I Spy Dead People (7 page)

I fold my arms across my chest. "Do you like her?"

Dad's looking at the Quinn house, so he does a double take. "What?"

"Bridget. Do you think she's pretty?"

He shrugs. "I guess so." But from his vibe, he doesn't seem interested.

Good. Not that I don't want Dad to be happy. I definitely want him to date again. I'd just rather not have a step-mommy any time soon. I like it being just me and him. But if he found someone he couldn't live without, I'd deal. Just not Bridget Lansing. She may be a great person, but she comes across as trying way too hard.

I sit on the step and join Dad in watching the Quinn house. "Gabi asked me to babysit someday. I said I could do it. Is that okay?"

Dad sits beside me. His face looks droopy, like it's still asleep. "The family there? Yeah, that's fine. If it becomes a regular thing though, remember, school nights…"

"I must be home by nine. I know." I lean against him. Part of me loves how his rules never change, but part of me is also hoping that in another year they will. A nine o'clock curfew at sixteen seems a bit Kinley's-mom-strict. But for now, I'm just glad he came outside to see where I was and didn't assume I was off with friends.

He slings an arm around my shoulder and kisses the top of my head. "Hey, did you fall asleep in the living room last night?"

"No. Why?"

"When I went up to the bathroom around three the TV was on."

I jerk up. That's not possible. I turned it off.

Didn't I?

 

 

I shove a handful of microwaved popcorn into my mouth. I click the volume button on my laptop several times, so I can hear Linzy whine about how her boyfriend caught her cheating on him over my crunching. Well, not Linzy herself but her
One Day at a Time
character, Devon Wilshire.

"He won't even listen to my apology, Felicity. It's so unfair." Devon and Felicity, a blonde with large, doll-like blue eyes, stand by their lockers at school.

Felicity places a hand on Devon's shoulder. "He just needs time, Devon. He'll come around."

Devon bows her head. "That's not even the worse part."

Felicity takes a step closer. "What can be worse than getting caught making out with the new school hottie, Ethan, by your boyfriend of two years, Zach?"

Why do they constantly say each other's names and retell what we just watched? Do they think we're idiots?

The camera zooms in on Devon, as tears fill her eyes. "I think I'm pregnant, and I don't know who the father is."

Felicity gasps.

I gasp.

The theme song begins, and the credits roll.

"Oh my God." I throw a piece of popcorn at my screen. It can't end like that. It's the latest episode, which means I have to wait until after the holiday to see what happens next. Now that's unfair.

My cell buzzes on my nightstand. As I turn to grab it, I realize the sun isn't flooding through my windows anymore. It's moved off toward the side of our house. How long have I been sitting here catching up on the show?

My phone vibrates again. It's two texts from Kinley.

r u home

im @ ur door

I shut my laptop, jump off the bed, and brush popcorn crumbs off my shirt before running downstairs. Dad's in his…
drumroll, please
…office with the door shut. If our lives ever relied on how well we know one another, I'd totally survive.

When I fling open the front door, Kinley's standing there wide-eyed. She gives me a strange look, steps inside, and says, "I didn't invite her."

Who? Is Linzy back? I take a step forward.

Suddenly Shayla's in my face. "What did you do to my sister?"

I flinch at the near physical attack, the venom in her voice, and her hot, wretched garlic breath. Good God, girl, grab a Tic-Tac.

"What do you want?" I ask, needing a second for my heart rate to enter the normal zone.

"I heard that cop tell Mom and Dad you followed Linzy the other night."

"So?"

Her right eye twitches, and she grabs my arm. "What did you do to her?"

Has she gone bonkers? "Why would I do anything to her? I don't even know her. You're the only lunatic I've met here."

Someday I'll learn to keep my mouth shut.

She digs her fingernails into my arm, and I yelp. Yep, just like a dog.

"Get off me, you psycho." I almost mention how she just proved my point but don't want her digging in more. I wretch myself free as Dad's door slides open.

He stands directly behind me. "What's going on?"

Shayla looks up all wide-eyed and innocent. "I-I just want to know what happened to my sister." Her eyes fill with tears, and she throws in a sniffle for good measure.

