The Secret (The Scinegue Series Book 1) Read online

  “I’ve been trying to call you, and you didn’t answer. I was just worried about you. And apparently I was right to be worried?” she accused with a raised brow.

  Although he was her ‘little’ brother, he towered over her, but she wasn’t intimidated by his size. He was her little brother. “What is going on here?” She demanded with her hands on her hips, taking in his disheveled appearance and worried frown.

  “Shh!” He cautioned again. “Please, keep it down. I’ve gotten tangled up in some pretty weird stuff. I think it would be best for you to just leave. Maybe no one saw you come here if we’re lucky.” He looked out the peephole in the door.

  “What kind of stuff, Ritchie? What’s going on?” She brushed past him and sat down on the sagging couch in the living room, figuring it would be harder for him to get rid of her if she was settled in.

  Ritchie walked over slowly and sat beside his sister with a deep sigh, their blond hair almost a perfect match side-by-side.

  Sarah reached over and grabbed his hand. “Okay, talk to me baby brother.”

  “Sarah, I want to, believe me, but I don’t want to get you involved in this.” He gave her a sorrowful look and squeezed her hand.

  “Ritchie, you can’t even imagine what I’m already involved in. I don’t think this could be much worse.” She sat forward with a sudden thought. “You’re not into drugs or anything like that are you?”

  “Of course not,” he answered, not even sounding offended, just tired.

  He gave her a worried look, not wanting to involve her but really needing to tell someone what was going on. “Okay, here’s the thing,” he started abruptly. “Some guy approached me after class last week, asked if I wanted to make some extra money doing computer work for him. I jumped on it. I can always use a little extra cash, you know?” She understood completely, knowing that going to school full time and working when he could didn’t leave him much extra money.

  “The guy looked decent. If he had looked like a scary thug or ‘godfather’ character I probably would have given the job a little more consideration before I accepted, but he didn’t. He looked normal and was very professional. He started having me do some basic research. He wanted addresses for people who weren’t in the phone book but weren’t exactly top secret either. I didn’t think it was a big deal, and he paid me a hundred dollars per address.”

  His right eyebrow rose towards his hairline. “Sis, these addresses didn’t take me five minutes to track down. I should have been suspicious right then. I just figured the guy was naïve and didn’t realize what an easy job he’d given me. Well, he wasn’t naïve, I was. Naïve and just plain stupid.” His expression was full of self-reproach.

  “The next thing I knew he had me hacking into a secure site, ‘just to get some information on this guy who owed him some money and had disappeared’. According to him, anyway. I felt weird breaking into that site, but somehow he had me convinced that it wasn’t a big deal, blah, blah, blah. I guess I thought it was kind of exciting to test my computer skills, to see if I actually could get in.” He stood and started to pace the small living area.

  “Ritchie, that can’t be a huge deal.” Sarah watched him as he paced. “Just go to the police, tell them your part in it, but turn that guy in. He took advantage of you.”

  Ritchie smiled at his sister sadly. “You don’t know the half of it. That all happened last week, and I figured I’d seen the last of him. I sure didn’t plan on doing any more jobs for the guy. Monday, he comes here with two other men. They all have badges and say they’re with the FBI, and that I broke all of these laws by hacking that site and I was going to prison for a very long time.”

  “Oh, Ritchie!” Sarah exclaimed before covering her mouth with her hand.

  “They made sure to emphasize just how bad prison is and just how long I would be there without parole. All of a sudden, while I’m picturing myself in prison with my life trashed, the main guy offers me a deal. I had done a bad thing he said, but they were impressed with my skills. If I continued to work for them they wouldn’t press any charges.”

  He rushed on, “I was in a panic, I’ll tell you, and I jumped on their offer. I mean, they had badges. They had to be legit, right? But they weren’t.”

  “How do you know?”

  “As soon as I started the first job they wanted me to do, I got a really bad feeling about it. Still thinking they were the good guys I asked them to confirm that I was doing what they wanted. Instead of confirming anything they asked about Mom and Dad. ‘Your mom and dad still live on Thompson Street? Sure would be a shame if something happened to that house, wouldn’t it?’ It gave me chills the way they said it, like it would be no big deal for them to make something happen to Mom and Dad’s house.”

  Ritchie sat back down beside Sarah and she said, “I understand how you must have felt, but what is it they had you do?”

  “I didn’t understand what they were trying to accomplish at the time. They had me break into secure company sites and alter formulas for different things; not changing any ingredients, just quantities. I’ve done some research the last few days. The formulas I changed all become toxic in the proportions they had me enter. They seemed like random things, but if you put them together it looks as if they’re trying to poison the local food and water supply.”

  “Ritchie! You have to tell someone. Billy and I have some money. We’ll hire a good lawyer for you. He’ll show that you were coerced into doing your part. Which companies were they?” She rushed on. “We can call them and tell them to double check their formulas before they use them for anything.”

  Ritchie just sat and watched her sadly.

  “Why aren’t you doing something?” she demanded, jumping to her feet.

  “I already tried,” he responded dejectedly.

  “And?”

