by D. A. Brown
“You think Barrett and his dad are in cahoots? Fucking with Ginny for some reason?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you want my opinion, I think Stewart Halifax’s stink is all over this case.”
Stinson stood up and grabbed his bag.“I think I’ve done enough damage for tonight. This one’s in homicide’s court.” Stinson turned off his desk light. “Remind me to do an overtime slip on this one. I’m not doing this shit for free.”
Sophia ignored Stinson and looked through the returns on vehicles registered to Stewart Halifax. He had two cars cars currently registered to him, one black BMW and a white Lexus.
“Lexus must be Ginny’s.” Sophia said to an empty room.
Stinson was right about one thing, she wasn’t doing any of this for free.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jared cut through the school parking lot and jumped on the bus just before the doors slammed shut. He maneuvered to the back where he had more latitude to choose his seat. The odor of alcohol and cigarette smoke hung in the air, and as soon as he sat, he spotted the culprit - an old man hunched over and passed out near the back exit.
Jared hadn’t taken out his earbuds since leaving last period. As the bus rolled over the Aurora bridge, he pressed the volume button up on his iPhone and let Rozz Williams and Christian Death moan at him from the grave.
He was supposed to meet his mother at her office but he’d texted her earlier and told her he was going over to a friend’s house to play video games. She’d be working late and he’d be left alone at home to deal with Ed, and that meant listening to that insipid idiot drone on about football or baseball. Jared couldn’t remember a time when he hated Ed more. He thought it would be hard to beat the first few months after his mom married Ed, but the bastard had managed to outdo himself by trying to pry into Jared’s personal life like some kind of social worker cop. Ed was never going to be his father, no matter how hard he tried.
It was close to four-thirty when Jared jumped off the bus at Third and Pine across the street from McDonald’s. It was a notorious intersection, known for its gang banging and dope slinging. Drive-by shootings had slowed down and moved to south-end neighborhoods, but it was still a good bet to score some rock or a bag of low grade pot.
Jared scanned the block for a familiar face, a knowing glance or a chin-up acknowledgment that a transaction was possible. A boy no older than he walked by and brushed his backpack. Jared grabbed his straps and pulled them tighter, running his hand along the back to make sure the zipper was up. He turned and followed the kid north along Third Avenue, and then turned west on Pine Street. Jared knew not to get too close in case he’d misread the cues. A skinny white boy like him would get jumped in a flash, and explaining a beat-down in that part of town to his mother would be a hard one.
He followed the kid into an alley that smelled like a urinal. Buildings on either side blocked out most of the sun, their fire escapes casting eerie shadows into the puddles below. The kid ducked behind a dumpster. Jared paused and looked around for bike cops, then stepped over against the wall furthest away from the boy. The kid pulled out a small baggie from his pocket and shook it. Jared couldn’t see whether it was crack or pills and he wanted neither. He shook his head.
“Weed.”
The boy sneered and waved the bag again.
“Not interested.” Jared grabbed his shoulder straps and jogged south, dodging a puddle of urine. As he neared the sidewalk, he picked up the pace. The sound of footsteps accelerated behind him. Jared took the corner hard and flattened himself up against the side of a building.
Jared waited, his breath ragged and halting.
Suddenly it was quiet. No running boy emerged. Jared held his breath.
“Yo, bitch.” The boy stepped around the corner and lifted his shirt to reveal a pistol in his waistband.
Jared stumbled back, catching himself on a railing that surrounded a sunken stairwell.
“You buying or not?” The boy moved closer to Jared.
“No, dude. I’m looking for weed.”
The boy lowered his shirt and clucked. “I ain’t your dude, bitch.” He stared at Jared as though he was collecting his thoughts.
Jared turned and ran, sure a bullet was about to rip into his back.
