Hippity Hoppity Homicide

by Kathi Daley

  Alex went into the computer room and I headed upstairs. I fought back the tears I absolutely refused to give in to. I knew if I started crying I would never be able to stop. When I arrived at the door to the nursery I found my dog Charlie sleeping in front of it. I should have known he would be there. If I was home Charlie was most often with me, but when I was away he spent most of his time keeping an eye on Catherine,

  I bent down and greeted my best buddy. I buried my face in his soft fur and took comfort in his presence. “I should have known you’d be up here protecting our girl.”

  Charlie licked my face. Before Catherine was born I’d worried he would be jealous of the small human who would occupy so much of my time, but from the moment I brought her home from the hospital it was obvious he loved and felt protective of her.

  I kissed Charlie on the top of his head, stood up, and opened the nursery door. He followed me inside. Catherine was wrapped in a blanket and sleeping on her stomach. I gently placed a hand on her head of dark hair and watched her even breathing. God, I loved her. Before I gave birth I hadn’t understood the depth of emotion I would feel when I held her in my arms. Catherine had changed something in me. Something primal. I’m not sure I can explain what that something was exactly, but my mothering instincts had been awakened, and I knew I wanted to be a better person. I had this small, helpless person who depended on me for everything, and from the moment she was placed in my arms, I knew the most important thing in my life was my commitment to her, my promise to her to become the mother she needed and deserved.

  Of course, the most important thing I needed to do now was to make sure her daddy came home to her. I leaned forward and kissed her on the head, being careful not to wake her. I paused to make sure the baby monitor was on and the window to her room was closed and locked, and then went back downstairs with Charlie on my heels to find out how Alex was doing with the thumb drive.

  “The drive is password protected, but I can get in with a little time,” Alex said. She had a serious look on her face as she bit her lip while entering commands into the computer at a rate I was certain even Zak would have a hard time keeping up with. “I’m pretty sure once I get in I’ll find the document is encoded, because whoever’s behind this seems to want to challenge you, but I don’t want you to worry. I will decode the document and get you the information you need to save Zak.”

  Alex spoke with such confidence and conviction, I couldn’t help but feel proud. She’d always been a genius, but under Zak’s tutelage she’d blossomed into a confident young woman who had mad computer skills and would probably one day rule the world. Or at least the cyberworld. Socially, she was still very much a thirteen-year-old girl with blossoming emotions and corresponding insecurities.

  “If the point of this little game is to cause you to jump through hoops why would they give you a task to complete that you aren’t capable of?” Ellie asked.

  “Good question.” I looked at Alex. If she hadn’t been home and willing to help me there was no way I would have been able to access the drive or decode the document. Had the person behind the game known she was here and that I’d seek her help? The thought gave me little comfort. The last thing I’d wanted to do was bring Alex into this mess, but it was beginning to look as if her presence had been taken in to consideration all along.

  “We’ve been asking ourselves if the person behind this cares if you get help. Perhaps this is your answer,” Levi pointed out. “The message said no cops, but at no time were you instructed to come alone.”

  I narrowed my gaze. “That’s a good point. Maybe the person expected me to use all the resources available to me, including my friends.” I glanced at Ellie. “Has Salinger left?”

  “Yes, about fifteen minutes before you arrived. There are two plainclothes officers outside keeping an eye on things.”

  “Okay, good. I have a feeling whoever is behind this can see what we’re doing. Maybe they have hidden cameras or something. I want to be sure we don’t do anything that would get Zak killed.”

  “I’m in,” Alex said. She stopped typing and took a minute to look at the screen. “I’ve found the password. And just as I thought, the information on the drive is encrypted.”

  “Can you break it?” I asked, scared to death she wouldn’t be up to the task.

  “I’ll need a little time, but I’ll get you the information you need.” Alex bit her lip as she stared at the screen. “This looks familiar. I think Zak has a program on his computer to deal with this type of encryption.” Alex saved the document and then sent it to Zak’s computer. She moved across the room and logged on at his station. As soon as she was settled, she went back to work.

