"Heeeeeeeello, I just wanted to ask you a quick question..."

"I'm not buying anything." The man behind the gruff voice sounded of a certain age, judging by his hunched posture and the general bitterness in his tone.

"I'm not trying to sell you anything, I just want to know..." He slammed the door in my face. I could have tolerated the fifth door closing an inch from my nose, if it weren't for Cas, who was chuckling, leaning against the stop sign a few meters away.

I turned to give him a dirty look, but I certainly only amused him even more.

"What did you expect? I told you people around here don't like nosy parkers. That's why I was hoping for one of your Benjamin-style tricks."

I headed towards the next house, ignoring the fine drizzle tapping on the visor of my hat.

"What would a Benjamin-style trick be?"

Cas trailed behind me with his limping duck-like gait. "You know, an imprint in the sand... a photo on Instagram... and you can tell me who killed Kennedy. That trick of yours."

I rolled my eyes behind the dark glasses. On one hand, he was just teasing me, on the other, he really thought I was much smarter than I actually was.

When I announced to the world that I intended to attend an Ivy League university, he was the only one who didn't bat an eye.

The house I was aiming for was the second on the street. The farther we got from Casper's mailbox, the slimmer our hopes of finding the mysterious sender became.

"Oh, you can skip that house," Cas said in his feigned nonchalant voice.

Guess which house we wouldn't skip?

"Ben!"

I quickened my pace before he could block me and closed the last distance between me and the doorbell with a slight jog.

"Why don't you ever listen to a damn thing I say?!" His angry muttering was interrupted by a sharp creak.

A man of medium height appeared at the door, African American, with a tangle of dreadlocks on his head barely reaching his shoulders. I had seen Nathan Shaw a few times, but with that favorable light, I could recognize him. He was the latest addition to the Coyotes, the unexplained absence of the past two days.

"Nathan Shaw, aka Nate, just turned twenty, am I right? The oldest of the baby gang. We've never formally introduced ourselves. Pleasure. I'm Benjamin."

Nathan was gripping the handle as if he needed it to stay standing. I could see only one eye, the other disappearing into the confusion of his face, as if he couldn't keep it open. Was it swollen? He seemed to have a swollen face.

Damn it! I needed to see the details!

I quickly pulled out my phone as Nathan rasped with a confused voice, "Jack? What's going on?"

"Nothing. Don't worry, rest. We're leaving."

Every page of my phone's home screen was divided into four, with a single app per cell. With a quick swipe to the right, I was on the page I needed. I tapped the cell in the top right. Even though I couldn't make out the icon well, I knew it was the camera app.

Cas put a hand on my shoulder to pull me away just as I lifted the phone to Nathan's face.

"Say cheese."

Cas pushed me with more force, but by now the photo was taken. My wonderful camera focused automatically and it worked nicely about 80% of the time.

I let Cas drag me along the sidewalk as I opened the photo and zoomed in to the maximum capacity. I had to hold the screen very close to my eyes to see anything.

"Oh, wow, those are some nasty bruises. Who took it out on your little dog?"

Cas gave me one last, more energetic shove to indicate how little he appreciated that epithet and that question.

Clearly, he had no intention of answering. Oh, well. I would get to the bottom of it; I didn't need his help.

The next house had the same rundown look as the previous twenty.

Before I could reach the doorbell, the rusty clattering of a bike cut me off. A black boy who must have been fourteen at most got off the saddle. He gave me a half glance before pulling out the chain and hurrying to tie his bike to a pole.

"Hey, kid!" I exclaimed with my best smile. "Do you live here? Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"

The boy made a movement with his head that resembled a slow nod, probably to assess me from head to toe. "Are you a cop? I haven't done anything."

"I'm not a cop! And I'm not trying to accuse you of anything. I'm looking for someone who must have passed through this street the other night. Have you seen or heard anything?"

The boy took a moment to turn his head just slightly to my right, where Cas was waiting with crossed arms. It was unlikely that the boy didn't know who Casper was. I wondered if he was afraid of him.

"The other night?"

"Yes, the night between Sunday and Monday. Seen anything?"

"Maybe. How much do you care about this information?"

I let out an irritated sigh. I pulled out my wallet and ran my thumb over the dividers until I found the twenties. I pulled one out and waved it in front of him.

