I’d yet to meet Trevor Wylie, but I was betting he couldn’t do that.
Maybe if it hadn’t been for that story in the paper, about that withdrawn kid blowing away his friends in the park, I wouldn’t have been so obsessed with this. But it was the kind of story you come upon more and more in the news. Postal workers, it seemed, had taken a break from shooting their fellow employees so that dysfunctional teens could have a piece of the action. It was a modern-day cliché: the quiet kid, the one no one believed was an actual threat, the one no one could ever remember causing any trouble, suddenly going off like a bomb. Computer nerd turns mass killer.
Did that describe Trevor? Probably not. Angie’s characterization of him as a “stalker” was teenage hyperbole. A stalker was anyone whose attentions you didn’t welcome.
It was pretty clear Angie didn’t want me interfering, talking to him. Angie probably didn’t want me to talk to any of her friends ever again.
I reached for the paper that I’d pushed to the far corner of the table, glanced again at the article. “Police said that while the boy had been ostracized by his peers on occasion, no one thought him capable of bringing a gun from home and executing youngsters he’d sat with in school.”
I tossed the paper aside a second time. It was a curse to have an imagination that allowed you to envision worst-case scenarios so vividly.
It was time to think about something else. Like women in leather.
I had Trixie’s number in an address book in our study. I got it out, found the number, and dialed. She had two phone lines, one personal, another for work. I called the former.
“Hello,” she said cheerfully. This was definitely her personal line. I’d called her business line once, by mistake, and it’s a bit like getting Eartha Kitt. Your whole body temp goes up a degree or three.
“It’s Zack.”
“Hi! Long time no hear! How’ve you been?”
“Good, pretty good. You?”
“Can’t complain.”
“Business good?”
“I think I’m recession proof. No matter how bad the economy gets, there are guys who need to be tied up and spanked. You called the wrong line if you want to book a session.”
“No, this is personal.”
“You think spanking isn’t personal?”
“Point taken.”
Trixie and I don’t exactly occupy the same worlds, and I don’t mean that to sound judgmental. She’s in a line of work my kids would call “sketchy” and maybe even a little bit dangerous, not to mention very possibly illegal. But her straightforwardness, honesty, and willingness to help me when I was in trouble once, made her a friend.
“Listen,” I said, “I haven’t touched base with you in a while, and thought I’d call. It was nice, when you were next door, we could have a coffee now and then.”
“Usually when you were having some sort of crisis,” Trixie said. “Does that mean you’re having one now?”
“I guess you could say I’m a bit stressed.”
“Nothing like when you lived next door, I hope.”
“I’m not trying to duck a murder charge, if that’s what you mean.” I told her about the night before, with Lawrence.
“How does a normal guy like you find so much trouble?” Trixie asked.
“It’s a gift. And then there’s this thing with my daughter.”
“My mind’s gone blank. Your daughter . . .”
“An—”
“Angie! Yes. How’s she? Still interested in photography?”
“Not enough that we’ve put a darkroom into the house, like we did when we lived in Oakwood. She’s pretty busy, anyway. This is her first year in college. With all the studying and assignments, there’s not that much time for hobbies. She’s living at home, heading downtown for her classes, taking a mix of things, but kind of leaning toward psychology, I think. She’s got a couple of psych courses.”
Trixie said, “Maybe, if she takes enough of them, she’ll be able to figure out what’s wrong with you.” I smiled. She went on, “So, what’s up with her?”
I told her about Trevor Wylie.
“I think you’re making a big thing out of nothing. So there’s a guy who likes her, she’s not interested. Eventually, he’ll get the message.”
“You’re probably right. But showing up at her friend’s place, out of nowhere. Sounds like he had to be following her, don’t you think?”
“Look, Angie’s a smart kid, right?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“She knows how to take care of herself. If she thinks there’s a real problem, she’ll tell you.”
“Maybe,” I said, not with much conviction.
“Listen, she’ll be okay. How’s Paul? Still gardening?”
“Not quite as much as before we moved. He still gets his hands dirty now and then, but he spends a lot of time in front of the computer now. And he’s working on getting his driver’s license.”
“Next time you’re out this way, let me know. We’ll get caught up.”