  “Is there anything I can do?” Ellie asked me after Alex had turned her attention back to the task before her. “Can I get you something to eat?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not hungry.”

  “I feel so helpless. I wish there was more I could do.”

  I took Ellie’s hand in mine. “It’s important to me that I know Catherine is safe and cared for. She knows you. It helps a lot that I don’t have to worry about her.”

  Ellie hugged me. “I’ll take good care of her. I promise.”

  “I know you will.” I glanced at Levi. “Scooter is sleeping on the sofa in the family room. Maybe you can carry him upstairs to his bed.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Levi glanced at Ellie and gave her a tired smile.

  “I’ll make some coffee,” Ellie offered. “I have a feeling this is going to be a long night.”

  After Levi and Ellie left the room I sat down on the sofa. I felt tears at the back of my eyes as I watched Alex work. It was better when I was busy. When I had even a moment to think about things I started to panic. I knew that giving in to the hysteria I was fighting very hard to contain wouldn’t help anyone, but the thought of Zak at the hands of a madman was about to drive me to the brink of insanity. Maybe that was the point. It did seem that whoever had Zak was intent on punishing me. I just hoped this need to hurt me wouldn’t result in the death of the man I loved.

  “I think I have it,” Alex called out. “I’m in. I’ve decrypted the document.”

  I got up and walked across the room. I stood behind Alex and looked over her shoulder at the screen. “What is it?”

  “Mathematical equations.”

  “It doesn’t look like any kind of math I’ve ever seen.”

  Alex bit her lip. “It’s pretty advanced stuff. I might be able to do it, but it would go faster if I had help.”

  Normally in this situation I would suggest either Zak or Will, but with both unavailable we needed another option. “Who do you want?” I asked.

  “Brady is good with the applied stuff, but this is strictly theoretical,” Alex said, referring to one of the math teachers at the Academy, Brady Matthews. “I think we’d be better off with Diego.” Diego Bradford was a new student. Like Alex, he was younger than most of the other students at fourteen and, like Alex, he was a total genius. I was sure he would do well at any college in the country, but his parents, like Zak and me, didn’t want him going there before he could even drive. We both agreed that social and emotional development with age-appropriate peers was equally as important as a stellar education, which was why we’d founded the Academy in the first place.

  I didn’t know Diego well, but Zak had mentioned that before starting at the Academy this past January, he’d been asked to participate in a project of some sort for NASA. If I had to guess it wouldn’t be long before even the teachers here wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. Still, for the time being, the Academy was a good option for the gifted young man.

  “Are you sure?” I asked. “I thought the two of you didn’t get along.”

  “We don’t. He’s cocky and arrogant and everything he says rubs me the wrong way, but he’s a brilliant mathematician.”

  “Okay. I’ll call Phyllis and have her get hold of him.”

  “No need.” Alex took out her phone and sent off
a quick text.

  “I wasn’t aware you and Diego were texting buddies.”

  Alex shrugged. “The guy’s a jerk, but that doesn’t mean I’m beneath asking for his opinion from time to time. I’m better with the computer stuff than he is, but no one in the entire school except for Zak and Will can work an equation the way he does.”

  Alex’s phone dinged. She looked at it. “He’s on his way over. I guess you should tell the guys Salinger sent over to let him in.”

  “How is he getting here?” I asked.

  “He was at the arcade when I texted. He said he’d have one of his friends bring him over. He should be here in about fifteen minutes. I’m going to run upstairs for a minute. I’ll be back down before he gets here.”

