Ridgewood Town

Chapter 15

Peyton

June 27

Saturday; 9:42

“We’re supposed to take Ana with us,” Coover said as he looked back at Ana watching us going away. I chuckled as I watched his sad emotion.

“Ana won’t do much in the police station. She doesn’t seem to be brave enough to lie to an officer either.” I looked back at the road. I have already figured out how we can get in without acting suspicious.

“How do we get in then?” he asked, his eyes confused.

“We can get in. I got the detective’s son.” I smiled at him and the confused look on his face melted away. A chuckle came out of his mouth.

“You’ve been unrestrained these past few days. You pretty much enjoyed flirting with me, didn’t you?”

“Pretty much,” I teased.

“I texted Dad by the way. He’s not in the station. It’s the perfect time to check his computer.” I looked at him, worry slowly creeping its way to me.

“Don’t you feel bad?” I managed to ask. Detective Philips is his dad. I really feel bad doing this with him, walking behind Detective Philip’s back.

“Feel bad about what?” he asked back, looking at the road. I couldn't read the emotions in his eyes.

“It’s okay if we don’t do this anymore. Jean told you it was okay, right? You don’t need to force yourself.”

“I’m not forcing myself, Peyton. Luis needs help, you said. I want to help him too. And it’s kinda fun," he said. I saw his lips curved, showing his deep dimples.

“Fun?”

“You know I love this detective stuff and mysteries of the unknown! Being part of the group already excites me.” He was smiling at himself. I couldn’t help but smile at myself too. He never shows this side of him to anyone and that makes me feel close to him.

“I just can’t believe you’re helping me steal confidential information from your dad.”

“I can’t believe this either,” he answered, chuckling. “But this is for the guy who protected me before. You know how Luis once helped me, right? I’m doing this to pay him back.”

We continued to talk until we got to the station. And I realized how wrong I was to be confident about sneaking inside the police station.

“Did you also plan how we will get rid of the CCTV cameras?” He was closing the door when he asked. He was pointing at the cameras in the parking lot. I almost forgot about the cameras. Of all things, why did I forget the cameras?

We went silent for a few minutes. I was figuring out how to get in. Tons of ideas came in but it got weirder and weirder. The idea of creating a fire came. What if I turn off the electricity? But it’s broad daylight right now; it’s useless. The idea of creating a scene like pointing a g*n at Coover, shouting at everyone to back off? Oh God! That went too far. I smacked my head but it earned me a groan. That was painful!

“Why are you hitting yourself?” Coover asked as he grabbed my hand, stopping me.

“Some ideas just went in and I hate it,” I complained.

“Silly. I figured it out already. We got to go.” He grabs my hand and drags me to walk. I dragged my hand back, stopping him. He looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

“What do you mean you figured it out?” I asked him. He gave me a small smile.

“You’ll see. Let’s go.”

We went to the station. Like the last time, everyone welcomed him warmly like they were welcoming him home. It was even easy to get in until we got to the familiar door. He knocked despite knowing that no one was inside. We went in and he motioned me to sit. I waited for him to do something but he sat beside me and tapped on his phone instead. The clock was ticking but I waited for him to say something.

"It's fixed. Let's go!" He taps my shoulder as he walks to his dad's desk. He pressed the computer open and sat on the chair. In a few seconds, the desktop lights up and shows that it needs a password. We look at each other, thinking about what to do.

"He only uses one password. I will try typing it and see if it works." I felt anxious as he was tapping on the keyboard. And voila! It miraculously shows a messy desktop of a detective. There were lots of folders with names and documents that were displayed on the desktop too. I wonder how he never misses a case because of how messy his workplace is.

"Wow. I expected his desktop to be a mess but, this is messier than what I imagined." I laughed at him. I couldn't help him with computer stuff so I stayed beside him. I watch him type and open some documents on the computer. The rollercoaster of emotions in his face was such good scenery that I wasn't aware I was staring long enough.

"Do you remember the file name Dad used when he showed it to you?" he asked, still focusing on the screen. I racked my brain and tried to remember.

"No. Did you try his name? Try typing Mason or Taylah on it," I suggested.

"Yeah, I did. But nothing's coming up. Neither wasn't Taylah's case here."

"Don't you think maybe it was on your home computer or among other members of the police?"

"It's impossible. Dad was supposed to be handling this one. I always asked him about it but he never told me about transferring the case to another detective."

