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He pumped his fist into the air. “Hell yes. I’ll be right back.” He sprinted inside their place.
I was leaning against the now-secure banister when Lenny came charging out of the apartment, his phone in his hand. “Ariel wants to talk to you.”
I took the phone, a smile playing on my lips. “Hello, neighbor. What’s up?”
“What’s up is that Lenny said you’d play Xbox with him. Is this a case of wishful thinking, or did you offer?”
Winking at Lenny, I chuckled. “I offered. I don’t have much going on today.” Which was a lie, since I was about three weeks behind at work. But I could always use the excuse of doing a stakeout. It was just a very long stakeout.
“If you’re sure he won’t bother you, I’d be very grateful if you stayed with him. I hate leaving him on his own, but the school called me to pick him up when I was already at work.”
“Why did you have to pick him up?”
She sounded like she’d swallowed something, then coughed. “Not sure. But the police were there.”
This was getting interesting. I definitely had to activate the phone tree. Someone would know what was going on. “Don’t worry about Lenny. I’ve got him.”
“Thank you, Jude. This means a lot to me.”
I cleared my throat, which seemed to have closed up. “It’s no problem. We’ll see you when you get home.”
After hanging up, I passed the phone back to Lenny, who slid it in his back pocket while skipping over to my apartment. “Can we playSonic?”
I opened the door, and Lenny headed straight for the television, turning it on. He’d been over a few times to play video games, and despite my initial reluctance to hang out with a kid, I’d found myself looking forward to spending time with him.
He was bright, his smartass comments were entertaining, and his eating habits matched mine.
Pushing the empty wrappers off my couch, I nodded. “We can play whatever you want.”
“This is way better than school.”
I dropped onto the couch, grabbing a controller on the way. “You’ll probably have to go back tomorrow.”
He groaned, sitting down next to me. “Not fair. It’s so boring.”
We spent the next four hours playingSonicandHogwarts Legacy. We’d also eaten all the snacks I had in the house, the empty packets and wrappers all over the floor and couch.
The phone tree told me that three boys at school had been interviewed by the police. Apparently, there were not only cheating allegations but also some more serious accusations. But nobody knew any details.
I did get the names of the boys and was delighted when I found out they were the same ones who’d made Lenny’s life hell. Karma had come at them with vengeance.
When Ariel walked in the door, we were deep into making a potion. She stopped in front of us, holding pizza boxes that smelled amazing. “What the heck happened in here?”
I glanced up, grinning at her raised brows. “We got a little carried away.”
She put the pizza on my kitchen table. “Who wants dinner?”
Not waiting for us, she grabbed a piece out of the box and ate it standing up. Her eyes closed at the first bite, and she hummed under her breath. I’d never seen anyone eat with as much enthusiasm as Ariel. She treated every bit of food like it held the answers to the meaning of life.
Lenny paused the game and jumped over the back of the couch. “Hey, leave some for us.”
“I bought three pizzas.” Ariel pointed her half-eaten piece at the table. “Wash your grubby hands before you touch anything.”
Puffing his cheeks, Lenny put his hands on her face. “My hands aren’t grubby.”
She turned away from her brother with a laugh. “Get those dirty mitts away from me.”
He sprinted to the bathroom, calling over his shoulder, “Don’t eat it all.”
