Gone Phishing Read online

  “Won’t you regret it?” Sophia’s lips brushed his again and he sat up and released her, clearing his throat.

  “If you regret it then yes.”

  Sophia sighed and relented, straightening her tee shirt and staring down at her bare feet. “I don’t want to be like Sal,” she said, her voice low and almost inaudible.

  Dane stood and held out his hand. “I know, Soph.” His smile looked wistful, bisecting a handsome face and full, pink lips. As he watched her struggle his eyes narrowed and he looked thoughtful. “What if your dad’s doing dodgy stuff on your laptop while you’re not using it? Have you thought of that?”

  Sophia shook her head. “No. It never occurred to me before today. But for the last couple of months I’ve kept losing it. I think it’s in my wardrobe but find it under my bed or vice versa. Last week I searched for ages and found it next to the TV. Dad doesn’t like computers; he’s a moron, so I assumed being head girl and busy all the time made me forgetful.” Sophia pushed her hair behind her ear. “Maybe it’s him.”

  Dane cocked his head and pursed his lips. “Only one way to find out,” he said.

  Chapter 3

  Discovery

  Sophia lifted the lid of the laptop while Dane ordered two coffees, her heart thudding in her chest. He returned to the table and found her staring at a blank screen. “You need to turn it on, kid,” he commented, placing the table marker in view of the barista.

  “I know!” Sophia bit. “I’m not sure I want to find out what he’s up to.”

  “He might be job hunting, or doing his CV.” Dane seized a slim packet of sugar and twisted it in his fingers.

  “Yeah, that’s it.” Sophia felt relief course through her veins, releasing her from a terror of the unknown. “He won’t be able to apply for jobs at work; they’ll find out and his boss will go mad. I bet he’s set up another email account on here or something. That’ll be it.” She sat back in her seat and smiled at Dane. “I don’t need to look.”

  “Okay.” He twisted the sugar again, bunching the contents up one end and then releasing the flimsy paper and repeating the motion. Sophia watched the movement of his lips as he concentrated, scooting her chair closer to his. When he turned towards her to speak, she placed her lips over his. “Tease,” he murmured against her face and nipped her lower lip.

  Sophia rested her palm on his thigh and leaned back in her seat, watching an elderly couple sip coffee and ignore each other. The man read the newspaper and the woman looked out of the window. She didn’t know if that was acceptable or whether it was definitive proof, their marriage had failed. Then the man looked over the top of his paper and winked at the woman who smiled. “What?” Sophia heard the last word of Dane’s sentence but not the rest and forced him to repeat it.

  “When do you go to Palmy?” The weight of the question hung over both of them.

  “I’m not.” Sophia gritted her jaw and shook her head, vehemence in her eyes.

  “Are you gonna live with your mum then?” Dane watched her, his expression confused.

  “No. I don’t know what I’ll do but I can’t leave.” Her jaw worked and her eyes filled with tears. She leaned forward so she could whisper and still be heard. The barista interrupted them with their drinks and Sophia waited for the girl to walk back behind the counter. “I wondered if Bob and Ellen might let me live with them.” She searched Dane’s face. “What do you think?”

  He shrugged and squirmed at the same time. “Maybe,” he replied, but doubt crept into his voice.

  Sophia closed her eyes. “Sorry. I won’t ask, it’s okay.”

  “No, no, don’t be daft. They’re your whānau, not mine.” He forced a smile onto his face and Sophia’s heart clenched with his use of the Māori word for family. The old lawyer and his wife showed Dane kindness when the awfulness of his home life put his two younger siblings into social care and left him sleeping in his car. She’d destroyed his sense of safety in twelve words. Of course they wouldn’t let her and Dane house share. They’d feel they had to chaperone and it would be Dane who moved on, not their god daughter.

  “I’m sorry,” Sophia repeated, reaching for his hand beneath the table. “Selfishness makes people say dumb things. I can’t stay with them, anyway. They’d be Edgar’s spies.”

  Dane cocked his head sideways, hearing the luke warm excuse and his eyes softened. He covered Sophia’s hand with his. “We’ll sort something out,” he said again, using the same platitude from earlier. His cheeks flushed. “Dunno why I keep saying that, Soph. I’m sorry. Heaps of people said that to me each time my life turned to crap and they never sorted anything out. They didn’t sleep under Boundary Bridge with me, staying awake to avoid the alkies and hobos night after night, did they?”