  “And I actually went to the police station, prepared to turn myself in and face the consequences. A detective took me to a little questioning room, listened to my whole story and then said something like ‘Nick is going to be very disappointed to hear about your visit’. I asked him who Nick was. He told me that Nick was my FBI buddy.”

  Sarah felt gooseflesh rising on her arms. “That was just one guy.” Her eyes darted from side to side as her mind raced. “We can call a different police station. Or the real FBI!”

  “I considered the same thing after that cop said that, but I didn’t say anything to him, I didn’t want him to be able to stop me, so I just stood up and thanked him, I think. He escorted me to the front of the police station where there were a lot of officers at desks and some secretaries and other people just hanging around. As soon as we get in there, the detective with me yells, ‘Hey, this is the guy who was helping Nick Contreras, with the FBI, break into computer files. He wants to turn Nick in.’ I could hear the people laughing, but I think I was almost in shock wondering if he had really just said that. The next thing I know he says, ‘Hey, Nick! Are you here?’ and out walks the guy who approached me originally.

  He gave Sarah a wide-eyed look. “I’m surprised my heart didn’t explode it was pounding so hard. The guy walks over to us, calm as anything, and shakes the detective's hand right there in front of the whole office, and no one is doing anything except smirking at me. ‘Some people don’t know a good thing when they have it,’ he says. Then he tells me I should feel lucky they used me because I know which companies I hacked into and which things I should stay away from.”

  Sarah dropped back onto the couch, silenced by Ritchie’s story.

  “I guess I started walking for the door, and this cop at a desk holds up a bottle of water and yells, ‘Don’t drink the water, right buddy?’ He and the whole office erupted in laughter, as if that was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.

  “I came home and tried to re-hack the sites so I could change the formulas back, but I couldn’t get into any of them. Maybe they realized I broke through their security and upgraded their systems. I don’t know,” he shook his h
ead, “but I can’t get back in. Then I tried sending emails to the companies I tampered with. They were returned to me as undeliverable with a short message at the bottom.”

  He walked over to his desk and picked up a sheet of paper, giving it to Sarah. She read it out loud, “Try to contact these companies again and the house on Thompson Street goes first.”

  Her head jerked up. “Mom and Dad’s house,” she whispered.

  “Yep, I’m sure, and I don’t put it past them to do it. This is huge. The entire police force, at least locally, is in on it, and that guy might have really been with the FBI.” He shrugged. “If so, at least some of them are in on it, too.

  “Sarah, I’m so, so sorry I did this, but what I keep thinking is that if I hadn’t, someone else would have. I’m not the only person who could get into those sites. I have no idea why they chose me.”

  “Ritchie, is this place bugged? Do you think someone is listening to us right now?” Sarah asked.

  He picked up a black box from his desk and showed it to her. “According to this, there isn’t a bug in here. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but I got it from a friend of mine who knows a lot about this stuff.”

  Sarah took the meter from him and turned it over, studying it. “Do you think you could get one of those for me?”

  Ritchie gave her a funny look. “I can. Why?”

  “Billy and I might be the reason those guys chose you to do their computer work. Billy stumbled into something weird a few days ago, too,” she continued. “The company he works for is into eugenics. You know, selecting perfect people to live and eliminating the non-perfect.”

  “I know a lot about eugenics,” Ritchie nodded. “I had an economics instructor a while back who was very interested in it, and spent most of our class periods talking about whether it was right or wrong.”

  “I can’t say any more about that right now, just that I’m sure they either heard us talking about how good you are with computers, or they did a background check on me and found info on my baby brother and his amazing computer abilities.” Her mind whirled as she tried to make sense of everything that had been going on recently.

  “Make me a list of the companies you hacked, will you? There has to be something we can do about this.”

  “I don’t know what,” her brother replied, but he got a piece of paper and started writing down names.

  “Oh! The reason I was trying to reach you is because Billy and I are moving into a house in Scinegue today. I was wondering if you want to live at our house. You could kind of house-sit. Take care of our garden?”

  “You know I’m not a gardener, but, sure, why not? I don’t have anything keeping me here.” He handed her the list. “Scinegue?!” He exclaimed as the name hit him.

  “Don’t ask,” Sarah replied over her shoulder as she hurried from the apartment, her mind filled with what Ritchie had told her and how it tied to the mysteries she and Billy had uncovered. “You can move in anytime. There’s a key under the mat by the back door. I’ll see what I can do about this and let you know. Be careful little brother.”

  Ritchie followed her out the door and watched her retreating form. “You too, sis,” he said quietly.

  “Scinegue,” he repeated and shook his head with a grin, imagining the opulence of the homes he had only heard about, then went inside to pack.

  Chapter 16

  “Billy! Hi. I’m sorry to bother you at work. I was just wondering if you might be able to meet me for lunch today?” Sarah’s sweet voice flitted through the office phone.

  Billy was finally doing some actual work after he had spent the first part of his morning with the tailor, making sure his new suits fit properly, then the rest of it with Mr. Bryant, going over his job duties. He was thankful to find everything he’d been assigned so far seemed on the up and up.

