Page 37 of 2nd Strike
“Where’s Meg?” I ask Matt when he and Ethan enter my office.
“Out talking toJerome.” It’s amazing the way he can put so much emphasis in a word. He says the man’s name like he's the bane of Matt's existence. “Want me to get her?”
Jerome. I sigh. “No, let her have her fun. Hi, Ethan."
"I'm changing my name," he announces as he plops into the chair across from me. "What do you think of Carter?"
"Sounds like a president," I say. “Seems like a nice guy, I guess."
He screws up his face. “Austin?"
Matt chirps up. “The capital of Texas?"
Ethan glances between us, sees Matt grinning, and throws his hands in the air. "I'm serious. I can't go around being Ethan anymore."
At least he's not a bucket of emotions, or yelling at me, like everyone else. Out of all the people involved, Ethan should be the most upset, and yet he's acting the most mature. This is what I love about kids. “Who's your favorite sports star?"
"Bryce Harper."
I don't follow sports so the name means nothing to me. "That sounds like a good name."
Ethan seems to consider it and Matt gives me a covert thumbs-up for humoring the kid. He rubs his hands together and leans forward. “It's almost four o'clock."
Ethan comes out of the chair and around to my side of the desk, setting his phone in front of me. He taps the iWhisper icon and opens a chat window.
"I want all this documented before it disappears," I tell him. This could be another dead end, but the fact he contacted Ethan, rather than his parents calling the Havers or the FBI has my hopes up.
Of course, it could be some lunatic pretending to be a teenager, but it's the strongest lead I have since I've been shut out of the case. “We need proof he’s legitimate, so I'll give you some instructions as we go along, got it?"
Matt relaxes into the other chair. "Charlie knows what she's doing, Ethan."
"Dude," Ethan says with exasperation, "like, I get it. Not going to screw it up, okay?”
Four o'clock comes and goes with no Arrow232 joining Ethan's chat. Every minute or so, Ethan checks another messaging app, his Snapchat feed, and Twitter. This kid has more social media connections than I do with law-enforcement.
Adingsounds and he flips back to the iWhisper app. "It's him."
Matt comes around to look over my shoulder.
Arrow232:yo, sorry I’m late. Mom problems.
“Ask about her,” I instruct.
Ethan:no prob. I totally get that. Mine’s extra right now.
“Extra what?” I ask, keeping my voice low even though that’s silly—Arrow can’t hear us.
“You know, like overly dramatic."
Teenager slang—I'm rusty on it, especially in the cyberspace world.
Arrow232:she’s always weird, but…
Ethan: but what?
Arrow232:she’s riled up since she heard about you. Paranoia, bro. Like she checks our locks six times a night, won't let me go anywhere right now. I tried to find my birth certificate, on the down low. IDK. It’s not in any of my baby stuff. I don’t look like her AT ALL. There’s no pictures of her, you know, pregnant with me, or anything.
Nothing too damning there. “Ask about his father.”
