Such a Beautiful Family: A Thriller(17)

Tank came running into his room a few seconds later, and he pulled his earbuds out.

His mom entered, too. “Hi, kiddo. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. Don’t stay up too late.”

“Okay.”

“Did you enjoy your time with Jane?”

“It was okay.”

Mom looked doubtful. She wasn’t easily fooled. “What happened?” she asked.

He shrugged, then leaned over and petted Tank on the head. “Good boy,” he said. “Jane put Tank outside for no reason. He wasn’t bothering anyone.”

“But other than that, all was good? It looked like you were all having fun when I came home.”

“Sure. It was fine.”

“You’re doing that leg thing again. Did something else happen?”

Sure enough, his leg was bouncing like it usually did when he was upset or worried. He did it so often that he didn’t even realize it anymore. “I guess it just seemed like Jane was trying too hard.”

“To get to know you?”

He nodded. “She seemed desperate, Mom. She wanted to know everything about us. She asked me to set the table while she cooked . . . and then came the questions, one after another, about Dad and Hailey, sports and hobbies and teachers at school. When she found out I like to do coding and programming, she got super excited and said I could intern at her company.”

“Well, I think you’re a little young for that.”

“That’s what I told her, but she said it was her company and that she was in charge and could do whatever she wanted.”

“I guess that’s true to some extent, but—”

“You want to know what’s really weird?” Trevor asked before she could finish her sentence.

“What?”

“I’m a pro at finding out everything you would ever want to know about anyone on the planet, but I can’t find anything on Jane Bell. At least not before she started her company.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Nora said. “After she first contacted me, I did my own search and came up empty-handed.”

“It’s weird.”

“Not everyone spends time on social media.”

“Yeah, but it’s not easy to completely erase all data,” he said. “All you need is an email for someone to collect info on you.”

“True, but there are plenty of removal tools to erase people’s pasts.”

“But those don’t always remove cached information.” Although his mom had worked for years at a company that created, tested, and validated chips used in desktop and mobile devices, and now sold products that streamlined data for companies, she didn’t seem to know much about the inner workings of it all. Trevor had been fascinated by computer technology since he was six years old.

His mom smiled at him, making him feel as if she wasn’t taking him seriously. Once again, he tried to explain. “It’s almost impossible to completely delete yourself or hide from someone like me who knows how to unbury the information,” Trevor said. “Anyone who wants to delete themselves from the web would have to deactivate all shopping, social media, and web service accounts, which isn’t easy to do. And don’t forget data collection sites and outdated search results. The list goes on and on.”

“Jane is running a software company,” Mom pointed out, “which would tell me that if anyone could do it, she could.”

Trevor shook his head. “She must have changed her name at some point. Was she married before?”

Nora thought about it. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, we need to dig deeper and find out more about her.”

“It’s time for you to stop worrying about Jane Bell and get your homework done.”

“Fine.” Trevor turned back toward his screen.

“I love you,” Mom said.

“Love you, Mom.”

After she left, he looked at Tank and asked, “What kind of person doesn’t like dogs?” He slipped the pods into his ears and continued where he’d left off. He was curious about Jane Bell. She was peculiar, and whenever she was around, he got a weird feeling in his gut. He didn’t trust her. Until he found out more about her, he wouldn’t be able to function normally around her.



Nora left Trevor’s room and made her way to Hailey’s. She knocked before entering. Three giant Nordstrom bags sat on the floor. Clothes with tags were spread out across the bed. “What’s all this?”

“Jane didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“After cheer practice, she took me shopping.” Hailey’s eyes lit up. “It was so fun, Mom. She told me I could have whatever I wanted, and then she found a woman who worked there—a stylist—and I was put in this huge dressing room with mirrors and bright lights. They brought me water . . . asked if I was hungry. Isn’t that wild?”

It took Nora a minute to soak in what Jane had done. Jane was overstepping boundaries and, in so doing, making Nora feel inadequate and judged . . . as if she hadn’t been dressing her daughter properly.

“I told her I didn’t need all of this, but she insisted.” Hailey twirled around, showing off the outfit she had on—a red dress that fell just above her knees, a fitted jean jacket, and leather booties.