File M For Murder

As I set a bowl down in front of Laura, she looked at me, her expression serious. “Do you think she’ll charge me with anything, Dad? What do they call it, obstruction?”

“Something like that,” I said. I patted her shoulder in what I hoped was a reassuring manner. “She’s going to be really ticked off about it, probably. At least, based on my own past experience with her, that’s what I’d predict.” I sighed and patted her again. “But I think she won’t go as far as charging you with obstruction or whatever it is.” I hoped fervently that I was right about that.

Laura echoed my thoughts. “I sure hope you’re right. The thought of maybe going to jail makes me sick to my stomach.”

“It won’t come to that.” I went back to the stove and removed two sandwiches from the skillet, added some butter, and put another sandwich in. I plated one and gave it to my daughter. “Eat.”

Laura flashed a grateful smile. She dipped up some soup and tasted it. She sighed after she swallowed. “Totally yum. It’s that cream you add. Love it.” She spooned more into her mouth.

I placed bowls of soup on the table for Sean and me. Then I finished the third sandwich and plated it. I sat down across from Laura and tasted the soup myself.

We ate in silence, and I kept expecting Sean to return. When several minutes passed and he didn’t appear, I was curious. “What’s taking Sean so long, I wonder? How much could that thumb drive possibly hold?”

Laura shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it could be eight gigabytes for all I know. Connor backed up all his stuff on it, so there could be a ton of files to copy.”

I didn’t know they made thumb drives with that kind of capacity, but I wasn’t the most tech-savvy person in the world to begin with.

Laura and I finished our meal, and still Sean hadn’t appeared. “Maybe he’s having technical problems,” I said. “Could it require a password?”

“I doubt it,” Laura said. “Maybe I should go check.”

“No, you stay where you are. I’ll go. Would you like more soup first?”

“About half a bowl, if there’s enough left,” Laura said.

I gave her what she requested, and when I glanced down at Diesel he looked up at me and meowed. I bent to rub his head. “Guess I’m forgiven finally, eh, boy?” He meowed again.

I headed for the stairs, and when I was about halfway up, Sean appeared at the head of the stairs. He stopped and scowled when he saw me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, stopping where I was.

“I can’t find the blasted thumb drive,” he said, and I could hear the frustration in his voice. “It isn’t where Laura said it was, and I’ve practically torn her room apart looking for it. It’s not there.”

“Where the heck could it be?” As I spoke the words, I had an appalling thought.

While we were at the hospital, had someone broken into the house and taken the thumb drive?

The doorbell rang, and both Sean and I tensed.

That could only be Kanesha. Confessing to taking the thumb drive was bad enough. Now we’d have to explain that it was missing.

Kanesha would go ballistic.

TWENTY-ONE

Sean grimaced at me. “What are you going to tell her?” He moved down the stairs closer to me.

“I guess we’ll have to tell her everything.” I turned to face the front door. My legs suddenly felt leaden. I didn’t want to open that door and have to deal with Kanesha. But I had little choice.

“That sucks.” Sean passed me, and I persuaded my legs into motion. While I headed for the door, Sean turned toward the kitchen. “I’ll break the good news to Laura.”

The bell rang again. “Coming,” I muttered. When I reached the door, I grabbed the knob and pulled it open. “Afternoon, Dep.…”

My voice trailed off because I realized Kanesha Berry wasn’t standing on my front doorstep.

Instead, Frank Salisbury, his expression one of deep concern, stood there. “Afternoon, sir. I just heard about Laura and wanted to stop by and make sure she’s okay.”

My first thought was, where was Kanesha? She’d told me she was coming right over and should have been here by now. But I wasn’t going to ignore a small blessing. Maybe she’d been delayed. That would give me more time to think.

In the meantime, I welcomed Frank into the house. “Laura’s doing fine,” I assured the young man as I showed him the way to the kitchen. His grim expression didn’t lighten, however, until he saw Laura for himself.

Sean and Laura broke off their conversation when Frank and I walked through the door. Sean looked relieved, while Laura looked like a child receiving a much-desired present.

Sean prudently moved out of the way because I didn’t think Frank even realized he was there, he was so intent on Laura. He went straight to her and knelt by her chair. “Darling, how are you? When I get my hands on whoever harmed you, I’m going to rip his arms off.”

He had it bad, and from what I could see, so did my daughter. She flung her arms around her suitor—that was how I would think of him from now on—and simply said, “Oh Frank.” He slid his arms around her, and they stayed locked together for what seemed like several minutes.