Beneath Her Skin, Gregg Olsen [ereader with android .txt] 📗

to do so. District policy. What company did you say you were with?”

“I didn’t,” she said, looking out over whitecapped Port Gamble Bay. “Wind over Water. We’re a small company providing educational services to disadvantaged kids in North Kitsap.”

Colton smiled. Disadvantaged kids was a nice touch.

“Pretty over there,” the HR representative said, her voice trailing off a little.

“Are you still there?” Hayley asked.

“I’m not supposed to say anything, but…”

“I won’t tell anyone, Karen. It must be important because you’re hesitating.”

Karen let out a sigh. “I could lose my job, but I’m sick of how our policies protect the worst among us.” She paused before continuing. “His e-file says something about being let go for an inappropriate relationship.”

That was all Hayley needed to hear. She thanked her and ended the call.

“He was fixated on Katelyn,” Hayley said.

Colton had a worried look on his face. “Enough to kill her?” he asked.

Hayley wasn’t sure. “Let’s find out,” she said.

When she got home later, Hayley made a beeline for her sister’s room with the information she and Colton had learned about Jake. Taylor was lying on her bed with a book.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Taylor said, pulling out her iPod Touch’s earbuds with a single yank.

“I am definitely not kidding.”

“How could you?”

Hayley knew that her sister wasn’t referring to the fact that she’d uncovered vital info: that Jake had been run out of his last job. No, it was because she’d uncovered it with Colton.

Taylor didn’t hide her emotions well. She probably couldn’t even if she really tried. “Why are you doing this? Leaving me out?”

Hayley sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m not leaving you out of anything. You’re being way too sensitive here.”

Taylor pushed her sister away. “Great. Now, you’re making me feel like a freak because I’m angry at you. No one can get mad at Hayley. Always so perfect.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Hayley said. “You’re being stupid.”

“Stupid? That’s great. Thanks for that, too.”

“You know what I mean.”

Taylor shook her head. “I’m just sick of Colton and you, that’s all. I’ll get over it. I guess.” She crossed her arms over her chest, holding in the feelings that were making her hurt, mad, embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, Tay.”

“Forget it,” she said. “Forget it for now. Let’s concentrate on Katelyn and who’s responsible for her death. I might be mad at you and Colton right now, but it’s nothing compared to how I feel about that jerk Jake Damon.”

Hayley and Taylor knew they had to do something. They just weren’t sure what or how they should do it. They found their dad in his office in front of his computer. He took off his glasses and swiveled around in his chair to face them.

“I know that look. You two look like you’ve got something to say,” he said.

Of course he knew it. It was the look of any teenage girl (in this case, times two) with something BIG to tell. In that split second before either spoke, Kevin Ryan hoped whatever it was wasn’t that big.

With Hayley looking on, Taylor said, “Dad, we think that Jake was stalking Katelyn.”

Kevin looked confused. “Jake? Mindee’s Jake?”

“Yeah,” Hayley chimed in. “That’s the one.”

The girls sat next to each other on the window seat.

“Stalking? What do you mean by stalking?” he asked.

Hayley, again, took the lead. “He was emailing her.”

“What do you mean?” Kevin asked again, pausing for a moment while he processed what was said. “And just how do you know any of this?”

Neither wanted to tell their father just how they were sure of it. The idea that they were able to draw information from people or even inanimate objects was too much for their dad, a man who saw things as either black or white, true or false, real or not.

“Mrs. Berkley asked us to get into Katelyn’s laptop,” Taylor said. “She was worried that something was up. She didn’t know what. She just had a feeling, Dad, you know… the kind of feeling parents sometimes have when they think their children are in trouble?”

Kevin knew that feeling too. One time when the Ryans had been vacationing in London, the twins were separated from their parents at King’s Cross station. In that moment, he and Valerie both had the agonizing fear that they’d never see their girls again. Of course, the family was eventually reunited, though it was some agonizing eight hours later. Nevertheless, there was no doubt among any of the Ryans that emotions were often more powerful than reason.

Bad things happening are the exception, Kevin always insisted, not the rule.

The girls were relieved. Their dad wasn’t asking too many questions. It seemed like a good time to drop the other bomb.

“Dad, did you know that Jake was a janitor for Bellevue schools?”

“Custodian, I think,” he said. “They like to be called custodians, and yes, I think I’d heard that.”

“Did you know he got fired?” Hayley asked.

Kevin clearly didn’t. “For what?”

“He was fired for having an inappropriate relationship. My guess is with a student.”

“That’s pretty sick, if it’s true.”

“It’s true, all right.”

“How do you know?”

“I called the district and they told me…”

“Wait a second. Even if he had been let go for something like that, why would they tell you?”

“She lied and said she was his new employer,” Taylor said. “But she had no choice. Who knows what Jake might do next?”

Kevin didn’t like the fact that Hayley had lied. He didn’t like that Taylor was acting all worried about Jake attacking other girls. What he did like, and what he could respect a little, was the fact that Hayley had kind of gone undercover with that little ruse. He’d have hugged her right then, but he knew that that was the wrong message.

“We’ll deal with your tricking the school district out of confidential information later,” he said. “Right now, we have to let Chief Garnett know what we know.”

Taylor produced a stack of documents that until that moment Kevin hadn’t even noticed she was carrying.

“Here are some of the emails, Dad,”