Sasha glared at her. After what seemed like forever, she exhaled loudly. “I see your point. But this is . . . This is big, what you’re asking me to do.”
“I know,” Claire admitted. “I’m sorry. I can’t think of any other way.”
Sasha stared out the window for a minute before turning back to them. “I’ll do it. But I can’t do it alone.”
Xander turned his palms to the ceiling. “What can we do to help?”
“Not we,” Sasha said. “Claire.”
Claire looked up in surprise. “Me?”
“My dad works from home. He’s home all the time. Trust me, I have to listen to my mom yelling at him to get out from under her feet all day long in the summer. Assuming you want Eddie’s address sooner than next week, one of us will have to keep him busy while the other one looks on his computer.”
“One of us?” Claire asked.
“Probably you,” Sasha said. “Because it would be weird for me to leave you alone with my dad while I dig through his office. He’d hunt me down after two minutes to rescue him from having to make conversation.”
“What about Xander and Allegra?” Claire asked.
Sasha looked from one to the other of them. “Have I ever invited either of you over to hang out at my house?”
Xander shook his head.
“Point taken,” Claire said. “So what do we do?”
NINETEEN
Sasha’s house was quiet except for the distant sound of her younger brother, Maddox, playing Xbox in the den.
If Sasha was right, hanging out in the kitchen was their best bet for cornering her dad long enough for Claire to look on his computer. Sasha’s dad drank coffee all day, every day. It was only a matter of time before he emerged from his study to top off his cup. Her mother was doing the grocery shopping and wasn’t home.
“Want some sweet tea or something?” Sasha asked her.
Claire nodded nervously. “Sure.”
Sasha poured the tea and they sat at the kitchen island, waiting.
Claire took a drink from her glass. “So tell me again what I’m looking for.”
“I honestly don’t know,” Sasha said. “I don’t dig around in my dad’s work. I’d say go to all the document folders first. Look for a main folder that has to do with the Guild and then a sub folder titled Addresses or Contacts or Members or something.”
“And we don’t have a last name for Crazy Eddie?” Claire asked.
“I’ve been trying to remember it. I know I’ve heard it before, but it must have been a long time ago. Just look for any name with Ed, Eddie, or Edward. We can compare them against existing members later if we have to.”
Claire nodded, rubbing her sweaty palms on the side of her shorts. “What if you can’t keep him in here long enough?”
She patted something on the counter. “Taken care of.”
“What’s that?” Claire asked.
She held it up. “The Louisiana State DMV rule book. I finally convinced him I’m ready to take my road test. I’ll ask him to quiz me.”
“What if he says he’s busy or he has to get back to work or something?”
Sasha thought about it. “I’ll say something really loud. Something like . . . ‘Do you want me to make you a sandwich, Dad?’”
Claire laughed. “A sandwich?”
“Yeah, I could kind of shout it when he turns to leave without it seeming too weird. If you’ve got something better, I’m listening.”
“I don’t,” Claire admitted. “But won’t he be suspicious?”
“I don’t think so. I make him lunch sometimes when I make my own, especially when my mom’s not home. It’s the most normal thing I can think of.”
“All right,” Claire agreed. “I’ll listen for the sandwich.”
They turned as they heard someone making their way down the hall, the footsteps purposeful and heavy.
“Sasha? You home?” her dad called. He stepped into the kitchen. “Well, hello, Claire. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Hi, Mr. Drummond. How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you. And you? How are your parents?”
Moving through the expected niceties of conversation was second nature. She was pretty sure her first word wasn’t “mommy” or “daddy” but “please” or “thank you.” It had been bred in Claire since she could speak.
“We’re all fine. Thank you for asking.”
He moved to the coffeepot on the counter, preparing to fill his cup.
This is it, Claire thought, her stomach in knots. Do it now. Do it for Xander and Sasha.
“Excuse me,” Claire said. “I’ll be right back.”
She was counting on the fact that Sasha’s dad would assume she was going to the restroom and wouldn’t say anything. He didn’t.
Claire tried to be leisurely as she left the kitchen, but once she was in the hall, she booked it to Mr. Drummond’s study.
She was careful not to bump the door, already half open, on her way in. It was easy to feel someone else’s presence, to notice little things that had been moved or were out of place, when you were intimately familiar with a room.
She took a few seconds to orient herself. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d been in Mr. Drummond’s study, and she took in the large, ornate rug in the center of the room, the Haitian and African art on the walls. The desk dominated one area of the room, a sleek laptop open on its surface.
She forced her feet to move, her heart thudding in her chest every step of the way, adrenaline surging through her veins at the possibility of being caught.
Moving around to the other side of the desk, she let her hand graze the touchpad. The black screen lit up, opening to a spreadsheet that seemed to contain expense reports or something. She minimized it, feeling guilty for even glimpsing the Drummonds’ private finances.
Luckily, Mr. Drummond used a Mac. It made everything a little bit easier, and she started by pulling up the Finder. She chose Documents first, relieved when a folder labeled GUILD appeared. She clicked on it, sucking in her breath when it opened to reveal multiple subfolders and more documents than she could count. How much paperwork did it take to be head of membership for such a selective organization?
The answer, apparently, was a lot.
Labeled by country, there were folders for England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, and almost every European country she could think of, including countries in Eastern Europe. Her eyes lingered on the folder labeled GUILD_ROMANIA, but she continued down the list.
She didn’t have time to browse.
She glanced at the door of the study, listening for sounds from the hallway, before clicking on the folder titled GUILD_NOLAHQ.
It didn’t exactly narrow the field. There were dozens of documents.
She started at the top, scrolling down and trying to gauge the contents of each file from its title. She had no idea how long she’d been gone. But it was only a matter of time before Sasha ran out of ways to keep her dad in the kitchen.
The amount of paperwork was dizzying. There were reports for dues and other membership expenses, documents that seemed to have something to do with narrowing the qualifications for membership in the Guild, and finally, something labeled CONTACT_INFO.
She clicked on it, and it opened to reveal a spreadsheet with names, addresses, and phone numbers.
Jackpot.
It was alphabetical by last name. She started at the top, skimming the list for someone that could be Crazy Eddie. She came across six Edwards, but they were all families whose last name she recognized. She started again, looking more closely.
And this time, she found what she was looking for.
Edward “Eddie” Clement.
Next to his name was an asterisk. She looked at the bottom of the document for a key. There it was: another asterisk with the word “INACTIVE” next to it.