  I headed outside to let the guys guarding the house know that a fourteen-year-old boy who would most likely arrive in a car driven by another teenager was on his way over and to let him in. After I’d delivered the message I took a few steps toward the beach. There was still snow on the ground, but it hadn’t been a season of heavy precipitation, so most of it had melted. I realized the dogs might not have been out for quite some time, so I headed back inside to round up Levi and Ellie’s dogs, Shep and Karloff, as well as the three Zimmerman dogs. I could ask Levi to take them out, but I needed a few minutes to pull myself together. I knew tomorrow was going to be a long and difficult day and there wasn’t anything I could do until Alex and Diego solved the mathematical equations and we figured out how the answers related to everything else that was going on.

  As I strolled along the familiar stretch of sand, I felt the wall of defense I had built against the emotions that threatened to overwhelm me begin to melt away. “Zak,” I whispered as tears began to stream down my face. What if I couldn’t save him? What if I made a mistake and he died? I couldn’t live with that.

  I paused and looked out over the dark blue water. There was a slight breeze, which caused ripples on the surface. I remembered the first time Zak and I had come out onto the beach, intending to go skinny-dipping, shortly after I’d moved in with him. The water had been cold, causing goose bumps to break out from head to toe on my body, but he’d been warm. And strong. And welcoming.

  I fell to my knees and began to sob. The pent-up emotion I’d been barely controlling overwhelmed me. Zak was my anchor. My home. My life. I felt weak and helpless against the challenge ahead of me, but I had to endure. I had to dig deep and find the strength I feared I didn’t have. I couldn’t begin to count the number of times Zak had saved me. In fact, Zak saving me had become something of a theme in our relationship. Today, however, it would be up to me to save him.

  I let go of the terror I’d been holding at bay and cried out all the fear. All the pain. I screamed at the injustice of it all and prayed for the strength and courage it would take. I wept until I had no more tears to shed. Drained yet resolved, I stood and headed back the way I’d come.

  By the time the dogs and I returned to the house, Alex and Diego were sitting in front of the computer side by side. Someone had written a series of numbers and letters on the large whiteboard attached to one wall. It looked like gibberish to me, but based on the smiles on the faces of the teens, they had a good handle on what they were doing and where they were headed.

  I went into the den to find Levi sleeping on the sofa. Ellie had gone upstairs when we’d heard Eli crying through the monitor. I decided not to wake Levi because I was sure tomorrow would be a long day for him as well. I picked up Charlie and headed back into the computer room. I pulled a quilt over my legs, tucking Charlie in beside me, then settled in to watch the geniuses work.

  It was four a.m. before we had the answers we needed. What I didn’t know was whether the solutions to the equations were the answers the voice on the phone wanted, or if they were simply clues that would lead us to something else. I had no idea what that something else might be, so I sent Alex up to bed and made up a guest room for Diego. He lived in the dorm at Zimmerman Academy, but until Zak was home safely I thought it best to keep him close at hand. Plus, I’d noticed he had a way of cutting the tension, at least as far as Alex was concerned. They might not get along socially, but they worked well together, seeming to bring out the best in each other on an academic basis. I remembered when I’d first met Zak in the seventh grade. Like Diego, he was smart and somewhat cocky, and like Alex, I’d hated him on sight. It wasn’t until we were both adults that I’d begun to look at him with different eyes. Once I let go of my need to compete with the man who’d been way out of my league from day one, I’d realized the contempt I’d always felt for him was really thinly veiled attraction and admiration.

  Chapter 3

  Monday, March 26

  I was a bundle of nerves by the time six o’clock rolled around. I’d talked it over with Levi, Alex, and Diego, and they’d all agreed it was most likely the person running the game simply wanted the answers to what had turned out to be three very complex equations. That made sense, but because I wasn’t completely sure they were correct in their assumption, I wouldn’t be able to relax until the answers were provided and accepted.

  At exactly six I received a text instructing me to send the answers to the equations to that number. I was too nervous to type and was afraid of making a mistake, so Diego did it for me. For a fourteen-year-old, the kid was cool under pressure. Once the answers had been sent I stood nervously waiting for whatever would happen next. Sixty seconds later the burner phone rang.

