Drop of Doubt (18 page)

“She loves it,” Victor said.

“I’m okay without shoes,” I said.

Victor beamed. “’Cause you’re weird. Most girls like shoes.”

I shot him a look.

During the pedicures, Adam came back, tailed by Lei. They both hovered over my head, discussing in murmurs things they wanted to do to my hair. I wanted to catch Victor’s attention, but Adam’s body was in the way.

From that point on, I was polished, brushed, sprayed, combed, styled and other things I didn’t know the name of.

I wasn’t sure how long it took, but it felt like hours before I actually saw Victor again, even though he’d been next to me the entire time. My nails and toenails were a light shade of pink. My hair felt different. They hadn’t cut it, but they managed to sweep most of it off my shoulders, and the rest they set into soft curls.

When Victor saw me, his eyes widened and his smile lit up like his eyes. “Gabriel might have a rival in you, Adam.”

“Please tell me he’s got the formula for this color,” Adam said. He curled one of the locks of my hair between his fingers. “I need to know what he did.”

“That’s all her,” Victor said, beaming. “Not a drop of dye on her head.”

“You’ll have to bring her back. I want to try to match it.”

I grinned at Victor. For another massage, I’d let Adam cut off all my hair and glue sequins to my bald head.

Victor laughed at my expression. “I think you’ve won her over. If I knew that was all it took, I’d have brought her here sooner.” An eyebrow cocked. “Or learned to do it myself.”

“Anytime you want to learn, come by. I teach a class.”

Victor had to drag me away from the guys when it was time to go. By then it was noon, and I was starving. I buried my cheek against Victor’s shoulder as he swiped his credit card at the front desk. As I did, my stomach started growling.

Victor laughed, shaking his head. “You’re welcome, Princess. And yes, we’ll go to lunch. Where do you want to go?”

“Someplace you like.”

“There’s a little bistro not far from here.” He signed the receipt. I tried not to glance at the slip, but I couldn’t help but notice Victor leaving a tip that matched the price of the spa package and I nearly choked. Victor gave 100% tips. He hooked my arm through his, turning me away from the spa. He waved at Janet standing by the front desk. “We’ll be back,” he called to her.

“Just give me a call,” Janet said, waving goodbye.

“Victor,” I said as he opened the door.

“Yes?”

“I like the spa.”

He leaned over, his lips planting a kiss at my temple. “I know.”

A spark lit up my heart. I couldn’t find my voice to tell him what I was really thinking. I did like the spa.

I really liked him.

I was leaning against him as we approached his car in the lot. My fingers intertwined with his. I was wondering how I could tell him what I was thinking. It was in my heart and I wanted to let him know. I felt like him with his inability to keep a gift for too long. I wanted to say it right now before I forgot or before this feeling escaped. I simply couldn’t find the words.

“Sang,” he said and he stopped a few feet away from his car.

The way he said my name had me confused only for a second. It was distressed, and so out of sync with the last couple of hours that I thought perhaps I did something wrong. I straightened, caught his line of sight and followed it.

The hood of the car had a manila folder stuck to it. My name was scrawled in red on the outside.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“Get in the car,” he said. He hit the button on his set of keys. “We need to leave.”

He opened my door for me. I got in. He closed the door behind me before jogging around the car. He snatched up the envelope, flipped open the folder and gazed at what was inside. His eyes widened, the frown deepening. He half crumpled the folder in his hand, as if ready to toss it away. He stopped midway through, looked again, and stuffed it under his arm as he opened the driver’s side door.

“What is it?” I asked as he sat inside.

“I don’t want to show you,” he said. He closed the door and jammed his keys into the ignition, turning the engine over.

“I want to see it,” I said. “It had my name on it.”

“You don’t want this.”

“Show me. Don’t keep it to yourself. Something’s wrong.”

He frowned, but pulled the folder from his arm. He turned in the seat, holding it up to me. “Do you remember how you felt inside the spa? Do you remember how nice Adam and Lei were? Do you remember that feeling?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“I don’t want this to change that. This shouldn’t be here at all, and I don’t want this to ruin what just happened. This wasn’t Adam or Janet or any of them. Okay?”