  “Carl and Maria helped.” Sophia reminded him, flipping her hand so their fingers linked. “And Mr Moeras let you shower in the gym before school.” She glanced down at their complexions melded together, hers tanned but his a deep, natural olive, kissed by the New Zealand sunshine. They resembled a tasteful colour wheel as though they belonged together and the stabbing sensation began again in her chest. “Carl and Maria took Will and Maisie in.” Sophia forced a smile on her face. “And you for a time.”

  Dane nodded. “Yeah, they did, before Bob and Ellen.”

  Sophia closed her eyes and a stray tear flicked onto the table with the motion of her lashes. She took tiny breaths in an attempt to control the swirling emotions which enticed her to lash out in panic and steal someone else’s safety. Dane’s hand caressed her cheek, his fingers soft. “Hey,” he said.

  Her mission to maintain self-control failed and Sophia’s chest locked up, forcing her words out in halting, hysterical jolts; not making any sense. Dane pushed her face into his shoulder and wrapped his arms tight around her, instinct and experience telling him what she needed. He whispered in her ear, words she couldn’t hear above her fractured gasps and the heaving of her lungs.

  They sat in the corner intertwined, observers seeing a distressed young woman with her comforter and not two school children, even though one wore a school issue shirt and trousers. The other customers got bored with staring and went back to their drinks, leaving Dane to stroke Sophia’s dark curls away from her forehead and battle their demons alone.

  Sophia kept her face pressed against Dane’s shirt until her embarrassment passed. Then it felt nice, so she stayed longer, listening to his heart perform regular beats in his strong chest. Her hands strayed around his back and she linked her fingers, feeling his soft kisses on the top of her head. When she sat up, she faced away from the untidy tables and chairs pushed in at careless angles. Her eyes raked the car park while the flush faded from her cheeks and her blood pressure dropped within normal limits. The white tee shirt clung to the base of her spine and armpits, damp with sweat. The familiar coolness made her shiver and she leaned her temple against Dane’s shoulder and resented her life’s re-entry into turmoil.

  “Here, dry your tears, Soph.” The crinkly napkin appeared in front of her face and Sophia took it, patting her cheeks and eyes. It rustled like cheap tissue but performed its task well enough for her to sit up.

  “Sorry,” she said again. “I forgot what a wimp I am.” She forced out a laugh which sounded fake even to her.

  Dane shook his head, understanding in his crystalline blue irises. “Na. You get over one crisis and decide you’ll never go there again. Then life throws you a curly one and you’re back in the mess like you never left.” The voice of experience made him sound older than his years. Decades older, like a retired soldier who’d seen more war than peace. Dane had.

  Sophia’s eyes lit with gratitude and she scooted forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her forehead against his. “I love you, Dane McArdle,” she whispered, pressing her damp lips against the silky dry mouth and feeling a shiver of desire low in her belly. “I’ll leave this town when you’re done with me and not before.” She watched his eyes narrow and curve upwards,
long lashes swishing together and apart in a sultry dance that matched the smile on his lips.

  “Okay,” he whispered back. “Then let’s see what we can do.” He reached for the laptop and lifted the lid, dark brows furrowed and his blue eyes filled with dread.

  Chapter 4

  Is This My Life?

  Whilst the decision not to leave with Edgar presented more problems than it solved, it also brought comfort. Having a consensus of agreement gave Sophia options; she just didn’t know what they were yet. The couple drank their cooling coffees while the laptop ran through its boot up routine on the table and Sophia wrestled fear and panic into a state of veiled annoyance and dogged determination.

  “I need to look for a job first,” Sophia stated between sips. “Something after school and at weekends, so I can pay to stay somewhere. Isn’t there an allowance I can get until I’m eighteen?”

  Dane nodded. “But your parents or the state need to disenfranchise you. The care worker helped with my case because my dad’s dead and my mother’s in rehab.” His brows knitted. “Can you see Sal or Edgar declaring you a ward of the state and washing their hands of you? I can’t.”

