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Back in my room, I tried to find out what I could about Ronnie’s body. There wasn’t much to go on. The body had no ID and nobody had come forward. Police were encouraging anyone with information about a missing white male to contact them. Unless Angela did it herself, he’d be John Doe for the foreseeable.
‘Nothing new yet,’ I called out to Ronnie, standing with George on the balcony. They’d decided not to be useful and instead were gaping at sunbathing women. ‘Circumstances are suspicious, though. That’s all they have on your body so far.’
‘Did you say something?’ he called back, not even glancing my way.
‘Oh, for God’s sake. Yes, I- what’s the point,’ I sighed, calling Ally for some sane conversation.
Clearly, I was suffering from heat stroke.
‘Anna?’ she questioned, as she always did. Like, who else did she expect to be on the other end? Was it a vague attempt at being psychic, guessing my name based on caller ID? Ugh, why did I bother?
‘Yeah, Ally. It’s me. Surprisingly,’ I muttered.
‘I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.’
Anyone else get a sense of déjà vu here? I could’ve sworn we already had this conversation.
‘Ally, my horoscope is wrong,’ I told her forcefully. The bizarre statement attracted the attention of the serial oglers on the balcony. They trotted in, and I dutifully put Ally on speaker.
‘Just because it’s not right, it doesn’t mean it’s wrong,’ she said mystically.
‘How on Earth do you work that one out?’ puzzled Ronnie.
‘Okay, whatever. Um, what do you have for me?’
‘I haven’t had a chance to look into poor Ronald’s life yet.’
I resisted the urge to toss the cell across the room. She was infuriating. I had absolutely nothing, and she was giving me even less.
‘Seriously? You’ve had a whole day. What have you been doing?’
‘Oh, you know. Feng shui, crystal healing; that sort of thing.’
From anyone other than Ally, it’d be hella sarcastic. But I was sadly convinced that that’s exactly what she’d been doing. Poor George had to turn away in disgust.
‘And you couldn’t find even five or ten minutes to help me out?’
I literally wanted her to search their names on the databases she had access to. I mean, it’s not much to ask, is it?
You know, it was probably my fault, though. If I’d read her horoscope, I’m sure it would’ve told me that she’s not in a helping mood.
‘You’re right, Anna. I’m so sorry, it’s unforgiveable. I will immediately delve into Ronald and Angela’s lives, and call you the second I find out anything. I am so, so sorry,’ she breathed.
I hung up before she could apologize some more. With those lines of enquiry on hold, I texted Mickey to see if he’d had any luck with other things I’d asked him to do. He assured me he had. At least one of my friends was reliable.
Maybe now I could start getting something done.
‘Ally might be useless, but Mickey’s come through,’ I told them. George narrowed his eyes at me but I wasn’t sure why. ‘My fake life should be easily searchable now. I’m gonna guess that Angela and Jose will be on their way to Boca Raton in the next hour or so.’
‘Want me to keep watch?’ Ronnie suggested.
‘That’d be great. Come back when they’ve left, and I’ll drive down and break in,’ I gulped. Easier said than done. I wasn’t one for casually breaking laws, but I’d already done that on several cases. I guess it was just my thing.
I watched Ronnie somersault off the balcony instead of walking down twenty flights of stairs and chuckled. Lucies could be pretty great companions. When they weren’t staring me out, I mean.
George had been quiet since I’d put Ally on speaker. It couldn’t merely be due to her oddness.
‘Okay, what’s up?’ I groaned.
‘What’s your name?’
I certainly wasn’t expecting that question.
‘You know my name. Were you hit on your head, too?’
‘I know your name’s Brianna. But your father calls you Bree, Ally calls you Anna. You introduce yourself as Ann. Who are you?’
‘It’s a stupid name,’ I shrugged, perplexed. ‘My dad gave me that name so of course he calls me that. Ally’s... not great at listening. I call me Ann. What’s the issue?’
He instantly looked impassive, nonchalantly strolling around the room. He didn’t look me in the eye.
‘It seems like you’re trying to be different people.’
‘What, like a split personality disorder?’ I scoffed. ‘Psychologists aren’t even sure if that’s a real illness. They think it’s attention-seeking.’
‘Is that what you’re doing?’ he asked bluntly.