“Victor?”

He sighed, passing along the folder to me.

Suddenly I didn’t want to look inside. I couldn’t help it though. Victor knew. I’d asked. I needed to know.

Inside of the folder was a collection of pictures.

Each one was of me. Each one was a progression of me walking into the spa, then me inside the spa through the big window in the back room, getting undressed, then me talking with Victor, then Lei massaging my back.

And each one had the same message, a message scrawled over my face like the one that had been delivered to their phones.

I’ll squash you like the leech you are
.

––––––––

“W
here are we going?” I asked Victor.

“We’re getting our phones changed and then I’m dropping you off with someone else.”

“Why? What’s happening?”

“This guy is following us.” His hands twisted on the steering wheel. “He’s following you around. This isn’t phone harassment any more. He’s stalking you.

“I don’t get it. He tried to get me into the car last night trying to talk to me like he wants to help me, and here he is doing things like this.”

“He’s crazy, Sang. Chances are there’s some weird rationalization only he knows that we wouldn’t be able to understand.” He changed lanes, weaving around traffic to hurry along. “What we need to do now is ... I don’t know. I don’t have a phone to reach anyone.”

“No one else has their phones, either.”

“Mr. Blackbourne always has one. He’s got an emergency one.”

“Mr. Blackbourne carries a second cell phone?”

“That surprises you?”

I wasn’t sure what to think about it anymore. “Would anyone else be by a land line phone?”

“Possibly North and Luke if they’re at the diner. I might be able to pass a message through Uncle if he’s there. Maybe Dr. Green.” Victor snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Yes. I’m taking you to Dr. Green’s after this.”

“Why can’t I stay with you?” I didn’t mean to sound like I didn’t want to visit Dr. Green, but whoever was following us, he was following Victor, too. I didn’t want him to be alone.

“I’ve got to go back to the spa.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to check out security cameras, talk with some people around there. We need to do this quick. First I want to get a phone so I can reach you. I’ll call in someone to go with me.”

Victor turned into a cell phone store parking lot. I jumped out of the car before he could open my door. I thought we didn’t have time for that kind of thing. He hesitated for only a moment, before snatching up my hand.

At the door of the store, he stopped to open the door for me. I bit my tongue. I wanted to tell him not to worry about it, but I couldn’t help feeling the warmth of the little things he did to look out for me.

We stood in line to wait our turn at the counter. Victor’s thumb slid across the back of my hand at a rapid tempo. I couldn’t blame him. Every two minutes, I turned around to check out the car, watching out the window for anyone flashing pictures or trying to leave more photos on his windshield.

When Victor was at the counter, he ordered four brand new iPhones with new phone numbers, all under his name. The man behind the counter eyeballed him, but when Victor yanked out the black credit card, the guy started ringing it up and opening the boxes to start the process of getting them working.

After the first one took time to put together, I let go of Victor to wander off to a wall of cell phones. There were only a couple of other people in the store, so I was within sight. Victor was tapping at the new phone. I fiddled with display models.

I poked at an iPad display when another employee emerged from the back of the store. He carried a stack of cell phone cases and started loading them onto a wall unit. The face was familiar to me. I stared at him trying to figure out where I’d seen him before.

The boy must have sensed me staring because he turned. It wasn’t until I caught his full face that I remembered him being the nerd boy I’d bumped into in the waiting room of the school office the day before. Was it only yesterday?

“Hi,” I said. “You work here?”

The boy blinked at me in surprise. “Y ... yeah.” Maybe it was because of the store uniform, but he also looked distinguished. It was a good look for him to wear a polo and slacks.

“There’s school going on, isn’t there?” I asked.

His glasses shifted on his nose, sliding down a little. Part of the frame was crooked so maybe they didn’t fit right. “Y ... yes. I ... we ... I get out of school early.”

“How?”

“It’s my last year. I only needed two more classes.”

He looked so young, I would have thought he was my age, not closer to eighteen. “You’re a senior?”