  He continued typing as he talked. “Hey there! You know you can call me any time. I just got started with work though, and would feel guilty leaving already. Could we meet for dinner instead?” He read through part of a report on his desk, giving Sarah only half of his attention, and missed the stress in her voice that would have usually been apparent to him.

  Sarah really wanted to talk to Billy about what had happened to Ritchie, but she could tell he was busy and distracted. “Dinner works,” she said, hiding her disappointment. “I think I might spend some time at the new house today. Want to meet me there before we go out?”

  “Um hmm,” Billy mumbled around a pen in his mouth. “See you tonight.”

  Sarah stared at the dead phone in her hand. A few hours probably wouldn’t change anything one way or the other—a tremor ran through her—but what if it did? What if those foods were under production right now? She couldn’t get advice from Billy, the police couldn’t be trusted, and Ritchie had already tried to do what he could to no avail.

  “Oh, Lord please guide us,” she whispered.

  She put her phone away and considered her options. As far as she could tell, she really didn’t have any. She could sit here worrying about what to do or she could spend the day getting acquainted with her new home. At least that would be productive.

  Maybe she could cook something she and Billy could eat as a picnic type meal this evening so they could get away from the house to talk. Baking and cooking always relaxed her. Even with all of the strange stuff going on she knew it would be like a dream to work in that lovely kitchen.

  Sarah pulled up in front of the house in Scinegue after showing her driver’s license to the guard at the gatehouse. He’d assured her she would get an ID from the company soon that would make getting home a little easier.

  The moving truck was gone, and the house seemed quiet. The whole neighborhood was quiet, she realized, remembering Billy saying it was rare to ever see anybody around there.

  She walked slowly to the front door, admiring the house as she approached it. What would it feel like to really be coming home to a house like this without all of the mystery and intrigue attached? She rang the doorbell, realizing Billy had the only key with him.

  She didn’t have to worry for long about getting in as Maria swept the door open, her excitement tangible. “Mrs. Roth! I am so glad you are here.” She backed up so Sarah could come in. “The movers were here and I did my best to help direct things. I hope you will be pleased.”

  “Thank you, Maria.” Sarah smiled warmly at the overeager woman before her. She really seemed to have a sweet heart and a desire to please. Or maybe the desire to please came from fear, Sarah considered, suddenly remembering Maria’s terrified expression when she hadn’t been completely satisfied with the master bedroom.

  She studied her face closely, trying to read her expression. Maria just appeared to be a happy lady. Sarah didn’t claim to be an expert on reading people, but she certainly didn’t see any fear in Maria now.

  “Mrs. Roth? Would you like me to show you the changes that were made to your bedroom?” Maria asked eagerly.

  Sarah could tell it was important to her, so she agreed and followed her up the staircase. Although what she would have really liked was some time alone to just be able to roam from room to room.

  “Maria, this is beautiful!” Sarah exclaimed, looking around the room that had been modified to exclude any traces of pink. A taupe bedspread lined the huge bed, and was highlighted with bold accents of beige and gold throughout the room.

  Sarah noticed that even one of the large rugs in front of the bed which had contained a lot of pink had been replaced. Sarah ran a hand along the smooth bedspread. “You really didn’t have to go through all of this trouble. It was beautiful before, too.”

  “Thank you. I am glad you are happy with it.” Maria’s delighted smile accented her beautiful features. “Now,” she walked over to a huge walk-in closet that Sarah hadn’t even seen the day before, “we have unpacked all of your boxes and put everything where I hoped you would like it.”

  Sarah peeked into the closet and her jaw dropped. It looked like a small boutiq
ue. A small, empty boutique, she thought wryly. Her clothes barely filled one portion of the rack, and Billy’s took up even less space on another.

  She walked inside feeling dazed. The walls were a pale minty green, punctuated by the glossy white of the specialized racks and built-in shelves and drawers. At the back of the room there was an extension to the right with a three-way mirror and a couple of plush green chairs, the same color as the walls in a much deeper shade. A large window provided a view of the gorgeous backyard.

  “The window is for natural light,” Maria explained, sounding like a proud mother. “There is a dual switch here,” Maria walked over and adjusted the lighting, “so you can also see what you will look like in incandescent or fluorescent lighting.”

  “This is amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever considered the lighting before when choosing an outfit,” Sarah laughed.

  “Maria, do you and your husband live here?” Sarah asked suddenly, realizing she knew very little about her new home.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Maria stated and walked to the window in the dressing area. “We live right there.” She pointed to a smaller home finished in the same style as the main house off to the side of the backyard. “Anything you need, any time, we are just a few steps away.”

  Sarah sank into one of the plush chairs and invited Maria to join her. Maria sat stiffly in the chair beside her, obviously feeling it was inappropriate for her to sit down. Maybe Maria held some clues to everything that was going on, Sarah realized, wondering what she could get away with asking without sounding crazy.

  “How long have you and your husband worked for Scinegue, Maria?”

  “Oh, I have not worked for them very long. Half a year, maybe? Almost the exact same amount of time I have been married. My husband though, he has worked for this company for several years now. They have been very good to him.” She smiled shyly. “Even good enough to find him a perfect wife.”

  Sarah looked at her in surprise. “The company arranged your marriage?”