The Haunting of Secrets (7 page)

As it usually does, the world keeps spinning
no matter how awful the tragedy and no matter how much we don’t
want it to. I am just grateful to have something to do. I know that
school will be back in session soon and I want to be as prepared as
I can be for whatever may come. It is a crisp, cool morning,
roughly four days since I was in the hospital that we finally catch
a break.

“I found her,” I say, my voice amazed and
relieved.

Dejana turns from her computer and runs to my
laptop to see the picture of the girl I found.

“It’s an older picture but look,” I say
pointing to the girl on the screen. “She is a dead ringer for the
girl I saw in the memory. No pun intended,” I add quickly.

“
Wow, you did it, girl. You found her!”
exclaims Dejana, clearly as excited as I am.

I scroll down to find the girl’s name. “Megan
Parnell. She was fourteen years old when she disappeared. She lives
in Hall County just north of us, but went to another school,” I
explain as I look at Dejana to gauge her reaction. “I guess he
gained more confidence with each kill since he’s hunting for girls
at his own school now. Problem is we have no idea exactly how many
girls he’s killed or what he’s done with the bodies. Without that
information, there is no way we can give the families any closure.
It’s tragic.” My elation at the discovery begins to ebb.

Dejana pats my shoulder with her hand, trying
to reassure me. “We’ll get there. We just need time. And hopefully
Leah will come up with some hard evidence soon.” That’s Dejana,
always the optimist.

Drowning in frustration, I slam my laptop
closed and cross my arms over my chest. For once, I long for
another memory to engulf me so I can find more information on the
guy we seek. In the past, when I’ve absorbed a person’s memories,
they were seared into my brain, unwelcomed and forever a part of
me. I’ve witness a lot of horrible things in my short sixteen
years, but nothing like this, nothing that has ever shut down my
mind so severely that I landed in a coma. I guess, to protect
itself, my mind has forced these nightmares into a box I can’t
access until it wants me to. Part of me is glad that it did; I am
not sure I could survive another onslaught like that. The only
memories I do recall with clarity are the normal ones he had early
in life. The ones dealing with baseball are the most clear. I
wonder fleetingly if Logan might know him. I debate whether or not
I should ask Logan about his teammates, but then immediately
dismiss the idea. This guy has managed to conceal his true identity
from the world and kill who knows how many girls without raising
the slightest bit of suspicion. If he were indeed on the baseball
team, Logan probably wouldn’t be aware of it.

I have no idea how to call a memory to the
surface or I would since it’s been a while since the last one and
then nothing. This is new territory for me. Usually, I do my best
to repress the memories; do my best to forget them. I have seen
memories of death before, seen others kill as well, but this time
it’s different. This time the killer is one of us. This time he
stalks where I live. For me, it has become personal. Yet, all I can
do is wait. And I’ve never been good at waiting.

“I hate this,” I begin my voice practically
hissing. “I wish I could figure out how to access another memory so
I could be of more help. If it doesn’t happen soon I may need you
to hit me over the head to force them out.”

Dejana says nothing in response to my rant.
She turns from the computer to look at me, her face grim and laced
with fear. “Well you better prepare yourself then, Aim. I just got
an email from the school. They found a vacant high school in a
neighboring county that will fit all of us. School starts back
tomorrow.”

Chapter
Eleven

~ Everyone Wears a Mask
~

Leah’s fingers practically fly over the
keyboard as she types away on her Mac composing different databases
to organize the information she’s found on the girls that Dejana
and Aimee asked her to find. She stops momentarily and takes a sip
of her caramel macchiato, her perfectly manicured nails sparkling
in the soft light. Leah looks up at the other patrons sitting at
the small tables in the local Starbucks. The usual crowd surrounds
her, their focus on either the coffee or their own computers. Deep
inside, Leah pities them; they really have no idea what they’re
doing. She learned from an early age that given the right tools,
she could do just about anything. Given the internet, she could be
deadly. She feels most at home with a keyboard and a screen since
that world is the one she is able to control.

