Rock and a Hard Place

chapter 22

The next morning, Libby and DarLynn crowded in front of the library computer. Fifteen more minutes before they must surrender the computer to the next user. Jamieson had created an internet survey to help screen fans and find Libby. Displayed on the screen were ten questions.

“What if I don’t know the answers? I’l never get the free passes to the concert and I’l never get to see him.” Now that Libby knew Peter wanted to find her, winning these tickets became her sole mission. She missed out on the earlier concerts, because she didn’t know he was searching for her. The deadline for the Chicago concert ended last night. The only concert left was in Red Rocks, Colorado, more than a thousand miles away. She didn’t know how they’d get there, but one step at a time.

“Of course, you’l know the answers. He wrote the survey for you.” DarLynn grabbed the mouse and scroled to the multiple choice questions listed below. “Okay, Jil, I mean Libby.” DarLynn tilted her head to the side and aimed an annoyed yet friendly look at Libby. DarLynn wasn’t quite ready to let Libby off the hook for lying about her identity these past month.

Libby shrugged, what else could she do? At the time she needed to be someone else.

“First question. Where did Peter and Libby meet?” DarLynn read.

Libby almost blurtted out the answer when DarLynn shushed her. “No, no, let me see if I can get it right. A) a concert, B) a restaurant, C) a special appearance, D) a nature preserve, E) on their tour bus, F) a theme park.” DarLynn squinted at the screen as she muled over the choices. “This is trickier than I thought. I’l say a theme park. That makes sense. Plus, a concert is too obvious.” She moved to click on the theme park box.

“Bzzz.” Libby gave her best imitation of a game show buzzer.

“Wrong. It’s D) nature preserve.”

DarLynn shifted the mouse and clicked on ‘nature preserve.’

“Interesting. I’d have never guessed. Next question. ‘What was Libby doing when they met? A) talking, B) eating, C) drawing, D) texting, E) singing, F) sleeping.’ That one’s easy, C) drawing.”

“Ding, ding, ding.” Libby grinned. Even when buried in work, Libby always kept a drawing pad, her lifeline, nearby.

DarLynn read through the next couple questions, and guessed wrong each time. It gave Libby hope that al the random girls out there who wanted to meet Peter would guess wrong as wel. She moved to the next question.

“What is Libby’s sister’s name?” DarLynn looked back at Libby, sadness in her eyes. “I’m sorry honey. I stil can’t believe you lost both your Momma and your sister.” She reached out and gave Libby a quick hug.

Libby avoided her eyes, took the mouse and clicked on the name Sarah. “Keep going, read the next one.” Libby didn’t want to think about Sarah right now and what a powerful question Peter left for her. No one could possibly know the answer unless they knew Libby back in Michigan. Everyone else would have to guess.

“Last question,” DarLynn read. “Where was Libby when Peter’s dad suffered a heart attack?” DarLynn turned to her. “Holy moly girl, you’ve led a busy life.”

Libby aimed a crooked smile at her. DarLynn didn’t know the half of it.

“Let’s see, A) at school, B) at home, C) at a footbal game, D) at a dance, E) at work or F) with Peter. Hmm.” DarLynn focused on the computer and studied each answer as if it were a colege entrance exam. She glanced at Libby, hoping for a hint.

“With Peter. You were with Peter when his father had a heart attack.”

“Bzzz. Wrong again. The answer is D) at a dance.”

“Dangit. You won again.” She clicked the D box.” Music suddenly blared from the computer speakers and the screen changed to a banner that read, “Congratulations! You’ve answered al questions correctly. To redeem your two free passes for Jamieson’s Red Rocks, Colorado, concert, enter your email address.

“I don’t have an email address.” Libby panicked that she was so close and yet another hurdle blocked her from Peter.

“Don’t worry, we can open one for you. It only takes a couple minutes.” DarLynn clicked open another screen.

“Excuse me,” the elderly librarian interrupted. “Your time has expired and you need to vacate this computer for the next person.”

“We just need a few more minutes,” Libby pleaded.

