Double Black Diamond (Mercy Watts Mysteries) (34 page)

“You should’ve, but that don’t change anything. You’re up to something.”
 

“Whatever.” I crossed my arms. The worst Dad would do to me was show up and not speak to me while he investigated. I figured I could take that, if I had to. I wasn’t talking about Keegan.
 

Uncle Morty leaned back, his big belly blocking his screen. “I’ll call Carolina. She’ll be here and pestering you so bad, you’ll wish that microwave’d got ya.”
 

Ahhhhhhh! Not Mom!

“Can’t you just investigate DBD like a normal hacker?” I asked.
 

“Ain’t no such thing as a normal hacker.” He inclined his head toward his second screen. “Oh look here. What’s this? Could it be Open Mind Medicinals files? Could there be a mention of a Mercy Watts in there?”

Sweat ran down my sides soaking my bikini bottoms. I’m not normally a sweaty girl, but oh crap this was bad. If Uncle Morty found out about Keegan, I didn’t know what he would do. Telling Dad was a given.
 

“Go ahead,” I said in what I hoped was a nonchalant voice.
 

Aaron picked up my mug and gave it to me. I definitely needed chocolate and I was pleased to see my hands were steady.
 

“Did Cullum Dushane hire you before you arrived at Copper?” asked Uncle Morty.

“No.”
 

“At least that’s the truth. Why won’t you tell me? You think I ain’t got your back?”
 

“I think you’ve got Dad’s back.” Damn. It just slipped out.
 

“And this’ll hurt Tommy. That it?”
 

I didn’t reply. What was I going to do? This was supposed to be easy. Get the oil and get it home. Nobody had to know. Nobody had to get indicted. Nobody’s reputation was supposed to be sullied.
 

“I can’t let you hurt Tommy,” he said softly. I didn’t know his big gruff voice could be so soft.
 

“I know, so just leave it alone. Trust me to know what I’m doing.”
 

He laughed, jiggling his laptops like crazy. “No can do. I gotta know. Can’t stand the suspense. You know what I’m capable of and I doubt Open Mind can withstand me. Nobody has before.”
 

“I’m a drug smuggler,” I said. “Happy now?”

Uncle Morty’s mouth dropped open in shock. That was a little satisfaction for me, but it didn’t last long.
 

Chapter Twenty-One

“There’s a video!” I yelled. “Go find that!”

My ears hurt. Everything hurt. Uncle Morty had been bellowing for thirty minutes straight. When Fergus and Kera came back, I thought I might get a reprieve, but no. He sent them down to Calvin and Nancy with the muffulettas and the red beans and rice. So it was just me and my nerd posse sitting in a storm of cursing that made my father’s previous rantings seem like mild disapproval. Uncle Morty yelled so much the neighbors called the manager and he had to come up and face the raging elephant seal I called my uncle.
 

“I don’t care about any damn video!” he yelled.
 

The timid manager’s pleas hadn’t done much for the decibel level. Aaron went over and fed the neighbors hot chocolate and paninis to keep them from complaining again. Rodney sat on the sofa with headphones, playing Star Trek something or other, totally oblivious to my fate.

“You’d care if you saw it!” I yelled. “I didn’t agree to this for my own self-interest, you know!”
 

“I don’t know. First the Fibonaccis and now this!”
 

“Should I have let Lucia die? Is that it? That would’ve gone over well with Calpurnia Fibonacci.”
 

“So now you’re some kinda benevolent force?”
 

“I’m unlucky that’s what. If Rory hadn’t been attacked, you’d never have known about any of this,” I said.
 

“Carey’s on to you. He knows you’ve got something to do with Open Mind Medicinals. It’s only a matter of time before he puts it together that you didn’t just accidentally meet Rory that night. Nothing that happens around you is an accident.” Uncle Morty’s voice went all creaky. He’d finally tweaked his throat and his next words were barely audible. Something about my being an idiot.

I plopped down on the easy chair and burst into tears. I’d been holding it in, but I couldn’t anymore and it pissed me off so much I can’t even tell you how mad I was. I hate crying, especially when I shouldn’t be crying. I tried to do something good and bad things happened, but they weren’t my fault.