Leah refocuses on the task at hand, as she
creates another program to help her find the elusive information
for which she has been searching. Dejana and that freaky girl,
Aimee, think they’re so clever not telling her everything. Leah is
constantly underestimated, thanks to the pretty face and body she’s
been blessed with. It has its uses on occasion, like when she tries
to sell her information or programs to rather unsavory men. With
one perfectly placed virus, she could bring down the whole city of
Atlanta if she wanted to. Sure, she’s sold her unique computer
viruses to shady people, but how else would she be able to afford
the kind of clothes she wears? Her parents are poor. Her mom is a
secretary for a company downtown and her dad is a janitor at an
elementary school. Mostly, Leah allows everyone to underestimate
her. It gives her the freedom to do the things she wants without
suspicion ever falling to her.

Leah’s finishes compiling the database of
information Aimee and Dejana requested days ago. Now all she needs
is time to find out what they are hiding. For now, she’ll play
along, but soon she’ll have more than enough information to figure
out everything. If her fellow students are in danger and Leah can
help save them, then she damn well wants to. For the first time,
Leah has a chance to change fate, not just play with it through a
screen and an internet connection. She has the chance to actually
save a life; not just any life, but the life of someone she might
know. She lost her boyfriend Daniel from a cruel twist of fate
disguised as a bomb. She’ll be damned if she’s going to lose anyone
else she loves to an idiot psychopath.

Leah wipes the fresh tears that have begun to
fall, but doesn’t let them deter her from her mission. She has no
idea how much time has passed, only that her drink has grown cold.
She continues to focus on her screen, staring at the code she
created, and trying to work out the kinks. She is so fixated on her
work that she doesn’t realize darkness has fallen. Her fingers are
numb from the constant typing, but she doesn’t care. It isn’t until
someone pulls out a chair next to her and sits down without so much
as a ‘hello’ that she even looks up from her Mac. She instantly
closes the laptop in fear that someone will find out what she was
doing. But as she looks up into the hazel eyes of a friend, she
realizes it wouldn’t have mattered.

“Well, just sit on down, boys. It wasn’t like
I was working or anything,” Leah teases.

Logan and Tyler smile the same lopsided, sexy
smile as they make themselves at home in the creaky wooden chairs
that Starbucks calls seats. Leah wonders how in the world some guys
can be so comfortable in any situation. She may feel most at home
in the cyber world, but Logan and Tyler make wherever they are,
home. Logan’s presence especially warms the room. There’s just
something about him, something about the way he treats people that
make them feel like they’re special. It doesn’t matter whether
they’re a jock, a geek, or an outcast, Logan immediately is the
friend they always hoped to find. Even now as they sit here with
Leah, every girl in Starbucks is gawking at the two hotties and
shooting daggers at Leah. Surprisingly, neither seems to notice
they have an audience. Strangely, both Logan and Tyler are silent,
neither in a hurry to divulge the reason for this impromptu
visit.

“So, you boys gonna tell me why you’re here
so I can get back to work?”

“Ok,” Logan laughs, “I get it, we interrupted
you. Sorry about that, but we were passing by and saw your car
outside. We wanted to check on you. I know these past few days have
been hard and Tyler told me that you didn’t go to Daniel’s
funeral.”

Not liking at all where this conversation is
going, Leah tries to interrupt, but is waylaid by Logan’s next
comment.

“He was a good friend of ours and I know he’d
come back and haunt us if we didn’t at least touch base with you,
see how you were holding up.”

Grief slices her heart like a knife;
rendering her unable to answer for a minute. She’d like nothing
more than to let loose and cry against Logan’s shoulder until she
can’t cry anymore, but Leah doesn’t see the point in that. She
believes Daniel is still with her and can see everything. She
doesn’t want him to see her broken down. That’s why she didn’t go
to the funeral; she isn’t ready to say goodbye. Leah uses every bit
of her willpower to push back her anguish and not show weakness in
front of Daniel’s friends. Daniel was her world; the least she
could do is try to make him proud of her.

“Thanks for checking on me, but I’m fine. You
both can go forth in life knowing that you did right by Daniel. Are
we done now?” she asks, her voice catching a bit.

Tyler and Logan share a look. It’s obvious
they don’t believe her. Since Logan crashed and burned, Tyler
figures it’s his turn to try.

