Chapter Twenty-three
Jake pulled up around the back of the school, outside the cafeteria, which faced the student parking lot. He spotted Ryan hurrying toward him without a coat, hunching his shoulders against the cold. Jake leaned over in alarm and opened the passenger-side door. “Ryan, what’s the matter?”
“Dad, drive.” Ryan jumped into the car, pulled up his long legs, and slammed the door closed. “Hurry. Just go.”
“Where? Why? What happened?” Jake hit the gas, glancing over. Ryan looked distraught, but hadn’t wanted to tell him why on the phone.
“Drive away. Where nobody can see us. Please.” Ryan gestured quickly, pitched forward on the seat, and Jake drove through the lot, past cars with Go Chasers painted in maroon on the windows.
“What about school? Did you cut class?”
“No, they don’t know I’m gone yet. It’s A Lunch.” Ryan raked his bangs in agitation. “Dad, for real, class is the least of my worries right now. Something really scary is going on. Really scary.”
“Okay, calm down. Relax. Whatever it is, we can handle it.” Jake steered out of the student lot and on to the winding road that led to Lincoln Avenue, where he made the green light, then took the left fork and entered the Stone Hills neighborhood, so named because the homes were made of an indigenous tan-and-brown fieldstone.
“Is anybody following us, can you tell?” Ryan peered at the mirror outside the car.
“No, of course not,” Jake answered, but he checked the rearview mirror anyway. There was nobody behind him except a FedEx truck. “Why would somebody be following us? Ryan, what’s going on?”
“Pull over.” Ryan stayed glued to the outside mirror.
“Okay, relax.” Jake heard his phone ringing inside the breast pocket of his suit jacket, but he’d get it later.
“I don’t know.” Ryan scanned the street, shifting in his seat. “Do you see anything random? Is anybody following us?”
“No. Relax, I’ll park.” Jake pulled over at the corner and put the car in park, leaving the engine running for the heat.
“Do you think it’s safe here?”
“Of course it is.” Jake looked around, and the street was quiet and still. A young mother pushed a stroller, her ponytail caught on the hood of her parka.
“I’m scared shitless. I went to my locker and checked my phone before lunch. Look.” Ryan slid his iPhone out of his pocket, opened the text function, and showed Jake the text in its bright pink bubble.
i am crazy 4 u
“What, Ryan? Some girl has a crush on you.” Jake exhaled, relieved.
“Right, that’s what I thought. At first I thought it was from Janine Mae, but it isn’t.” Ryan started talking fast, running his words together. “She’s in my phone and if it were from her, it would come up with her name. I don’t know that number. It’s not in my Contacts. See?”
Jake looked at the phone number from the text, which had a 999 area code. “So? Somebody has a crush on you. Somebody you don’t have in your phone already.”
“Totally, that’s what I thought, too. I got stoked, thinking some girl liked me. I’m so stupid.” Ryan scrolled to the next text. “Look at this.”
Jake read, ur an awesome player
“Wait.” Ryan scrolled down to the next pink bubble, which had been delivered a minute later. “It gets worse, a lot worse.”
Jake read the text, beginning to get a bad feeling. i watch u all the time “Okay, kinda creepy.”
“That’s nothing, compared to the end. You look at the rest. I can’t. It makes me want to hurl.” Ryan thrust the phone at him. “My phone number’s not that easy to get. It’s not on Facebook, and anyway, I have all my privacy settings on. The school has it, so it could be someone who works in the office. It’s on the team portal, but only the team can get in. You’d have to hack it. I don’t think I have it anywhere else.”
Jake scrolled down through the line of pink bubbles, reading: i wish i cld b w u
ur soo sexy
ur soo cute
ur soo tall
ur shredded
i love ur hair
u have gr8t eyes
I love ur smile
i think of u all the time
i dream abt u
i see u
i watch u
“How many are there?” Jake asked angrily. It had to be Deaner. Deaner must have gotten Ryan’s cell-phone number. Or the texts were from whoever made the video, if it wasn’t Deaner.
“Like fifty or so, I stopped counting. They came one after the other, like seconds apart.” Ryan kept shaking his head, his fair skin mottled. “Keep reading. It gets worse. Way worse.”
Jake seethed, reading.
i kno everything about u
i follow u everywhere
u can’t get away from me
Jake scrolled up and checked the time of the first text, delivered at 11:02. That would have been minutes after Deaner had left his office. Jake had thought that Deaner would go after him, but he’d gone after Ryan instead. Jake scrolled down again and read more texts, delivered only seconds apart.
we shld b 2gether
we belong 2gether
“Oh no.” Jake reminded himself to stay in control. He had to keep calm for Ryan, who was almost hyperventilating.
“Do you see this? Do you see? Keep reading to the end!”