"That's odd. Then where's the file he showed me the last time then? It’s impossible that he accidentally deleted it. It must’ve been here somewhere." I looked around and saw piles of printed documents. Maybe it’s one of the folders here.

"Let's check the printed files. Maybe we could find some," he suggested. We started on the ones on his desk but it was too many that we decided to stop.

"This is hard. I can barely breathe right now," I complained.

"Right. I'm getting hungry too. I wonder if the girls are done with their mission."

"Let's go to the cafe first and figure out what to do next," I suggested. We fixed his Dad's desk before we went out.

He was typing something on his phone once again as we were leaving. No one suspected us when we went out, which made me feel relaxed. I drove to the cafe near the station, still wondering where the missing files were hidden.

The smell of coffee and tea filled the whole cafe once we got in. I motioned him to sit on one of the available chairs as I got into the stall with the barista.

"You're early. It ain't your shift yet, mate!" Dalton said as he was putting more whipped cream over a cup of hot chocolate.

" Isn't that a bit too much you're putting in? Mom's gonna scold you when she sees you," I teased as I dropped a tiny amount of espresso on a cup of vanilla ice cream.

"Nobody ordered that." He pointed at what I was preparing.

"I'll pay for it using my card, just let me do this once. My friend and I need to talk."

"Alright mate!" He continued preparing the orders and completely ignored me.

"Here." I placed the food on the table.

"Thanks," he grumbled as he digged into the vanilla ice cream. "We should've stayed in your bakery store instead. This place looks very fancy."

"It's still ours, Coover." I reminded him. He nodded as if realizing it now.

“Luis and Sophia love hanging out in here too,” I said. We both sigh.

"We didn't manage to obtain anything. We should give them a call,” I suggested. I fished out my phone from my pocket. I was about to call them when my phone rang. Jean was at the other end of the call.

"What did they say?" he immediately asked when the call was dropped.

"They didn't manage to find anything either. I guess we should get back." I stood up from my seat and was about to walk when he grabbed me by my arms again.

"Let's go see Taylah." His eyes looked sad and disappointed and I answered him with a nod. He bought some daisies and scented candles. We were silent until we got to the cemetery.

Taylah loves flowers. And I'm sure she was happy with how her grave is surrounded with flowers right now. Coover placed the flowers beside Taylah's grave as it was almost full. He lighted the candle and in a few minutes, I could smell a familiar flowery scent.

"Do you think Dad was hiding something from us?" he asked, breaking the silence.

I knew it. He wasn't fine with all the suspicions raised regarding his father. I feel the same way. To realize something was all a lie all along, that would be a different kind of pain.

"I hope not, Coover. I hope not."

"I called him earlier. He told me he was doing something important. And I found out from Ana that he was at the Mason's house. If he's so eager to investigate, why can't we see anything from his computer?"

"Maybe he was protecting the information too. I just hope he's really doing this to find out the truth."

We both sighed again. I continued to stare at Taylah's grave when something caught my eye. A painting on a small-sized canvas was laid under the flowers. The familiar signature caught my eye and I immediately picked it up.

"What's wrong? Wait. Is that dried blood?" Coover pointed at the corner of the lily painting where a dark red was visible. I know it wasn’t paint.

Is this one of the paintings Sophia was talking about? The one she saw in the woods smeared with dry blood. Why is it here?

"Hey, Peyton." My eyes shifted back to him and he was looking at something behind my back. I saw Detective Philips getting out of a car, a car we all know who owns. The owner of the car went out too. They were talking and shaking each other’s hands, then the detective walked away.

"Is that Dad with Mayor Gardiner?" Coover asked, as he pointed to where his father was.

“Yeah. Why is he with the mayor?” I asked back.

“I gotta know.” He walked fast to meet his dad and I ran beside him too.

“Dad?” he called out when we were just a few meters away from him. Detective Philips stops and looks behind him. He wasn’t able to hide the shock in his face. In the blink of an eye, it was gone.

“What are you doing here?” he asked us.

“We visited Taylah’s grave. What about you, Dad? Why are you with Mayor Gardiner?”

“We just talked about something.” He turned to look at me, “Hey, Peyton!” I nodded.

“Hello, Officer,” I greeted back.

“I gotta go. Make sure to get home before five Coover.” He turned his back and walked to his car without looking back.

We watched him drive away in silence.

“Do you think Dad is hiding something from me?” Coover asked once again.

“I don’t know, Coover. I don’t know.”

No matter how I rack my brain right now, I can’t think of a reason for Detective Philips to go against the law.