Astrid and Evie spent most of Thursday and Friday shopping and sightseeing in San Antonio. Astrid thought it was best to get Evie away from Eureka Falls for a while and let the lawyer sort out Adam’s defence. Apart from the Alamo trip, she spent most of the time waiting around while Evie tried on clothes. She struggled to understand why it would take someone three hours to buy two shirts and a pair of jeans. In the first shop they visited, Astrid had bought a red top within five minutes.
‘Don’t you want anything else?’ Evie said. They’d finished their Saturday outing, and Astrid was readying to drive them back to the Church house. ‘I’ve got a month to pay off my credit card, and Adam gave me his bank details yesterday.’
Astrid provided a polite no, pleased to see the mention of Evie’s brother didn’t upset her. She ran a finger over her leg.
‘You can’t get jeans as good as this in America.’
Evie laughed as they drove away. ‘I’m reasonably sure they’re American made.’
‘I doubt it. Hardly any clothes are made in the Western Hemisphere anymore. They’re probably from Asia, but I’ve only ever seen this make for sale in a small tailor in London.’
‘From the looks of them, you’ll have to go back there soon for a new pair.’
‘They’ll do for now. What time should I drop you at the school?’
Evie peered out of the window. ‘The doors open shortly, but I don’t want to be one of the first ones arriving.’
Astrid eased off the pedal. ‘You have to be fashionably late in your new clothes.’
‘I don’t need to spend more than two hours there. Perhaps do three until five, and then I’ll take you for something to eat.’
‘Do you have somewhere in mind?’
‘The bar we went to the other day was cool. And we can have a drink as well.’
Astrid smiled at her. ‘That’s a good idea, and I think that group are playing as well. We’ll get a taxi this time.’
‘And maybe you can flirt with that barmaid again?’
‘You noticed that, did you?’ Astrid laughed.
‘I’ve spent most of my life watching others from a distance, so it wasn’t hard. And you weren’t that subtle.’
‘I thought the drink might have dulled your senses.’
‘Not that much.’
It was a pleasant drive to the Church house, only delayed by Astrid stopping at a fast-food takeaway and getting lunch for both of them. They were tucking into it when Astrid approached the subject of the reunion.
‘Are you going there to reacquaint yourself with old school friends?’
Evie nearly spat chicken from her sandwich over the kitchen table. ‘No, that’s not why I’m going.’ She pulled a piece of salad from her teeth and dropped it on to her plate. ‘I want people to see me, but I don’t want to talk to them.’
‘So, what’s the point of it?’
‘Perhaps there’s no point to any of it, but I spent five years at that school with nobody taking any notice of me. I was invisible to everyone there. Do you know how it feels when inside you’re crying out for someone to like you, but everybody looks right through you?’
‘No, I don’t.’ Astrid tried not to think of her parents. ‘A lot of people hurt me when I was younger. Until I hit my teens, I was desperate to be left alone.’
‘What happened then?’
She stared at Evie, her mind drifting in and out of her past. ‘Then, I stopped caring about what others felt and I took control of my life. No one has hurt me since.’
Was that true?
‘You cut yourself off from the world as I did. Only I hid from others behind closed doors while you built barriers inside your head.’
Astrid picked up a can of pop and drank half of it. The sugar was sweet against her lips.
‘I guess we’re not so different after all.’
‘But we can’t keep on like this. That’s why I’m going to the reunion. This is my new start. What will you do?’
The drink bubbled up from her stomach, parts of it appearing to buzz inside her head. Evie’s question was something she’d asked herself numerous times. There was only one answer to it.
‘As soon as we get your brother’s situation sorted, I’m returning to Britain.’
‘Are you going home?’
Astrid pushed the encroaching shadows into their hiding places. ‘I don’t have a home.’
‘Do you have any family?’
She stood and put the empty can in the bin. ‘I have a sister who hates me and a niece I rarely see, no matter how much I want to.’
Evie was finishing her food as her cell rang. ‘There’s always hope, Astrid.’
Astrid left her to it and went into the living room. She grabbed Kennedy’s laptop and settled into the sofa. As she waited for it to start, she stared at her mobile. Apart from Evie’s, there were only two numbers in her contacts.