“I’m sorry dear. It wil set back the whole schedule. If I give you extra time, then so wil the next person and the next. No, your time is up.”

The old bat had the guts to smile.

“DarLynn, what do we do?”

“Don’t get yer undies in a bundle.” She punched in a couple more keys and hit enter. “Got it!”

A message appeared on the screen instructing them to print the pass for the concert from their email account. DarLynn hit print.

“Thank you!” Libby hugged her tightly.

“Shush.” The librarian waved them away from the computer.

Libby and DarLynn eagerly watched the paper appear from the printer, paid their ten cent copy fee and rushed out of the library. “How did you set up an email account so fast? She didn’t give you even a minute.”

“I didn’t. I knew Gertrude the rude wouldn’t leave us be, so I entered in my info. I used your name, just my email. It’s al good.”



# # #

“Hey Pete, we got another one.” Garrett yeled across the presidential suite of the Intercontinental Hotel.

Peter braced himself and tried not to get his hopes up. Garrett took it upon himself to monitor the incoming “Libby” surveys. He stil felt guilty for hurting Peter. Keeping track of the survey’s was not an easy job, Peter knew, since the site received thousands of hits a day. Fortunately the survey system only forwarded entries with al the questions answered correctly.

“Yeah?” Peter crossed the plush carpet to the laptop. “I don’t know. This seemed like such a good idea a couple of months ago, but al it’s doing is turning our female fans into private eyes and code breakers.”

When he created this contest to find Libby, it was like the flood gates opened in cyber space. Everyone wanted to win the prize. A huge network of folowers worked the odds and figured out the right answers. The odds of randomly getting al ten questions, with six possible answers each, correct were slim.

However, as the search went on, more girls got them right. There were even a couple fan sites that published the correct answers.

“Why in the world should I think this one wil be Libby?” His frustration at not finding her was beginning to get the best of him.

Garrett grimaced. “I don’t know. Al I can say is that if you stop trying, you’l never find her. You have to believe. This could be her and when she shows up at Red Rocks and answers the final question, it’l al be worth it.”

He was right. Peter felt desperate to find Libby, and together the three brothers promoted the search contest everywhere. They did radio and television interviews, put it on Facebook, Twitter and their blog. Garrett even made sure it hit al the fan magazines, but time was running out. Only one concert remained.

“Okay, where’s she from?”

“Pebble Creek, Georgia.” Garrett scroled down the screen.

“Aw, shit, never mind. Her name isn’t even Libby. That was dumb.

Why would a girl pretend to be Libby and then use a different name?”

“What name did she use?” Peter raised his water bottle for a drink.

“Jil Munroe.”

Peter froze, the bottle inches from his mouth. “What did you say?” He lowered the bottle and turned to the computer screen.

“Jil Munroe, why? Does that mean something?” Peter stared at the name on the screen. “Yeah, it does. She told me once that her mom loved Charlie’s Angels back in the seventies, and almost named her Jil after the character, Jil Munroe, but her dad refused.” He grinned at Garrett and smacked him on the back. “You found her man, that’s her.” Peter turned to leave the hotel suite.

“Where you going?” Garrett asked.

“Pebble Creek, Georgia. Where else?”

“Hold up, Romeo. You forgot something.”

“What?” Peter scanned the room, as he patted down his pockets to make sure he had his walet and phone.

“A concert. Tonight. At Soldier Field.”

“Aw crap.”

“You have about a hundred fans at the meet and greet. Al those Libby wanna bees.” Garrett smirked, but Peter could see Garrett’s relief that they found her.

The concert felt pointless now. He knew deep in his soul the girl, Jil Munroe, from Pebble Creek could only be Libby. There was no doubt in his mind. “Fine.” He stood, hands on his hips, unsure what to do now that he had to wait until tomorrow.

“You might want to ask Roger to get you a flight out of here,” Garrett prompted.

“Yeah, I’l do that.”

“And you might want to cal ahead.”

“What for? I want to surprise her.”

“Just in case, man. What if it isn’t her.”

“It’s her.” With that Peter left to find Roger, but couldn’t resist a whoop and a punch of his fist in the air.