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I couldn’t help being a bit envious, though.
How had Justin Valente disappeared into thin air? He’d died, obviously, at my brute father’s hand, but how had the entire memory of him in Snow Creek simply vanished?
My father was a lawyer then. He hadn’t become mayor until much later. He had money. Money from his successful law practice and of course dirty money from his other life. But money didn’t matter. He couldn’t have erased the memories of a whole town. It wasn’t possible.
Justin had been a quiet kid, an easy target for Taylor Johns and his cronies. That was the only thing memorable about him. If he hadn’t been bullied, he’d have been easy to forget.
Perhaps he was easy to forget anyway.
We were all around nine years old. Our attention spans were hardly mature. Still, we were old enough to have memories.
Who else had been in our class that year? I hadn’t kept in touch with anyone after school other than Joe, but surely some of them still lived in town. Another reason we needed that class information from the Spider.
Just thinking the name made me cringe a little. Then I laughed. The Spider was a hacker who didn’t allow anyone to see his face. His name conjured images of a big man dressed in black, but in reality, he was probably a squirrelly computer geek who played video games when he wasn’t hacking into high-profile systems.
I’d never know.
I was feeling a little warm, so I got out of the tub, wrapped a large bath towel around my shoulders, and went back into the house through the kitchen.
My mom was mopping the floor. “Hey! You’re tracking in water.”
“Sorry, Mom.” Then, “Hey, do you remember anyone from my old fourth-grade class?”
“Your fourth-grade class? Where did that come from?”
“I was just wondering. You used to volunteer in the classroom. I thought you might remember who was there.”
“Other than Jonah Steel, I have no idea. But I have an album of your old class photos around somewhere. I’m sure it’s in one of the boxes sitting downstairs in the basement. I have no idea when I’m going to get through all of that stuff. Especially if I go on vacation.”
“You decided to go?”
“It’s not the best thing, but I would like to get away. I can’t deny that. Even though we’re out of the house now, I still feel the ghosts of the past.”
“I understand.” Boy, did I ever. The ghost of my father would haunt me until the day I died, it seemed.
“Henry would love the beach,” she continued.
“He would. I’d come along if I could, but I think it’s a little early to ask the Steels for a vacation.”
“Of course it is. They’ve been so generous to us.”
“Do you want me to make the arrangements?”
“I’m perfectly capable of doing that. I called Vicky this morning, and she’s thrilled to have us.”
“Good. I’ll miss you both, but it’s the best for everyone.”
She nodded. “You’re probably right.”
She had no idea how right I was.
Chapter Eighteen
Marjorie
Weekends were difficult. Dale and Donny didn’t have school to keep them occupied, and Dale was usually moodier. Donny kept busy with the dogs, but sometimes he became restless.
Talon was good at keeping them occupied, but today he was busier than usual, meeting with Joe and Ryan to get everything up to speed for Bryce to begin his new position the next day.
