Part 13 (1/2)
August 10: Car to garage The Lexus had developedRiver Hills Country Club 5 pe for P
Kip's cousin Sophie Wanna the invitation, handwritten in flowing calligraphy on expensive parch I'd been looking forward to attending the wedding, and had even considered splurging on a new dress So why hadn't I been at the Wanna?
Because that was the week h to land her in the hospital, I remembered I'd flon to Florida to stay with my dad while Mom recovered Kip had seized the opportunity to take Prentice to the wedding And ordered her a corsage, the scu odd here: Kip's office entries had dwindled at the beginning of Septes, corporate brunches, or other dreary business obligations What had been going on in his life the first weeks of Septe latethat the clatter Iready for oke hi Even if you were the boss's nephew, constantly being AWOL was a bad decision Kip was behaving as though he didn't care if he was fired
September 16:See Bill re Sea Goddess 10 am South Marina
The Goddess! Kip had always admired that boat, a s buddies Was Kip seriously thinking of purchasing a yacht? That was nuts-even a srand!
Nohis yacht-sailing, Maserati-driving new lifestyle, shouldn't she and Kip have been spending face tiether? Or was Kip's inco like a hip-hop star who'd just cut a record deal, had things cooled between them?
September 18: Lawyer 10 am re Mazie/Divorce
I'd rated a mention at last! I was now Mazie-slash-divorce, a distasteful tag end of business to be checked off Kip's to-do list
The last few entries were for upco events, events he'd never lived to experience
October 5: Pick up suit at Phillips Phillips was a store that sold expensive menswear
Noveers on the keyboard, thinking so hard oodies come from?
Scenario one: His blue chip chippie Prentice had handed Kip a chunk of change, a little walking-around et olo is just an Italian word
Scenario two: Someone had died and left him a pile of money Not very likely Transfers of wealth involved an unGodly amount of paperwork as well as the notification of spouses and the IRS
Scenario three: Vanessa was giving him money Possible, but unlikely Vanessa ell-to-do, but she certainly wouldn't fling ht end up wrapped around a telephone pole
Kip's calendar didn't supply anyup So what next? I got up and walked over to the refrigerator ie patience I broke down, opened the fridge, and gave him the other half of the wiener
”Where do I look next?” I asked hi that I had the brains of a Milk Bone dog biscuit Where else do you look up people? The social networking site that everyone uses, even the Pope
I went back to Jelka's coe stayed up beyond divorce, disgrace, and death, the cyberspace equivalent of ied in; Kip was nothing if not predictable He'd used a boating shot for his profile photo Out on the lake, wearing sunglasses, with his hair ruffled by the wind, he looked like JFK Junior
I scrolled through the photos in Kip's album He ether But he had uploaded photos froroom And there was Kip are pinned to her chicken wing shoulder A blurb issued froave you half a et out of those clothes!
Not really No blatant clues like that, just a bunch of wealthy suburbanites grinning at the cane Bear was in several of the photos, posing with the bride, the bride's mother, and a bunch of other richie-riches
Not helpful I started scrolling through Kip's Friends list Charlene Brenner appeared as a friend Since I couldn't think of anything else to do, I clicked on her profile
Wow! Charlene co her every h the pictures in reverse order, the newest ones first, then the older ones Soe Mostly they were of Charlene and her friends, but there were so days In one photo a young hunk with dyed-blond hair, wearing a ski off his biceps, his triceps, and-outlined graphically by the Speedo-his heat-seeking love ed the picture: Bear, Malibu, 1999
I peered closer, studying the strong jaw, the wide, thin-lippedswauy in the Luis snapshot
Escape hint 18: Trust your gut Guts don't lie
”No way,” I muttered
Where was the Luis photo? I panicked for a second before reuy shi+rt, now stuffed in the back of Charlene's closet I hurried to retrieve it, smoothed out its creases, and coed out-same surfer blond hair, same jaw, same build I zoomed the Facebook photo At 400 percent, the tattoo on Bear's left bicep leaped into focus as a Harley Davidson eagle
The guy in the Luis snapshot had a dark blob on his left bicep that could have been a tattoo Or a smear of blueberry popsicle or a hairyto conclusions? This whole notion was preposterous Half the men in America had bicep tattoos More details popped out as I examined the snapshot under a lamp: a newspaper with a Spanish headline, liquor bottles with Spanish labels It ht be a place in Mexico; the boy looked Mexican I squinted at the tiny printed date at the bottom of the Luis snapshot If the camera's built-in dater had been set correctly, the picture was about twelve years old
Bear had been head of his coo
Why was the man's arm wrapped around the kid's shoulder? There could be a perfectly innocent explanation-ame of Couch Twister Only that's not what it looked like And as the guy who reseh to shi+eld his face?
Turning the snapshot over, I stared at the number on the back, written in Kip's sloppy scribble Why had Kip hidden this photo in his secret stash at Vanessa's house? Why not just hide it in our house? Maybe because he didn't want to risknosy questions about it Who was Luis, anyway? Before I could talk myself out of it, I picked up the kitchen phone and dialed the number on the back of the snapshot
”Hola?” A woman's voice Spanish; I could hear the upside-down question mark
”UhhIs Luis there?”
A pause Then, ”Who is this?”
”A friend”
”Yeah, some friend Luis is dead and you should drop dead too, bitch” Slam
Jeez
Luis was dead? What did that mean? I needed to know more I started to redial, then replaced the receiver Did I really need to get chewed out twice?
This was a job for FonePhlip!
Type a phone number into your computer and Phlip spits out a na these days I learned about FonePhlip from Vonda ”The Virus” Wollensky-hacker, identity thief, and Taycheedah's reigning ar chaical advance happening on the outside, so in case we ever get paroled and see flying cars on't flip out She explained to us how corporations track your every Google search, how nothing you ever do on the Internet really goes away, and how even your emptied trash lurks forever in the depths of your hard drive
In seconds I had the nauello, 1633 East Schiller Street Nohat did I do? I desperately wanted to ask Ben Labeck for advice, but I'd burned es with him when I'd stolen his car
A key rattled and the front door opened ”Loo-see,” Bear called fro the guilt dance In one twitchy motion, I switched off the computer, rocketed off the stool, and frantically tried to stuff the snapshot into Charlene's strangler jeans, which turned out to lack pockets Clawing at the jeans' tight waistband, I crammed the snapshot into my underpants