“And the kid? Is he Dicky’s?”
“That kid is the spittin’ image of me. If anyone would have looked twice at him, they would have figured it out.”
“But they didn’t, because you were supposedly sprung on me. Man, I feel used. But no wonder Brandy hated me so much! Sheesh, you guys could’ve told me.”
“You know how thistown is. You can’t tell a damn soul. The goddamn walls talk.”
He had me there. “Did anyone ever figure out what Wyatt’s role in all this is?” Even thinking about Wyatt made my chest hurt. You think you know a guy...then he cuts your cinch and tries to get you and your bestie trampled to death.
“You remember Lizzy?” Dakota asked.
“Wyatt’s little sister?” They’d always been close, and I hadn’teven asked Wyatt about her. Maybe Wyatt wasn’t the only bad friend in this relationship. “Is she okay?”
“Not really. She got arrested last month for using and selling meth.”
“Holy cow. Is everyone in that town messing with that crap?”
He sighed. “Sure seems like it sometimes. Anyway, she’s got a trial coming up and Wyatt came forward and said Dicky promised he’d drop the charges and help Wyattand his family get her into rehab if he distracted you from the case. And when that didn’t work...”
“I get it.”
“He didn’t want to, Dylan, but you know he’d do anything for Lizzy. He asked me to apologize for him.”
I sighed, trying to put myself in Wyatt’s shoes. I didn’t have any sisters, but I’d do whatever I could for Addison. My anger and hurt melted into frustration and irritation. Desperatefor a subject change, I asked, “Hey, how’s Grandma?” It had to be difficult for her to know Dad had been locked up, and that he’d been in on the plot to kill her and her friends.
“Don’t you go worryin’ about that ol’ woman. She’s doin’ just fine. She told me to tell you to call her once in a while.”
I smiled. “I will, Dak.”
“Now?” he asked.
“No, not now. I’m on the phone with you.”
“Not you.Just a second, Dylan.” There was some muffled talking, and then he came back on the line. “I’m supposed to tell you to turn on your laptop.”
“My laptop?” I glanced at it sitting on the coffee table.
“Yeah, you know the thing that runs Quickbooks.”
I got the feeling invoicing clients was probably the extent of Dakota’s computer prowess.
“Why?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Good luck.”
I pulledthe phone away from my cheek to see that the call had ended. Dakota had called to update me, given me some cryptic message, and then hung up on me. Intrigued, I tossed my phone on the sofa and opened my laptop.
As I did, words typed across my screen and a computerized voice said aloud, “Hello, Dylan. Shall we play a game?”
It was from one of my favorite geek-out movies,War Games. Very fewpeople knew how deep my geek side ran, and Dakota was definitely not one of them. And there was no way he’d be able to hack into my computer. Only one person I knew could do that—my gaming buddy, Quentin. I called his cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail.
I stared at the blinking curser, wondering what Quentin was up to and how he’d gotten Dakota in on it. In the end, boredom and curiositypressured me into playing along. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do.
“Love to,” I typed.
“Good, answer the door.”
The knock came immediately. I looked out the peephole and saw a delivery man on the other side. Wondering if I should open the door, I glanced back at the laptop. Again, boredom and curiosity won out. This was the most excitement I’d had in three days.
