Gone Phishing

by Bowes, K T

  Chapter 32

  Foolish Love

  Sophia turned the business card over in her fingers and touched the embossed phone number. Squaring her shoulders, she used the house phone to dial. “Melody Foxhall please,” she said to the receptionist who answered.

  “Can I ask who’s calling?” the female voice asked and Sophia swallowed and said her name. A few seconds later Melody’s bright voice came on the line.

  “Hey, sweetheart. How are you?”

  “I’m just about to confront my father,” she replied, hearing her voice crack. “I have this feeling he won’t believe me.”

  Silence followed and she waited, listening to the noises in the background which reassured her Melody hadn’t hung up. “I told you before, I can’t help you,” the woman said. She sounded sympathetic and Sophia warmed to her maternalism.

  “I know, but please can you check your profile again?”

  “I have.” Impatience leaked into Melody’s tone. “It looks fine.”

  “Can you check who your friends are?” Sophia begged, hearing the distress in her voice and knowing Melody heard it too. “My dad’s name is Edgar Armitage and I want to know if you’re friends.”

  “We’re not friends; I don’t know him!” Melody bit. “I told you that already.”

  “No! Facebook friends. I want to know if he’s your friend on there. I understand you’ve never met or spoken to him; it’s a theory.”

  “I’ll ask my son to look at the weekend.” Melody put her hand over the receiver and Sophia heard a man’s voice. She came back on, her tone dismissive. “I’ll check and let you know. Bye.”

  Sophia stared at the handset with a sigh and hung it back in its cradle. She checked the shepherd’s pie in the oven and waited for Edgar to arrive home from work. The laptop sat on the table with her profile open in one tab and homework in another, chatting to Calli and wishing another message box could contain divine direction from God. Her fingers itched with the desire to open the other browser and look at Edgar’s profile but she promised Dane she wouldn’t. Having weathered the storm in Palmerston North, she didn’t intend to risk her relationship again over her father’s antics. A message to her brother showed a tick at the bottom. He’d read it but not replied. “So much for brotherly love, Matt,” she sighed. “I’m starting to believe you’re avoiding me.”

  The task ahead seemed overwhelming and impossible and she regretted not asking for Dane’s support. Without her phone she couldn’t remember the number for his and considered ringing Bob’s house and asking for him. Dismissing the idea as foolish she checked the pie in the oven for the hundredth time. “You can do this,” she coached herself to bolster confidence. “He’ll listen to what you have to say this time.”

  The sound of the Harley roaring into the garage below made her jump and Sophia closed the lid of the laptop, moving it away from the table so she could put out cutlery. Edgar looked tired when he appeared, his hair flat from the helmet and his eye sockets grey and dull. “I made dinner,” she said, feeling her heart beat pound through her chest wall. Edgar smiled with gratitude and accepted the olive branch of peace, imagining his problems over.

  He sat at the table while Sophia dished up two plates of the steaming mince and mashed potatoes, knowing she wouldn’t eat but needing to keep up the pretence. Edgar tucked into his dinner like a caveman, his enthusiasm palpable. “This is awesome!” he exclaimed. “You make it as good as your...as good as it can be made.” He made the valiant save but Sally Armitage’s memory chilled them both.

  Sophia planned the conversation a million times in her head, possessing enough wisdom to know fate never played her game. She began, getting straight to the point as she’d practiced and not giving Edgar a chance to deflect any mention of Palmerston North. “Dad, I know you’re in a relationship with a lady called Melody Foxhall,” she said, watching as Edgar’s knife and fork stilled mid-air. “The thing is, she’s not who you believe she is. She wants your money and she’s making you think she’s Melody Foxhall but she actually isn’t.” Sophia opened her mouth to tell Edgar about her disastrous weekend in Palmy but he robbed her of the chance, getting to his feet so fast the chair shot backwards and hit the bureau behind it.

  “That’s a low blow!” he yelled, bending so he could shout into her face. Sophia flipped sideways from her chair and stepped backwards to put distance between them. Veins stuck out on Edgar’s neck and his eyes bulged as he ranted, calling her names and accusing her of ruining his life. Sophia cringed in the space between the side of the sofa and the breakfast bar, not hearing the words but seeing Dane’s step-father’s anger in Edgar’s face; the meanness and brutality running together in a single image of hate.