“Something like that.”

I caught a glimpse of the nametag on his shirt. “Your name’s Wil?”

He touched the corner of his glasses, smudging part of the lens. “Y ... yes.”

“Can I ask you something?” This was great. He worked in a cell phone store. He ought to know. “How could someone duplicate a SIM card?”

His eyebrow arched up on his head. “You mean transfer the data from one card to the other or do you mean an actual copy?”

“I mean one person has an original and another person has a duplicate of the exact card.”

He brushed his fingers at the base of his neck. “I suppose if you had the phone. I imagine some hackers have a machine for that kind of thing.”

“What if you didn’t have the phone? Or the SIM card? What if all you had was the phone number?” It was the question that had been bugging me earlier. My phone was never out of my sight. I couldn’t believe that in the few minutes it was with Kota, it would have gone to anyone else. He wouldn’t do that. It wasn’t like Kota.

Wil shook his head. “Sounds impossible.”

“So they would need to physically duplicate the SIM card to intercept calls?”

“No. Someone can do that. It’s just hard to duplicate a SIM card without the actual SIM card.”

I tilted my head at him, reaching to brush my fingertips at his arm. “Wait, you can intercept phone calls without having the card?”

His eyes suddenly focused on my hand where I was touching him. I retracted my hand, unsure. I’d been around the guys too long, and didn’t know anything about touching. He stared back at me. “Sure. It’s actually easier if you just pick up on the phone signal.”

“What do you mean?”

He looked nervously across the room. “Are you sure you need to know this? Are you planning on hacking phones? You know it’s illegal.”

“I’m ... curious.”

“It’s kind of like cordless phones. Cell phones are similar. There’s a frequency flying through the air. All you need to have is some sort of scanner to catch the signal.”

“Will it pick up text messages, too?”

“I suppose if you could tap into the right frequency.”

“What would it look like?”

Wil gazed back around the store, as if nervous someone could overhear. “I don’t know if I should talk about it.”

“Please?” I pursed my lips, glancing back at Victor, but he was busy at the counter. I returned to Wil. “Can I tell you something?”

Wil lifted a curious eyebrow. “I guess.”

“I think someone at school has been listening in on my phone calls and intercepting my text messages. I just don’t know who.”

Wil winced. “Are you sure?”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you seen those other kids? They’re kind of dumb.” He waved his hand in the air. “No offence. Not all of them. Not you. I mean.”

“But is it possible one of them could carry around a device that could listen in on phone calls?”

“Sure, I guess. Maybe if they had a friend that could make them one. I think I heard in the news the other week about someone carrying around what looked like a cell phone, but he was able to pick up all the phone signals around him. He also got arrested and sent to prison for like a million years.”

“So it can look like a cell phone?”

“Or a laptop. I’m sure if what you say is true, it’s some sort of electronic gadget. It wouldn’t have to be too powerful to pick up a phone signal. It just needs the right program.”

That wasn’t what I was hoping for. The school was full of students with cell phones. I was sure a few of them had tablets and other things. How could we find one device that picked up other signals among a sea of cell phones?

Wil watched me, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck. “Are ... you okay, Sang?”

I straightened, startled again that he knew my name. But then, everyone at the school seemed to know. “Yes. Sorry, Wil. But thank you.”

“Any time, I guess,” he said.

I walked away and back to Victor. The assistant at the counter was finishing up the fourth cell phone. He handed the bundle to Victor, and bagged the chargers and boxes.

Victor fiddled with one of the phones. “Did you find a pink case?”

“I was looking for one?”

He passed the phone he was holding to me. “You can use the old one. I didn’t bring it with me.”

“Victor?”

“Hm?”

“What if whoever intercepted the calls didn’t duplicate the SIM card? What if he used a ... receptor phone? Like a cell phone that could pick up phone signals?”

Victor raised an eyebrow. “You mean like a scanner?”

“Yeah.”

Victor raked his fingers through his wavy hair. “I guess all he needs to do is be within range. But if we’re always on the move, then it’d be difficult. The thing would have to be near us all the time.”