Page 91 of Rest In Pink

I looked at Hen and raised my eyebrows in question, nodding at Alex.

She took the lead. “What’s wrong, Alex?”

So, she was going to be good cop. That was useful since I didn’t know how to do that.

Alex shook his head. “Nothing.” But he shot a look toward Sun. “Sun? Could you come here, please?” Trying to be good.

Sun joined us as Alex and Jim scooted their seats aside to allow her to sit between them. She looked at me impassively, a classic teenager exasperated by an adult, and she reminded me of a mugshot I’d seen of Liz at that age in the Burney files, her hair dyed Goth black, flipping a peace sign at the police camera, defiance in her racoon-made-up eyes. Yeah. I’d looked up her record. Pretty pathetic.

“What’s going on?” I said, to no one in particular, letting whoever felt the guiltiest step forward.

It was Sun. “If this is about the posts, it’s no big deal. People like it. There were thirty positive comments on it today which is thirty more than Faye ever got.”

And the other shoe dropped. “There are dogs in heaven?”

“Purgatory,” Sun said, not looking in the least fazed. “I haven’t made it to heaven yet, and I really doubt Thacker ever will.”

“How did you get into the moderator account?”

Sun sighed. “The WiFi here isn’t encrypted. I’d seen Thacker type his password. I could pretend to be him on Wordpress. I was just fucking with people.”

“Language,” Hen said.

Sun looked at her, likeyou’re kidding me,and Hen said, “Yeah, never mind.”

“So, you don’t have his computer.”

Sun shrugged. “Don’t need it. I’ve got everything I need to make the posts.”

“You should stop doing that.”

She widened her eyes at me, innocent as all hell. “Of course, Officer Cooper.”

So, there’d be another post tomorrow.

“It’s Detective Cooper,” I told her, and saw her eyebrows go up.

Good. I stood up.

“All three of you.” I looked at Hen and corrected. “All four of you. This is not a game. A man has been murdered, and his killer is on the loose. From now on, you tell me everything you know, as soon as you know it. I don’t give a damn about Facebook posts, but I care a lot about keeping you all alive. If you know something that he’d need to shut you up to keep secret, I need to know about it now.”

I saw that sink in. They were teens so they thought they were immortal, thought that any investigation was outside of them, but they were standing right in the middle of it now.

“Anything,” I said.

“All I know is the password,” Sun said, serious now. “That’s it.”

“I’ve told you everything know, I swear,” Jim said.

“I don’t know anything,” Alex said. “Never did.”

“Watch out for Sun,” I told them.

“Why?” Sun said, alarmed now.

“Because somebody has Thacker’s computer,” I told her. “And if they can’t get into it, they’re going to go looking for somebody who can. Stay close to these guys and keep your doors locked.”

“Oh, crap,” Sun said.

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