Chương 7
His mouth opened, then closed.
The front doorbell rang downstairs.
Both of them froze.
Devon looked toward the hallway.
“That fast?”
“It’s probably not the police.”
Tasha’s voice sounded calmer than she felt.
James stopped speaking downstairs.
A moment later, Renee called up.
“Stay where you are.”
Devon’s eyes widened.
Tasha heard the front door open.
A man’s voice spoke, too muffled to understand.
Then James answered.
Not angry.
Careful.
Tasha moved toward the bedroom door.
Renee appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Stay in the room.”
“Who is it?”
“Delivery.”
Tasha blinked.
“What?”
Renee looked down the stairs, then back at them.
“James ordered groceries yesterday and forgot.”
For one absurd second nobody said anything.
Then Tasha covered her face.
A laugh escaped her.
Not because anything was funny.
Because her body had apparently run out of better responses.
Renee gave her a tired look that nearly became a smile.
“Yeah.”
Devon sat down heavily.
The doorbell rang again because the driver needed a signature for something.
Tasha’s laugh died.
The ordinary noise of plastic bags and canned food moving through the foyer made everything feel even stranger.
A life could be coming apart while somebody argued about whether the bananas belonged on the counter.
Renee stepped into the room and held out her hand.
“Phone.”
Devon gave it to her.
She looked at the messages without touching anything.
Her eyes stopped on the photograph.
“Oh, Tasha.”
Tasha hated the sympathy immediately.
“Don’t.”
Renee looked up.
“Okay.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
“No, you’re doing the face.”
“What face?”
“The mom face.”
Renee almost smiled despite herself.
“What am I supposed to do with my face?”
“I don’t know.”
Tasha sat on the floor beside the desk because her legs suddenly felt tired.
Renee lowered herself beside her.
They sat shoulder to shoulder without touching.
Devon remained on the bed.
After a minute, James came back upstairs with his own phone in one hand and a printed grocery receipt stuck to his shirt by static.
Renee noticed it first.
She reached up and peeled it off him.
He looked at it, then at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He took the receipt and folded it automatically.
Tasha watched him.
That tiny familiar habit steadied something in her.
“The officer is on the way,” James said.
Devon stood.
“Dad.”
“Sit down.”
“I need to explain something before they get here.”
James looked at him.
Devon rubbed his hands over his thighs.
“The picture with the pills wasn’t the only picture.”
Nobody spoke.
James’s face hardened again.
“What else?”
Devon walked to the window.
Outside, a man pushed a mower along the neighboring yard, turning neatly at the fence.
Devon watched him for several seconds.
“There’s a video.”
Renee closed her eyes.
Tasha stared at the back of her brother’s head.
“What video?”
Devon swallowed.
“Me and Malik.”
“Doing what?” James asked.
Devon shook his head.
“Nothing illegal.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“We were arguing.”
“About?”
“Money.”
James waited.
Devon pressed one hand against the window frame.
“I told him I was done.”
“When?”
“Like two weeks ago.”
“And?”
“He laughed.”
Tasha could hear the mower grow louder as it passed beneath the window.
Devon continued.
“I grabbed his shirt.”
James’s expression tightened.
“You hit him?”
“No.”
“Did he hit you?”
“No.”
“What is on the video?”
“Me threatening him.”
Renee’s voice was quiet.
“What did you say?”
Devon looked ashamed.
“I said if he came near me again, I would put him in the hospital.”
James closed his eyes briefly.
“You said that while he was recording you.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You never seem to know when it matters.”
“James.”
Renee’s tone stopped him.
He rubbed his forehead.
“Fine.”
Devon turned from the window.
“I wasn’t going to do anything.”
“That may not matter if he sends only the part he wants people to see,” James said.
“I know.”
“Who else was there?”
“Two guys.”
“Names.”
“I only know one.”
“Who?”
“Dre.”
“Last name?”
“I don’t know.”
James nodded slowly.
“Anything else?”
Devon looked at Tasha.
She felt her stomach tighten.
“What?”
He looked away.
Tasha stood.
“What else did you do?”
“I used your account once.”
Her confusion turned almost immediately to dread.
“What account?”
“Your email.”
She stared at him.
“For what?”
“Just to make a profile.”
“What profile?”
“The sneaker site.”
Tasha crossed the room.
“You logged into my email?”
“It was already open on the laptop.”
“What laptop?”
“Mom’s.”
Renee looked between them.
“When?”
“February.”
Tasha felt heat rise into her face.
“What did you make with my email?”
“Just an account.”
“Under my name?”
Devon hesitated.
That was answer enough.
James’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“They only allowed one account per person.”
Tasha laughed once.
“You used my identity to buy sneakers.”
“It wasn’t like identity theft.”
James stared at him.
“Stop deciding what things are called.”
Devon looked down.
Tasha grabbed her own phone from the desk and opened her email.
Her hands shook so badly she mistyped the password once.
Then again.
On the third attempt she got in.
She searched the sneaker marketplace by name.
There were dozens of messages she had never seen because they had been filtered into promotions.
Order confirmations.
Verification notices.
Password resets.
One message was marked urgent.
Tasha opened it.
Her stomach dropped.
“Dad.”
James came over.
“What?”
She handed him the phone.
The message said the account had been suspended pending review of disputed transactions.
The name at the top was hers.
James read it twice.
“When was this?”
“Three days ago.”
Devon looked at the floor.
“You knew.”
He nodded.
Tasha’s voice went flat.
“You knew my name was attached to this.”
“I was gonna fix it.”
She turned away before she hit him.
Renee stepped between them anyway.
“Tasha.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I said I’m fine.”
James handed her the phone.
“Do not delete anything.”
“I’m not stupid.”
He looked at her.
May you like
“I didn’t say you were.”
Tasha regretted the sharpness immediately but not enough to apologize.
