Tean frowned.“Do you think so?”
“Tean, he’s nuts; I don’t know.I’m just spit-balling.Why don’t you go check the bathroom?”
Nodding, Tean made his way out of the room.The bathroom was next along the landing, with white tile running across the floor and up the walls.The mirror was only a mirror, and in the vanity’s drawers, he found more evidence that the last time Kai had lived in this house had been as a teenager: expired prescription face wash, acne wipes that had dried out, a tube of toothpaste that looked, to use a memorable phrase from Jem, like it had gotten the bad end of a five-dollar handshake.The shower still had a bar of Dial soap and a bottle of Great Value shampoo.The only attempt at decoration had been to hang a framed print of a desert landscape above the toilet.
“I’m checking the primary bedroom,” Tean called as he moved on.But then he stopped.Long association with Jem had taught him to be more thorough.And if there was one place a teenage boy might feel like he had some privacy, even more so than his bedroom, it would be the bathroom.
Tean tried the mirror first.It took him a couple of tries to get it off the mounting brackets, but then it slid free.There was nothing behind the mirror, and nothing on the back of it.He tried the framed photograph next.This one came off the wall more easily.And behind it, a hole had been cut into the drywall.
Holewasn’t the right word.An opening, twelve inches by twelve inches, had been made by cutting out a piece of the drywall.Behind the drywall, the framing was visible, and then the backing of the drywall on the other side.Tean opened his mouth to announce his discovery to Jem.Then he leaned closer.
In the drywall on the other side, another hole had been made, this one so small that it was barely visible against the paper backing.It took two tries to line up his eyes correctly with the hole—the angle had to be just right.And then Tean had a surprisingly good view of sunlight slanting to fall across a large bed.The primary bedroom, of course.
And then he felt sick to his stomach.
“Jem?”
A moment later, Jem was there—a dust bunny stuck to one cheek, his eyes intent.
Tean pointed at the opening.
Jem looked through the peephole and said, “The little perv liked to watch.”
Tean didn’t say anything.
“Okay,” Jem said as he stepped back from the wall.“That’s messed up.”
“That’s his parents’ bedroom.”
Tean’s phone buzzed, and it broke the moment.A message from Amy showed on the screen:Any progress?
“Is it Scipio?Tell him we’re bringing home nuggets.”
“It’s Amy,” Tean said.“And we’re not bringing Scipio home anything because I bought him an eighty-dollar bag of dog food the other day.”
Jem hung on Tean’s shoulder as he considered the phone.“Tell her we pretty much solved it.”
“But we didn’t solve it.”
“Tell her this is some Norman Bates-level shit, watching Mommy try on her new sports bra.”
“I’m not telling her any of that.”
Instead, Tean texted her,We’re working on it.
A response came almost immediately.Where are you?What’s happening?
And then another message:What have you done already
And then another:I’m freaking out
“Tell her to order room service,” Jem said.“That’d be fun, right?Weneverget to order room service.”
Instead of getting involved in that conversation, Tean texted a quick summary of the investigation so far.He ended withWe’re checking out the mom’s house right now.
“Beating it to the boobies that fed him,” Jem said.
“What?”
