Andrew Klavan - The long way home

They came into the parlor and set their packages down on the floor.

"Has this man been bothering you?" Miler asked Beth. She laughed.

"What's all this stuff?" I said.

Rick planted himself cross-legged on the floor in front of the laptop case. He opened it. "This," he said, "is the stuff we need for Josh's incredibly stupid plan."

"For instance, here's a cell phone with two-way capabilities," said Miler. "Because Josh doesn't have a remote headset for his computer." He brought the phone out of the plastic bag and tried to hand it to me.

I wouldn't take it. "I can't use a cell phone. The police can trace them in about ten seconds."

"Not this one. It's not registered to you and it's disposable. Just like the drug dealers use."

"Great. If drug dealers are doing it, it must be good. Man, this really does sound like an incredibly stupid plan. What is it?"

"Voila," said Rick-only he pronounced it Voy-la. He had set the laptop up on the floor now and pressed the Power button. The machine had obviously already been booted up and in sleep mode because it came on right away. The monitor winked on and…

"You gotta be kidding me," I said.

But they weren't. There on the monitor was Josh. It was a live webcam shot of him sitting behind the wheel of his mom's black Camry, driving down the road.

"Josh knew this house picks up the hot spots from the mall," said Rick. "How he knew, I have no idea, but he knew."

Miler flipped the cell phone open and spoke into it. "Calling Agent Dipstick. Calling Agent Dipstick."

On the computer monitor, Josh put his finger to his ear as if he had a headset on. It must've been a pretty small headset, though, because I couldn't see it. It must've been like one of those hearing aids you stick inside your ear.

"I hear voices," Josh said. "Must be aliens." I couldn't see his microphone either, but it must've been there because his voice came back over the two-way's speaker, loud enough for all of us to hear.

"Give me that," I said to Miler. I took the two-way from him. I knelt down in front of the laptop so I could see Josh more clearly. I spoke into the phone. "Josh, what do you think you're doing? Where are you going?"

I could see Josh on the monitor, steering the car with one hand and touching his headset with the other. I could see him glance over at the seat, blinking through his big glasses, when he talked back to me. I guess that's where the webcam was. "I'm driving to Wyatt High School," he said.

I felt a twinge inside me. Wyatt High School-that was where Alex used to go. "Why are you going there?"

"Because you can't, my friend. If you go to Wyatt High School and start asking all kinds of questions, you'll get arrested. So I'm going instead. I figured I'd start with the two kids who witnessed Alex's murder. Bobby Hernandez and Steve Hassel. They were in middle school then, but they moved up this year. I'll talk to them; you watch me on the webcam, and that way, you can tell me what questions you want to ask. Then I'll ask and you'll be able to hear the answers. I'll even be able to clip the webcam to my shirt or something so you'll be able to see who I'm talking to. Good plan, right?"

"Amazing," I said into the phone. "Only listen. There's a new plan. In this plan, you turn your car around and drive home and then go to school."

"I went to school already. I don't have another class till two. I'm a senior, remember?"

"All right, then don't go to school. Stay home and watch cartoons on television. Just don't go around asking questions about Alex's murder."

"Why not?"

My voice rose. "Because it's dangerous, Josh, that's why. I told you guys: this isn't a game. It's not a television show. There are real people really trying to hurt me. Really bad. And they'll hurt you too."

"Well, what's your plan?" said Josh.

"Well…"

"Weren't you going to go around asking people questions?"

"Yeah, but…"

"And where were you going to start?"

I had to admit it. "I was gonna start at Wyatt too, but…"

"So it's the same thing," said Josh. "Only I'm going to do it for you so you don't get caught."

"But…" I began-then nothing. I knelt there like an idiot, trying to think of an argument. Finally I said, "It's too dangerous, Josh."

"It's a lot less dangerous for me than it is for you," Josh answered right away. "In fact, it's not really that dangerous for me at all. If someone stops me or asks me what I'm doing, I'll just tell them I'm writing an article about Alex's murder for the school paper. You know, a kind of retrospective."

"But…" I said again. This was so frustrating. Josh was making really good arguments and I had no answer for them-but I still didn't want him out there taking the risks that were meant for me. I turned to Rick, then Miler, looking to them to help me out here.

"We had the same problem," Miler told me. "Josh's plan is incredibly stupid-but it's actually the least incredibly stupid plan any of us could think of."

I looked to Beth now, hoping she'd suggest something. Sitting on the picnic blanket, she only lifted one shoulder in a shrug.

"This is exactly what I didn't want to happen," I said.

"Yeah, life can be like that sometimes," said Josh through the two-way.

"Josh…" I said through gritted teeth. I think if Beth hadn't been there, I'd have said a lot more.

"Look," said Rick. "You have to give the man credit where it's due. It really is safer for him to ask questions than it would be for you. And with all this spy stuff, at least we'll be able to keep tabs on him."

I covered the two-way with my hand so Josh couldn't hear me. "Why didn't you go?" I asked Rick. "You're twice his size."

"Yeah, but Josh actually is the editor of the school paper, so we thought his alibi would pan out. Also, it's his spy stuff."

I sighed. I uncovered the two-way. "All right," I said. "We'll try it this one time. But if you get killed, Josh, I'm gonna personally kick your butt into the middle of next Tuesday."

I could see him on the monitor, turning the steering wheel again. I could see the scenery change through the driver's window as he went around a corner.

"I'm not gonna get killed," he said. "I'll just go to the high school, chat with Hernandez and Hassel, and leave."

"No," I said. "Not them."

"Come on, Charlie," said Josh. "I'm telling you. It'll be safe."

"Yeah, all right, all right, but still-not Hernandez and Hassel. They're just witnesses. They don't really know anything; they just saw stuff. And they already told what they saw to the police. Plus, they testified and talked to the media too. We're not gonna find out anything from them we can't find out by reading the newspapers."

Rick made a face at Miler. Miler made a face at Rick.

Coming over the two-way, Josh said, "I didn't think of that. That's pretty smart. All right. Who should I talk to then?"

I'd already thought of that-I'd thought of it a few days ago when I was planning to come here.

"The night Alex died, he was hanging out with two friends at the Eastfield Mall. I know because they came up to me and gave me a hard time about talking to Beth. They acted like they were going to start a fight with me, and they only stopped when Alex called them off."

"Right. You said all that at your trial," said Josh. "And those two guys testified too."

"I know. I have a newspaper story with their names in it. The thing is, they were Alex's friends. They knew what he was into, who he was talking to. They knew what he was planning to do that night."

Rick spoke up, sitting cross-legged next to me. "Wouldn't the police have talked to them, too, same as the witnesses?"

"Yeah," I told him. "But maybe they didn't ask them the right questions or maybe they didn't follow up on the ones they did ask. See, once they found the knife and the DN A and everything, they were sure I was the one who did it. Maybe they figured there wasn't any need to find out anything else after that. It's possible they got sidetracked, that's all."