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Raleigh waits anxiously for his mom to return home with his dad. She’d told him she was going to pick him up. Raleigh’s not going to school again today.
His father is innocent, he tells himself. They’re letting him go. But Raleigh’s relief is tinged with uneasiness. He can tell that his mother has her doubts. Raleigh has doubts, too. He’s not sure of anything any more. He hadn’t found anything illuminating on his dad’s computer. But Raleigh also knows something that they don’t. And he’s going to have to tell them.
When his parents arrive home, it’s awkward. His mom smiles at him as if everything is fine, but he can tell from her drawn face that things are far from fine. His father looks awful and smells like he could use a shower. Raleigh can feel the tension emanating from both of his parents.
They all end up in the kitchen and his mom says, ‘I’ve told your father that you’re being charged.’
‘It’ll be okay, son,’ his dad says, pulling him into a hug.
Raleigh nods, swallows. But it’s not himself that he’s worried about right now, it’s his dad. Raleigh has to confess to his parents, and he’s dreading it. Raleigh must tell them the truth.
Beginning is difficult. ‘There’s something I have to tell you,’ Raleigh says. He can see at once from the closed look that comes over his mother’s troubled face that she doesn’t want to hear it. She’s got enough to deal with. He hates to hurt her more than he already has. But he must say this. He can’t seem to get the words out.
‘What is it, Raleigh?’ his father says tiredly. He’s been humbled, obviously, by his own recent history. He’s not on his high horse now, Raleigh thinks.
‘I lied to you,’ he says. ‘I lied to both of you. About the break-ins.’
His mother looks more anxious than ever; his father looks deeply weary.
‘I told you – and the lawyer – that I only broke into two houses, but it was more.’ He watches his dad’s brow darken. ‘It was more like nine or ten,’ he confesses.
His dad looks at him sharply; his mother looks horrified.
‘There’s something else I need to tell you,’ Raleigh says uncomfortably. ‘I didn’t want you to know, but – I broke into the Newells’.’
‘What? When?’ his father asks.
Raleigh swallows. ‘It was the night they were over here having dinner – I knew that Adam would be out that night, too.’
His mom gasps. ‘You broke into our dearest friends’ house while they were over here having dinner with us?’ She looks utterly betrayed. ‘How could you? Why?’
Raleigh feels himself colouring. He gives a helpless shrug. ‘I was hacking. I was serious about it … It’s a skill, and it takes practice. So I snuck into people’s houses when they weren’t home and hacked into their computers.’ He risks another glance at his parents. They’re staring at him in disbelief. ‘I was getting really good,’ he says, ‘but I’m not doing it any more.’ They’re still staring at him, appalled. There’s a pregnant silence. ‘I knew you wouldn’t approve. But I never did any harm. It’s not like I ever stole any data, or shared it, or put anything on anyone’s computers, or told anybody what I found,’ Raleigh protests. ‘I never tried to blackmail anybody or anything,’ he offers in his own defence.
‘Blackmail!’ his mother repeats, her hand at her throat.
‘Mom, relax, I never did anything like that! It was more just – getting experience.’
‘Experience – is that what you call it,’ his dad says.
Raleigh doesn’t like his tone. It’s the old dad tone, and it pisses him off.
‘Yeah, well, maybe you should listen to me for a change,’ Raleigh says sharply.
‘What are you talking about?’ his mom asks.
‘I know things, about your dearest friends,’ Raleigh says.
Olivia feels her heart freeze. She stares at her son, not so sure she wants to hear what he has to say. She feels dizzy, shocked. What secrets could Glenda and Keith have? She glances at her husband, but he’s watching Raleigh intently, as if he’s struck a nerve.
‘What are you getting at, Raleigh?’ Paul says.
‘I saw things, on their computer,’ Raleigh says.
‘We gathered that,’ Paul says in a tight voice. ‘What did you see?’
‘Keith is a prick,’ Raleigh says with energy.
‘Don’t talk that way,’ Olivia says sharply.
‘Why not? It’s true! You should see what was on his computer! I saw his emails – he’s been cheating on Glenda, seeing someone else behind her back. I couldn’t tell you because they’re your friends.’
Olivia feels sickened; she can’t speak.
‘When was this?’ Paul asks.
‘I told you – it was that night they were here for dinner, the night before mom saw the texts on my phone and found out what I was doing,’ Raleigh says miserably.
Olivia tries to focus. Keith is cheating on Glenda, and Glenda has no idea. Olivia is certain that Glenda doesn’t know. Now what does she do? Does she tell her? Or leave her in ignorance? Olivia glances at her husband and remembers when Becky came over to tell her her suspicions about Paul. She realizes, her heart sinking, that she’s going to have to tell Glenda.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Paul asks.
‘Of course I’m sure. I saw it with my own eyes. There was no way to misinterpret what he wrote. I even sent some emails back to his girlfriend from his account, and they weren’t very nice.’
Olivia watches her son, feels her jaw drop.
Raleigh says, ‘So at least now he probably knows that somebody was in his computer and knows what he’s doing.’ He snorts. ‘I hope he’s been losing sleep over it. Maybe he thinks it was Adam. Why do you think Adam drinks so much? He drinks to forget that his dad is such an asshole.’
‘Raleigh,’ Paul begins, looking unnerved. ‘You can’t just mess with people’s lives like that.’
‘He’s an asshole. Serves him right.’
Olivia wonders if Glenda ever told Keith that Raleigh was breaking into houses, even though she promised she wouldn’t. Olivia sometimes lets things slip to Paul that she said she wouldn’t share.
‘The emails were hidden,’ Raleigh continues. ‘You wouldn’t know they were there unless you were looking, like I was.’
‘How did you find them?’ Paul asks.
‘It’s easy if you know what you’re doing. I can get into a powered-off computer in about three minutes – I just use a USB flash drive to boot up the computer – most computers allow you to boot from a live USB and that way you can get around the internal security. Then with a few commands, I can create a backdoor and I’m in. Once I was in Keith’s computer, I could tell he was trying to hide something because he was deleting his browser history. But he didn’t delete the cookies, so I was able to get the username and password for his hidden email account. And then I could get into his account and see his emails and pretend to be him and send whatever I wanted.’
Olivia doesn’t know whether to be horrified or impressed. ‘Do you know who the woman was?’ she asks.
