Page 3 of Lost Love Cove 3
“Who asked you to deliver these?” she asked, holding up the letters.
Oscar shook his head quickly. “I don’t know.”
Andy scoffed. “How can you not know who gave them to you?”
“Because I was told where to pick them up,” Oscar shot back, fear mixing with defiance in his eyes. “These two letters were waiting for me at the Marshalls' house, and I had to get them before the morning.”
A bad feeling started to slice through Matt.
2
MATT
Matt folded his arms and studied Oscar as he asked, “How were you told?”
Oscar licked his lips. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he spoke. “You see, I was caught hacking a while back, and now I’m on probation. As part of my probation, I’m not allowed to use or possess any devices that connect to the internet. I also have to do grunt work for a few organizations in Key West as part of it. But, I didn’t mind because it enabled me to go to the library.”
“I wouldn’t say any more,” Carrie warned him. “I’m Police Chief Carrie Ware, and that man who has you by the hoodie is Detective Hardy.”
“I know you are,” Oscar assured her, and then frowned. “I thought you were Captain Ware?”
Carrie sighed. “I was a police captain in Boston, and when I moved to Nantucket, I became Police Chief. My badge wasn’t ready, there was some mix-up when I got there, and I carried on wearing Captain Ware, so it stuck,” she explained. “But I’m actually chief, not captain.”
“That makes sense then." Oscar nodded.
“Now, back to you.” Carrie nodded at him. “I take it you are about to tell us that you are breaking your probation by using the library’s computers in Key West?”
“Yes.” Oscar held up his hand defensively. “But, I promise it’s only to watch YouTube and play this silly game. I haven’t even checked my emails.”
“Okay, go on,” Carrie told Oscar, and Matt got the sense she didn’t believe him.
“A few days ago, while I was sneaking into the library to use the computers, this encrypted chat popped up on the screen as I was logging in to my game.” Oscar’s brow furrowed. “That’s not what shocked me. At first, I thought it was my mother who was on to me, and that I was busted. I was about to shut the computer down and hit the road, but the person on the other end started telling me that they knew I was violating my probation and they knew a lot of other things about me too.”
“What did this person want?” Carrie asked him, trying to cut his story down as she’d probably fathomed that Oscar liked to go into graphic detail about things.
“They said that until they said so, I had to do as they told me to.” Oscar drew in a breath. “They said a burner phone would be delivered, and I would get tasks. If I refused, they would expose my mother for covering for me.”
Carrie’s gaze sharpened. “Covering what, exactly?”
Oscar’s jaw clenched. “I stole money. A lot of money. I was just a kid messing around with some people online. I didn’t want or need the money; it was just to see if I could do it. Andmy mother put it back. Every cent. She managed to pull some strings and got me out of juvie. If that gets exposed now…” His voice cracked. “She will be ruined, and I will go to juvie.”
“If you’re eighteen,” Andy told him, “it will be prison now,” eliciting a gasp from Oscar.
Matt studied Oscar, weighing the trembling sincerity in his words. “So you went out in this weather because someone told you to deliver those letters?” He pointed to where Carrie still gripped them in her hands.
Oscar nodded rapidly. “Yes. If it were your mother, and she had saved you… Would you risk her going to prison? I had no choice.”
Carrie’s eyes narrowed. “Do you tell everyone your entire life story this easily?”
Oscar shrugged. “I figure you probably knew her anyway and are going to tell her about this.”
“Who is your mother?” she pressed.
Before Oscar could answer, a ringing cut through the air. It was the landline. Carrie turned and snatched up the receiver.
“Hello?” Carrie called into the mouthpiece. “Trent? Trent, is that you?”
But there was static, then a click, and nothing. Carrie put the receiver down and turned to Matt, shaking her head. He saw her take a quick breath before turning back to Oscar.
