I go into the text messages and immediately know that he must routinely delete his threads. There are only two open message chains. One with Declan and one with “Neighbor 8353.” From the house number, I assume that’s the neighbor next door.
I open the Declan thread. There are only a handful of messages, all from earlier in the evening tonight.
Shane:what do u say to upping job description n pay for guy who stocks shelves? I trust him w/ inventory. u?
Declan:yeah, agreed. y now?
Shane:tell u when I see u
Declan:sure // word came down date set on celebration. what condom brand u want there?
Shane:hole in your schedule tomorrow to talk? 10a?
Declan:1130 all i got.
Shane:Ill make it work. see u your place
Declan:sure
I remainfrozen for several heartbeats, re-reading Declan’s second message. Why does anyone need to know Shane’s favorite brand of condoms? For a moment, I try to believe it’s about New Year’s Eve and having condoms on hand for Declan’s houseguests as some sort of creepy amenity. But I’ll be on the pill by then, so Shane won’t need to wear one, and I don’t believe Shane would have Declan’s staff buying his condoms anyway. Also, when Declan writes that “word came down,”it makes it seem like someone else is calling the shots. Date set.What kind of celebration requires a supply of condoms. An orgy?
I open the neighbor thread absently. There are a couple greetings, and there’s a video. After a second, I realize the clip was sent in response to Shane’s request for security camera footage during the neighborhood-canvassing.
I watch the video, freezing and zooming in when I think I recognize the person being filmed. It’s Todd Bardoratch. An icy chill runs through me until I remember that Todd’s not a danger to us anymore.
I stare down at the video as it replays, then I lower the phone, staring at the wall.
Too bad she didn’t have a monster to avenge her.Those were Shane’s words about my mom’s assault. And when I asked what a monster would do, he said, “monster things.” Like causing a near-fatal car wreck?
No.It was a single-car accident, and Shane wasn’t anywhere near campus at the time it happened.
Shane is so smooth though, and he has those ties to the Irish Mafia. On Saturday, he showed his grandfather a video clip of something.
I look at the time his neighbor sent the video. Saturday during brunch. Right after which, Shane announced he wanted to stop by his grandfather’s on our way out of Boston. Could Mr. Sullivan have sent someone to deal with the man Shane suspected of trying to kill us?
I shake my head. It’s too crazy. The fire just happened three days ago. They wouldn’t have had time to retaliate this quickly, would they? And anyway, it was a one-car accident, not some hit and run.
Unless someone ran him off the road and kept going. Or tampered with his car…
No.
Then I think about Todd’s black eye the morning after he threatened me on the video call. Shane never left the house that night. He sent someone to intimidate Todd and then had Erik Sorensen watch over me the next day to be sure I wasn’t hassled. There were no delays. No long planning sessions. Shane dealt with that situation immediately. And, by doing so, he proved he doesn’t need to hurt anyone directly. He can arrange for it to happen.
My mouth goes bone dry. I need a glass of water, but I can’t seem to move.
The uncertainty is killing me. Was Todd’s crash an accident? Or something Shane arranged? And does that mean that Todd is Casanova? We didn’t find a flower on the night of the fire, but the arsonist was interrupted in the middle.
I open the gallery on Shane’s phone. I want to see if there are any more videos of Todd from Shane’s neighbors or anyone else.
I find a video of my project presentation, and a picture of me from the Shamrock Café that I didn’t realize he took. I exhale a little sigh because it’s sweet that he has these.
I pause, feeling suddenly awful for rummaging through his phone.
If Shane knows Todd tried to kill us and that he’s Casanova, then Todd had to be stopped. Not just as revenge, but because he would’ve gone on to hurt other girls.
I lower the phone and almost swipe to re-lock it, but if there is any other evidence that Todd is Casanova, I want to know. I return to the gallery.
I discover some photos of Shane’s house from the night of the fire and the next morning, but no more of Todd.
