Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Dinner seemed to last an eternity. Mom droned on about the latest neighborhood gossip while my mind wandered to the files from Alex’s SD card. Even more vexing is this new SD card. It cannot be a coincidence. Did Alex forget he had two cards? Or, did he only care about the one he found?
Mom had gone quiet and was looking at me with raised eyebrows. “Well?”
“Sorry. My mind drifted to the pile of work I didn’t get to today. I cannot afford to miss more deadlines.”
“I was just asking about your vehicle. When will you get it back?”
I glanced at the clock behind her. Jansen’s closed over an hour ago. “It might be ready tomorrow.” I slid my chair back and bussed our dinner dishes to the sink. “Let me help you clean up and then I’ve got to do some work.”
Mom waved me off. “You’ve got to earn them big bucks. I can do this.” She heaved herself from the chair and hobbled to the sink. After squeezing me around the waist, she gently shoved me towards the doorway. “Go on. I’ve got this.”
I nodded and left the kitchen. The anticipation of sifting through the files on the flash drive was almost more than what I could bear. Alex has a secret life, but how dark is it? I bounded up the steps to the privacy of my own room.
Before I sat down, I pulled the SD card with the cracked case I found in the driveway out of my pocket. “What secrets are you hiding?” I laid it on the desk. It would have to wait until I examined more files on my flash drive.
While the laptop booted up, I contemplated my intentions to upgrade it. It still gets the job done, but it is incredibly slow. Money has been an issue since because of fewer clients. Taking care of Mom takes more time than I expected. Plus, the worries over my involvement with Alex ate up even more time.
The Nag folder seemed like a good place to start since I know it is about Dr. Cora Nelson. Is this a blackmail folder?
J K Metz 