other implicit message was that it probably hadn’t been the first time.
“Who have you been talking to, Lisa?” Decker pressed.
He knew damn well whom she’d been talking to. Now Decker had the advantage. She knew she had gotten Jacob in trouble. She’d have to call him and explain. But first she’d have to deal with Decker. If she remained snotty, she would add to Jacob’s woes.
Now she was scared, didn’t make eye contact. “Can I go now?”
Decker was relentless. “Have you been talking to my son?”
“Stepson—”
“I stand corrected. Where do you know him from?”
“Just around—”
“Where?”
“I met him at a party. What’s the big deal? Je sus! Now I know why—” Again she stopped herself.
“Go on!”
Lisa rubbed her hands together. “Look! I met Jake at aparty. Ernesto was there. Maybe Jake mentioned Ernesto or me to you in passing.”
“Maybe he didn’t.”
“Well, then, okay. Maybe he didn’t. I’m just saying that parents don’t need an excuse to rag on their children. Even my parents…who are pretty cool…they still snoop. All parents snoop. Jake told me you snooped. Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn’t. But let me tell you something about your son—”
“ Step son.”
“He feels brainwashed by your stifling way of life. He struggles with it. But in the end you must have succeeded because he hasn’t answered my phone calls for the last four months. Congratulations.”
So she had made a play for Jake, and it had failed. So not only was it his fault that Jake was conflicted, but it was also his fault that she didn’t succeed in getting him. “You know what, Lisa? I’m going to do you a big favor. I’m going to forget what you just said and how you just insulted two thousand years of my step son’s heritage. Let’s go back to talking about Ernesto—”
“It’s my heritage, too, you know,” she defended herself.
“Then if it is, you should be even more offended by what your ex-boyfriend did. I’m going to ask you straight out. Did Ernesto have any friends that made you nervous?”
She paused for a long time. So many emotions walked past on her face—defiance, shame, insecurity, embarrassment, anger, hate—the whole gamut. Finally, she settled on resignation. “I hope I’m not sounding spiteful. I don’t want to appear like the scorned woman.”
“Go on.”
She sighed. “There’s a kid in our class—Doug Ranger. He has an older sister—Ruby. She’s around twenty-two or-three…graduated from Berkeley with a degree in computer science. She’s smart…sexy…not to me, but to the boys. She’s full of ideas…more like full of shit!” Wet eyes. “I’ve seen her car at Ernesto’s house a couple of times.”
“Maybe it’s Doug’s car and he’s visiting Ernesto.”
“It’s not him, it’s her.”
“I guess parents aren’t the only people who snoop?”
She wilted, her voice soft and plaintive. “Please, Lieutenant.”
“So you’ve seen Ruby Ranger go into Ernesto’s house? Yes or no?”
“Yes.” Totally defeated now. “Several times.”
“What’s she like?”
A long sigh. “Politicized.”
“What kind of ideas does she have?”
“Libertarian stuff. Government should stop being everyone’s baby-sitter. And it certainly doesn’t have any right to be a censor when it’s so corrupt itself. She’s really big on a free Internet. That’s her raison d’être at the moment—to maintain an uncensored Internet. You’re twelve years old and wanna talk about porn in the chat room with convicted sex offenders, that’s your perogative. Fine with her. You wanna talk about incest or NAMBLA, fine. You wanna talk about scoring drugs, fine. You wanna talk about neo-Nazis and Hitler as heroes or buy Nazi stuff over the Internet, that’s fine, too. She said that…those exact words.”
Decker nodded.
“She also said—right to my face while people were listening in—she also said that I would have been perfect
“Who have you been talking to, Lisa?” Decker pressed.
He knew damn well whom she’d been talking to. Now Decker had the advantage. She knew she had gotten Jacob in trouble. She’d have to call him and explain. But first she’d have to deal with Decker. If she remained snotty, she would add to Jacob’s woes.
Now she was scared, didn’t make eye contact. “Can I go now?”
Decker was relentless. “Have you been talking to my son?”
“Stepson—”
“I stand corrected. Where do you know him from?”
“Just around—”
“Where?”
“I met him at a party. What’s the big deal? Je sus! Now I know why—” Again she stopped herself.
“Go on!”
Lisa rubbed her hands together. “Look! I met Jake at aparty. Ernesto was there. Maybe Jake mentioned Ernesto or me to you in passing.”
“Maybe he didn’t.”
“Well, then, okay. Maybe he didn’t. I’m just saying that parents don’t need an excuse to rag on their children. Even my parents…who are pretty cool…they still snoop. All parents snoop. Jake told me you snooped. Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn’t. But let me tell you something about your son—”
“ Step son.”
“He feels brainwashed by your stifling way of life. He struggles with it. But in the end you must have succeeded because he hasn’t answered my phone calls for the last four months. Congratulations.”
So she had made a play for Jake, and it had failed. So not only was it his fault that Jake was conflicted, but it was also his fault that she didn’t succeed in getting him. “You know what, Lisa? I’m going to do you a big favor. I’m going to forget what you just said and how you just insulted two thousand years of my step son’s heritage. Let’s go back to talking about Ernesto—”
“It’s my heritage, too, you know,” she defended herself.
“Then if it is, you should be even more offended by what your ex-boyfriend did. I’m going to ask you straight out. Did Ernesto have any friends that made you nervous?”
She paused for a long time. So many emotions walked past on her face—defiance, shame, insecurity, embarrassment, anger, hate—the whole gamut. Finally, she settled on resignation. “I hope I’m not sounding spiteful. I don’t want to appear like the scorned woman.”
“Go on.”
She sighed. “There’s a kid in our class—Doug Ranger. He has an older sister—Ruby. She’s around twenty-two or-three…graduated from Berkeley with a degree in computer science. She’s smart…sexy…not to me, but to the boys. She’s full of ideas…more like full of shit!” Wet eyes. “I’ve seen her car at Ernesto’s house a couple of times.”
“Maybe it’s Doug’s car and he’s visiting Ernesto.”
“It’s not him, it’s her.”
“I guess parents aren’t the only people who snoop?”
She wilted, her voice soft and plaintive. “Please, Lieutenant.”
“So you’ve seen Ruby Ranger go into Ernesto’s house? Yes or no?”
“Yes.” Totally defeated now. “Several times.”
“What’s she like?”
A long sigh. “Politicized.”
“What kind of ideas does she have?”
“Libertarian stuff. Government should stop being everyone’s baby-sitter. And it certainly doesn’t have any right to be a censor when it’s so corrupt itself. She’s really big on a free Internet. That’s her raison d’être at the moment—to maintain an uncensored Internet. You’re twelve years old and wanna talk about porn in the chat room with convicted sex offenders, that’s your perogative. Fine with her. You wanna talk about incest or NAMBLA, fine. You wanna talk about scoring drugs, fine. You wanna talk about neo-Nazis and Hitler as heroes or buy Nazi stuff over the Internet, that’s fine, too. She said that…those exact words.”
Decker nodded.
“She also said—right to my face while people were listening in—she also said that I would have been perfect
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