  “You have done well so far,” the computer-generated voice said. “You will find the next puzzle as well as the next burner phone in the public library. When you arrive seek Neumann’s advice. You have until seven fifty-two to find the clue and solve the puzzle.”

  “Neumann’s advice. What does that mean?” I asked with a touch of hysteria in my voice.

  “Chances are he means John von Neumann. He was a mathematician who lived in the first half of the twentieth century,” Diego explained. “He was a child prodigy who could do very complicated mental arithmetic at an early age. As an adult, he was an essential pioneer of both quantum physics and computer science. I’m sure there must be a book about him in the library. If you find the book, I think you’ll find the next clue.”

  I swallowed the breath that had lodged in my throat. “Alex, call Hazel and tell her to meet us at the library. Tell her to hurry. She’s an early riser, so she should be up already, but if she doesn’t answer keep trying until she does.” I looked at Levi. “Start the car. I’ll be right there.”

  “Maybe I should go with you,” Diego suggested. “If the clue leads to a mathematician, you may have additional equations to solve.”

  “I don’t want to put you or Alex in any danger. Wait here, but stay by the phone. If I need you we’ll call.” I leaned in toward Diego and lowered my voice. “Take care of Alex. I know she’s terrified about what might happen with Zak. Keep her preoccupied.”

  Diego winked. “You can count on me. I know just how to push her buttons.”

  “Hazel is on her way,” Alex said after disconnecting her phone. “She’s curious, of course, about what’s going on. I told her you’d explain when you got there.”

  “Okay, I’m off. I’ll call you later, but whatever you do, don’t leave the house for any reason. Understand?”

  Alex nodded. “You don’t have to worry about me, Zoe. I know what’s at stake. Diego and I will wait for your call.”

  When we arrived at the library I asked Hazel about John Von Neumann. She didn’t have a biography of him, but she had a book about the greatest mathematicians of all time. She showed us to it, and there was a piece of paper tucked into the page covering John von Neumann’s life. Tucked behind the book was another burner cell.

  “The person who has Zak must have been here,” I realized. “Probably yesterday. They wouldn’t want to risk the book being checked out.”

  “This book hasn’t been checked out for years,” Hazel informed me. “But I agree. The person who put the note
in the book most likely did so recently. But we were closed yesterday.”

  “Okay, so it must have been on Saturday. You were open until noon then. Do you remember seeing anyone in this section?” I asked.

  Hazel thought about it. “Not specifically. It was slow on Saturday. A group of kids came in who needed to find some books for a school report. Other than that, I don’t remember seeing anyone in the reference section at all. There were a couple of women browsing the romance section, but that was it.”

  I doubted whoever we were after was a teenager, but they might have paid one of the kids to put the note in the book. “Do you remember who the kids were?”

  Hazel hesitated. “Not offhand, but I can compile a list of everyone who checked books out.”

  “Okay, great. Call Alex and give her the names. She and Diego can follow up. If a teen was paid to put the note in the book they’d probably be more likely to come clean with them anyway.”

  Hazel stepped away to make the call.

  I looked down at the note and read it out loud. “'Tom and Joe are both kidnapped. Each is isolated, with no means of communicating with the other. Each is offered the opportunity to either gain their freedom by sacrificing the other or to spare the other to achieve the least objectionable outcome. If Tom and Joe both choose to spare the other, they both will be set free. If Tom and Joe both choose to sacrifice the other, they will both die. If Tom chooses to sacrifice Joe, but Joe chooses to spare Tom, Tom will be set free and Joe will die. If Joe chooses to sacrifice Tom, but Tom chooses to spare Joe, Joe will be set free and Tom will die. You are Tom. What would you do?’” I looked at Levi with what I was sure was a blank expression on my face. “Huh?”

  “I guess the person behind the game wants you to choose.”

  “I’m assuming there’s only one correct answer?”

  Levi shrugged. “You got me. Maybe you should call Alex. This sounds like one of those psychological experiments academics occasionally do.”