Free Summer by Eden Maguire

fringed leathers. He never smiled or used words with more than two syllables.
    ‘Mom says yes. She figures Brandon wants to step into Phoenix’s shoes.’
    It was time for a deep breath. ‘Tell her no way. Brandon is so last century.’ I watched Zak’s lips curl upwards and a slow smile formed. ‘Wait until he hears what you just said!’
    ‘Yeah, tell him from me, just in case your mom’s theory is correct.’ That should kill any ideas Brandon might have. Again I switched topics. ‘So you miss Phoenix as much as I do, right?’
    ‘Every minute,’ he admitted, suddenly going young and vulnerable on me. ‘Without him around, my family is falling apart.’
    ‘So come and find me when you need to talk,’ I said at last. It was time to turn on the engine and get back on the road. ‘School’s over for the week. I’ll drive you home.’
     
    I made the rehearsal thirty minutes late, in time to sing my ‘Red Sky’ number with Hannah. Miss Jones reminded us all that we were only two weeks away from performing the concert on the anniversary of Summer’s death. Twoweeks also for me to solve the murder.
    ‘Where were you?’ Jordan asked me as we sat watching the lighting guys work out cues for the big finale number. She told me I’d already missed the run-through of our ‘Invisible’ routine with Christian.
    ‘I was child-minding Zak Rohr. He cut school so I drove him home.’
    Jordan’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Didn’t you tell me that his mom zaps you with hate rays every time you go near?’
    ‘Yeah. But I feel responsible for Zak, don’t ask me why. Anyhow, I dropped him at the door and drove away before she had time to come out of the house. Did we persuade Miss Jones to add an extra performance?’ I was getting good at this sudden switch of focus, away from stuff I didn’t want to discuss.
    ‘She said no, it’s not appropriate because the afternoon is when Summer actually died,’ Jordan answered. ‘The same with the evening – people will want to mourn in private. We do one morning concert, period. The tickets are already sold out.’
     
    All tickets sold! Early on Saturday morning I clicked on to the angelvoice website and found that Jordan was right. Clicking again on the Comments and Reviews icon, I read that many of Summer’s fans were truly disappointed,including the fixated JakB guy who kept on popping up with his green skull icon.
    This sucks , he complained. I came online to buy my ticket as soon as I could raise the dough. But too late already. Is this what you do to a genuine fan? I love Summer Madison more than the whole world!!!
    Get a life! I thought, moving quickly on. A whole weekend opened up in front of me and I badly wanted to find something that would allow me out to Foxton again. I went back on to the Ellerton History of Violence site then followed it through to the Summer Madison shooting and made the link to the copycat situation in Florida, where I found some new information that surprised me. Venice Killings linked to Pennington tragedy , I read in an article from a New Jersey paper dated thirteenth April. Police investigators have compared the Florida shooting in June last year with an incident here in New Jersey on September fifteenth. The Pennington victim was also shot at close range in an apparently random attack. A police source confirms that other similar killings across America are now under close scrutiny .
    I scrolled back and made myself re-read every word. Was it enough? Could I drive out to the ridge and show Hunter the development? Wait – there was more. I clicked on to a follow-up article dated next day, April fourteenth.
    Venice Suspect Identified . The headline jumped off the screen at me. There was a name – Scott Fichtner – and a head-and-shoulders mugshot of a thin-faced, fair haired guy staring straight at the camera.
    I looked closely. Could it be the guy I’d seen at the mall, behind the aviator shades, beneath the baseball cap? He had the same