Why not?

It was all too easy to recall the closet with the camera. I could hardly think about it without shuddering.

I appeared standing next to the camera mount in the dark closet. Light came into the closet from around the camera and the edges around the badly hung door. I could hear their muffled voices though the wall.

I moved down toward the door and heard, "-gonna tell Jason?" That was Caffeine talking. "'Cause I don't think you'll like the results. Part of the deal is that we get our share because we're taking care of the problems. Jason has to step in, then our percentage goes down."

Hector's voice was so strident that I had trouble recognizing it. "Yeah? I'm not seeing a way to take care of this particular problem! What do you suggest? Silver bullets? Garlic?"

I'd been nervous up to then, ready to jump away at the slightest sound, but now my lips tugged up at the corners. Garlic? Maybe they'd pull out the crucifixes, too. That gave me ideas for the next time I wanted to make an impression.

Caffeine said, "Shut your mouth. Someone is playing tricks, that's all. I thought it was that new girl, but she was in a skirt when I saw her at school."

Calvin agreed. "She's too small. The thing in the woods was bigger. It tossed us around like we were toys"

Caffeine sighed. "Maybe it's the Surenos."

"No way!" That was my friend from the coffee shop stairway-Marius. "They don't give a shit as long as we stick to ecstasy, pot, and 'ludes."

"Well, maybe then it's the Nortenos moving in?" Caffeine said.

Marius laughed, but not in an amused way. "Was it bullets? Or machetes? Then it isn't the Nortenos or the Surenos."

Calvin cleared his throat. "You just don't want to tell Jason 'cause he won't believe it. He'll say we've been using our own product. I say we need to let him know what we're up against."

And Hector said, "And what is that? What are we up against? Do you know? DO YOU KNOW? WHAT IF-"

I heard a slap and a gasp.

Caffeine's voice said mildly, "Don't do that. We don't need to be fighting each other."

Hector, almost as strident as before, said, "Jesus! Marius, you asshole!"

Caffeine's voice raised. "Hector, shut the fuck up. Grow a pair, already!"

Hector mumbled something, but I couldn't make it out.

"Pussy," said Marius.

Caffeine went on. "We need to increase the pressure on my three little boyfriends. And they need to do more than just carry the stuff in. We need them to start selling."

"They're refusing to carry it in," Calvin said. "What makes you think they'll go for selling?"

"We'll up the pressure," said Caffeine.

"More than a broken finger? A busted nose?"

"Time to bring them back together," Caffeine said. I heard her pat the couch. "Right here, where it all began."

"And how are you going to do that?" Marius said. "Between the broken finger and the broken nose, you think they're going to come anywhere near you?"

Caffeine said, "Sure. 'Cause I'm going to offer them what they want-the video."

The team van got back into cell coverage about an hour short of New Prospect. Joe began texting me: U sure u want to hang at ur place?

Why?

Privacy.

I remembered some of my thoughts in the hot tub and blushed. But it was too soon. And we would need privacy for?

It was five minutes before his next text. Ur house ok.

No witnesses? Your pool skilz that bad?

Are we playing for money?

For kisses, I texted.

How does that work?

Loser has to kiss the winner.

He responded immediately. How humiliating. Not.

I grinned. Winner has to kiss the loser?

Ur doin it wrong.

No kisses?

Let's not be hasty. Am willing to experiment with osculatory scoring system.

For science!

For science.

So, you know that bit where one person is showing another person how to shoot pool so they put their arms around them from behind to guide their hands on the pool cue and talk right next to their ear?

We did that.

We also changed the scoring system. Every time one of us missed a shot, they had to kiss the other.

Turns out we're terrible pool shots.

Later, we got serious about the pool. He was better than I was and he did show me how to improve my aim.

During a snack break, upstairs, we had a nice discussion with Dad about The Three Musketeers, the actual book, and all the different movies made from it. Joe had seen the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks silent version but both of them agreed that the best was the pair of Richard Lester movies made in the seventies.

Then we went back to the pool table. I did pull him into my bedroom, briefly, for a review of some of my favorite titles. And no, that's not a euphemism.

We were both blinking and yawning by eleven and he said, reluctantly, "If I don't go home soon, I'm going to drive off the road on my way."

I walked him up the hill to the car. It was snowing lightly and I loved the way snowflakes caught in his hair.

"Tomorrow?" he asked between kisses.

"I don't know," I said. I felt his muscles tense and added, "I've got this Caffeine thing."

"What?"

"You know my three freshman?"

"Yeah. Grant and his two buddies. Uh, Tony and..."

"Dakota. Yeah, those guys. Caffeine is after them. They used to run packages for her, but they refused to do any more."

Joe nodded. "Heard that. That was what the bloody nose was about. And the broken finger, right?"

"Right. And there's other stuff, too. Anyway, I need to work on that tomorrow."

"What do you mean by 'work on that'?" He sounded worried. "You're not going near Caffeine and her peeps, are you?"

I didn't want to lie to him. "I'm just keeping an eye on the kids. If I need help, I'll phone you, okay?"

"So it's like a stakeout? I could help."

"Help distract me. Remember our deal?" I pointed back and forth between us. "'We' are a secret for the next few weeks."

"What is the other stuff? Between Caffeine and the boys?"

I said, "It's not my secret to tell."

"Ah. Did she do the sex-video thing, again?"

My mouth dropped open. "So, not the first time, eh?" A horrible thought hit me. "Not you?"

He took a step away, "Heard that's how they got Hector into the gang last year. Not that he wasn't willing. But me? Puh-lease. Give me some credit for taste, if nothing else."

"I thought guys liked big boobs."

He reached toward my chest, "I like yours."

I knocked his hand aside. "We're saying goodnight, remember?"

"Don't do anything stupid, okay?"

We kissed again and he finally opened the door of the VW. The engine barely turned over, but then started. He rolled down the window and I kissed him once more.

"I'll try not to do anything stupid," I said. "But you know how it is when you start a relationship." I bit his lip gently. "Anything might happen."

He groaned and drove off, snowflakes swirling in the car's wake.

Grant spilled the beans without much prodding when I called him.

"She said two PM. At the garage."

"You going?" I was trying for neutral, like Mom's therapist, nonjudging voice.

"She said if we didn't, she was posting it to a public website and broadcasting the URL all over town. But that if we did come, she'd give us the only copies."

"Do you believe that?"

He let out a long sigh. "No. But Dakota wants to believe it. Tony is freaking out big time."

I tried one more time. "What's on the tape that they're so afraid of?"

He disconnected.

Little shit.

At least I wouldn't have to watch the boys. I could confine myself to watching the garage.

It was still snowing when I jumped to the clubhouse roof at one. Caffeine's dented Honda was parked by the side door. I didn't want to risk looking through the skylight. It was all white above. It would be all too easy for someone to notice my head against the snow, helmet and all.

I was considering jumping down into the closet when my cell phone buzzed in my pocket.

I jumped back to the middle of the lot, in the ruined house, and fumbled the phone out of my pocket. It was Grant. I hooked the balaclava down from over my mouth and hit the answer button with my nose since my gloved fingers had no effect on the touchscreen.

"Hello, Grant."

"Uh-" he said and stuck there, making sounds that aspired to be words but failed.

"Deep breath, Grant. What's wrong?"

"Tony. He just hung up on me."

"Ironic, that. Like you hung up on me earlier?"

"Not exactly. I think he's taken something."