Jake read on: we r meant to be
i am ur destiny
i see u at lunch
i see u in algebra
i see u in english
i see u in western civ
i see u in French
i see u in chemistry
“Dad, she knows my schedule! She knows everything! Or it might not even be a girl, who knows? They musta hacked the student portal, too. Whoever this is, a boy, girl, or whatever, they’re crazy!”
“I know, I can tell.” Jake felt his temples pounding again. He wanted to get ahold of Deaner and beat the living hell out of him. He kept reading. i see ur games
i see u at practice
u cant get away frm me
no one loves u like me
u have 2 be w me
u will be w me
u cant get away
u killed me
u deserve 2 die
dont u feel guilty?
dont u feel bad?
dont u feel sad?
kill urself
kill urself
kill urself
“Oh my God.” Jake gritted his teeth, enraged.
“Keep going. You’re almost there.”
Jake scrolled down.
kill urself on pike rd
die & join me
you know who i am
“Bastard!” Jake exploded. “I’m going to kill this guy!”
“What guy? How do you know it’s a guy, and do you understand what this means?” Ryan grabbed his arm. “Whoever sent this knows what happened. They know it’s me. What are we going to do? They know. Look at the next one, it’s a picture.”
“Okay, try and stay calm.” Jake looked at the screen, which showed a thumbnail photo of a young girl. He tapped it to enlarge it, though he could guess who it was. A school photo of a beautiful young girl popped onto the screen, and she had long, dark hair with large, dark brown eyes, and a wide, sweet smile. The caption read, I’m Kathleen Lindstrom.
“That’s the last one.” Ryan twisted around in his seat, frantic. “Dad, whoever sent this, they know. This is not a lucky guess. This is not a troll. Somebody knows I did it. Somebody is stalking me. He could be watching us right now.”
“No, not really.” Jake had to cool him down. He patted Ryan on the knee, which was drawn up to fit his long legs into the cramped Toyota. “He’s just trying to scare you. Don’t give him the satisfaction.”
“Who? Why? Why’s he trying to scare me?”
“You have to let me handle this.” Jake looked over, and Ryan’s eyes went wide with disbelief and fear.
“What are you talking about? Do you know who this is? What’s going on?”
“Please, let me handle this.” Jake would have to come up with the money for Deaner. There was no other way. “You have to go back to school. What time is lunch over?”
“Dad, I can’t go back to school. What if it’s somebody at school? Is it somebody at school?” Ryan went wild-eyed with bewilderment. “How do they know I play basketball? What’s going on?”
“Trust me, it’s better if you don’t know.”
“You have to tell me.” Ryan shouted, jabbing the air with his index finger. “It’s me they’re after. It’s me they want. I’m the one who did it! I have a right to know. It’s my life!”
“We’re not going to discuss this now. You have to get back to school.” Jake checked the dashboard clock, which read 11:50. His phone rang again, but he’d have to get it later. “Tell me what time lunch is over.”
“12:10. I’m supposed to be in Western Civ at 12:15, but Dad, I’m not going. I’m done for the day! Tell me what’s happening!”
“Listen to me. You have to let me handle this.” Jake disengaged the emergency brake. “The only way to deal with this is if you do what you’re supposed to do. Go to class, then practice, then come home. I’ll explain everything.”
“Dad, get real!” Ryan exploded, distraught. “I can’t go to class! What do you think, I can sit there and listen? Take notes like nothing’s wrong? You don’t know what it’s like at school today! All the girls are crying, all the teachers are upset. They’re going to do a memorial for her tonight. They’re planting a tree out front. The girls track team went around the homerooms to collect money for a scholarship fund.” Ryan gestured, his arms flailing wildly. “Janine Mae was tight with her, she was popular! You saw, she was supercute, Dad. She had tons of dates. I killed her, and this guy knows it. Who is he?”
“Ryan, work with me. We can talk about this at home tonight. Nothing’s going to change between now and then. You give me your phone and I’ll get you a new number.” Jake put the car in gear and was about to give it some gas when Ryan’s phone signaled an incoming text. They both looked down at the screen.
“Oh my God! It’s another picture!” Ryan tapped the thumbnail on the touch screen, and it opened to the photograph that Deaner had shown Jake this morning, of Ryan and him arguing in the headlights, next to Kathleen Lindstrom’s fallen form. “Oh no! No!”
“Ryan, don’t panic. I have this under control—”
“Oh my God!” Ryan dropped the phone. His hands flew to his head. “He has a picture! There’s a picture! Oh my God, what are we going to do? He has proof! That’s proof! Dad, I don’t want you to go to jail!”
“Ryan, you have to keep your wits about you. I have this in control. I saw that photo already. I know what to do about it.” Jake started to put a hand on Ryan’s arm, but he batted it away, angry.
“What are you talking about? You knew about this? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Take it easy, I just found out this morning.” Jake kept his tone reassuring and put the car back in park. “But you don’t have to think about it anymore. It’s going to go away.”
“What do you mean? How did you see that picture? It can send you to jail! Tell me everything!”