Ohmigod, this is a family full of actors. Crazy ones at that.

"We're very sorry that you and your family are going through this," Dad says. "But my daughter and I don't know what happened to her."

"Bu-but she saw her that night."

"Yeah, talking to someone in a car. Then Linzy walked off. That's all I know."

I'm sure the chief filled in her parents, so why Shayla's over here blaming me is beyond my logical thinking. She probably just wanted to get back at me for yesterday with Troy.

She starts to say something, and Dad steps around me. He fills our doorframe, so Shayla has to take a step back. He grabs the door, ready to shut it. "Please tell your parents if there's anything I can do to help, to just ask."

With a swift nod, he closes the door and turns to us. "She's probably just scared."

I cross my arms across my chest and cover the area where she grabbed me. "Yeah, that must be it." But I don't fully believe it.

Dad smiles to Kinley. "I hear you're a fan."

Her face turns a shade of pink. "Yes. I have a few of your books. If I get them, will you sign them, please?"

"Of course, anytime. I'll even give you signed copies of the ones you don't have."

Kinley squeals and does this potty dance move.

Ohmigod, this is so embarrassing. She's acting as if Dad's a rock star.

He, of course, is eating it up. His grin is a mile long, and there's a light in his eyes. Something stirs in my chest. Maybe in his own world, he is a rock star.

"This is fascinating, and you guys can drool over books later, but Kinley and I have some decorating to do upstairs."

Dad heads back to his dungeon. "Anytime, Kinley. And help yourself to anything to eat."

He slides his door shut, and I check out my arm. Four pink crescent moon shapes stand out. They're sore and might leave a bruise.

Kinley winces. "Wow, she was pissed."

"Yeah, what a wench. Like I'd personally hurt her sister? Come on."

We run upstairs. I shut my door behind us then go back to my spot on my bed and move over the popcorn and notebook so Kinley can join me.

She kicks off her sandals and leans her back against my fluffed up pillows. "Are we really decorating, 'cause I'm sorta colorblind."

"For reals? That's so cool." I've never met anyone who was colorblind before.

She wrinkles her nose. "Not really. When I was in kindergarten, our teacher gave each of us a colored flag. We had to match ours with another student's. I was too young to realize I should just wait until everyone was done, and the one without a partner would be my match. As it turned out, I had orange and walked to green. All the kids made fun of me, and it continued for years."

I sigh. "That sucks. But you obviously have a great memory, so that's something useful."

She shrugs.

"My dad has a great memory too."

She glances at me. "Oh yeah?"

I knew that would make her happy. "Yeah, and no worries. We're not actually decorating. I spent the entire day watching Linzy's show. I can't believe she's preggo. Well, not her…you know what I mean."

Kinley laughs that hyena sound. "Yeah. I hope it's Zach's baby. He's so sweet."

I hope Linzy's able to return to the show. I don't say that out loud though. I've been around a lot of death, even if it is months and years after it happens. I've built a sixth sense about danger, and as much as I want to believe Linzy was in our house yesterday and just worrying her parents because she's a spoiled brat, I have a feeling it's much more serious.

I pull my laptop closer and X out the tab of soap episodes. The remaining window is a Google search for Linzy Quinn.

"So I figured we could do a bunch of research, figure out who she really is, friends, hobbies, etcetera, and then maybe we can get a clue as to where she might be."

Kinley makes an O with her mouth. "Us?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Isn't that a job for professionals? Like the cops."

I have so much to teach her. "I'm sure they know mostly everything, but they're adults, and while they're trained and all that, we know how another teen really thinks."

She grabs a handful of popcorn. "True. But…"

"Will there be any harm in researching? It's not like we're physically going out to find her." That's next on my list, once we have a tangible lead, but I won't mention that until then. No need to scare Kinley more than I obviously have.

She giggles. "You're right. Okay, where do we begin?"

"Really?" Now I'm surprised. I hoped she'd agree, but anytime I suggested the same with old classmates, they always refused, saying the cops already figured it out. They never second-guessed the police's theories. None of them saw this as exciting, or else they didn't have the guts.

