Part 14 (2/2)
Christopher, he exclaimed. My man! And youve brought visitors His voice trailed off as he saw just who his visitors were.
I thought there was a strong possibility Felixs eyes might bulge so far out of his head that theyd detach from his retinas entirelyespecially when he saw Lulu. At the last minute, however, he pulled it together.
Then he said, Ladies! h.e.l.lo. Welcome to the Mens Den. Good to have you here. How thoroughly excellent of you to come. Did the matriarch offer you brownies?
You have got to be kidding me. Stevens voice, behind me, was wooden.
Just give it a chance, I said to him quietly.
I will not give it a chance. Steven sounded like he was strangling. That is a child.
Au contraire, mon frere. Felix, evidently overhearing him, pulled up a pant leg to reveal an evil-looking black plastic device attached to one”surprisingly hairy”ankle. Does this look childlike? I a.s.sure you, its anything but. This is a state-of-the-art house-arrest tracker system. Tamper-resistant. Communicates wirelessly to the docking station upstairs in the kitchen. Its connected to a transformer and the phone line. It will notify the police the minute I step outdoors. Hardly something your average fourteen-year-old boy would wear, now, is it? But then, Felix added, with a pointed glance in my direction, Im extremely mature for my age, as Im sure you ladies can tell.
Steven tensed up and looked like he was about to slug the kid. But Lulu laid a gentle hand on his arm, murmuring soothingly, Oh, Steven, come on. Listen to Nikki. Just give it a chance.
Christopher, meanwhile, was leaning up against a support post, a small smile playing across his lips.
Everyone, he said. My cousin, Felix. Felix. Everyone.
This, I said, pointing, is Steven”
Christopher held up a hand. I think its probably better if we keep it anonymous, he said. I mean, as anonymous as we can, considering there are celebrity superstars among us.
Dont think just because youre famous, Ms. Howard and Ms. Collins, Felix let us know, that Im going to treat you any differently than I would if you were any other attractive ladies. I actually know some celebrities”some of my best friends are celebrities, though I cant mention names of course, because Im too chill”and I know how upset they get when people make a big deal out of their fame. So you dont have to worry. Im cool about the celebrity thing.
Lulu and I exchanged glances. Then I said the only thing we possibly could say, under the circ.u.mstances, which was, Umgreat. Thanks.
The truth was, people said this kind of thing to me a lot. Everybody wanted me to know they werent the kind of person who was impressed by celebrities, and that they were going to treat me like a normal person.
Except that just by telling me that, they werent treating me like a normal person.
Christopher”who had to know his cousin was a bit of a tool but was mostly keeping his gaze averted, as if he wanted to avoid the whole situation and escape off into his own little world”asked, Nikki, do you have that information we asked you for?
Oh. I was startled. Christopher was the one whod always treated me like a noncelebrity. To the point where hed almost treated me like a nonhuman at times. Yeah I still wasnt sure how I felt about ratting out Stark to Christopher and Felix. On the one hand, I honestly didnt think their plan was going to work. I mean, we were talking about Stark, which according to Christopher was the largest corporation in the entire world. Were two teenagers really going to be able to take it down with their little hack?
Yeah, so not.
On the other hand, they were so going to get caught. One of them was already wearing an ankle bracelet and, from the looks of things, living in a bas.e.m.e.nt, playing video games, and eating brownies served by his mother all dayon the surface the most ideal of existences for a kid, but in reality actually kind of horrible, with his obviously made-up relations.h.i.+ps with celebrities and delusions of grandeur. Was that really the sort of future I wanted for Christopher?
No, of course not.
But if that were true, would I have gone to school this morning, pulled him out of cla.s.s during finals week, and dragged him all the way out to Brooklyn to his cousins house?
I wasnt sure. But I had to do something. Because my days of doing nothing but running around with a bug detector in my pocket were over.
Its Dr. Louise Higgins, I heard myself saying. Thats the user name.
SEVENTEEN.
FELIX DIDNT WASTE ANY TIME. HE TURNED around and headed straight for his computer chair in the center of all his mismatched monitors.
And her pa.s.sword, I said, remembering the way Dr. Higginss fingers had flown over her keyboard, is Miss Kitty, one word, all lowercase.
Sweet, Felix said, typing.
What, Steven said, taking a few steps forward so he could see what was coming up on the computer screens flicking before us, does any of this have to do with my missing mother?
Its just, I said, what I had to do in order to get them to look for her.
And were men of our word, Felix said. Behold. He reached for a bunch of papers that had been spitting out of one of his many printers while wed been standing there, then waved them in the air. The last known whereabouts of Dolores Howard, also known as Dee Dee, also known as your mom.
Steven s.n.a.t.c.hed the pages from Felixs hand as Christopher came over to watch Felix, who, completely uninterested in any of us anymore, entered the information Id given him.
Does it work? Christopher asked his cousin. Are we in?
Oh, yeah, Felix said, sounding pleased. Were in.
Wait a minute. Steven was looking down at the papers in his hands, shuffling through one after another, peering at each one. This doesnt say where she is. This just says her Social Security number hasnt been used to register for any new jobs or credit cards or places to live since she disappeared.
Thats right, buddy. Felixs fingers flew over the keyboards in front of him, while the various monitors flickered with information that, to me, just looked like jumbles of numbers and incomprehensible data.
But. I felt my blood run cold on Stevens behalf. Christopher, you said Felix could find her.
Unless shes dead. Christopher didnt even bother looking over at me. He pointed at one of the computer monitors and said to Felix, Look. Look at that.
I know, Felix said.
Lulu crossed the room, her high heels clacking on the cement floor, and came to stand very close beside Steven. Then she reached for his hand, the one that wasnt holding the pages of information about his mother. She didnt say anything. She just reached for his hand, then squeezed it.
He didnt seem to notice.
So you think his mother is dead? I demanded. I didnt mean to sound harsh, but I was angry. Not so much at Felix, because for all his brains, he was just a kid who thought he was a gangster, and didnt know better. But Christopher. I knew he knew better”he should have been showing more concern for Steven.
But all his attention was completely glued to those stupid slapped-together computer screens. I hadnt any doubt he was eager to get started on his diabolical scheme to bring down Stark Enterprises and avenge the wrongful death of Em Wattsa girl he had never even bothered to kiss while she was legally alive.
But he could at least have looked over at us. He could at least have said he was sorry. A mans mother was dead!
What? Christopher must have felt the intensity of my gaze, since he finally glanced over. What are you talking about?
Felix looked over at us, too.
Dead? he echoed. I didnt say she was dead. Did I say she was dead? No. No unidentified bodies fitting Dee Dee Howards age, description, or dental records have turned up anywhere in the past few weeks in any of the databases I tappedwhich was all of them, by the way. Felix shrugged as he turned back toward one of his keyboards and started typing again with lightning speed. Its possible, of course, that someone corked her and then threw her in a lake somewhere. Floaters dont usually pop up to the surface until spring when the temperatures rise and the gases in the bodies start the decomposing process”
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