“Okay, relax. I’ll tell you but you have to be calm. I’m handling it.” Jake had no choice but to level with him. “Bottom line, a man came to my office today and he’s blackmailing us.”
“What?” Ryan’s hands flew to his face and stayed there, cupping his own cheeks. “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me right now, Dad?”
“You have to calm down. It’s as simple as that.”
“You mean we’re getting blackmailed like on TV? Like a movie? Did he have a gun? In your office—”
“I’m not telling you another thing unless you calm down, and you have to go to class after this.”
“Oh my God! What are you talking about? Are you crazy?” Ryan threw up his hands, bursting into mirthless laughter. “Are you blackmailing me now?”
“Stop.” Jake felt his temper begin to give way, his anger at Deaner and himself spilling onto Ryan, scattershot. “You said you weren’t a baby, so stop acting like one. You need to rise above this, Ryan. You need to ask more of yourself.”
“How?” Ryan dropped his hands. “What?”
“Calm down. Get a grip.”
“But I’m scared! I’m scared for you!”
Jake felt a deep pang of guilt. “I know that, but the best way to help me—to help us both—is to stay in control. In charge.”
“Okay, okay. Okay, I’m calm.” Ryan took a breath. He picked up his phone and held it in his hand. “Okay, I hear you. I’m calm. Just tell me what the guy said, and I’ll go to class. Who is he?”
“I don’t know who he is. I don’t know any more than I’m telling you.” Jake put the car in gear again, fed it some gas, and pulled away from the curb. “All you need to know is that the man is asking for money. Luckily, we have money, and I’m going to give it to him. After I give him the money, it’s done. Period. Do you hear me? It ends.”
“How do you know he won’t go to the police anyway?”
“Because it’s not in his interest. If he goes to the police, he goes down, too.”
“Why?”
“Because blackmail and extortion is illegal,” Jake answered, off the top of his head. He had no idea if that was the proper name for the crime and he didn’t care. He had to end this conversation. He drove past the lovely houses of Stone Hills and the young mother pushing the stroller, feeling surreal talking about blackmail and thugs.
“So you’re going to pay him? How do you know he won’t try asking for more money? That’s what they do in the movies.”
“I don’t, but you don’t have to worry about that because I have plenty of money. If he asks for more money, I’ll give him more money.”
“But where does it end?”
“We have the money, Ryan. It’s not an issue. We live within our means, you know that. We all say I’m cheap, and it’s paying off.”
“How much money did he ask for?”
“Ryan, why do you have to know the details?” Jake turned left, heading back toward the high school. “The details don’t matter. It’s really better if you don’t know everything.”
“Please, just tell me.”
“He asked for $25,000.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God. That’s, like, a year of college tuition.”
“Don’t even worry about it. I have it in savings. It’s worth the money to me.”
“But what will Mom say? She’ll notice that, for sure.”
“No, she won’t know.” Jake got ready to tell another lie. He kept his face forward, looking through the windshield as they were approaching Lincoln Avenue, heavily trafficked during the noon rush. “We have separate checking and savings accounts, in addition to the joint account that we use to pay our bills. I don’t ask her questions about hers, and she doesn’t ask about mine.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Have separate accounts? You’ve heard her say that she thinks every woman should have her own money. She likes it, too, because when she buys me a present, I don’t see how much it costs. I feel the same way.” Jake was making it up as he went along, getting away with it only because he’d never talked to Ryan about their family finances. Maybe Ryan had been right, that Jake treated him like a baby. “Plus when I trade some stocks, I don’t like her to see the losses. I want her to think I’m smart.” Jake looked over and flashed a smile, trying to cheer him up, but it wasn’t working. “Trust me, everything is going to be all right. This has turned into a business deal, no more and no less. I do these every day. I got this.”
“Oh man, I can’t believe this happened.” Ryan moaned, his forehead dropping into his hands. “I’m so sorry, Dad. I screwed this up so badly.”
“No you didn’t. I did.”
“Get real. It’s on me.” Ryan’s tone had softened, and his shock and anger had gone, but Jake wasn’t sure it was an improvement.
“Stop, son. Let it go. We’re almost out of the woods.” Jake drove across Lincoln Avenue, entered the Concord Chase campus, and headed for the road that led to the student parking lot. He glanced at the dashboard clock, which read 12:05. “Good, we’re right on time. Where should I take you? Around the front or the back?”
“The front. It’s closer to Western Civ.”
“Okay.” Jake drove on the road, bypassing the student parking lot and leading to the main entrance. “Just stay cool for the rest of the day, and I’ll fill you in tonight. Try to put this out of your mind.”
“I’ll try,” Ryan said, just as his phone signaled an incoming text, and they both jumped.
“Don’t look at it,” Jake said quickly. “It’ll upset you. He’s trying to upset you. Give me the phone.”
“No, I got this.” Suddenly, Ryan raised his phone and slammed it down on the dashboard, again and again, until it went silent.