  Edgar’s fists balled at his sides and Sophia’s terror appeared to make him angrier, guilt fuelling the fire in his belly. He approached her with his hand raised but then thought better of it, regaining some semblance of control. Turning, he blazed from the dining room in temper, slamming the door behind him. Sophia exhaled the breath she held onto, hearing the ragged release. Beneath the roar of blood in her head she heard another noise and her eyes sought its origin.

  “Let me in!” Dane tapped on the glass, pulling at the handle of the ranch slider which led from the back garden into the dining room. Sophia willed her feet to move, tripping as they refused. Each step looked laboured as she staggered across and shot the catch on the door, diving at Dane even before he got over the threshold. “What a twat!” he snarled, letting loose a bevy of other swear words to describe Edgar. “I heard him from the street but he’d gone by the time I clambered over the gate.” Dane’s jaw worked in temper and Sophia held onto his jacket and sniffed into his shirt, feeling the tension in his body. He swore again and she pressed her face harder into him, wanting to dull the memory of an enraged Edgar.

  “I’ve never seen him like that before,” she gasped. “He used to be so calm.”

  “You told him, didn’t you?” Dane said, stroking her back and holding her, his hands relaxing enough to offer comfort. “I see he took it well.”

  Sophia snorted out a laugh at the irony, hysteria bubbling beneath the surface. “He didn’t let me finish.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t get to tell him about Palmy.”

  Dane shook his head. “Who cares? Bastard! Look, I talked to Bob on the phone tonight. I told him you planned to speak to Edgar. He said if it didn’t go well, you could come home with me.” He placed a finger on Sophia’s lips to silence her before the words emerged. “We’re both staying, okay? I promised there’d be no shagging and I haven’t had a ciggie for almost three hours.” He grinned and checked the battered watch which used to belong to the father he adored. Then he cocked his head, all testosterone and good looks. “Well, two and a half, but I’m a man of my word.” He turned Sophia towards the hall door and slapped her bum. “Get a move on. Pack a bag and drive there. I’ll follow you.”

  Chapter 33

  Hard Lessons

  Sophia settled into the spare room next door to Ellen and Bob’s, smiling each time she stepped on the creaky-board-of-warning which heralded her arrival or departure. She accepted Ellen’s house rules in exchange for a safe place to live and tried not to think about her father. Dane still refused to give her phone back.

  “What’s the problem?” she complained as he drove them home in his car after school. “Why can’t I have it?”

  “I need it. You can have mine.”

  “Yours is crap, Dane! It doesn’t get emails or anything remotely digital! And there’s no data. I used the last little bit last week.”

  “Rude!” Dane exclaimed. “It sometimes takes calls and it texts fine. I can’t get more data until I get my wages next week.”

  “Just give my phone back,” Sophia grumbled.

  “I can’t; I told you, I don’t want you looking at Edgar’s profile,” Dane replied, turning on the indicator and cursing as the stick popped off in his hand.

  “So delete it!” Sophia argu
ed. “I don’t care about him. He can do what he likes. I left the laptop at the house, didn’t I? And I saw the school services lady today. She thinks I might be eligible for help.”

  “How?” Dane narrowed his eyes and used the distance between the intersection and roundabout to shove his indicator stick back into the hole.

  “I told her Edgar threw me out.” Sophia chewed her lip.

  “But he didn’t.”

  She sighed. “It’s better than admitting he went so loco I thought he’d kill me if I stuck around.”

  Dane shook his head. “That wasn’t loco. Pete went loco. I’ve got the scars to prove it.”

  Sophia closed her eyes and tried to drown out the noise in her head and the memory of Edgar’s bulging eyes. She wondered if he ate the rest of the shepherd’s pie or if it still sat on the table as a congealed reminder of her. “I want my phone,” she whined. “Delete the profile; I won’t try to get it back, I promise.”

  “Okay, why do you need it so badly?” Dane asked, his voice soft.