“You didn’t go to his funeral, Leah. You even
missed the candlelight service we had that night for the
thirty-seven who died. Why wouldn’t we think that’s strange? Daniel
talked about you all the time. He loved you and he wouldn’t want
you sitting here alone, typing on your computer, and ignoring the
people that care about you in the real world.”

The truth behind Tyler’s words stings. Leah
was clinging to the cyber world to cope, to the detriment of her
so-called real life—or what’s left of it. How can she explain to
Tyler and Logan, to anyone, that Daniel’s loss is simply too much
to bear? Would they understand how devastating it is to lose the
only person that anchored her to the real world in the first place?
That’s one reason she loved Daniel so much; he made a world she can
enjoy living in, where she was the only thing that mattered. Or
rather
could live in.
Now that Daniel is gone, that world
holds no meaning for her anymore. Before melancholy threatens to
drown her, Leah pushes down her grief and focuses on the
present.

“The ‘real world’, as you call it Tyler, was
destroyed for me that day the bomb went off in the cafeteria.
Nothing matters anymore, except finding who did it. Now, unless you
boys have gained some computer wizardry that I’m not aware of,
you’re no help to me.”

Again, the boys share an uncomfortable look,
like they want to leave, but loyalty to their fallen friend has
cemented them to their chairs. Leah sighs heavily; she’s had about
enough caring for one day.

“You guys gonna sit there and stare at me all
night? Because I have work to do and I need to get back to it.”

Logan gives her a quizzical look as he leans
in closer to her, their arms almost touching. “Work huh? What kind
of work is so important that you forget to live? I’d sure be
interested in that. Wouldn’t you, Tyler?” Logan asks as he glances
at his companion sitting next to him.

“Yep, super interested actually. So what has
you so enthralled on that computer, Leah?” Tyler asks moving his
chair closer to her.

Exasperated, Leah folds her arms over the
computer, hoping that the boys would just leave. “Well, it’s none
of your damn business so you two can just forget about what I’m
working on and leave.” If only it were that easy.

“Oh come on! Tell us. Is it another program
like you created for Daniel to help when he played HALO? That was a
sweet setup.”

Appeased by his words, Leah relaxes a little
since her programming abilities are something she’s actually
willing to discuss. “That was nothing really, just a simple gateway
to go around the programming and help him win. It made him happy so
that is...was all that mattered.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Leah, that was an
amazing program you gave him,” Logan interjects steering the
conversation away from Daniel. “Are you working on another one? Can
I see it?” he asks, moving his hands towards Leah’s computer to
lift up the screen.

Leah stops him before he has a chance to peek
at what she’s been working on. “Just gathering some information on
people at our school, nothing cool. But if I do another program
like that, I promise to send it along to you, ok? For now though, I
need to get back to work.”

“Okay. But in the meantime, remember that
we’re all here for you if you need anything,” says Logan.

“You don’t have to go through any of this
alone,” Tyler assures her.

“I know and thanks for offering, boys, but
I’m going to be fine.”

“Well, we’ll leave you to it then. We’re glad
to see you doing better,” Tyler says as he pushes himself out of
the chair and moves to give Leah a hug.

Leah allows this, grateful to share some of
her unspoken grief with him. She puts her arms around Tyler and
holds on tightly, absorbing as much of his strength as she can
before she once again has to do it on her own. Tyler doesn’t move
to end the hug until she’s ready. After a bit, Leah breaks away,
sits back down into her seat and opens up her computer, effectively
dismissing them both from her thoughts.

Leah clandestinely watches as Logan and Tyler
make their way out of Starbucks and get into a car parked just out
front. Why the sudden interest in her and the work she does? When
Daniel was alive, they never cared that much. Huh. Maybe her grief
is making her see things that aren’t really there. Leah turns her
attention back to her screen, the strange conversation with Logan
and Tyler all but forgotten. Refocused, she continues her work on
finding out who killed Daniel. Revenge is all she has time for now.
And revenge she will have. It’s never a good idea to piss off a
hacker. Especially not one that’s hacked into secret documents
housed in the Pentagon—twice.