The lobby of the apartment building was lit up like Christmas. Two old men sat on a couch, their bodies canted awkwardly, as though they were leaning in to hear one another. Jared wasn’t even sure they were breathing. He slid past the empty front desk and made his way to the elevators. He could have walked up the five flights of stairs to Adrian’s apartment, but he was so out of breath from running he thought he was going to throw up.
The door to the apartment was cracked and a thin stream of smoke snaked out into the hallway. Jared lightly pushed the door open and stuck in his head. The light from the TV illuminated two men in the room. Jared recognized Adrian. His stomach sank when he saw Eldon.
“Hey,” he said softly.
“Hey kid, how’d you get in here?” Adrian sat on a red vinyl couch, a beer and a bong between his long legs. He barely looked up, concentrating on the video game on the TV monitor. His thumbs deftly moved around the game controller in his hands.
The apartment had one chair, a couch and a coffee table held together by duct tape. The only light came from the sixty inch flat screen that sat atop wooden produce crates. The dark brown carpet was barely visible under strewn clothing and pizza boxes.
Adrian laughed. “Get that look off your face. The maid took the day off, man.” He shifted over on the couch.
“You know Eldon, right?” Adrian waved toward the fat little man sitting in an overstuffed armchair. It was hard to tell where the man ended and the chair started, his body was wedged into it so tightly.
“Of course he knows me, dipshit. I’m his youth minister.” Eldon nodded in the Jared’s direction but didn’t look up from the game blasting away on the flat screen.
Eldon Loveschild was the youth minister at the Church of Venus Mountain, a hipster house of worship where Jared’smom and his stepfather attended services. It was full of clueless sheep who hung on every word sputtered by the Reverend Damien Copeland, a skinny, jeans-wearing asshole who filled his sermons with the Bible, bloodshed and bullshit.
Eldon gave Jared the creeps. He was overly familiar with the teenagers and way too interested in the youngest members of the congregation. The only saving grace of hooking up with Eldon was meeting Adrian, a low level drug dealer who appreciated Jared’s gaming abilities and often supplied him with free weed.
Jared sat down next to Adrian and grabbed a game controller.
Eldon leaned back, took a long pull off a joint and offered it to Adrian.
“Take your backpack off and make yourself comfortable. And grab a beer if you want.” Adrian took the joint from Eldon.
“He’s a kid,” Eldon hissed.
“I’m good. I’m just here to kill some stuff.”
“Good boy.”
“So how’s your old man?” Eldon said. “Haven’t seen him at church lately.”
“My old man doesn’t go to that church. He goes to a real one.”
Eldon chuckled and then his face went slack. “I’m talking about Ed.”
“Whatever. He’s not my father. He’s just some guy who screws my mother.”
“Whoa, there, kid. Let’s keep it civilized around here,” Adrian laughed. “Seriously, go get a beer and chill.”
“Mind your manners, Jared.” Eldon shot him a look.
Jared ignored him and concentrated on the game, executing a headshot from a hundred yards out.
“Nice shot, dude,” Adrian said, taking a long toke on his joint before handing it off to Eldon.
Jared and Eldon had each other in a pretty little vise. Eldon didn’t want to be outed as a pot smoking youth minister, and Jared had no interest in his after school antics getting reported to his mother. But there was something about Eldon - a layer of smarmy topped
with a good dose of criminal. And he long suspected that whatever it was, his stepfather Ed was at the edges of some shady shit that involved Eldon Loveschild.
Adrian and Eldon were so consumed by their new video venture, they didn’t even notice when Jared left the apartment. Back at home, he lit up a joint in the backyard before going into the house. His mother was still not home, and through the kitchen window he saw Ed toss his dinner plate into the sink. By the time he finished smoking, Jared felt sufficiently baked to deal with his stepfather.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Ed pulled a beer out of the fridge, slammed the door and twisted off the top. He flipped the cap across the room and into the sink.
“I had a school thing.” Jared brushed past him.
Ed caught him by the sleeve. “Hold up. Why you leaving so fast?”
