Page 76 of Playing for Keeps

“What’s wrong?” Jen asked, voice shaky as she stood behind my chair. “What do you see?”

I played the video again, slowing the speed down to a crawl. And what I feared was what I saw, a flash of red hair on the edge of my screen, partially hidden from view as Aaron’s lifeless body fell to the floor.

Jen gasped, but Levi stepped closer, pointing at the person I was hoping wasn’t there. “Some other guy brought her in. Pretty sure she was drugged. She sat there half-asleep through most of it.”

“What happened to her?” I asked spinning in my chair, standing over him as I pulled Jen into my arms. “Did you see?”

“Is that Kelly?” Jen whispered, peeking over my shoulder at the screen. “Oh, God, it is, isn’t it?”

“Do you know her?” Levi asked.

“She’s my best friend.”

“Did you see what happened to her?” I asked again.

Levi shook his head. “Not really. I ducked down behind the crates when they shot him, and when I looked a little later, she was gone. It was just... that guy. On the floor. His blood was everywhere.”

My hand landed on Levi’s shoulder, and I gave him a comforting squeeze. “Thank you for bringing this to me.”

“We need to send it to the police.”

A grimace scrunched up Levi’s face. “I kinda did already.” When I narrowed my eyes at him, he rushed to explain. “I was following the guy, okay? I thought maybe I could help you. But the cops, they found someone who saw me. And they connected some dots, made some wrong assumptions, and thought you were me.”

“Why?” I asked. “Why would they think I was you?”

He smoothed a hand over his leather jacket, and I tilted my head back with a groan. “You were following him around wearing that?”

“He was,” Jen said quietly. “I saw him. Riding around on his bike outside my apartment ever since I got to town.”

“You got me arrested!”

“I also set you free!” Levi threw a hand out toward his phone. “I cut the video, Arthur. I sent them the part where that old dude shot the guy. Why do you think you were released so quickly? You hadn’t called your lawyer. No one knew you were there except for her.”

My phone buzzed once again. Before I could reach for it, my computer screens flickered and went dark.

“Dammit.” Turning, I stabbed at a button on the keyboard, grabbed my headset and put it on. “This isn’t a good time.”

“No time will ever be good for something like this,” Thatcher’s voice murmured in my ear. My friend’s face flashed up on the screen on the right, his eyes narrowing as he looked around my room. “I didn’t know you had company.”

“Really?” I threw my arms out to my sides, narrowly missing both Jen and Levi. “You just barged in.”

“You weren’t answering.”

“I was a bit busy.”

“This isn’t something that can wait.”

“Wait,” Levi said, taking a step closer. “Is that—”

Before he could finish, the screen on the left switched on. “Hey, hey—Oh! Uh.” Butterman scratched at his unruly hair. “Hi Jen. Hi little kid.”

Levi scoffed. “I’m not a little kid.”

“Coulda fooled me,” Angel said in a sing-song voice. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

Ford’s face was the last to flicker on the screen. “Time difference, Angel. Kid would have gotten out of school, what, an hour ago?”

“Vin.” Jen clutched my arm. My hand covered hers, the warmth of her skin the only thing helping me to keep my calm.