Trust Me

are you going to do now?”
    “What can I do? I’m coming home.” Tony paused. “Uh, there’s just one small problem, kid.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I don’t have the cash to buy a return ticket, and my credit cards have all been sort of temporarily cancelled. Can you buy a ticket for me? I’ll repay you as soon as I can.”
    Desdemona groaned. “Take a bus.”
    “A bus.” Tony was scandalized. “All the way to Seattle? You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”
    “I’ve got a question for you.” Desdemona tapped the tip of her pen against the computer manual. “Did you do any work on my computer before you flew down to L.A.?”
    “No. Why?”
    “I’m getting a message on the screen that says there was a power failure in the middle of a work session and some files have been saved. I’m having trouble recovering them.”
    “No big deal. Pay attention. I’ll walk you through the process.”
    A few minutes later Desdemona recovered the lost work. She gazed at it, frowning.
    “What is it?” Tony asked.
    “A string of gibberish. Just a bunch of keyboard characters run together.”
    “Sounds like someone tried to type up something personal on your computer and got interrupted before he could figure out how to save the document properly. I’ll bet it was Kyle or Jason. They love to play with computers.”
    “That’s true.”
    “About that airline ticket…”
    “All right, all right. Take the plane. But you’re going to owe me free labor here at Right Touch for a year.”
    “You got it.” Tony paused. “How are things going with Super Nerd?”
    “Call him that once more and you’ll be taking the bus home from Hollywood.”
    “Message received.”

    Desdemona got into the Jeep and reached for the seat belt. “I appreciate the lift, Macbeth.”
    “No problem.” Macbeth worked the gears and eased the big, black, four-wheel-drive vehicle out of the alley behind Right Touch. “I’m on my way to pick up Jason and Kyle, anyway. We’ve got a matinee this afternoon.”
    “I heard from Tony.”
    “Yeah?” Macbeth glanced at her. Light danced on the mirrored lenses on his sunglasses. “Anything come of that L.A. call?”
    “No.” Desdemona wrinkled her nose. “He talked me into buying him a return ticket.”
    “Damn. You know something? Maybe Stark’s got a point. You let Tony take advantage a little too much.”
    “It’s hard for me to say no to him. He’s my brother.”
    “And he saved your life, I know, I know. But that was a long time ago. You’ve grown up, but I don’t think he has.”
    Desdemona gazed unseeingly at the tourists who crowded the boutiques and shops along First Avenue. “I keep hoping that one of these days one of those dreams he’s always chasing will finally come true.”
    “Not bloody likely. He’s a Wainwright, but there’s no getting around the fact that he’s not the best actor in the family.”
    “Just as I’m not the best actress in the family.”
    They drove past the Seattle Art Museum. Desdemona glumly watched as the arm of the massive metal sculpture know as Hammering Man rose and fell. The figure, which stood in front of the museum, was doomed to an eternity of labor. Hammering Man might eventually rust, but he would never to able to rest. The sculpture reminded Desdemona of Tony. Futility in motion.
    “Too bad Tony’s got his heart set on acting,” Macbeth mused. “He’s actually fairly good with computers.”
    “I know.”
    “Be nice if Ian and Tony could get Dissolving off the ground.”
    “Not likely. Not if they’re depending upon Stark to back it. Does it occur to you that when we talk about Tony we do a lot of wishful thinking?”
    “Yeah.”
    Desdemona fell silent for the remainder of the drive to Stark’s fortress.
    When Macbeth pulled into the drive a short time later, Desdemona reached into the backseat for the picnic basket she had packed.
    “Thanks again, Macbeth,” she said as she got out of the Jeep.
    “Right.”
    Desdemona walked up the steps. Kyle opened the front door just as she was about to knock.
    “Hi, Desdemona. If you came to see Sam, he’s busy. He worked on Vernon Tate’s computer all night long. He only came out of his study once this morning, and that was to take a shower and change his clothes.”
    Desdemona brightened. “Has he found something interesting?”
    “Don’t know yet. He’s inside the system though, and he’s searching for some hidden files.”
    “Sounds hopeful.”