  Sophia swallowed. “It’s got Matt’s number in it. I don’t know it in my head. I haven’t been able to contact him and without my phone or laptop, I can’t see if he replied to my Facebook message.”

  Dane nodded and used extreme care to indicate left using the stick. It stayed in place and he grinned with satisfaction. “I’ll look for Matt’s phone number and write it down for you. Bob will let you make an international call.”

  “No! Give me my phone!” Sophia shouted.

  “I can’t!” Dane pulled into Awatere Avenue and the stick popped off in his fingers and fell into the foot well.

  “Why?” she yelled, feeling her blood pressure loop and anger infuse the skin of her chest and neck with a red flush.

  “Because of what she says about you!” Dane yelled back. “Can’t you see that’s why Edgar’s changed towards you? It’s her; she’s poison!” He hurled the old car up Bob’s driveway and hit a terracotta plant pot at the bottom of the stairs to the garden. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” He got out and bent to retrieve a v-shaped piece of pottery, shoving it back into the gap and turning the pot so the break faced the wall. He fluffed the weeping flowers around it and stood back, a master craftsman pleased with his work.

  Sophia sat in the passenger seat, her face like stone and her thoughts closed to him. Dane opened the door and squatted next to her. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the battered Nokia phone that had lived so far past its sell by date it kinda rang and often sent texts of its own accord. “Take mine,” he said, offering it to her like a precious dowry.

  Sophia reached out and accepted it, holding it in her fingers with her bottom lip trembling. “Thank you.”

  Dane’s palm stroked her hair. “I’m sorry, babe. I tried to protect you but this woman’s one very twisted chick.” Sophia nodded and he leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I broke the pot,” he said. “Do you think they’ll notice?”

  Sophia shrugged. “Maybe. Buy another one when you next work at the garden centre. I’ll chip in.”

  Dane chewed his lower lip and squinted over the bonnet of the car at the wonky plant pot which had acquired a peculiar lean. “Might have to. I bet that one’s a Ming vase from the fifteenth century though. I’m hoping they’ll be fooled by one of our best plastic replicas.” The cheeky smile he added on the end raised a smile and Sophia rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, pushing away the threatening tears.

  “Is Edgar defending me?” she asked, her voice quiet. “When she slags me off, does he stick up for me?”

  Dane’s sympathetic look told her all she needed to know and she gulped back the misery at her father’s betrayal and rubbed the worn rubber casing of the phone in her hand.

  Chapter 34

  Brotherly Love

  ‘Can I ring you?’ Matt’s text threw Sophia into a tailspin, her laptop still with Edgar and her phone in Dane’s hand. Her boyfriend showed her the message and then handed the device over.

  “Give it back after though,” he warned, his expression serious. Sophia nodded with eagerness and sent back the text, wincing at the cost of a simple ‘Yes,’ through the international ether.

  When the phone rang in her hand, she pressed the button and held it close, poking her finger into the other ear to hear over the sound of two thousand teenage humans enduring interval outside in the sunshine. “Matt!” she exclaimed as the call connected and her brother’s voice traversed the thousands of kilometres. “I thought you were ignoring me.” Sophia smiled but felt the tears pricking behind her eyelids.

  “I spoke to Mum,” he said, without preamble. “She’s desperate to see you, Soph. I promised I’d talk to you and get you to see sense. She’s still our mother, kid. If something happens, you’ll regret it one day.”

  “If what happens?” Sophia resented the sudden interest in her voice. “Is she sick?”

  “No!” Matt sounded impatient. “She’s fine.”

  “Is this what you rang for?” she asked, standing and moving away from the soccer game only metres away. “You waited up until midnight in the UK to lecture me about seeing Mum?” Silence greeted her and temper flared in her chest. “You weren’t here!” she snapped. “I watched Edgar struggle with her disappearance, thinking she’d killed herself or been kidnapped. We told you what happened. You sat there at Christmas and agreed how awful she was!” Sophia’s volume increased and Dane looked across at her, concern etched into his rugged face. He turned his body towards her, his head on one side.

  “I went to see her.” Matt’s statement arrived as a kick in the teeth and Sophia stopped her pacing.

  “What?”