If I could only make one call before the world ended, who would it be to?
‘What are you going to do with the computer?’ Evie stood behind her, emptying the shopping bag of her new clothes.
Astrid slipped the phone into her pocket. ‘Kennedy is still on the loose somewhere, so I’m hoping there’s something on here to help us find him. If he tried to kill you once to cover up stealing your work, then he might do it again.’
She didn’t want to worry Evie, but it had to be said.
‘It’s funny you mention him. That was his ex-literary agent on the phone.’
‘Ex?’
‘Yes. The file I sent her was proof of the novel being mine. She said there’s a possibility of bringing criminal charges against Jack if I want.’
‘We’ll have to find him first. What about the auction for your book?’
‘They’ve postponed it. The agent asked to meet me.’ Evie’s smile lit up the room. ‘She still loves the book and wants to represent me.’
‘That’s great.’ The laptop buzzed against her legs. ‘You’re getting your new life off to a good start.’
Evie grabbed her clothes and headed for the door. ‘I’ll be back in a couple of hours once I’ve sorted what I’m wearing. Is that okay?’
‘Don’t rush on my account.’
Astrid wasn’t sure if Evie attending the reunion was appropriate, but it was good to see her happy and confident. Now she focused on Kennedy’s computer.
Astrid spent the first hour skipping through his collection of sadomasochist images and videos. It was a tedious affair, a fruitless pursuit trying to find something linking the scene with Adam and anything which might lead her to the murderer of the Glick girls.
Then she searched through his other files, including some of his creative writing. It didn’t take her long to understand why he’d become desperate to steal Evie’s book. Most of what she found was useless, apart from a dozen or so short stories and poems dedicated to someone called Claudia the Dominatrix. Reading between the lines, Astrid deduced that Claudia was an older woman local to Kennedy.
Perhaps that’s where he’s hiding.
As fascinating as it was, it was only when Evie returned that she discovered the most interesting thing on the laptop.
Evie strode into the room wearing her new jeans and a shiny, long-sleeved red top.
‘What do you think?’
Astrid glanced at her. ‘You look fabulous, but not as great as this.’
Evie stood at her side while Astrid showed her the screen. She pointed at a miniature cartoon version of a woman with a shield jumping up and down.
‘You’re playing one of Jack’s computer games?’
‘It’s nothing so innocent. I downloaded a special type of security software created by my former employers. And it found this.’
‘What is it?’
‘It’s a Backdoor Trojan, a malicious program which enables a remote hacker to have access to an infected device.’
Evie flopped on to the sofa, her eyes sparkling with fascination. ‘How would that get onto his laptop?’
‘He could have downloaded it by accident, but I checked the security on his computer, and it’s top of the range and was up to date at the point we snatched it from his house.’
‘Couldn’t he have got it from one of his dodgy sex sites?’
Astrid frowned at her. ‘I’ve gone through his web browsing, and it looks like he kept his sexual tastes to the real world and not online. No, I think the Trojan was installed directly on to this computer.’
‘For what purpose?’
‘To spy on him.’ She watched the truth dawn on Evie.
‘So, they’d know about him claiming my book as his?’
‘They would, that and everything else on the laptop. And I’d guess it’s someone from this town.’
‘This is all fascinating, but we’ve got to go now.’ She grabbed hold of Astrid’s hand and dragged her off the sofa. The computer slipped on to the empty seat. ‘We can talk about this tonight over beer and food.’
Astrid grabbed her jacket as they left, and Evie locked the door behind them. It was a twenty-five-minute drive to the reunion, getting them there just after three-thirty.
‘Text me if you need anything,’ Astrid said as Evie got out of the car.
‘I’ll be done by five-thirty.’ Evie walked to the entrance of the school.
Astrid watched her go. She was reluctant to return to the Church house and pondered what to do. After twenty seconds, she left and headed towards the Kennedy bookshop. Perhaps there was something in that burnt husk to help find him. She hadn’t discounted the possibility there was a connection between his attack on Evie and the framing of Adam.
She drove away as terrible pop music blared out of the school.