Kinley frowns. "Did you want me to say no?"

I chuckle. "No. It's just…well, my other friends always thought I was weird for enjoying this."

She shakes her head. "Never. This is awesome."

"So if I kill someone, will you help me bury the body?"

She looks alarmed. "Huh?"

My stomach sinks a bit that she doesn't understand. Maybe she and I aren't destined to be best buds. "It's just a saying. Never mind."

I grab my notebook and a pen and we get to work.

 

* * *

 

A couple of hours later, my eyes feel dry, and it's time for a food break. We ransack the kitchen and settle on boxed mac and cheese. While we wait for the macaroni to cook, we go over our notes.

Linzy started out in commercials when she was in preschool. There were a couple of interviews of her at fourteen talking about how she always knew she'd be a star. Gag me. It's hard to watch them because she's so full of herself and not in a confident way. It's like she tries to convince herself how wonderful she is. She referred to herself as a star so many times, I'm certain the silver charm belongs to her.

Shayla is her only sibling, and if she's mentioned it's always as "Linzy's older sister," never by name. Her mother, Maureen, is Linzy's manager, and her dad is only listed as Mr. Quinn. Her Daytime Emmy award was her first win and first nomination, and
One Day at a Time
is her second show. The first, a sitcom, was four years ago. She played a friend of a friend and only had one line.

I pour the macaroni into a strainer then dump it back into the pot. "What about at school? What's she like there?"

Kinley's at the table reading our notes out loud. "I don't know. She was in junior high last year. This will be her first year in high school."

I toss butter onto the macaroni then empty in the packet of cheese powder. I glance at Kinley, who's looking off, through the window to our backyard. There's nothing back there, so she's thinking about something, and I can't help wonder if it's the same thing I am. What if Linzy doesn't start at the high school in September? What if she ran away for good? But she wouldn't just leave behind her awesome career. So what if it's something else, like… she's dead? But of course that's crazy. She was upstairs yesterday.

As I stir in some milk, it dawns on me that I keep saying that, like I'm trying to convince myself she's still alive. Which is silly because who else was in our house?

I take two bowls out of the cabinet and split the mac and cheese between them. "What about hobbies or around town? Have you seen her hanging with anyone in particular?"

After setting the bowls on the table, I grab spoons, two bottles of water, and a can of Cheese Whiz.

"Did you forget I don't have a social life? If it's not happening on this street, I'm clueless."

I pop off the top of the can and top my fake cheesey goodness with more fake cheese. I wipe the tip off then lick my finger. "Want some?"

She curls her top lip. The same look Dad gives me when I break out the Whiz. "No, thanks."

We sit in silence while we inhale our food. I didn't realize how hungry I was. When my spoon clatters to the bottom of my bowl, an idea hits me. I smile wide, hoping I don't have bits of pasta stuck in my braces. "We need to find out about her life here, on a personal level, right?"

Kinley nods while drinking her water.

"Then who do I know that used to spend a nauseating amount of time in her house?"

Kinley grins. She totally gets it. Our journey to BFF-dom is totally on track.

 

Fifteen minutes later, there's a knock at the door, and my heart leaps from my chest and lands at my feet. Ohmigod, it's Troy. As I run downstairs, and nearly trip on the hall rug, Dad opens the door. Damn. Not that I'm trying to sneak Troy in or anything, but I had hoped to answer it. You know, so I'm the first person he sees, so I can catch the look on his face when he sees me.

After texting him, Kinley helped me pick out a denim skirt and light pink, off-the-shoulder top, not too fancy or Dad would get suspicious but not so plain that Troy doesn't notice me.

"Hello, Troy." Dad gives me a sideways glance.

Kinley places a hand on my back and shoves me forward. I knock into Dad, making his hand slip off the door, and get a good look at my guest. Troy's wearing khaki-colored cargo shorts and a light blue button-down, short sleeve shirt. It's clean, but his usual style, so I can't tell if he primped like me or not.

"Dad, we invited Troy over to help us." Yes, I'm totally including Kinley in this adventure. Surely Dad won't yell in front of them.