Free Drop of Doubt by C.L. Stone Page B

opened clock. I used a pair of tweezers to clutch a magnetic pin, trying to stuff it back the opposite way it had been inserted previously. If I was right, when I put the clock together again, the gears would rotate backwards.
    Victor watched as I positioned the pin inside where I wanted, having to break part of the interior casing to get it to fit right. He grinned. “You’re breaking it on purpose now.”
    “Yup,” I said, partially paying attention as I looked back at the other parts, figuring out which pieces went back inside in reverse order. I picked up one of the larger cogs and inserted it into the clock’s body.
    Victor stood up, standing over my arm, looking down on me as I worked. It was distracting. I started second guessing which cog was next.
    Victor lowered his nose to the top of my head as he hovered. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
    “Kind of,” I said, finding the piece I was pretty sure I wanted. I slowed myself a little, not wanting to screw up with him watching.
    He let out a slow breath against my hair. “What are you doing?”
    “Right now I’m being distracted,” I said softly, teasing. I stilled my hand, turning my head slowly so I didn’t bump him. I had my mouth open, ready to say something else silly, but as I faced him, he hadn’t moved away. He gazed down at my eyes, his nose almost touching mine. He remained there, stationary and looking curious.
    Those fire eyes stole whatever words I thought I wanted to say. My lips moved but only my breath was released.
    The computer monitor flashed. Victor dragged his gaze away from me to check it. It gave me breathing room. I leaned over the side of the chair to see what he was reading.
    The screen blinked the name of a telephone company and an address. A small image displayed a map of downtown Charleston.
    “I was hoping this wasn’t what we were looking at,” Victor said. He eased himself back into his chair.
    “What is it?” I near-whispered.
    “Your caller isn’t using a cell phone. He used a pay phone.”
    “How did he send that picture to all of you?”
    Victor sighed, sitting back. He ruffled his fingers through his hair. “I’ll check, but I’m going to guess he was smart enough not to use a cell phone for that, too.”
    “Can’t we figure out which phone booth he used?”
    “I’ve got a guess. It might be the one across the street from the school. There’s a shopping center. If he took off from school, it’d be the closest place to get to and make that call. Unless he got into a car and drove elsewhere.”
    I got up on my knees in the chair, leaning over the arm to look closer at the screen. “Can we put cameras there? At that payphone?”
    “There’s no telling if he’ll use it again. We can’t put cameras on every pay phone in the city. We might get lucky and the shopping center has one focused on the pay phones. It’ll only be helpful if they’re recording. Too many ifs. It’s a long shot.”
    I looked back at Victor. He was sitting back, rolling his head against the back of the chair and sighing.
    “Do we dust for fingerprints now?” I asked.
    He swiveled his head back around until he was gazing at me. “Who do we look like? The Hardy Boys?”
    Silas chuckled at us without looking up from the laptop screen.
    I exhaled, sliding a fingertip across my brow. “Why not try it out? Put cameras on those phones. We’ll go back tomorrow and see if he tries calling again.”
    “Princess, you’re not going back to school until we can figure out who it is.”
    “But he hasn’t done anything to me,” I said. “And it’d be the quickest way to figure out who he is if we get him on camera.”
    Silas grunted. “We’re not using you as bait.”
    “Yeah, but it isn’t like Mr. McCoy. This kid’s been avoiding us. The more I think about it, it just seems like some kid who just wants attention. I bet if we just go in and let him use his beeping messages from the pay phone, we could catch him. He may