  Sophia’s shoulders slumped, but she refused to let go of her plan. “So I’ll find a cheap flat with other people and get a job with enough guaranteed hours to cover the rent. Then I’ll stay at school and be head girl for this year. Next year we’ll be at university so it won’t matter. And I’ll be eighteen.”

  Dane nodded at her optimism but Sophia knew him well enough to see the bluff in his eyes. The laptop displayed its welcome screen and they busied themselves logging onto the internet via the cafe’s Wifi code. Dane pointed at a series of blank squares in the middle of the screen. “It’s pixelating, Soph. And it sounds like it’s about to blow up.”

  “I know.” She winced. “Sal left it behind so I’ve been using it. We can’t afford a new one. I just need it to last until Christmas and school’s out.”

  “What are we looking for first?” Dane put his fingers over hers as she began to type and Google stuttered at the random series of key presses that went into its search engine. Sophia stopped and wiped her nose on her wrist, sorting through her various issues one at a time.

  “Edgar,” she replied, her eyes lighting up. “Let’s see what he’s been up to.”

  They opened the history for searches done online and the first twenty entries related to cell formation and an online dictionary check for onomatopoeia. Dane grinned. “You looked that up?”

  “Yeah!” Sophia wrinkled her nose. “Didn’t you?”

  He shook his head and tapped his temple. “Nope. It’s all in here.”

  “Show off!” Sophia nudged his shoulder and smirked. Her index finger stroked the mouse pad and the smile dropped from her lips. “Those are all my searches. He told the truth. Work’s computers must be down.”

  “Do you always use Chrome?” Dane moved the mouse and the cursor trespassed to another icon at the bottom of the screen. “You’ve got Firefox installed here.”

  Sophia shrugged. “I think Mum liked that browser but I prefer Chrome. I searched her history when she went missing but only found articles and news items related to her job at the law firm.”

  Dane’s finger moved and the browser opened. He went straight to the search history and whistled. “I’ll click on the link. It might not be what you think.”

  Sophia let go of the table edge and leaned back in her chair, the high colour fading from her cheek bones. “Really?” She shook her head. “My father’s looking at dating sites and you think it might be innocent?”

  “It could be for someone at work or a friend, Soph. Dudes do all sorts of dumb things for their mates. It could be innocent.”

  Sophia gritted her jaw. “It isn’t. I feel it in my gut. This is why he wanted my laptop. There’s no way he can search this crap at work without being found out.” She slapped her thigh in anger. “I thought he liked it with just me and him.”

  Dane chewed on the inside of his cheek, producing two cute dimples either side of his face. “He’s lonely, Soph. Can’t you see that? Next year you’ll be heading off to uni and he’ll stay here, living round the corner from your mum and her flash bloke and doing the same job he’s done for years. I get it. He’s filling the gap for after you go.”

  “With a woman?” Sophia’s eyes rounded. “A woman who needs a dating site to get a bloke.” She put two fingers in her mouth and pretended to retch. “Ugh! I bet she’s really ugly or fat but she’s put up a photo of a model.” She kicked the table leg in anger. “Oh no! Edgar’s got no street smart at all; she’ll be a catfish after his money.” The idea grew legs in her head and she jogged along the road of worst-case-scenario, enjoying the creativity of sensationalism. “It’s a man pretending to be a woman! A really old man!” She stood up, unable to contain her horror and two chairs skittered behind hers. “What if it’s a man and Dad knows!” Eyes wide like saucers, Sophia glared at the customers who stared her way with interest, her body rigid with shock and her fingers writhing against her thighs.

  Dane laughed. “Geez woman! Sit down.”

  Sophia bumped her backside onto the seat and turned her acidic expression his way. “It’s not funny!” she declared. “Edgar’s being catfished. What’s to laugh about?”

  Dane shook his head. “You haven’t even clicked the link and already you’ve labelled half the population with everything from fat-ism to homophobic slurs. I didn’t know you held so many prejudices.”

  “Yeah, you did,” Sophia bit in reply and Dane clamped his bottom lip between his teeth to stop himself laughing.

  He raised an eyebrow. “No. I really didn’t.” His hand reached beneath the table to counteract the insult, soft palm sliding over the tight jeans against her thigh. Dane cleared his throat and removed his hand. “Let’s just click the link,” he said, his tone decisive.

