Page 37 of No Capes
I take the disc, not realizing that my hands are shaking until D.S. steadies them with his own. I wish I could say it’s not comforting. We push in the next CD.
Again, Dr. Milligan’s voice starts the recording. “They know. Meredith told them.”
“That’s it then,” the all-too-familiar voice of Phil Bridges replies. “We have to take them out.”
D.S. shuts off the player. Wordlessly, he retreats to his windowsill, giving me room to digest. My back muscles pinch together, raising my shoulders as hot panic sears through my veins.Steady, Mads. Think.
“My mom told them what?” I ask.
“That,” he taps his chin in thought, “I’m not sure of.”
“Hang on,” I ask, “why make me deal with the police? Why not show me these from the beginning?”
“First, there was the matter of whether I could trust you. And then there’s the matter that I only found these CDs today.”
“Found them? These are Phil’s secret files. How did you get these?”
“Stole them.” He shrugs like it’s inconsequential. “Bridges has hundreds of CDs. Holds onto ‘em in case he needs to blackmail someone, I’ve gathered. CDs make sense, not hackable.”
“Okay, great, buthow did you get these?”
“It wasn’t that hard, Roberts, seeing as he asked me to work for him and I now can easily sneak into his office at City Hall.”
“HE ASKED YOU TO WORK FOR HIM?” Now, I’m really confused.
While I’ve suspected Phil’s role as our mayor is a bit of a performance… I never thought he was evil. Incompetent and under-qualified, but never evil.
The faintest puff appears in Dark Static’s chest, as if mayors ask infamous villains to complete secret tasks for them every day. “He asked me to start doing little jobs for him. Mostly, he just wants me to stir up trouble.”
“Why?” I stammer. I eject the CD from the player and put it back in the sleeve.
“Because the easiest way for Phil to be more popular is to get people to believe in him. If the public fears me, and if Bridges can inspire hope in them despite the mess I create, he’ll have more power than what he gets from just being elected. I’m an enemy to unite against.”
“That seems like a stretch,” I say.
“Does it, though?”
I step toward my bed, sinking onto it. My pillows and blankets form a pseudo fort of protection. If what Dark Static says is true, then Phil,my brother-in-law,murdered my mom. Somehow. Some way.Allegedly.Given Phil’s performances at the school assembly and the Levines’ dinner party, I can believe that he wants to be big—bigger than just our mayor. And…we have to take them out,he’d said on the CD—the same day that three editors of theCapital Chronicledied in a tragic “accident.”
“Phil asked you to stir up trouble?” I clarify.
“Yep,” D.S. dusts off his shoulders. “But he failed to specifyhow. ‘Start a fire,’ he said, so I did in Milligan’s house. Then he goes, ‘Hey, Static, I need an explosion.’ So I blew up his friend’s car. Isn’t it great to rebel?”
“Meanwhile, you’re using him to find out what my mom discovered—what his secret is. That’s what’s in this for you.”
“You nailed it.” D.S. nods.
“Where does the CCPD come in?” I ask. “Officer Kyle thinks my dad is a suspect.”
Please,I silently beg Dark Static,don’t say my dad is involved.
D.S. laughs off my statement. “And how much faith do you have in Officer Kyle?”
I don’t need to reply.Not much.
Dark Static sits back on his windowsill a few feet away, where the room’s light is at its dimmest, and lifts his mask slightly to scratch his cheek. He exposes the smallest surfaceabove his chin, skin taught and shaven. I’d expected him to be more ruggedly handsome, less prep-school pristine. He coughs, guessing what I’m thinking about.
“Like what you see?” He brushes his hands over his mask, securing it just below his jawline.
