:: Stars Falling All Around Her Head ::

"Nat sent me.  He has a message for you." 

Leah's eyes fluttered shut as she slipped down towards the chair.  Unfortunately for her, she had knocked the chair to the ground just a few moments earlier.  Leah looked up from where she fell, dazed.  A muffled giggle arose from Trixie's seat. 

"Are you ok, Leah?"  Jim's mouth twitched, troubling an otherwise straight face. 

"Just dandy."  She pushed fallen red waves out of her eyes and struggled to a kneeling position.  She pointed an accusing finger at Alex over her cereal bowl.  "Then why didn't Nathan come himself?" 

A deeply troubled sigh was Leah's only answer.  "I'm afraid the message is for your ears only."  He turned to Mr. Wheeler, at the head of the table.  "Is there some place Leah and I could talk privately?" 

"Well, yes, certainly.  You can use--" 

But Jim interrupted his adopted father's words.  "Hang on a second.  What if Leah doesn't want to go with him?  She doesn't seem very happy to see him." 

"Leah?  Do you trust this boy?"  Mr. Wheeler asked her as she hoisted herself off the floor. 

She looked saucily towards Alex.  "I dunno, Allie.  Do I trust you or not?"  She held out her hands to each side, weighing her options.  "Trust.  Not.  Trust.  Not."  She grinned widely and turned to address her host.  "Mr. Wheeler, I've known Alex since I was a baby.  I'd trust him with my life, no questions about it.  I was just shocked to see him, and then I was worried that he might have been--"  She quickly stopped her sentence short as she spotted the quick, almost imperceptible shake of Alex's head.  "He might be worrying about me too much.  Nathan, my brother, and he didn't really want me to come up here.  They didn't want me to get hurt." 

"Well you'll always be welcome here, Leah.  Please don't ever forget that."  Mrs. Wheeler smiled at the slim girl.  "And I'm sure that you'll want to catch Mr. Williams up on all the happenings here.  Celia will show you to the library," she said as she rang a small silver bell near her water glass.  The pretty maid soon appeared and escorted the two out of the dining room. 

Soon after their exit, Trixie felt a slight kick under the table.  She raised her eyes from a heaping plate of pancakes to her right, where Honey was sitting.  After a few silent exchanges, Honey stood up from the table.  "May Trixie and I be excused, Mother?" 

"Of course.  Go have fun."  They pushed their chairs away from the table and began to walk towards the door Alex and Leah had gone through only seconds before. 

"Just be careful not to let her know you're listening," Mrs. Wheeler added with a wink to her husband. 

Alex stared at his reflection in the gilt-framed mirror.  The brown hair, the deep brown eyes, they were the same as they had been ever since he could remember.  He was always the same.  Leah sometimes called him her Rock because of his steadiness.  He was there for her whenever she needed him, and Alex liked it that way.  But now things were changing.  She had a new brother, new friends, a new family.  Why would she ever want to come home again?  Especially after the news he was bringing.  Even he would be too scared to return to South Carolina. 

He sighed and turned away from the mirror, facing the inevitable. 

"Leah, I--" 

"Why’d you come here, Alex?  What if they followed you?”  The two were sitting in the Wheeler's library.  The pitch in Leah's voice indicated her intense fear.  Maybe she did know something of what was happening.  Alex was never sure how much Nat had told her. 

“They didn’t.  I was careful.” 

“Suuuure you were careful.  Just like the time we had the party downtown and you had the little run-in with the fountain!” 

He let her have her joy for just a few more moments.  Alex smiled at the old memory.  “You would bring that up.  Especially since nobody ever told you your part in that escapade, Ms. “I never have too much to drink!” 

Leah’s voice took on an innocent tone.  “Moi?  Have a memory lapse?  Never.  I always remain serene and sane.” 

“Sane?  Now I know you’ve lost it.” 

“Oh hush!  Just because I did a few crazy...” 

“A few??” 

“Well . . .” her tinkling laugh wafted through the book-lined room. 

There was a silence which would have been awkward if the two hadn't known each other their whole lives.  Alex struggled for the right words to express his concern.  He knew all about her famous temper, especially when reproached for doing what her heart told her.  “Leah, are you sure about this whole new family thing?” 

“Allie, he’s not my new family.  He’s just, an addition.  You know, like a new baby or somethin’.” 

“Ri-ight.  A 19-year-old baby whom you just happened to punch in the jaw.” 

Leah gasped.  "How'd you know?" 

“I’ve known you forever.  His bruise had ‘Leah’ written all over it.” 

“You know me far too well." 

He tried to bring up the subject of why he had come, but Leah beat him to it with her natural bluntness.  "So why are you here?  I know you didn’t come all this way to tease me about my insanity or ask me about my decision to find my brother.” 

He sighed again.  He hated to worry her.  “They finished the beta version.” 

“When?  Does it work?  How’d they fix that bug at the end of the code?” 

“Just last week.  It works pretty smoothly.  And I have no idea.  You know all that techie stuff is way above my head.  Next time you see Nat you can ask him.” 

“Hm . . . I bet that they got Gary to —’’ 

Alex interrupted her quickly.  He didn't know if he could finish if she started with the techno-babble.  “Gary’s dead.  That’s why I’m here.”   A sharp gasp followed his words. 

“How?”  She asked shakily. 

“His car died on the train tracks near Montmorenci.  You know all those roads that run perpendicular to the tracks?  His car stalled on one of them, and he couldn’t get out in time.  The police say he was trying to beat it.” 

“Gary wouldn’t do anything as foolish as that!  He’s a freakin’ engineer nerd!  The closest thing to a chance he ever took was majoring in computer science instead of biochemistry in college!” 