He was deadly serious, but I found it to be hilarious. What a strange thing to complain about. My name annoyed me because I preferred Ann to Bree. It wasn’t a big deal like he was making out.
‘You think I’m attention-seeking because people can’t get my name right? Wow, okay.’
‘It’s like you’re trying to hide something,’ he went on. I had absolutely no idea what he was getting at.
‘Like what?’
He looked at me suspiciously, but I was utterly bewildered. He dropped his eyes from mine and shook his head.
‘Nothing.’
‘Okay. Wait, aren’t you doing the same thing? There’s no way your real name is George. You took way too long to answer. What’s up with that?’
‘I died,’ he pointed out. ‘Using my real name’s a little too close to home right now. So yeah, I am hiding. Question is, are you?’
‘What on Earth would I be hiding from?’ I challenged. I was super interested to hear his reply, but he didn’t have one. What a shame.
‘Why do you talk to people like that?’ he asked instead, changing the subject entirely.
‘What now?’
‘You. You talk to people like dirt when they’re only trying to help.’
‘I’m sorry if I upset you-’
‘Not me,’ he sighed. ‘Ally. Your dad. His girlfriend, to a lesser extent.’
‘Ex-girlfriend,’ I gleefully corrected. He threw his hands up, frustrated.
‘That’s what I mean! What is wrong with you?’
‘Nothing’s wrong with me,’ I suddenly snapped. ‘You don’t know my life, okay?’
I wasn’t sure where this whole social justice warrior thing came from, but I wanted it to crawl back into its hole. I’d forgotten, George was a college boy. He wasn’t in the real world. He didn’t realize that sometimes people pissed you off or that maybe you’d had long, complex relationships with family and friends. I guess in his world, John Lennon’s Imagine was only a hop, skip and a jump away. But people were jerks, and we loved schadenfreude too much to ever be a part of a world like that.
You know, people could’ve supported me. My dad could’ve believed me. Kids in school could’ve thought it cool that I saw ghosts. Police could’ve chosen to listen to me, but they didn’t. Nobody did. They chose to belittle and mock and scoff at me instead. So, here I was: bitter and twisted and not yet eighteen.
Whoa, that was a load off.
‘People suck,’ I summed up. ‘At least in my experience.’
‘You still don’t need to treat them like crap,’ he chided.
‘And people don’t need to treat me like crap, but they do. You’ll see what will happen at the end of all this. If I don’t get arrested, I’ll get called a crazy liar. My dad will ground me and tell me to “stop seeing ghosts,” like that’s something I could easily do. Nobody understands. And when they don’t understand, they don’t want to try. It’s easier to ignore somebody than listen.’
‘Am I interrupting?’
We both jumped at the sound of Ronnie’s voice from behind us. He was peeking his head through the door, obviously having listened in. It was a welcome interruption. Things had gotten intense.
‘Yeah, but thanks. I think we needed it. What’s up?’
‘Angela and Jose have taken off. Mentioned something about Miller Street, wherever that is.’
‘That would be my aunt’s address. Good, they’ve taken the bait. Let’s go.’
The adrenaline from the argument helped to pep me up. I was going to commit a burglary. Okay, I was definitely going to be arrested at the end of this. Maybe I ought to see what else I could add to my list.
‘Wait, aren’t you worried that they’ll confront your aunt?’ George asked. I laughed.
‘I’d like to see them try. She emailed me back this morning to let me know she was in New York until tomorrow.’
‘What if they do a bit of breaking and entering like you?’
‘So? They won’t find anything.’
Ronnie frowned.
‘I think what the boy meant was, it may be upsetting for your aunt when she returns?’
‘She has insurance,’ I shrugged.
They looked at each other, shaking their heads in dismay.
‘Oh, to be human again,’ Ronnie guffawed.
‘Hey, if they want to break into my supposed home, that’s entirely their fault. Nothing to do with me.’
‘Are you kidding?’ George spluttered. I shook my head. I really wasn’t. ‘You practically egged them on. You lead them to do it.’
‘I didn’t force anyone,’ I noted. ‘They could’ve asked to visit my home, but they didn’t. Maybe that’s what they will do, come to that. It’s all conjecture for now. And we don’t have much time as it is. So, I’m gonna go back to their hotel if that’s alright with you guys. Are you coming or what?’
Their curiosity overwhelmed their indignation and they came with me. I knew they would.