Page 31 of Finding Jack
I grinned. I couldn’t help it. “This is ridiculous.” This is what he’d been up to when he took so long to Photoshop the latte.
Hailey eyed the umbrella. “A little bit ridiculous. Who’s Jack?”
“Nobody. Go back to using your valuable time doing valuable things.”
She cast one more confused glance at the yellow drink umbrella then closed the door behind her. She popped her head right back in. “Nobody? Really?”
“Back to work, Hailey.”
But the door hadn’t even clicked shut before I had Google open to figure out who my nobody really was.
Chapter 13
The search for “Jack Dobson” returned almost seven million results. Several in the first few pages linked back to his Twitter account, but that was about it. There were lots of Jack Dobsons, from a prominent entrepreneur to a British gardener. Mostly it was ancestral records and obituaries for other men named Jack Dobson. Outside of his Twitter feed, nothing much came up for him.
I didn’t need to check his Twitter and Facebook. I’d already prowled those. Each of the accounts only went back about two years, and neither of them gave me much beyond his usual Photoshop requests. He didn’t have personal pictures or information. No snaps from vacations or adventures. No snaps of his food, even.
As far as the internet was concerned, Jack Dobson was essentially two years’ worth of funny pictures and that was it.
Which meant, of course, that there was much, much more to the story.
He’d said, “Good luck with that,” when I told him I was going to Google him. I’d taken it as a throwaway comment, but now it took on added meaning. He’d known I wouldn’t find anything.
I thought about that all day, wondering why. There could be a hundred reasons from sensible to sinister. I had a few friends who didn’t put their real names on their public profiles, mainly to deter creepers like…well, me, currently. But what was weirder was the two year thing. There was another version of Jack somewhere, with a rich and informative digital life story.
When Ranée got home, I waited until she was curled up on the sofa and browsing through Netflix before pouncing. “So I’ve been chatting with Jack. And I’ve got questions.”
She set down the remote. “Define chatting.”
“We connected on social, and long story short, he had coffee and a bag of Cheetos delivered to my office today.”
She turned the TV off. “No long story short. I want all the story.”
I told her about the seagull pictures all the way up to the coffee delivery.
I expected her to gloat that she’d succeeded in connecting us, but she only nodded. “He’s cool, right?”
“He seems to be. Funny, surprising. But secretive. And I want to know if that translates to shady.”
She shook her head. “I’ve only met him once, but he made an impression. I’ve asked Sean more about him since getting him involved with the whole Photoshopping joke. Jack has an interesting story. You should get him to tell it to you.”
“But if you know it, why don’t you just tell it to me?”
“Don’t you want the thrill of discovery?”
I rolled my eyes. “This from the girl who’s first to creep on any guy’s social if I so much as smile at him. Why are you being so cagey about this now?”
“Fair point.” She drummed her fingers against the arm of the sofa. “I know he had a career change a couple of years ago. I know he keeps to himself a lot. He’ll hang out with Sean, but Sean gets the impression he doesn’t hang out with too many other people. Sean actually doesn’t talk about him that much. Says he’s a cool guy, and he likes the idea of you and Jack talking. He wouldn’t suggest anyone shady. That much I can promise.”
“I’m so confused. You’re almost weirdly loyal to someone you’ve only met once instead of to me, your most favorite roommate of all time.”
“Iamloyal to you, which is why I told you to get rid of Paul and to talk to Jack. No dumb boys for you.”
“Paul’s not dumb.” It was a reflex to defend him even though it wasn’t my job anymore.
She grimaced. “You’re right. He’s not dumb.”
Huh. Any kind of concession toward Paul was new. “You feel sorry for him now?”