  “She’s my mother, Soph. I went to see her at Christmas and we’ve email and chat on Facebook. She rang last night and she’s sorry for everything and wants a chance to make it up to you.”

  Sophia shook her head. “Do you know what happened the last time I saw her? She started in on Dane straight away without knowing any of the facts; that’s who she’s become and I want nothing to do with her.”

  “She made a mistake.” Matthew set his resolve and Sophia heard his determination equal hers. “I’ve forgiven her and you should too.”

  “Why?” Sophia waited, hearing static across the connection. Matt didn’t speak and the realisation hit her. “She offered you money, didn’t she?”

  Matt cleared his throat. “Not her, no. Her boyfriend’s got contacts in one of the Scottish football clubs and there’s the chance of a trial. I’d love the opportunity.”

  Sophia swallowed, the pie she just ate roiling in her guts. “If I don’t play ball then you won’t get to either?” The hurt rolled over her, creating a numbness in the centre of her soul. “You’re selling me out?”

  “It’s not like that!” Matt argued, sounding angry. “Just speak to her and give her a chance, Soph. That’s all.”

  She shook her head, realising Matt couldn’t see. “Is this why you’ve avoided my messages and emails?” Her voice sounded tight and the shrillness brought Dane to her side. His brow furrowed and he tried to read her thoughts without speaking, placing a gentle hand on her upper arm. “Piss off, Matthew!” Sophia shouted, hysteria in her voice. “Don’t call me again!”

  Dane took the proffered phone and stared at the blank screen, his face asking what his lips wouldn’t. Sophia jabbed a finger at his hand. “Block it!” she ordered, her eyes filled with salty tears and her complexion deathly white. “Block Matt’s number. I don’t have a brother!”

  Chapter 35

  Breakthrough

  Dane handed the cell phone to Sophia in the middle of the corridor and Melody’s voice sounded tense as she squawked through the phone at her, excitement making her hard to understand.

  “Hi, it’s Sophia. Yes, Dane’s had my phone with him. Whoa, what’s wrong?” Sophia stopped on her way to a biology class and waved Calli to go on ahead of her. She poked a finger in her other ear to cut out the sound of teenagers moving around and pushed herself backwa
rds into a corner at the bend in the corridor. “Start again,” she said.

  “Bloody woman!” Melody shouted and Sophia winced.

  “What do you mean?”

  “She’s the one!” Melody screeched and Sophia pulled the phone away from her ear. “One what? Oh, my goodness! The catfish? You’ve found the catfish?”

  “I can’t believe it!” Melody snapped. “I’ve called the cops. You’ll never guess what she’s done!”

  Sophia glanced up at Dane who looked anxious, knowing the call meant trouble. She gave him a smile and felt for his hand. He pointed at his head and performed a cutting motion, telling her without words he’d been pinged for his hair again. Sophia wrinkled her nose in sympathy and then jabbed a finger at the phone, wiggling her eyebrows and making no sense. “This is amazing!” she replied to Melody’s last comment. “Do you have any evidence? I tried to tell Edgar but he wouldn’t believe me. He got really angry.”

  Sophia’s eyes opened wide in surprise and Dane cocked his head, alert to trouble. “Okay, what time?” She nodded twice and then disconnected the call. Her face shone with excitement as she relayed the basis of the call. “Melody found the catfish.” Sophia chewed on her bottom lip and broke into a smile. “And that’s not all. She’s flying up for a meeting in Hamilton and wants to see us while she’s here. I’m picking her up from the airport.”

  “Auckland?” Dane’s brow knitted and Sophia shook her head.

  “Hamilton. The plane leaves Palmerston North in ten minutes.”

  Dane looked at his watch. “It’ll take about half an hour to get to the airport from here and the flight won’t be over forty minutes.”

  Sophia nodded. “I feel unwell all of a sudden. You should take me home.”

  “Really?” Dane blinked. “What, now?”

  She sighed and put her hands on her hips. “No, egg. Let’s leave for the airport now and I’ll fake sick. What will you do?”

  Dane shrugged and flapped a slip of paper in front of her face. “I just got sent off site for a haircut so I’m good.”