Aaron came back into the room and without saying a word, he poured me a fresh mug of hot chocolate and put it into my shaking hands.
 

“Don’t give her that,” squeaked Uncle Morty. “She don’t deserve it.”
 

“Got the video,” said Aaron, staring at some point over Uncle Morty’s head.
 

“What video?”

“The kid.”
 

I sipped the extra thick hot chocolate. Aaron had gotten serious. It was more like pudding than any hot chocolate I’d ever had in the States. Aaron had gone Italian. A tear dripped into the mug and stayed, glistening on the top and making a teenie dimple. I closed my eyes. “How bad is it?”
 

“You didn’t see it?” asked Uncle Morty, getting higher pitched.
 

“No, I didn’t. You think Cecile’s lying, you watch it. See if you can turn away from what’s happening to that little boy,” I said, glaring at him.
 

Uncle Morty stared at me, his face so red I wanted to check his blood pressure, but there was something else there too, just behind the anger. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said it was fear. I’d never seen Morty afraid. I’d seen terrible grief and certainly had my share of tirades, but this was something new.
 

“I’m a nurse,” I said. “I deal in the real world. There are no reboots. No health points. No starting over. You can’t switch to a new platform when it gets tough or you get tired. Watch the video and tell me I was wrong. Tell me Keegan deserves this because the legislators are too slow.”
 

“You see it?” he asked Aaron.
 

“Yep.”
 

“You think I should watch this damn thing?”
 

“Yep.”
 

Uncle Morty shoved his laptops away. “Give it to me.”
 

Aaron got his own laptop from the kitchen. When he passed by, I caught a glimpse of a distorted little face, mouth stretched wide, muscles clinched. I wouldn’t be watching.
 

“Aaron, will you walk me home?” I asked.
 

Uncle Morty with his finger poised over the keyboard said, “You ain’t staying?”
 

“I saw his mother’s face. That was bad enough. Call me when you decide.”

“Decide what?”
 

“When you decide whether you’re going to help or hinder,” I said.
 

“Tommy can’t have a drug smuggler in the family.”
 

I looked at him for a moment, wondering how I was going to help Keegan with Uncle Morty in my way. He became a different person to me in those moments. Dad and Uncle Morty broke all kinds of laws in pursuit of the truth. I’d been taught to tail suspects, pick locks, lie, and to get where I had no business going. But now I realized that was business. Dad would get hired to do a job and he did it. Uncle Morty rifled through people’s lives at will, because he knew he wouldn’t get caught and he was being well-paid. Keegan wasn’t a customer, so breaking the law for him wasn’t allowed. It made me sick.
 

“I guess I have my answer.”
 

I got a limp Wallace out of the bedroom and walked out with Aaron trailing me as usual. It was comforting in its own way. If nothing else there’d be a witness if anyone tried to heave a crockpot at me. We got into the elevator and Aaron got out a cube of purple Bubble Yum. The smell of fake grape filled the small space and reminded me of middle school when Uncle Morty used to show up and teach computer skills to sullen thirteen-year-olds, me included. It was weird but he was extremely popular. He told everyone to shut the f up and that they were idiots and smelled like dog armpits, but we learned and laughed. Uncle Morty was in fine form on those visits and even the most uptight parents had to admit he was an excellent teacher. He’d been with me my whole life. He’d been sitting outside the bedroom in the Bled mansion with my grandparents when I’d been born and for the first time, I thought I didn’t know him at all. Maybe he was just about the money and right had nothing to do with it. If that was the case, I couldn’t help Dad anymore. The old line that it was for the family was worn to the point of being threadbare. I could now see the holes.
 

The elevator opened and Aaron made a hissing noise like a soda can being opened.
 

“I know,” I said. “Nancy made vegetable soup. Looks like Great-Grandma Tilly’s recipe.”
 

“Great Depression soup?” he asked.
 

“And all that implies.”
 

“Bad times for food.”

“And for humans,” I said.

