Natalie noticed an open window on the side of Deputy Daly's apartment.
"It's not breaking and entering if it's unlocked, is it?"
When Natalie had turned 16, Ted said he'd take her anywhere she wanted. She told him she wanted to go to the practice facility for the nearby professional basketball team. The two of them got to the building long after it had shut down for the day. After all, summer was the offseason.
"We're here, now what?" he'd asked.
"Now you trust me."
Natalie had played at a camp earlier that summer that provided the students with keycards to enter the building. She and Ted walked around to one of the entrances and the card worked like a charm.
"Natalie, isn't this a bad idea?"
"My birthday, my rules."
Ted couldn't argue with that and the two of them entered. Natalie figured out the lights and found a ball for the two of them.
"Why'd you want to come here?" he asked. "We have courts in Treasure."
"Yeah, but this is where the pros play. This is where they hone their craft. This is where the real work happens."
Ted looked around the room as he tapped his hand on his side. Natalie took the hand in her own and looked into his eyes. She wanted to take away all his anxiety with a kiss. She pulled his body closer and took in his scent.
"You're a little crazy," he said. "I don't think most girls would break into a professional practice facility for their sweet sixteen."
Natalie tightened her arms around Ted's waist. She knew she had everything she wanted right there.
"I'm not like most girls."
"So I've heard," he said.
Natalie brought her lips to Ted's and felt him kiss her back. The two of them made out on center court right then and there. That was the first and only time she'd ever broken into a building. There had been no repercussions that time. Maybe she'd be two for two.
Natalie walked to the window and pulled herself in, nearly slipping on a pile of magazines as soon as she planted her feet on the inside. She closed the window and took a look at her surroundings. The pile she'd entered on wasn't the only one, by far. There were heaps of clothes, stacks of dishes and two small pyramids of popcorn on the floor. The room had a musty gymnasium smell to it.
"Ted may have his issues, but there's no way he'd live like this."
Natalie remembered her mission. Her hopes that Erica had been dating a drug kingpin had been dashed when she'd discovered Deputy Daly's identity. An underage sex scandal might be enough to get Erica's parents to send her to boarding school, though.
Natalie stepped over the popcorn and magazines to look for obvious clues. There were no lingerie items or pictures of Erica and the deputy in plain sight. She spied a computer on the other side of the room. It was already turned on and humming when she sat down at the desk. She clicked the mouse and the desktop came up without any password whatsoever.
"That's too bad. It would've been fun to guess," she said, feeling like a real private eye.
Natalie opened the web browser, which immediately went to and opened Daly's email. She felt a rush.
"No wonder hackers risk their lives doing this."
Natalie typed in Erica's name in the search. Over 100 messages came up.
"Holy crap."
The first email came over a year ago. The last was on the day Erica disappeared from town. Natalie began to read through them. She gathered that Erica and the deputy met at some charity barbecue her parents dragged her to. He lamented the fact that she was 15 at the time, because the two of them really connected. They continued some gag-worthy back-and-forth affection for a few months until the emails turned dirty. Natalie had no problem missing out on a few facts by skipping ahead until the last month of emails. She clicked on one long thread of messages only six days before Erica disappeared. One message from Daly caught her eye.
"I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought you were just playing around when you said you didn't want to. You know I'll love you forever and I would never try to upset you."
Natalie felt her stomach sink. She didn't want to feel bad for her enemy, so she directed her emotions to hate the deputy. Erica took three days to respond to the email and the four other messages Daly sent in the meantime.
"It really put some things in perspective. We can't wait any longer. You and I need to run away now. I'll change my name and we'll do this the right way. Unless you want me to tell your boss what happened."
Natalie shook her head.
"This was the girl you were hung up on, Ted? She's a mess."
Natalie scrolled ahead to the final email between the two of them. Erica asked that they meet late at night at their spot in the woods.
"One last time before we leave this place forever."
If Erica planned on leaving with the deputy for good, why were both of them still in town? Natalie considered forwarding the message to her own email, but she opted for a picture of the email instead.
"Less traceable."
Just then, a key turned in the front door. She exited out of the browser and ran back toward the window. The deputy entered before she could open it again, and she opted to hide behind a couch instead.
"I'm screwed."
She heard the deputy's footsteps slowly clacking against the hardwood floor. He could sense someone was there.
"Erica? I know it's you, Erica."
Natalie heard the click of a gun as the deputy continued to approach.
"You could have just stayed away. Everything was fine. But now nothing makes sense anymore."
These two were meant for each other, a couple of head cases, Natalie thought.
She knew she'd have to act quickly or she'd end up with a bullet wound. She reached around the couch to grab a ceramic mug sitting on top of the dirty dishes.
"From long range," she whispered.
Natalie tossed the mug through the living room, past the small dining room and into the kitchen, where it landed in the sink. The smashing sound had the intended effect.
When the deputy came running into the kitchen, Natalie made a break for it. She put her school-record 50-yard dash to good use and opened the door before the deputy even had a chance to turn around. She wasn't sure if he followed her, because she was moving too fast to look back. When she'd reached a safe distance, she hid in somebody's backyard and looked at the email once again while recapturing the use of her lungs.
"Whatever happened that last night, the deputy's willing to kill you to cover it up," Natalie said. "It's gotta be some kind of blackmail. There's jail time for that, right?"
Natalie was afraid – an unfamiliar sensation. She knew her investigation had taken her far beyond just lying to her parents. Now she was breaking into houses and hacking into other people's emails. She knew it wouldn't take long to get to the woods to see if any evidence remained at Daly and Erica's special spot.
"Is it worth it, Nat?"
She pondered the question, looking at the email one last time.
"Whatever she did to Daly to make him so mad, she could do the same thing to Ted. I'm not going to let that happen."
When she didn't hear sirens after a few minutes, Natalie knew she was in the clear. She charted her path to the woods and began to jog there.