“Homework.” Jared pulled away.
“Listen, you pot smoking little freak.” Ed grabbed Jared again. “Don’t think you can pull one over…”
“Get the fuck off me.”
Ed stepped back then took a swing. It landed on the left side of Jared’s jaw, throwing him against the sink. Jared swung hard but missed, twirling forward. He fell to the kitchen floor, blood from his mouth dropping onto the light gray linoleum.
“Your daddy never taught you to fight, did he?” Ed laughed and stood with his hands on his hips.
Jared assessed his options. He could make another pass at Ed but his jaw was throbbing and the pot had taken the fight out of him. He stood up and looked around the kitchen. Grabbing his backpack, he threw open the kitchen door and stumbled out into the backyard.
“Come back here, you little faggot.” Jared ran around the side of the house, across the front lawn and into the street. He kept running until he got to the bus stop on 35th NE and threw up in the corner of the bus shelter. He could hang out until his mother got home and then confront Ed with her support or he could call her, tell her what happened and wait for her at the bus stop.
She picked up on the second ring. “Hey, J. What’s going on?” She knew why he was calling.
That bastard already called her.
“Hey mom. Just wanted to tell you that I’m going to stay at Petra’s tonight. Her cat’s real sick and she’s not taking it too well. That ok with you?” His mother trusted Petra’s mom and rarely challenged him when he spent time with Petra’s family.
His mother didn’t answer right away. He was right. She knew.
“Sure, honey. Anything wrong?”
“Nope. I just need to get going, ok? My bus is here.”
“All right. Did you get a change of clothes? You don’t want to wear the same thing two days in a row, do you?”
“Do you really think anyone at the school gives a shit what I wear?” Jared hung up.
Jared was pretty sure Petra’s mother would narc him out if he actually spent the night with her. She wasn’t as strict as some of the moms, but Jared didn’t think she liked him much. And besides, she would notice the split lip and start asking questions.
He got on the number seventy-two bus and slumped into a seat. The inside of his lip was still bleeding, the taste in his mouth reminded him of when he used to lick the monkey bars as a little kid. He spat into his hand and wiped the blood on his pant leg. His fingers tingled and his heart pounded. This was how his panic attacks always started. It had been a few years since his last one, and he thought he’d outgrown them. Laying his head back against the plastic frame of the seat, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He focused on the sway of the bus. His heart slowed and the tingling stopped.
He texted Adrian.
“Got in shit @ home. Can I chill at ur plc?” Jared held his phone loosely and closed his eyes again. Adrian was usually too baked to find his phone, much less answer a text in a timely manner.
The phone vibrated.
“Im not there. Use key dont touch stuff.”
Awesome, Jared thought. He’d have the place to himself. That took care of everything. He could smoke some weed, play on his computer and come up with a plan for Ed.
The walk from the bus stop to Adrian’s apartment was far worse at night, when the street dealers and homeless settled in. Jared was fresh meat for predators. He was young and skinny and still didn’t shave. He had no sense for assessing threats. His mother the true believer, raised him to believe that every bad guy was misunderstood and set up by the cops. Everyone was innocent until proven guilty, even when they were cocking their fist back and about to knock you out. He found it best to keep his head down, avoid eye contact and walk as though he had a mission.
At night it was also a lot harder to get by the front desk at Adrian’s apartment building. There was usually a clerk or concierge stationed in the lobby to discourage the homeless from sneaking in and setting up camp in vacant units. Invariably, someone would overdose or start a fire and then the police or the fire department would crawl all over the place, asking questions that led to fines the building owner wanted to avoid.
Jared didn’t recognize the woman at the front desk. She looked like she belonged in a strip club. Intricate tattoos sleeved her arms. Her black tank top hugged obscenely large breasts.
“May I help you?”The clerk was as bored as Jared was nervous. She barely looked up from her book.
“No, I’m just heading home.”