  Edgar’s lack of computer savvy allowed the teenagers to check back through months of internet search history. The old laptop disgorged a world of secrets and laid out the handiwork of a lonely, desperate man. “He’s trawled eleven dating sites,” Sophia said in disgust. “Look at this one, Sexy Singles. What’s wrong with him? He’s not sexy and he’s legally still married.” Sophia shuddered. “He’s got hair all over his chest and stomach like a carpet. Who’d want that?”

  Dane’s eyes widened and he pulled his shirt collar away from his neck. He tilted his head to peer down it. “I’ve got a hairy chest,” he announced. “Don’t you like them?” Anxiety screwed his face up and he waited for her verdict.

  Sophia cocked her head. “Let me look and I’ll tell you.” She yanked at his shirt front, dislodging his tie and popping another button open. Dane grabbed at her hand as she pushed her fingers over his pectorals, stroking the soft downy hair across his chest.

  “Hey, kids. Pack it in! Go and get it on somewhere else. I’m eating my breakfast; didn’t pay for some porn show!” A man in a business suit jabbed a knife in their direction and wiped ketchup from his chin with a napkin. Sophia opened her mouth with a ready retort and Dane clamped his palm over it.

  “Sorry, sir,” he replied and kicked her under the table. She pulled herself free again and when her lips parted in protest, Dane covered them with a kiss. His eyes alighted on the man opposite and he pulled away, shaking his head at Sophia. “Behave,” he told her, “or we’ll have to do this back at your place.”

  Sophia’s shoulders slumped, not wanting to go back to her bedroom and face her overwhelming problems. She stared sideways at Dane through slitted eyes and watched his fingers move across the keyboard. “It’s nice,” she said, distracting him and smirking at the confusion on his face. “Your chest. I like it.”

  A flush crept from Dane’s neck to his cheeks and he stared at the keyboard, concentrating hard while his body regained equilibrium. Sophia watched and analysed the sense of rightness in her chest. Dane’s bad-boy image attracted her like it did most of the females in their school, set
ting their hormones racing and imagining what his lips felt like to kiss. She knew he’d had sex before but not who with. Sophia pushed curiosity aside and forced herself to believe he’d chosen her for the right reasons and she shouldn’t fear he’d get a better offer. Her mind wandered to her mother’s infidelity and Edgar’s broken heart and all thoughts of sex vanished in a haze of disgust.

  “Dane.” She spoke into his concentration and watched him drag his gaze from the screen, small white scars standing out against the olive of his complexion. His stepfather covered Dane’s body with the evidence of his brutality; kicks, punches and broken bones to keep an unwanted child in line. Dane catalogued them once for her on a picnic by the river; a miserable list of remembered beatings. Some scars remained unaccounted for; erased by unconsciousness or overwritten by a young mind seeking welcome oblivion.

  “Yep?” His lips curved upwards in a ready smile, blue eyes twinkling with hope for a future neither of them could taste yet.

  Sophia swallowed and her words sounded stilted. “Do you want me to stay in Hamilton? Would it be easier for you if I left?”

  The blue irises faded to a smoky grey and Dane yanked her body against his. “Idiot! Don’t ask that again.” His arm around her neck felt rock solid and she let him hold her, feeling the last vestiges of resistance disappear. Sophia snuggled against his neck as he tapped in a combination of passwords and the man opposite finished his breakfast and left.

  Ten minutes later, the same screen faced them, still demanding a password. They’d cracked the email account, finding a Gmail created online and hidden in an icon on the desktop marked, ‘Documents.’ The browser saved the password for that but the dating site had its own security and required one. The likely key eluded them both. “Try, ‘Sal is a bitch,’ again,” Sophia said, snuggling closer and kissing Dane’s neck. She felt him tense beneath her. In defiance she nipped the skin and he jumped away. “Sorry.” The word sounded genuine but the glittering of her attractive eyes showed she didn’t mean it. As her life crumbled before her, dark fingers reached out and clung to the only thing left; Dane’s affection. Sophia fought to get the confusing emotions under control and fixed her attention on the screen. “Try it without gaps.”