Paranoid(77)

Dylan didn’t answer.

Rachel couldn’t believe it. “Let me get this straight. You made a separate circuit for Harper’s room, one you could disengage at will?”

No response.

She went on, “Did you do the same to your room, too?”

Dylan studied the floor and Rachel’s eyes narrowed. “It didn’t take you long to do it. I was right there.” Another worrisome thought crawled through her brain. “Please don’t tell me this is what you do for other kids,” she said, horrified at the thought. She paused to fill Cade in, explaining about searching both kids’ living areas and being accused of invading their spaces. “And I found an unexplained stash of money in Dylan’s room. Harper said it was for fixing his friends’ computers and the like, but I think there’s more to it.”

Dylan glanced up, then down again and swallowed as if there was something stuck in his throat.

“We’ll need a list of any security systems you altered,” Cade said, obviously trying to keep a lid on his own anger.

“I didn’t do anyone else.” Dylan finally met his father’s gaze.

“He’s not lying,” Harper said.

Rachel wasn’t convinced and drilled her son. “Then what is it you’re into?”

“Geez, Mom,” Dylan said. “What I told you before. Computers. Gaming systems.”

“Why am I having trouble believing that now?” Rachel glared at her kids. “Do you know what happens when you pull stunts like this, both of you? You lose our trust.”

“And it’s going to take a while to gain it back,” Cade said.

“So do we have to start all over with our security system?” Rachel asked, ready to tear her hair out in frustration. “Or is it secure again?”

Dylan nodded. “It’s all working. I hooked it up again when Harper texted me that you were bringing her home. It’s just a simple switch.”

“That you’ll remove,” Cade said.

“Yeah.”

“Tomorrow.”

“Yes!” Dylan’s temper flashed.

Cade repeated, “And tonight, now, everything’s secure?”

“God, Dad, yeah. Go check for yourself!”

“I will. But you show me.”

Dylan rolled his eyes but led them all into the kitchen, then the pantry, where the system control box was located. He walked them through the system, explaining that it was now “live,” that all the doors and windows were engaged.

“Okay, disconnect it for now, and I’ll turn it on after Dad leaves,” Rachel said.

“See how hard it is?” Dylan said sarcastically, tapping in the code.

Cade pointed to one of the tabs that was marked FDC. “What’s this?”

“The camera for the front yard. It means front door camera,” Dylan said.

“Was it working the night the door was vandalized?” Cade asked. Dylan shook his head. “Nothing on this system was.”

Cade’s face fell. “Too bad. We might have been able to ID the guy that sprayed the door if he’d been caught on camera.”

“Yeah, but the image might have been all grainy. This system’s a dinosaur,” Dylan said. “You might not even be able to get parts for it.”

“Time to upgrade,” Cade observed. “You can get digital systems that are easy to install and record and connect to your phone.”

“We will. But not tonight,” Rachel said, suddenly bone weary. “You two”—she waved a finger between her children—“go to bed. School tomorrow.”

“You’re making us go?” Harper let out a disbelieving huff.

“Yep.” That might not be true. Though her daughter deserved a tough punishment for sneaking out, she had been through a horrid trauma, one to which Rachel could all too easily relate. Was it punishment enough? Probably. Still, Rachel needed to make a stand.

Tomorrow.

Dylan shot down the hall like a bullet, Harper following more slowly. Rachel waited until she heard both their bedroom doors close before saying to her ex, “Welcome to my nightmare.”

“Mine, too. And I’m serious about that security system upgrade.”

“Got it. I am, too.”

“Good.” He was walking toward the front of the house again.

“I just can’t believe that Annessa’s gone,” Rachel said as she kept step with him. “That someone would do that. Leave her for dead suspended in the bell tower. Why?”

“Don’t know. Yet. But we’ll find out.”

“I hope so. Does her husband know?” Rachel asked.

“Uh-huh”

“You think it’s connected to what happened to Violet?”

“Yeah.” He thought for a moment. “You know what struck me? Not just that they graduated together, or that they may or may not have been friends. The thing is that both women were at the cannery that night and both testified on your behalf.”

“That’s pretty random,” she said, but felt a little drip of fear slide through her. “I mean, it all happened twenty years ago.”

“And now it’s being dragged up in the newspaper, right? And you’re having your high school reunion, bringing all the players together?”