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“And the phone calls he made on that fatal night.”

“Where is it—this tablet?” asked Tilton, giving us a look of concern. He’d placed a supportive arm around his wife’s shoulder.

“We think we might have a line on that,” Chase said.

“So you haven’t found it yet?” asked Rosa.

“We haven’t. But we think we know who might have taken it.”

Rosa frowned.“I don’t understand…”

“Where is your daughter, Rosa?” asked Odelia abruptly.

“Upstairs in her room,” said Rosa. “Why?”

“Could you ask her to come down? We would like to ask her a couple of questions, if that’s all right with you.”

“Okay,” said Rosa, frowning. She got up and bellowed at the foot of the stairs, “Aisha! Come down a minute, will you?”

“I’m busy!” Aisha shouted back.

“It’s the police—they want to talk to you!”

There was much stomping of feet again as Aisha came down the stairs, her face a thundercloud.

“What?” she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Don’t talk to Odelia and Detective Kingsley like that,” her mother admonished her. “Now sit down and be polite.”

Aisha rolled her eyes in a perfectly practiced gesture, and plunked herself down on the couch.“What do you want?” she asked.

“Please try and take an interest, Aisha,” said Tilton. “It’s important.”

“I know, Tilton,” she said. “Todd was my brother, remember?”

“I do remember,” said Tilton, cutting a quick glance to Rosa, who shook her head.

“I’ll go and check on the baby,” she muttered, and hurried up the stairs.

“Aisha, we know about your brother’s tablet,” said Odelia.

Moments later, Rosa returned, carrying the baby.

“What tablet?” asked Aisha morosely.

“The tablet Todd got from Scott.”

“I don’t know about any tablet.”

“We talked to Scott, and he confirmed that he gave his old iPad to Todd last month. He even helped him set it up so that it synced with his phone and with his laptop.”

“So why are you asking me? If it was Scott’s tablet, you should ask him.”

“Aisha!” said Rosa.

“I’m sorry, Mom, but I don’t know anything about a tablet.”

“It wasn’t amongst his personal effects,” said Odelia, “and it wasn’t in his room, so do you have any idea where it might be?”

“No idea,” said Aisha immediately. “Now can I go? I have tons of homework to finish.”

“No, you don’t,” said Rosa. She turned to Odelia and gave her a look of apology. “We’ve been keeping her home from school ever since her brother…” She swallowed with difficulty, and her eyes were soon brimming with tears again.

“I still have a ton of homework, Mom,” said Aisha. “Even if I don’t go to school, I don’t want to fall behind.”

“It’s fine,” said Chase, and immediately Aisha shot up from the couch and was stomping up those stairs again. Moments later the door to her room slammed shut, causing both Rosa and Tilton to wince.

“If she keeps this up we’ll have to get a new doorframe soon,” said Tilton, and I could tell he wasn’t kidding.

“Do you think Aisha knows about her brother’s tablet?” asked Rosa.

“Yes, I do,” said Chase.

“So why is she lying? And where is it?”

“We’re not sure. But if maybe you could keep an eye on her for the next couple of days?”

Rosa nodded, and so did Tilton, both looking extremely concerned now.

“Are you saying… that Aisha could be involved with what happened to Todd?” asked Rosa finally, voicing the question that had forced itself to the forefront of her mind.

“It’s too soon to tell,” said Chase, getting up. “Just keep an eye on her, will you?”

“Yes, of course,” said Tilton as he also got up to escort us to the door.

“I can’t believe Aisha would do anything to harm her brother,” said Rosa. “She and Todd didn’t always get along, but she would never do that.”

“Unless it was an accident?” Tilton suggested, giving Odelia and Chase a keen look, as if hoping they would confirm or deny the suspicions of him and his wife.

But Chase was as stony-faced as ever, and Odelia’s face, too, didn’t reveal anything.

And so moments later we were out on the sidewalk again, and I had the impression we’d left behind two very concerned parents, and one very troubled teenager.

Chapter 29

It was the morning after the surprise visit of Detective Kingsley and Odelia Kingsley, and the Bond household was in something of a turmoil. Aisha had insisted today was the day she was going back to school, even though her mom insisted she stay home for another couple of days.

“No, Mom, I’ll get too much behind if I stay home.”

“But, honey, you’re not well.”

“I’m fine,” said Aisha curtly.

“At least wait until after the funeral.”

“I want to go now, okay?”

“If she wants to go, maybe we should let her,” said Tilton, who was seated at the kitchen counter, reading his paper and sipping from his cup of black coffee.

“Fine,” said Rosa with a sigh of resignation.

The baby was in the high chair, being fed by Rosa, while Aisha stuffed her books into her backpack, clearly eager for her life to return to normal as soon as possible.