“So, anyway,” Dani said. “Someone phoned my mom this morning and said they saw us last night.”
“Who?”
“That’s the crazy thing. I don’t know. They called while Mom and me were having breakfast. Dad had gone to work already. But what really gets me is they lied.”
“They lied?”
The AC had crapped out completely sometime in the early afternoon, and there’s only so much a box fan can do, even if you move it around with you from room to room. The air felt as thick as cream of mushroom soup. Every inch of my body was coated with greasy sweat. But when Dani said this, it seemed to cool and congeal into a clammy paste. I chewed off a hangnail.
“Yeah, whoever this was said they saw us in Statesboro.”
After this last bit of bad news, I accidentally swallowed the tiny bit of skin.
“How would we get to Statesboro?” I asked her. Statesboro was about twenty miles away.
“That’s what I told my mom. She thinks we went with some older boys.” Dani let out a long, nervous laugh. “Close enough to the truth to rattle me when she told me. This person said he saw us in the Waffle House on Main Street. I told my mom to call the Waffle House and ask, but she won’t.”
“He?”
“A figure of speech, Lynn. Ever hear of those?” She made a snuffling sound. I had a mind to hang up on her. Then, between breaths, she dropped the sarcasm. “Actually, I have a feeling it was a she.”
“You don’t think it was the same one who sent the e-mails, do you?” I didn’t want to believe this was possible.
“Uh-uh.” Dani munched on something as she talked and this made it hard to understand what she was saying. “My mom knew this person, whoever it was. She said she wouldn’t tell me who it was because she didn’t want me trying to get back at them. And now I’m grounded for an extra fucking month. I’m not supposed to use the phone for a month either. She even hid my cell charger. I bet it was that bitch Hazel that called. My mom knows her. I’m starting to think Hazel’s behind the e-mails too. I don’t know how she did it, but I know it was her.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “That sounds too smart for Hazel. Plus, we got the e-mails before you all fought.”
“I’m going to get that bitch.” In the background, a door squeaked open. I heard the hum of a refrigerator. “My mom let Wynn come over because I told her the Internet was messing up again. I showed him the new e-mails. All he did was babble a bunch of nerdish at me. But he’s coming over later to try and figure them out while I watch Judge Judy. I think he’s cooking up a plan and—” Dani groaned. “Oh God, my life sucks. We’re out of Diet Coke.”
“Is the punishment written in stone?”
Sometimes Dani’s mom would give in after a few days and let her off the hook. I guess it depended on how steamed up she was about all this. The Statesboro business sounded bad. It was one thing to wander around Metter, but Statesboro had college boys and every mother in town had a fear of Georgia Southern frat boys.
“Yeah.”
“Is she going to call my mom?” I hadn’t thought of this till now.
“I don’t know,” Dani said. “I told her not to.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed this. “Thanks.”
“I said to her, ‘This is just as much a punishment for her. Where else does the poor girl have to go?’ But don’t worry, she’s only dangerous when she’s first mad. Like a kicked dog. If she hasn’t done it already, I don’t think she’ll—”
“I talked to Logan today.” I grinned at the mouthpiece of the phone.
“You did?” Her voice went up an octave and she choked a little on whatever crunchy thing she was eating. This was very satisfying to hear.
“He said he can hardly wait to meet me.” Not exactly true, but I felt inspired. “We’re going on a picnic.”
“Shit, got to go. She’s back.”