All the Inside Howling (Hollow Folk #2)(43)

“Really, how’d you get the recordings? That guy was an asshole.”

Her face showed what she thought of that opinion, but I swallowed my response.

“Please?” I asked. “All right, so I probably wasn’t as nice as I could have been. But I’m not always surly and demanding.”

She sniffed. “That is debatable. Anyway, a lady has her ways.”

I stared at her in shock. “You showed him your boobs.”

She swatted me across the back of the head. “Does that sound very lady-like, you big dolt? God, you are just as stupid as any other man I’ve met. Showed him my boobs. Honestly.”

Rubbing the back of my head, I said, “Well?”

“I am an accomplished professional, Vie. I have skills and talents and knowledge and—”

“Never mind,” I groaned.

With a small smile, she said, “I downloaded a few games onto his phone. Illegal, of course, but exactly what he wanted. And yes, if I’m completely honest, he did try to look down my shirt a few times. But that’s only because he’s a huge pervert, not because I was trading my body for favors.”

“Understood,” I said. “Feminist rant logged and recorded.”

She swatted the back of my head again.

“God,” I moaned. “Haven’t you done enough?”

“God has nothing to do with it.” The brown Ford pulled into the driveway of a two-story home. The style came from twenty or thirty years ago, with big Tudor-like exposed wood and chipping plaster. It sat in the foothills on the east side of town, which meant the expensive side of town, and it had neat flowerbeds and a bright red door and a hundred other little things that made it look like a home, not just a house. “Welcome to Casa Shockley.”

Inside, Becca led me straight to her room. It was a cramped, narrow space that had a queen-sized bed wedged into the corner and every other spare inch filled with computers. Some were on desks. Some lay on the floor. Some were plugged in. Some were disassembled. The small space held a vaguely metallic odor, but it was kind of pleasant.

“Huh,” I said, surveying the room as I set the box of booze on the floor.

“Count yourself lucky. I don’t let anyone up here. Not even my mom.”

“I can tell.”

“Smart-ass.” Becca dropped into a chair and turned on a monitor. Plugging in the flash drive, she waved me closer. “Shut the door and sit down. It’ll only take a minute.” But it took less than a minute before she crowed in triumph and grabbed my arm. Grainy color footage, divided into four different camera feeds, showed on the monitor, and the timestamp read 14:40:07.

“Yesterday afternoon.” I leaned closer. “You can’t see anything with that quality.”

“You can’t see anything,” Becca said, “because you’re being surly and demanding. As usual. If you’ll give it a couple minutes, your eyes will adjust.”

Not trusting myself to respond to her comment about my being surly, I settled for a grunt. Becca advanced the recording to seven o’clock and then settled in to wait. She was right; after fifteen minutes of watching the grainy colorized footage, it was easier to pick out details, although it was still like trying to watch one of those ‘magic eye’ images. Minute by minute, the footage moved forward.

“This is going to take forever,” I said, checking the clock on the computer. “Jesus, how is it already six?”

“Do you have somewhere to be?”

“Actually, I do. Can I use your phone?”

She passed it to me, and I dialed Austin’s number. When Austin picked up, the first thing he said was, “Please don’t tell me he’s in trouble again.”

“He,” I said, “is fine. Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

I could hear the smile in his voice when he responded, “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“So you’re with Becca?”

“Yep. Pick me up at her place?”

“At her place, huh? Should I be jealous?”

“I don’t know. How would you act?”

“I’m possessive. Very possessive.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

His voice was heating up, deepening, like a slow fire burning the darkest red. “Are you sure you want to go to this party? My parents are out tonight. We could come back here.”

“That sounds good, but why don’t we start with the party?”

“Aw.”

“Toughen up. It’ll be good for you.”

“See you in fifteen.” Then there was this pause, and it was tiny, really, just a heartbeat, but I had this sudden fear, twisting like a corkscrew in my stomach, that he was going to say something huge and dumb, something he couldn’t take back. And then, with that running through my mind, the pause swelled and swelled and swelled. But all he said was, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” and the call disconnected.

Becca was smiling when I handed the phone back to her.

“Don’t say anything.”

“I told you he wouldn’t stay mad at you forever.”

“What did I just say?”

“So you’re going to a party together?”

“Oh God, Becca.”