m just trying to get my head around all this stuff. Are you having much luck?”
The apology seems to work for he smiles and says, “I’ve got the hard drive and the motherboard from your computer, and put it together with the power board and the rest of the circuitry from another computer – I’m hoping it will go together.”
“Dad had an assignment in there, and I’ve got homework, so we’re relying on you.”
“Do you think whatever they were looking for is in the computer?” Ben asks.
I stare at him stunned; I’d not even thought about that.
“Dad just used it for assignments,” I say. “And I used it for homework, so I’m sure he wouldn’t have let me on the computer if he’d been hiding something.”
“He could have secured it with a password so only he could open the file.”
“Maybe … maybe …” I consider it. “Do you think you could get it working so we can try and find it?”
“Leave me to it!” Ben says and returns to working on the computer. I pick up my book and try to read.