“May I be excused?” I looked back and forth between Edgar and my mother.
“Of course.” Edgar nodded. “Thank you again for joining us.”
I walked back upstairs and changed out of the dress I wore for dinner. The idea of getting dressed up for dinner in your own house seemed absurd to me—I hoped it wasn’t going to be a regular thing. I felt a little better once I was in my PJs, and tired, but I couldn’t lay down and risk falling asleep. I played on my phone, shuffled through a few lectures for my online classes, and constantly checked the situation downstairs. It was almost two hours before my mother finally went to bed, and another thirty minutes before I heard Edgar leaving.
Finally… I was beginning to think he wasn’t actually going to go anywhere tonight.
A quick scan of the downstairs confirmed that Pennington and Martinez had left with him. I didn’t waste any time at all. There weren’t many places I could check, and I didn’t want to risk waiting—I had no idea how long Edgar would be gone. I did my best impression of the tippy-toe dance as I crept along in the dark. I really couldn’t see anything in Edgar’s office, even when I tried to use my cell phone as a flashlight, so I decided to risk it and turn on a lamp. It wasn’t much better, but at least I could quickly look at all the papers on his desk.
It doesn’t look like anything has changed since the last time I was here.
My best bet was still Edgar’s computer. I just knew there was information on the other side of that locked screen. I aimlessly tapped on the keyboard and tried combinations of names and numbers that I hadn’t tried before. None of them worked. I was greeted with the same error message over and over. It seemed that my second attempt to break into Edgar’s computer was going to be a waste of time, just like the first one. I even rum
maged around in his desk for a few minutes to see if there was a scrap of paper where it could be written down but didn’t find anything that looked like a password. The trash can was empty, so I was saved from digging through garbage to hunt something useful.
“Having fun?” A voice nearly caused me to flip the chair over backwards from shock, and I looked up to see Jenny staring me down from the doorway of Edgar’s office.
“Oh, hi…” My stomach immediately twisted into a knot. “I was just trying to check my email.”
“Really?” She walked in and narrowed her eyes at me.
“The computer is locked.” I shrugged and tried to maintain my composure. “I guess I’ll just go back to bed.”
“Why can’t you use the laptop in your room to check your email?” Jenny walked to the desk and continued to stare me down.
“What? How do you know I have a laptop in my room?” My head snapped back. “Did you go through my stuff?”
“What are you going to do about it?” She pulled the bottom desk drawer open. “Tell my dad?”
“Uh…” I moved the chair to the side as the drawer came close to hitting my leg. “No…”
She just caught me rummaging through her father’s office, which is a whole lot worse than what she did…
“Good.” Jenny pulled on the back of the drawer, and it popped open to reveal a secret compartment. “Then I guess it won’t hurt to show you where the good stuff is hidden.”
“What’s in there?” I leaned forward to look.
“My dad canceled my credit card after I moved out, so I need some money.” She held up a stack of hundred-dollar bills that were wrapped in a dark yellow band from the bank.
“That’s…” My eyes opened wide as I read the figure stamped on the currency band. “Ten thousand dollars!?”
“I’m not taking all of it.” She rolled her eyes, removed about a third of the money, and shoved the rest of it back in the hidden compartment.
“What do you need that kind of money for?” A lump started to rise up in my throat. “Are you going to run away?”
I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing right now…
“The thought has crossed my mind.” She pulled a small bottle of whiskey and a pack of cigarettes out of the compartment. “But I don’t think I would get very far before he found me. I can wait until I turn eighteen—then I won’t ever be back.”
“Then what do you need the money for?” I watched as Jenny took a sip of the whiskey and pulled a cigarette out of the pack.
“You’ll see. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.” She tossed the pack of cigarettes in front of me. “Want one?”
“No.” I put them back in the hidden compartment and reached for the whiskey, but she picked it back up before I could. “Do you really think your father would approve of you smoking and drinking?”
Damien would probably care more than Edgar, but I can’t mention his name in front of her…
“I don’t really give a fuck what my dad thinks.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “I’m sure he seems all kinds of wonderful to you right now—but you have no idea what he’s really like.”