“Well—”
“Whoever he was,” she continued, “he or somebody hacked into my computer and online storage and took all copies of the report. I have no backups. I have nothing. Did you tell them to do that?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what is happening? You better tell me right now.”
“Hi!” Max said, bouncing over to the table with two venti coffee cups and a large plate of honey buns.
“Can we help you?” Kamatsu asked.
Max’s smile never wavered. “Nope!”
She put a coffee in front of Zé, pulled a chair over, and sat close to him. She pushed the plate sort of in the middle of the table and offered, “Honey bun?”
Confused and pissed, Kamatsu sat back in her chair. “No.”
“Zé?” He shook his head. “Cool. All for me.”
She dragged the plate close again and dove into those things as if she hadn’t had two of her sister’s giant blueberry muffins in the car. “So what are we talking about?” she asked around a mouthful of bun.
* * *
Ruth Barton walked down the street with her friends. She-bears she’d known for years, since she’d moved into the neighborhood with her husband and four cubs. Of course that was twenty years ago and times had changed. Nothing she couldn’t handle, though. Her kind were survivors, after all.
Thinking about changing times, she stopped in front of what everyone in their little neighborhood now called “The Honey Badger House.” She wasn’t a fan of badgers. Mostly because they ate her honey. She and her husband had hives and since these badgers had moved in, those hives had been raided more than once. It was annoying.
But any time she complained, her husband insisted, “But have you tried that oldest one’s honey buns?”
She had and he was right. So, for now, she kept her mouth shut. But still . . . stay out of her hives!
After letting out a grunt that had her friends chuckling, she unlocked the gate in the picket fence and stepped into the front yard. The oldest badger was sitting on the porch steps, so Ruth didn’t have to knock on the door or go into the house. She could simply drop off the tray that her husband had taken when he’d brought home a dozen honey velvet cupcakes from the party the night before. It had turned into his breakfast.
“I wanted to return this to you,” she said.
“Thanks, Mrs. Barton,” the badger said, taking the tray and setting it down next to her. Then nothing.
Which was strange, because usually when Ruth dropped off trays from her hubby, Charlie had something to complain about. Not to Ruth or even about Ruth, but just complaining about everything in her life. Something about her allergies. Something about her father being a worthless piece of crap. Or just about the weather. One time she simply blurted out, “The sky looks weird, right?”
But now, sitting on her front porch, she wasn’t saying anything. Just sitting.
Ruth began to walk away, but it just didn’t feel right.
So, grudgingly, she asked, “Is something wrong?”
“I’m fine.” But Ruth had raised four cubs into four strong sub-adults and she knew when those sub-adults were upset. That’s what she saw right now.
“Are you sure? Because it seems like something is definitely wrong. Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, I’m . . . I’m . . .” Charlie took in a ragged breath. “I’m not fine!” she exploded before bursting into hysterical, savage tears.
* * *
Kamatsu crossed her arms over her chest, crossed one leg over the other, pursed her lips, and stared at Zé. He knew that look. It was not a good look.
He took a moment to recall the lie that he’d worked out with Max during the drive over here. He didn’t want to get any of it wrong or leave any holes. If he left holes, Kamatsu would tear the entire thing down.
But his pause must have been too long because Kamatsu moved her gaze to Max and said, “He was telling me where he’s been all this time. And what’s been going on.”
Zé cleared his throat. “You see—”
“It’s all my fault,” Max said, surprising Zé. Fault? They hadn’t said anything about fault.
“It is?” Kamatsu asked.
“It is?” Zé asked.
“Yeah.” She dropped the bit of bun she had left, wiped her hands on a paper napkin, and began, “You see, this guy was trying to kidnap me because of my mother. Long story, won’t go into it. Anyway, when they took the hood off my head and I looked around, I saw Zé. And I said to myself, hold up. This guy shouldn’t be here. He’s not one of them. My mistake was, I was entirely too friendly and they believed that Zé was trying to help me, which, okay, he was, but they weren’t supposed to know. Unfortunately, at that point, they did. And all hell broke loose. It was a total clusterfuck of my own making, which is why my big sister does not like it when I do these sorts of things on my own. But I knew if I told her about it beforehand, she would just flip out because, honestly, this is all because of my dad when you get right down to it. And now that we know he’s kidnapped that seventeen-year-old deaf girl . . .” She shook her head. “I gotta tell ya, though—and I know my sister wouldn’t want to hear this so I didn’t say it at the time—I don’t think he’s having sex with this girl. He’s definitely using her for something but I don’t think it’s sex . . . Oh, my God!” She slapped her hands against the table. “The hacker! She’s probably the hacker!” She pressed her fist to her forehead. “That’s how he got that hundred million. It was her. Of course. Now it makes sense. We all knew he was too stupid to do it himself so it must have been this girl. And, really, the best thing I can say about my dad is that the one thing he’s not going to go to prison for is being a disgusting weirdo. Sadly, not because he has a moral high ground, but because he doesn’t want to get his ass kicked in general pop.”
Max rested her arm on the back of the chair and nodded. “Yeah. I’m right about this. Can’t tell my big sister, though. Not yet. She hates him so much, she won’t want to hear it. She’ll just think I’m making excuses for him. But I don’t make excuses for my dad. That’s my baby sister. She makes excuses for him. Oh!” She sat up straight again and Zé noticed that her hands were moving with each sentence. Almost every other word, which was fucking incredible because she was talking so fast. The whole thing was intense. “But I was soooo proud of her today. Since she’s been on this new medication, she has been rational and calm and not one tear shed! And I was so proud when we were talking to our Aunt Bernice and she was doing that thing she does where she tries to push the blame for our father onto us when she could have killed him, very easily, when she was growing up with him. A pillow over that pinhead and none of us would be having this conversation. Anyway, she did that thing and my baby sis totally took her down. She stood up for herself. She didn’t back down. And when she did get angry, she didn’t shed one tear or shift into a two-ton striped honey badger that could destroy the neighborhood. It was awesome!” She pointed a finger at Zé. “But don’t tell her I said that.”