AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That man doesn’t know what he thinks. Honestly, T.J. never would have sold that car. It meant too much to him,” he said, pressing his middle finger and thumb into his temples, shielding his eyes from the fluorescents overhead.
More like it meant too much to my dad.
I fight the urge to roll my eyes, curious to find out more.
“What all does he know?”
“I don’t know. I refuse to believe that he sold it, though. I may have him re-investigate my theft theory,” he says, sitting up, a quizzical look in his eyes.
“Theft?” I question. It’s the first time I’ve heard him mention a possible theft.
“Yes. Cars are being stolen every day from around these parts. Police think it’s all gang related, but no one has any concrete evidence. But the timeline fits,” he says, tapping his finger against a stack of papers.
Gang related thefts? I only know one gang who may be the culprit for those thefts, and it just so happens to be the same gang responsible for Keaton’s brother being imprisoned.
Coincidence? I think not.
“So, really, he doesn’t have anything,” I say, and my dad nods, lost in thought, staring into the distance.
“Great. Well, I’ll leave you to this,” I say, gesturing toward his mess. “Just wanted to make sure I dropped that off.”
He doesn’t say anything. Just waves me off as if to say that he was through with me.
Yeah, Dad, what’s new?
If it has anything to do with Tommy, then Dad is ready to go up in arms over the issue. If it has to do with me, he’s either indifferent to my presence, or hostile. There is no in between.
I’d tell him to just let it all go, that he’ll likely never see the car again. But I know he won’t. And why waste my breath?
Chapter 35
“So, how exactly is this supposed to work?” I ask, watching Sander install a camera where our doorbell used to be.
Ma said one of her friends from church had one installed last month, and when she mentioned it to Sander, he said he could get one at an extremely discounted rate through the station.
I’m not one for handouts, but I admit that the idea of being able to see everything going on at the house from my phone, no matter where I am, is really appealing. It’s going to put a lot of my stresses to rest. So, I didn’t argue when she said San was coming over to set everything up today.
“It’s all connected to an app that you download on your phone, laptop, tablet… whatever. And anytime someone rings the bell, it starts recording and sends an alert straight to you,” he explains.
“So, if we had a package delivered while we were out?” I ask, just for clarification.
“They would ring the bell, you’d get the alert, and then you can talk to them from wherever you are.”
“Wait,” I say, holding my hand out to stop him. “You can talk to them?”
“Yes,” he replies, laughing softly as he connects some of the wires. “There is a mic right here,” he says, pointing to a tiny little speaker.
“Well, isn’t that something?” Ma smiles, clearly impressed.
“You can set it up to where you both get alerts, and the notification will indicate whether it was answered already or not. It cuts out a lot of the guesswork.”
It actually sounds pretty amazing, as long as no one else can accidentally gain access to our cameras. The thought of someone creeping on my house makes me severely uneasy.
“That’s actually pretty cool,” I say.
“It is. As soon as I get out of the apartments, I’m investing in one for myself,” Sander says, fitting everything into place.
“That is a smart idea,” my mom says, patting San affectionately on the shoulder.