We walked down the hall, slower and slower. I couldn’t help it. That soup stink was like a repulser beam. Ack. Now I was thinking in
Star Trek
lingo.
 

“There’s too much
Star Trek
in my life,” I said.
 

“Nope,” said Aaron.
 

“You would say that. Can’t we have a new world just for a change of pace? How about
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
? That’s a thing nerds like.”
 

“Nope.”
 

No hesitation. Not one ounce of consideration. Come on.
 

“Why not? What’s wrong with Buffy?”
 

“No space.”
 

“Well, that is a problem.
Game of Thrones
? They have dragons,” I said.
 

“Feud.”
 

I groaned as we reached the door. Uncle Morty had a huge fight with the
Thrones
author, George R.R. Martin, at a ComicCon and now they refused to give credence to each other’s existence. It was probably about comma use. Uncle Morty was pretty passionate about the Oxford comma.
 

“You know what,” I said. “I don’t care about Uncle Morty’s stupid feud. I’m into
Game of Thrones
now. I’m going to read all the books, watch the show, and talk about it incessantly. How do you like that?”

Aaron blinked. It could mean anything. If something was going on in his head, it wasn’t obvious on the outside. I swiped my keycard and it didn’t work. Groan. Another swipe.
 

I was forced to knock and Nancy opened the door. “There you are.” She hugged me and took the bleary-eyed Wallace out of my hands. “Pete told us. Are you okay?”
 

With all the yelling I’d sort of forgotten about the telling of my story to Calvin and Nancy. She looked like she was taking it well. I had to assume that Pete hadn’t in fact told her the truth about me.
 

“Is that Mercy?” called out Calvin.
 

“Yes, dear,” said Nancy.
 

“Well, don’t keep the girl out in the hall.”
 

I went in and asked Aaron, “You want to come in?”
 

He shook his head no and turned away with out a word.
 

“Bye, Aaron,” said Nancy as he trotted away from her soup.
 

The condo didn’t smell as bad as I expected. The scent of the muffulettas mitigated it somewhat.
 

“Soup’s hot,” said Nancy, smiling.
 

Perfect way to end the day.
 

“Great,” I said.
 

“You can have some soup and tell us all about it.”
 

I bit my lip. Tell what exactly? I was afraid to ask.

“Mercy,” said Calvin, “come in here. I’m on pins and needles.”
 

“Okay.” I started for the living room when Nancy put Wallace down. She stood for a second and then flopped over like a top-heavy stuffed animal. Her legs stuck out straight and she quivered.
 

There it is. The last straw. My family has killed the stink dog.
 

“Oh my,” said Nancy.
 

I swooped in and picked up Wallace, ready to give her CPR. Seriously. I was going to do it. Doggy mouth-to-mouth. Lucky for me, the stink dog was breathing. She gave a slurring yip.
 

“Um…she’s okay.”
 

By okay, I mean drunk.
 

Nancy peered into her dog’s unfocused eyes. “I think she needs a vet.”
 

Yip.
 

“She’s just tired. They walked her a lot and then Aaron made her some special dinner with heavy ingredients.”

Yip.

“She sounds funny,” said Nancy.
 

Yeah, she does. I’m going to kill Aaron.
 

“Let’s give it a little while and see how she does,” I said.
 

Nancy scratched Wallace’s head. “Does my baby want something to drink?”
 

Got any black coffee?

“I’ll get her some water.” I hung a right into the bathroom, filled Wallace’s bowl, and put her in front of it. She stood there for a second and I thought we were doing good until she went facedown with a splash.
 

“What was that?” called Nancy from the kitchen.
 

“She’s thirsty,” I said, grabbing a hand towel and wiping Wallace’s smushed face. I closed the door. Another disaster at Copper Mountain. Stabbing, collision, fire, falling microwaves and now a poisoned dog. I called Aaron, careful to keep my voice down. I wanted to scream. About Wallace. About Keegan. About everything.
 

“Huh?” answered Aaron.
 

“What did you give this dog? She can’t stand up. She just fell face first into her water dish.”