Alibi High

So I called Brenda after lunch, told her that I'd be home early that night afternoon and she said she'd have Joh

I changed into jeans and a T-shirt, pulled steaks from the freezer for di

I pulled the door open. “Right on time. Thank you for brin g ing them early.”

“No problem at all ,” he said, smiling. “I told them all to hit the trampoline because I wanted to talk to you for a second. You have a minute some time ?”

“Sure,” I said, waving him into the kitchen. I grabbed my peeler and went back to ski

He closed the door behind him and glanced toward the front of the house. “Is Emily home yet?”

I shook my head. “No. She went to Bailey's house after school. Did you need her?”

“No,” he said, leaning back against the door. “Just didn't think I should talk about this in front of her.”

I set the peeler down on the counter next to the wet potatoes. “Well, that sounds serious.”

He shrugged. “Not so much serious, as just, I don't know. Just probably something you might not want her to hear.”

“Me?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I've, uh, been asking around. About those computers from her school.”

I brushed off my hands, stray peels falling onto the cutting board. “Okay.”

“I'm on all sorts of online forums,” he explained. “With other IT guys and stuff. You can pretty much find out anything you need to know. Good resources for work-related stuff and goof around stuff, too. Like fantasy football.”

I laughed. “Okay.”

He kind of smiled. “Got ta have fun, too, right? Anyway, I've been looking around in the forums, just checking to see if anything popped up that looked a little weird or whatever.” He adjusted his glasses. “And I'm pretty sure I found something.”

A tiny knot tied itself in my stomach. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Sort of a guy I know. Just from the forums. But I knew he was local. He was offering up some things for sale that sounded pretty similar to what you said was taken from Prism.” He paused. “I'm not totally sure, but it sounds an awful lot like what you told me and like he's trying to move them.”

I reached for a dish towel and dried off my hands. “Did you talk to him?”

“Sorta,” Joh

“Spy movies?”

“Sure,” he said, adjusting the glasses again. “James Bond, that kind of stuff. I know how to play it cool and not give it all away.”

“Um, okay,” I said, trying hard to picture Joh

He shrugged. “I wasn't exactly sure what I should do, so I figured I'd tell you. We could call the police and let them talk to the guy. If he'd meet with them. I'm not sure he would, though.”

If he the online guy was trying to sell stolen computers on some sort of underground black market, I was pretty sure he wouldn't be open to a meet up with the police. If anything, he'd probably disappear if he got wind of anything like that.

“He probably wouldn't,” I said. “Would he meet you?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Me? I'm not sure. Maybe.”

I knew I was entering what Jake called The Daisy Danger Zone, where my ideas carried me maybe a little further than the rational person would go. I wasn't a police officer and I wasn't exactly sure what I'd do if I found out the guy Joh

Or something like that.

“Try,” I said. “See if he'll meet with you ? . ”

“Right now?”

“Sure,” I said. “Can you?”

He whipped out his phone and started tapping away at the screen. “Of course. Man, being a spy is kinda fun, you know?”

I went back to my potatoes, grabbing the grater and peeling the skin from the remaining potatoes tubers , trying to get my head straight while Joh

“And can you maybe not tell Brenda I'm doing this?” he aske d, d quietly. “She's not really down with my spy aspirations.”

“Our secret,” I said, thinking I might have to ask him the same thing so that Jake didn't commit me to an asylum.

“Thanks,” he said, still staring at the screen and tapping away. “Will save me some grief.” He paused and then glanced at me. “I need to make a quick call. Is that alright?”

“Sure.”

He walked into the living room, his f eet ootsteps echoing on the hardwood floors.

I pulled a large pot from the cupboard and filled it with water, then set it on the stove. I heard Joh

He was back a minute later. “ Um, okay. So I talked to him.”

“And?”

“He'll meet with me,” Joh

I gripped the potato in my hand. “ Alright. Wow. Really? We can meet with him.”

“Yep.”

I immediately had wild thoughts of recovering the computers, canceling the talent show and being done with the whole fiasco. I wasn't sure how that was all going to come to fruition just from meeting some random guy and pretend ing like we wanted to buy some stolen computers, but I wasn't really dealing with reality at that moment.

“One catch, though,” Joh

“A catch?”

“Yeah.”

“What is it?'

He adjusted his glasses. “We have to go meet with him right now.”

THIRTY FIVE

“This is ridiculous,” I said, staring out the passenger window of Joh

I'd set the potatoes aside, called of the kids in the house and told Will he was in charge because Joh

“What kind of an errand?” he 'd asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Just...an errand.”

“Does Jake know?”

“No. He won't be home for a bit and we'll be back before he gets here.”

“Why doesn't he know?”

I sighed, exasperated. “Because he doesn't. So you are in charge until I get back. Got it?”

He clicked his tongue. “I feel like there should be some compensation. Being in charge of all these kids is kind of a big deal. If anything were to happen. Or, say, Jake called — ”

“Ten bucks,” I said. “Payable when I get back.”

“Deal,” he said, gri

So after I was done dealing with the Junior Extortionist, Joh

“What is ridiculous ?” Joh

“This,” I said, waving a hand in front of me. “Going to meet with some guy about some stolen computers. We don't even know th at they are ey're the Prism ones and even if they are, what are we going to do about it? Make a citizen's arrest?”