The boy grabbed the money, pocketed it. "I haven't seen anything. But I heard your friend's dog. My dad says someone's going to slit that beast's throat sooner or later, so it learns not to wake up the whole neighborhood in the middle of the night."

Cas chuckled, as if he found that threat amusing, or as if he was convinced the boy had just robbed me of twenty dollars.

My informant opened the door to his house.

"What time did you hear the dog?"

Before the door could shut, that same sharp voice replied, "Around 1 am."

Cas took a step towards the next shack but collided with my figure cemented on that square of pavement.

"What's gotten into you?"

Forget Ivy League, sometimes I was slower than a broken clock. That stupid dog barked every time someone approached the property.

"My skin is starting to burn, I think you were right. Let's go back to your place so I can put on more sunscreen."

Cas was a giant with the conflict resolution skills of a prehistoric hominid, but he wasn't stupid. He knew I was making excuses and was wondering why. But even though he was wary of me, I knew the faint hope that I might want to revisit old times at his house would be too strong to deny me access.

"Okay."

...

We found Esther where we had left her. Casper made no comment on her presence. I took off my backpack, hat, and glasses and left everything on the plastic table attached to the kitchen.

"I'm going to the bathroom," I announced.

I felt Cas's eyes on the back of my neck as I left the living room. He wouldn't tolerate my disappearance for more than a few minutes; he would soon come to investigate, so I had to hurry.

I opened and closed the bathroom door, without entering, knowing that Cas would keep his ears peeled to catch any sound. Then, with cat-like steps, I returned to the door of Casper's old room.

I froze when I realized I was about to sneak into an eleven-year-old's room, who was probably inside. Or at least, I hoped she was still there.

With one hand I covered my eyes and with the other I lowered the handle so slowly that it made no sound.

"What are you doing?" Carli's voice asked when she saw me appear in the doorway.

I closed the door behind me as quietly as possible. "I need to ask you something."

"Why are you keeping your eyes closed?"

"I don't know... you're a girl... this is your room... maybe you were changing."

Carli snorted with the typical contempt of a spiteful eleven-year-old. "Ever heard of this thing called knocking?"

Well. I couldn't knock. Casper was worse than a bat.

"I'm dressed. And besides, you're practically blind, what do I care if you see me naked?"

Alright. I would file that question in my mental folder of Things that Made Me Worry about Carli.

I uncovered my eyes and found myself slightly blinded by the light filtering through the open window. Carli was sitting on the floor with something in her hands, probably a phone.

I shouldn't waste time, Casper would come looking for me soon, and yet I found myself asking a question that would only waste time: "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"And shouldn't you find yourself a nice bourgeois faggot to screw at this point? Can you make up your mind and leave my brother alone?"

There, I shouldn't have wasted time asking her about school. "Casper and I aren't getting back together. I'm here just to help him with something. The other night, Christopher Walker started barking at one in the morning. I hope you were at home at that time. The dog must have woken you up. Did you go check why he was barking?"

Carli stood up and came towards me with her hand outstretched. I looked at her without understanding before remembering who I was talking to.

I let out a sigh of exasperation as I pulled out my wallet. Was that the day I bought ice cream for all the kids on Chelsea Street?

I handed her a twenty-dollar bill, and she slapped my hand away with an outraged huff.

"I'm not six anymore, I can't do anything with twenty dollars."

"Then how much is this information worth?"

"Three hundred."

I closed the wallet, laughing.

"Three hundred and I'll let you read the letter."

The laughter got stuck in my throat. I shouldn't have been so surprised that Carli knew what was going on more than me.

"It's nice to know exactly how loyal you are to your brother." I took out three hundred-dollar bills and held them tightly between my fingers. "Give me the letter and I'll give you the money."

"Casper destroyed it right after I gave it to him. I was the one who found it. But I took a picture; I knew it might come in handy."

Carli handed me her phone after fiddling with it for a moment. I could see black scribbles on a white background. I left her the money and grabbed the phone, zooming in on the image as much as possible and sticking the screen to my eyes.

I know where you keep your stuff. Meet me at the Roller Rink on Sunday the 13th at 10:00 pm to discuss my share of the profit. If you miss it, I'll tell everything to Jodi.