Alex laughed slightly before Leah hurried on.  “Besides, what was he doing in Montmorenci?  That’s over an hour away from his apartment and from work--the only two places he ever goes.” 

“Dunno.  There doesn’t seem to be any reason, except for—’’ 

“The chip!” 

“Yeah.  That.”  A dreadful silence prevailed over the library. 

“This is for you, from Nat.  It's too dangerous to keep it at home.  Nat figures you'll be safe here,” Alex mumbled, handing her a small package.  Alex’s conscience was singing a little song to him.  Nat's wrong!  Nat's wrong!  Don't give her the package.  Nat's wrong!  It was all he could do to keep from following the voice's advice. 

“Is it--?”  Leah gasped 

“Yes.  Use the pass code 8675309 for now, but don’t forget to change it often.”  He knew the title from one of her favorite songs would bring a smile to her dark face. 

“I won’t.”  His hand lingered on hers as she took the box. 

"They won't hesitate to get you too.  Be careful, LiLi."  His brown eyes looked soulfully into her clear green ones. 

"I will, Allie." 

Trixie and Honey scampered down the hallway as they heard footsteps approaching the library door.  The numbers she'd just heard sounded so familiar to Trixie.  They repeated over and over in hear head like a drum as she entered Honey's room. 

She flopped down on the bed, her blonde curls spreading out like a fan around her head.  "Did those numbers mean anything to you?  8675309?" 

Honey sat at her vanity, staring thoughtfully out the window.  "They do sound familiar.  I just can't seem to place them though." 

"Place what?"  Jim asked, poking his head through the open door. 

Trixie quickly sat up, straightening her faded blue-striped t-shirt.  "Just some numbers we overheard Leah and Alex talking about." 

Jim sat on the edge of the bed.  "You know you shouldn't be eavesdropping on private conversations!" He began his typical reproach but then suddenly stopped.  Trixie glanced up, wondering why he wasn't continuing, and met his direct gaze.  There seemed to be something new within those green eyes she loved so much.  Whatever it was, it wasn't anger or any sign of disappointment.  Was he finally getting over his over-protective phase of life?  Hallelujah! She thought gleefully. 

"But since you did," he continued, "what'd she say?"  Honey gave a little whoop and jumped up from the chair to join her brother and Trixie on the bed.  She threw her arms around Jim and tackled him with the force of a champion wrestler. 

"I'm so glad you're back, big brother!" 

A few minutes later, Trixie finished telling Jim what they'd heard outside the library.  "Well, it certainly does seem mysterious."  As soon as he spoke the dreaded "m" word, he clamped his hand over his mouth.  "I did not just say that." 

"Yes you did!  We heard you!"  Trixie and Honey chorused.  Then Trixie sobered.  "But the numbers!  They're driving me NUTS!  I know I've heard them somewhere before." 

"You know, for smart girls, you sure are dumb sometimes.  It's a phone number."  Jim patted Trixie's curly head.  "I know we all can't have as superior a brain as I do, but at least make an effort to put that gray matter to work, ladies!" 

"Whatever, Mr. Smarty Pants.  So what do they numbers mean?"  Honey asked irritably. 

"They're a phone number from a song.  867-5309.  Jenny.  You know the song, from the ‘70s." He sang the famous numbers out loud. 

"So you knew that.  But do you know what he gave her?"  Honey asked triumphantly. 

Jim scratched his head.  "Well, my guess is the chip, or whatever it is that Gary guy was killed over.  And it'd have to be stored in something like a keyboard, in order to have a pass code.  But it'd have to be a small something because Alex didn't have anything in his hands when he walked in."  He flopped down on the bed, laying his head near Trixie's.  "What do you think, Trix?" 

Trixie closed her eyes for a moment, dizzy from the scent of Jim's shaving lotion.  She wished for about the millionth time she could get over her crush, as he obviously didn't feel the same way.  Her mind's eye showed a picture of her jewelry box at home.  The only thing in it which remained safe from Bobby's demented hands was the silver ID bracelet Jim had given her so many years ago, back when they were just kids. And even then, he probably only gave it to me because he felt sorry for me, she thought bitterly. 

"Trix?"  Honey's voice brought Trixie out of her thoughts. 

"Huh?  Oh yeah.  I dunno what I really think.  I guess that you're right Jim, that it was small.  He had on loose khakis, so it was hard to see if there was anything in his pockets.  My guess is something the size of a wallet, or maybe a Palm Pilot.  Yeah, something like that." 

Jim left the girls to ponder their new case and walked into his room. He collapsed into the overstuffed armchair by the bookcases to think over everything that'd happened since his return from college.  The summer was barely two days old and already the Bob Whites were entrenched knee-deep in a new mystery.  As much as he hated to admit it, he liked mysteries.  He liked the way Trixie's eyes lit up as she found the connection between all the clues.  He knew that it didn't seem like he was encouraging his sister and his--well, Trixie, in their pursuit to become detectives.  It was just a bad habit of his, when he got angry or when it looked like someone he cared about would be taken away from him, to say mean things to the people that meant the most.  It was an old self-defense mechanism from his days with Jonesy. 

At NYU, he'd taken several psychology classes, including one designed specifically to help abused children.  The more he studied the textbook, the more of his own traits he noticed.  He was determined to make up for his previous stupidity this summer, especially to Trixie. 

He had tried very hard today to keep from discouraging Trixie and Honey's investigations.  Plus, he used helping out as an excuse to lie close to Trixie on the bed.  Had they noticed him trying to change?  He certainly hoped so.  As he thought about the few moments the three of them had talked in Honey's room, a thought occurred to him. 

Why was she looking at Alex's pants? 

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