“Sure you are.” She gave him a quick look and went back to reading.
Jared picked up his pace to the elevator.
The only light in the apartment came from the TV. Jared threw his backpack on the couch and turned on a table light.
Jared peered into the fridge, knowing the potential for anything edible was minimal. He grabbed the second to last beer and cracked it open.
Checking his phone, Jared noticed a missed call from home. It could be from his mom or from Ed, but either way, he decided not to return it. If it had been important, his mom would have left a message. He texted Petra to let her know he was staying with a friend downtown and asked her not to say anything if his mom called.
Jared fired up his laptop and spent the next few minutes trying to remember Adrian’s wireless router password. It didn’t take long; the idiot had used his own name. Navigating to the Start button on his laptop, he logged into the remote desktop connection and typed in “Poppins.” Up came the desktop of his mom’s computer at home. It was the only computer in the house, and he knew Ed spent hours on it buying useless shit on Ebay. He jumped on the browser and pulled down the history tab.
Jared ran the curser down the list of websites Ed had visited in the last few weeks. Mostly, it was what he expected –junk sites, sports betting portals and an occasional porn site. He flicked through the porn sites, not seeing anything he hadn’t already investigated himself. He closed the browser history window and went to the bookmarks bar. It was short – neither Ed nor his mother seemed to have interest in visiting any sites more than a few times. But then he saw it. It was a bookmark for New World. Jared never used his mother’s computer, so he was certain he hadn’t saved it, and he was even more certain his mother wouldn’t even know how to get to the site much less have any interest in delving into a virtual world.
But Ed did.
Jared opened the bookmark. Of course, Ed the idiot had asked the login page to save his user name and password.
He clicked himself in through the portal. Jared knew where to go and he made his way through the various rooms until he hit the lobby.
Suddenly, the screen lit up with chat requests. Colored bubbles bleeped and competed for monitor space.
“Hey bud, ‘bout time you logged in. What’s up? LOL”
“Hey sexy. Cum see me. Brandi”
“BL Conqueror, see me in a private room. Need to talk now.”
Jared navigated deftly through the digital noise. These people didn’t have a clue that he wasn’t Ed. This was going to be fun.
He moved into a private room.
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.
Alone.”
“Good. I’ve been off the grid for a few days. May have a problem with a project. May have been compromised. Will need to stay out of playpen for a while.”
“What’s your issue?”
“Police.”
“OK.” Jared’s heart started to race. What the fuck was Ed into?
“What do you want me to do?” Jared typed.
“Sit tight. Don’t troll for BL’s on the playground.”
The only thing Jared could think that BL meant was ‘barely legal,’ but he was afraid to tip his hand.
“K.”
“And btw, may hv to figure out what 2 do with the old lady ; ) on my ass and getting nosey.”
“K.”
“UR man of few words 2nite.”
Jared paused. This guy was going to figure out that he wasn’t talking to Ed if he made a misstep.
“Busy day. Ballbuster just got home. Hv to go now.” Jared held his breath. The screen stayed still and silent. Jared jumped when the sounds of voices erupted in the hallway.
“Kbye.”
The chat room was empty.
He popped back to the lobby and navigated to Ed’s favorite locations. Each portal was secured behind a door. Some were password protected, others opened when the avatar stopped in front. Jared didn’t care about the free doors – he was curious about the protected domains.That’s where Ed was vulnerable.
He moved to the door labeled ‘playhouse’ and tried it. A warning popped up about age appropriate content and then a prompt appeared for a password. Jared tried Ed’s full name. It didn’t work. He tried to think what a rookie would use as a password, aside from birth dates and social security numbers, but the program would have a lockout feature after a limited number of tries. That would put Ed on alert. As it was, the next time Ed logged in, he was probably going to see the account activity.
He typed in ‘barelylegal.’
The door swung open and a computer synthesized child’s voice said, “Welcome. We’re glad you’re here.”
